Having F*cking Fun: Big D and the Kids Table on Three Decades and a New Record
Interview and photo credit: Danielle Madeux
I sat down with Dave McWane, Ben Basile and Ryan O’Connor of Big D and the Kids Table before their Amherst show at The Drake to discuss “Good Ole American Saturday Night” and being a band for 30 years.
You’ve been doing this for 30 years now. When you hear a new Big D record in 2026, what still makes you think, “Yep, that’s us”?
DAVE: We’re always being “us” about it. We’ve never changed how we do it for any reason. At one point during the “Strictly Rude” days Joe Gittleman was producing and he offered us “Lean on Sheena” that the Bouncing Souls later took. That was this really interesting moment because this is our first time on a record label and first time with a producer and I think a lot of artists are always like “What are you gonna do? Are they gonna add maracas or keyboard to everything?” So when he offered the song, we knew it and loved it. But, we’re not in music to play someone else’s song. We’re in music to see what we do and that’s always been it. We always stray away from a principal song writer. Each flower comes out different.
Did making this album feel different after five years since Do Your Art? The new record is the band's first LP in five years
RYAN: Do Your Art was interesting because it was COVID so there were things done beforehand and we had a lot of Zoom writing sessions. We were working together but we were so far apart. It was a weird practice.
BEN: That’s where the similarities are between the record because about half of this record was actually B Sides to Do Your Art that we continued four years later.
That title track has this perfect collision of punk show chaos, drinking, relationships, cops, and the crowd. Is that song based on one particular night, or is it 30 years of Big D shows condensed into three minutes?
DAVE: A girl bringing a date was one night and the cop was another night. It wasn’t a punch, it was a headlock but I couldn't get it to work.
BEN: One of the nights was 2013 at the Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. It was my first hometown show with the band.
DAVE: An off duty security person was at the bar and he was getting loaded. He started manhandling people and I told him to stop and he squeezed me out.
BEN: They tried to shut the show down but 150 ska kids on a Wednesday night said “No!”
You open the album with “Allston Storm.” Feels like an immediate statement of identity. What is an “Allston Storm” to you?
DAVE: Boston People are Boston people. Allston is Boston. I think it’s our mentality and how we approach things. We’re always trying to prove ourselves. It’s a gritty attitude of Boston kids. “We’re your non-polished thing but we’re always there for you.”
“Little Talks” feels much more reflective and intimate. Was it difficult to put something that was vulnerable next to songs that are so explosive?
DAVE: Two things: I’ve been trying to get it on a record since Strictly Rude and it just kept getting pushed and finally Alex and I developed it together. This is the little engine that could. It is very vulnerable. I’ll either brace myself or skip it.
A lot of bands from your era have either broken up, slowed down, or become nostalgia acts. What keeps Big D feeling like a current band rather than a legacy act?
DAVE: A lot of these bands have these industry goals and if they don’t meet their goals they think they’ve got to do something else. A lot of us are lifers and we can’t stop — it’s like an addiction.
RYAN: In our scene, no one is breaking up. We just adjust how we tour.
BEN: With it being 30 years, we’re nostalgic to some people. That saw us 20/25 years ago. But, half the people at our shows it’s their first time seeing us.
If you had to explain Big D and the Kids Table using three words, what are they?
DAVE: Having Fucking Fun!
BEN: Really Really Fun!
If you could put one song from the new album into a time capsule for someone to discover 30 years from now, which one would it be?
RYAN: “Whiplash”
DAVE: “Slop”
BEN: “Whiplash”
