Little Big is a Russian rave band founded in 2013 in Saint Petersburg. The band consists of Ilya "Ilich" Prusikin, Sergey "Gokk" Makarov, Sonya Tayurskaya, and Anton "Boo" Lissov. Their first full-length album, With Russia from Love, was released on 17 March 2014. The group has released three albums and nine singles.
History
The band made its debut on 1 April 2013, releasing their first video "Every Day I'm Drinking". They made their first public appearance on 2 July 2013 at the club A2, opening for Die Antwoord. They have toured in Europe, Russia, and North America. "This music is really in demand. We have not invested a single penny, just shot video, and became known in Europe", Ilya Prusikin said in an interview with UTV. On 19 December 2015, the band released their second album, Funeral Rave. It was 8th on the Russian iTunes chart for the 52nd week of 2015. On 21 May 2016, videos for the songs "Give Me Your Money" and "Big Dick" received a prize at the Berlin Music Video Awards 2016. "Big Dick" won Most Trashy, and "Give Me Your Money" won third place for Best Performer. "Big Dick", with over 70 million views, is full of sexual imagery and overtones. "We just want to show people that they own their lives. Countries and governments are not as important as they think, a person can deal with what he wants", said frontman Ilya Prusikin on the purpose of the band in an interview with Noisey. The band has its own label "Little Big Family", which includes Little Big, , Tatarka, , and . In April 2018 Olympia Ivleva decided to leave the band. Later that year she stated her "burnout after five years of doing the same job", combined with intention to start her own non-musical businesses, were the reasons behind her exit. Little Big achieved viral success with the release of the video for "Skibidi" on 6 October 2018. The video features a dance that became popular when others tried to imitate it as part of the "Skibidi Challenge". In March 2020, Little Big were confirmed as Russia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, where they would perform "UNO". The music video for the song, released at the same time, features Yuriy Muzychenko from The Hatters and Florida Chanturia from Leningrad, both of whom were to join the band on stage during the contest. However, on 18 March 2020, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Musical style
The team calls itself a satirical art collaboration, which relies on the music, visuals, and the show. Little Big mocks various national stereotypes about Russia. All the videos are filmed by co-founder Alina Pasok. The band shoots and produces all of their music videos. Since the first concert took place as the opening act for Die Antwoord, the band was dubbed "The Russian Die Antwoord", and is often compared with this band. Vice also called Little Big "a Russian mental patient's answer to Die Antwoord". Other critics point out that while Little Big has an identity of its own, it also exposes the listener to Russian folk songs and Russian culture. The band was influenced by a variety of musicians from Cannibal Corpse, NOFX, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rammstein, and The Prodigy to Mozart and Vivaldi.
