Interview – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

BBM talks to Orlando Higginbottom, the dinosaur costume clad Oxford lad who is the force behind Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

After his whirlwind year and meteoric rise on the electronic scene, releasing 5 EP’s this year including, ‘Prehistory’, ‘Trouble’, ‘Household Goods’ and the infectious ‘Garden’ Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’ 2011 has certainly built anticipation for Higginbottom’s debut album.

With the festive season looming, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs will be touring Australia, so you can witness just why we’ve fallen in love with his music in the UK.BBM talks to Orlando Higginbottom, the dinosaur costume clad Oxford lad who is the force behind Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

After his whirlwind year and meteoric rise on the electronic scene, releasing 5 EP’s this year including, ‘Prehistory’, ‘Trouble’, ‘Household Goods’ and the infectious ‘Garden’ Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’ 2011 has certainly built anticipation for Higginbottom’s debut album.

With the festive season looming, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs will be touring Australia, so you can witness just why we’ve fallen in love with his music in the UK.

So what have you been up to today?

I’ve been working on my album, a few remixes. So just been in the studio all day.

So when’s the album going to come out?

Early next year!

We came to see you last week at XOYO (London) it was really fun! How did you find the night?

Yeah it was good. It was nice that it sold out. There were a lot of people and that’s always nice, and a really responsive crowd. It’s not my favourite venue in the world by a long way. But yes it was fun.

Obviously you like to don a dinosaur costume when you’re performing. How do you find it performing in that?

Haha easy, it’s not a problem. I wouldn’t want to do it any other way!

Where do you get the costumes from?

Friends make them for me. I actually made the first one, then I realized I didn’t really have the skills to pull it off.

You probably get asked this quite a lot- have you got a special affiliation with dinosaurs?

No not really. In fact not at all.

Just a random name then?

Yup, pretty much just a random name!

So you’re from Oxford, what was it like growing up there music-wise?

Amazing! It has a really brilliant scene. I think because of the university, people haven’t ever realized how vibrant the Oxford music scene is. It’s always been great in terms of gigs, bands, musicians. It’s been really great, and I’m still here, and I’m not planning on leaving.

What were your music influences growing up?

I started off listening to a lot of classical music. And then I got into the things my brothers and sisters were listening to. Then when I was 12 or 13 I really fell in love with jungle music and rave music, and it kind of went from there.

Obviously the single ‘Garden’ had a massive response, and it got picked up for the Nokia ad campaign, how did you feel about that being used. Did you think it exposed your music to wider audience?

I was a little bit wary. I wanted to know about that actual advert. I wanted to know how they were going to use it, and also I wanted to know which bit of the track they were going to use. They didn’t use any of the vocals, so I don’t feel it gives the track away. It’s not too revealing, there’s still a lot to get out of that track. I think it was a great opportunity and the advert’s alright.

Do you think you’ll stick to electro for a while – or have you got any plans to play with different genres?

I don’t know actually. I’m probably going to be writing electronic music for a long time, but it’s pretty open.

Waulking’s a really interesting song, what’s the sample you’ve used for that?

That is from an old folk record. It’s quite a long story with that one. I couldn’t actually use the sample I wanted to use, so we had to recreate it.

My friend brought round some of his mum’s old records so we were listening to them. I was out of the room and I heard this bit of vocal coming from the studio, so I ran back and I was like, “What’s that, what’s that, what’s that?” And then he took the record away, and then weirdly that day I went into Oxfam, and found a copy of exactly the same record, and I just sampled away.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Erm…what have I just bought? I bought the Drake album, but I doubt it’s any good.

We’re dubious about Drake.

Yeah I’m not sure really…I’m not convinced. I just bought Space Dimension Controller’s new album, which is really good. Some Brian Eno I’m listening to – just that kind of thing.

So you’re heading out to Australia over the festive season and Field Day on New Years Day. Are you looking forward to it?

I’m really excited. I can’t wait. I’ve never been to Australia and it’s going to be a real adventure. So yeah it’s really exciting.

So what would you normally be doing on New Year’s Day if you weren’t performing?

I’d probably be at a party. So I might as well be in Australia!

What are you going to be doing on New Years Eve?

We’re playing at another festival in Australia, I think Falls Festival.

Have you looked at the line up for Field Day?

No I haven’t. Who is playing?

Moby, Justice, Crystal Castles…

Great!

So who are you looking forward to seeing?

I’ll be pretty interested to see what Moby does. Crystal Castles are amazing. I haven’t seen Justice live ever, and their doing their whole new show aren’t they? So yes I’m excited about the whole thing.

How long are you going to be out in Australia for?

10 days.

What else do you think you’ll get up to whilst you’re there?

Not much. I’ve got 6 shows in ten days, and lots of flying. So hopefully just some sleeping and some eating.

Well you’ll need to try and get down to the beach, ‘cause the weather’s going to be good!

Yes. I have got to do that!

So what are your plans for 2012? Obviously you’ll be bringing out the album, so will there be more touring?

There’s the UK tour. I’ll probably go back to America. Europe as well. So touring, promoting, hopefully not too hectic, as I want to keep writing. But yes, it’s going to be a busy year.

Where’s your favourite place you’ve played this year?

That’s a good question. Melt Festival in Germany was amazing. The couple of weeks I was in America, I did San Fransisco, and Miami was good fun.

So you’ve had an exciting year?

Yeah, yeah just a bit!

Well it sounds like it’s going really, really well, and we all love your music.

That’s nice to hear.

By Hannah Shakir