Boulder-based band Big Pinch joins Andy Zicklin for KGNU’s Afternoon Sound Alternative for a live studio session and conversation about their music, influences, and the growing DIY alternative scene in Boulder. The band members, Will, Burke, Andy, and Ari, talk about their beginnings, their mix of ’80s and ’90s rock influences, and the independent venues and communities that support local music.
The group also discusses their recently released songs, upcoming recordings, and the story behind the band name before performing tracks including “Cordyceps,” “Red Dog,” and “Wriggles Nature” live in the studio (Air Date 4/29/26).
Listen to the local gold here:
Transcript:
Andy Zicklin: Are you guys there?
Big Pinch: Oh, we’re here.
Andy Zicklin: We can hear you.
Big Pinch: Yeah.
Andy Zicklin: Cool. Welcome to the studio.
Big Pinch: Thank you. Thanks for having us.
Andy Zicklin: You’re behind the glass, so we can’t touch, but we’re right next to each other and we can see each other. Feels like a fish tank.
Big Pinch: Yeah, we’re in the fish tank.
Andy Zicklin: You’re in the fish tank, exactly. First of all, welcome. Second, why don’t you introduce yourselves and the instruments you play? There are four of you, right?
Big Pinch: Sure. My name is Will. I play guitar, and I make noises into the mic with my mouth, mostly.
Burke: My name’s Burke. I sing and play guitar as well.
Andy: My name is Andy, and I play bass.
Will: Our drummer’s too far away. His name is Ari.
Andy Zicklin: All right, cool. He’s the looks of the band.
Big Pinch: Yeah, he’s the looks.
Andy Zicklin: But we’re on radio. There’s an old saying: you’ve got a face for radio.
Big Pinch: Exactly.
Andy Zicklin: That’s the truth.
Big Pinch: That’s what my mom always told me.
Andy Zicklin: There’s been a resurgence of this non-jam, bluegrass-adjacent alternative scene in Boulder. Can you tell me how you got started, and what the scene is like? I think people would be interested in that.
Big Pinch: Sure. We started playing three or four years ago. We all liked the same music—a lot of ’90s college rock, heavier stuff that doesn’t necessarily get played in jam band environments.
The Boulder scene is great. It’s really young, with a lot of young bands and cool DIY venues. Unit 5 is pretty cool—shout out Unit 5. Punk Standard is great too. There are a lot of student-run and independently run spaces where people are creating the kinds of shows they want to see. It’s a really cool scene.
Andy Zicklin: That’s awesome. If somebody wanted to get involved, how would they do that?
Big Pinch: Come to our shows.
Andy Zicklin: That’s a good point.
Big Pinch: Buy our merch.
Andy Zicklin: Fair enough. How do people find out about your shows?
Big Pinch: Mostly Instagram. Punk Standard is a great page to follow. Our page is cool too—it’s mostly just us. Unit 5 is another good one. You can’t go wrong with those.
Andy Zicklin: I know the college crowd is plugged into it, but if you’re not already part of that scene, you’d never know.
How did you pick the name?
Big Pinch: Big Pinch?
Andy Zicklin: Yeah.
Big Pinch: Burke suggested it.
Andy Zicklin: Without cussing.
Big Pinch: It’s also Burke’s initials.
Burke: That is a lie. They’re trying to make me look like some egoist.
Big Pinch: We were all eating barbecue at Moe’s BBQ and throwing names around. That one ended up sticking. I thought it was cool because it’s kind of an oxymoron—the two words have opposite meanings.
Andy Zicklin: They do. When I looked online, I found all these Big Pinch references from one of the cartoons…
Big Pinch: There’s a Jimmy Neutron episode from the early 2000s.
Andy Zicklin: That’s a good show.
Big Pinch: I really liked it when I was a kid. We finally beat out the Jimmy Neutron episode in the Google search results.
Andy Zicklin: There you go.
Big Pinch: A huge milestone for us.
Andy Zicklin: Where do you want to take the band?
Big Pinch: Right now we’re focused on finishing a record we’ve been working on for a while. We just released four songs from it that we really like, and we’ll probably play a bunch of them today.
Andy Zicklin: Cool. Those are available on Spotify and all the usual places?
Big Pinch: Yeah. Spotify, Bandcamp, YouTube—everything you can think of.
Andy Zicklin: Nice.
Big Pinch: We’re also going to put it out on CD. If you come to the shows, you can pick one up.
Andy Zicklin: Sweet. Do you want to talk about the songs you’re going to play?
Big Pinch: They’re all pretty stream-of-consciousness. We’ll just play them for you.
Andy Zicklin: One last thing—I listened to the music on Spotify. Who are your influences?
Big Pinch: I really like Sonic Youth. That’s probably my favorite.
Band: Everybody has a different opinion.
Big Pinch: I’m a big fan of Ween.
Big Pinch: I listen to a lot of ’80s and ’90s music too, like The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Big Pinch: Andy?
Andy: I’m into 311, The Offspring, that kind of thing.
Andy Zicklin: So we have the punk rocker over there.
Big Pinch: Ari likes Britney Spears. He’s a big fan.
Andy Zicklin: It’s funny what happens when you don’t have a mic.
All right, cool. This is Big Pinch—no “The,” right?
Big Pinch: Nope. Just Big Pinch.
Andy Zicklin: Here on KGNU Afternoon Sound Alternative, live in the studio. Take it away, boys.
Performance
Andy Zicklin: You’re listening to KGNU Boulder Afternoon Sound Alternative with Big Pinch, live in the studio.
Big Pinch: That last song was called “Our Girl.” This next one is “Cordyceps.” We just released a music video for it on YouTube. It’s a great frame-by-frame animated video by the artist Samara Lo. Please give it a watch.
Performance
Hello, Boulder. Hello, Mom. Don’t change the channel—we’re Big Pinch. We’ve got two more songs for you.
Some recently released tunes.
Big Pinch: This one we just released is called “Red Dog.”
Performance
Andy Zicklin: Awesome. You guys have one more, right?
Big Pinch: Yes, we do.
Andy Zicklin: This is Big Pinch here on KGNU, live in the studio. This is Afternoon Sound Alternative. My name’s Andy. If you want to give us a shout, call 303-442-4242, or email [email protected].
All right, guys.
Big Pinch: Cool. This one’s called “Wriggles Nature.”
Performance
Andy Zicklin: Very sweet. Big Pinch here on KGNU. Any last words before we say goodbye?
Big Pinch: Thanks for having us.
Andy Zicklin: Thank you.
Big Pinch: Thank you, Andy. Thank you, George. Peace and love. Watch out for the federal government.
Andy Zicklin: Oh.
