We caught up with Dublin/Leipzig duo Bicurious at ArcTanGent this summer to discuss their new album, Zig and Zag, breakfasts and their upcoming plans for 2024

Hi guys thanks for joining us today. Can you introduce yourselves please? 

I’m Gav I play drums in Bicurious 

Hi I’m Taran and I play guitar and sing in Bicurious 

So this is I think your second time playing at ArcTanGent festival. How does it feel to be invited back?

Gav: it’s actually our third time playing now we played two years ago and then got invited back again the following year on the Wednesday then just got invited back again this year last week. 

Taran: Yeah somebody actually pulled out so they asked us to jump on and we were very happy to say yes. 

It’s perfect timing to be invited back actually with the release of your new single “Acrylic Fences.” It’s an absolute banger by the way. 

Taran : Yeah we couldn’t really say no as it fits so perfectly with the release campaign so it’s worked out pretty well. 

How have you found the reactions been so far to the new material? 

Gav: Yeah it’s all been really positive, loads of people came up to us after our set today saying they really like all the vocals on the new stuff which is nice to hear so yeah it’s all been positive so far. 

Zig and zag were like an Irish childhood staple getting home from school to watch the Den with these Irish alien puppets and Dustin the turkey and now they’re touting Bicurious as the best new duo in Ireland – so how did that all come about? 

Gav: Do you even know who Zig and Zag are Taran?

Taran :  I actually don’t 

Gav : I think this is how it happened, Jamie Lenman did a post on Instagram about us and then I saw that zig and zag followed us on Instagram so I was like wow that’s mad so I followed them back and then they tweeted about us saying aw it’s a new band from Ireland you should check out thanks to our friend Jamie Lenman for bringing them to our attention. Which is the weirdest crossover ever. I replied saying they were the best Irish duo ever and they replied saying we were giving them a run for their money. It’s mad! It’s nuts! 

It was funny as well cos I sent it into our WhatsApp group with Taran and  our manager Alex saying Oh my god do you know who Zig and Zag are, knowing they didn’t grow up in Ireland and they were both just like, No! And then my girlfriend Emily sent Alex a video saying “No this is a big deal” and she was like freaking out! Big things coming from Zig and Zag! 

Maybe you’ll be doing the CBeebies bedtime stories before you know it?

Gav: That’d be unreal , Dustin the turkey actually went for the Eurovision so dreams come true. 

You’ve got a new album called “Your life is over now” coming out on the 4th October on Big Scary Monsters. What can people expect from it? 

Taran: Erm, A Lot of singing and a lot of good songs hopefully, like we’re really happy with it. I absolutely love it but it’s just really interesting to see how people are going to react since over the last couple of years we’ve started to build up a really close following of people. Like when you come to ArcTanGent you see a lot of people who really really like our band so to see how they are going to react to the addition of the vocals since it’s an instrumental niche kinda thing but we’re pretty excited about it.  

Was it a conscious decision to add vocals or just a natural progression?

Taran : it kinda came naturally , my life situation changed so much over the last 5 years with having kids and moving to Germany and I just found myself singing more around the house and playing acoustic guitars. 

And is that how you tend to write these days with you being based in Leipzig now and Gavin still in Dublin?

Taran : Yeah I tend to come up with lots of ideas and then we jam them out but it’s funny cos I tried at one point to write a song in the style of “Bicurious” with all the riffs and all but it just felt forced and I couldn’t really do it. Maybe I will again in the future but it just naturally swerved in this direction I guess. 

Do you enjoy singing? 

Taran : Yeah I fucking love it man, it’s something really cool to learn to use your body to sing in the right way and figure out how your body responds to certain things and how everything affects your voice like what you’ve eaten during the day. 

Do you sing on the album at all Gavin? 

Gav : there’s a few “yeahs” I do but the plan is for me to do backing vocals live I just need to practice them more to be honest. I’ve already learned some techniques and stuff but I do find it interesting how in tune to your body you have to be. 

Taran : when I was younger I sang alot but then when Bicurious started I just completely stopped. 

Are you sticking around for the whole festival and who are you excited to see? 

Gav : I am yeah, looking forward to seeing Red Fang later. I’ve been a fan of them for ages and we actually saw them at the catering tent a little while ago. 

Taran : yeah they’re really old hahaha  Are they the band that have video of them like breaking cars? 

Gav: Yeah that’s the one, I’m looking forward to seeing Delta Sleep, I hear you are too? 

Yeah we’re gonna be down the front for them for sure. 

Gav: Saturday is my stacked day. Really excited for Delta Sleep and Mogwai. I never really got into meshuggah but they’re a band you have to see live. 

Taran : I really really wanted to see Aiming for Enrike as they’re one of my all time favourite bands but they had seemingly loads of technical issues so they started late and only got to play like 3 songs. They cut off the front of house PA mid song and they were pretty disappointed but we got a nice little photo together after and that made my day. 

How did your set go down today with the ArcTanGent crowd?

Taran: our set was good I think.  Had a lot of compliments. I struggled a little vocally but we got through it. We played two new songs and were gonna do a third but changed our minds and went for an old one cos people like that don’t they. People said they really enjoyed it. 

And you’re working with Big Scary Monsters now for this release?

Gav : yeah we met them today for the first time in person actually and I signed the contract which was pretty funny. 

Taran: Yeah we’re selling out we’ve signed to a label and we’re singing haha 

What’s on the horizon for Bicurious aside from the new album?

Gav: We have a UK Tour coming up in October – we’re doing 5 dates in Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, London and Bristol then we do Ireland in November we’re doing Dublin, Belfast,Cork and Limerick has just been added. 

What are your festival essentials?

Taran : Just my tickets there and back

Gav: it’s not cocaine because that’s illegal hahaha A tent and a sleeping bag that I borrowed from Raquel last year hahaha that’s literally all I brought and some clothes as I had to bring loads of gear too so space was limited. 

(As we’re interviewing the heavens opened for the first and only time of the weekend) 

Taran : it’s fuckin lashing it down out  there. This is the real ArcTanGent! 

One final question since Zoe loves to make breakfast for bands who play for bUTTONpUSHER – Being on the road all the time what’s your ideal breakfast for someone to make you? 

Taran: I think a good old Irish breakfast you can’t really go wrong but if you can do a vegan equivalent that would be amazing. That vegan meat is expensive though. Although to be honest you’ll take anything on tour. 

Gav: Have you had anyone say something boring like weetabix?

Taran:  If you can make me a good tofu scramble 

Gav: I want a breakfast roll now. Hahah 

Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to chat to us. 

Taran: Thanks so much for asking us and big up bUTTONpUSHER

You can Pre-Order “Your life is over” HERE