Same Page: Johnny and Matty Took on Taking Time Out From DMA's and Planet For BIIG TIME

The Took brothers were perhaps always destined to create music in tandem. But while they used to perform covers together and were both members of seven-piece Sydney country band Little Bastard more than a decade ago, Johnny and Matty have spent the past decade in largely separate creative spheres.

Johnny has shot to international prominence as one-third of Aussie indie-rock titans DMA’s, who have headlined London’s Alexandra Palace and toured with Liam Gallagher. Matty — who is four years younger — has helmed the indie-pop outfit Planet, releasing their debut album ‘Information Overload’ in 2022. 

While Matty has been bouncing between Liverpool to Sydney and Melbourne, extensive touring with DMA’s has also seen Johnny spend the past few years globetrotting. When they both found themselves in Melbourne at the same time, though, they decided to resurrect BIIG TIME, a joint project they’d half launched in 2020 with a standalone single called It’s You.

“We had heaps of time, and this incredible studio [Small Time] at our disposal,” Matty recalls. “Weekend after weekend, we ended up having 11 songs ready to go…we came to the conclusion: let’s do an album.”

The result is ‘200K’, its name a reference to that mothballed covers band. It covers all sorts of ground while remaining centred around the soaring indie-rock and heartfelt lyrics that we’ve come to associate with both members’ work. Ahead of the album’s release and their first UK tour in May, we caught up with Johnny and Matty about the process, their relationship, and how it feels to release a debut album again.

Why was Bigger Than Nothing the perfect single to properly relaunch BIIG TIME?

Johnny: “All the songs on the album have a really special spot in our heart, but the main thing is that Bigger Than Nothing ticks all the boxes when we think of BIIG TIME — catchy, poppy melodies, noisy guitars and me and Matty singing in harmony. It feels pretty tough and fun — it’s got a good swagger to it.”

Have you always wanted to make a proper album together?

Johnny: “The only album Matty and I have made together was a country record in our early 20s for Little Bastard, but we hadn’t made a proper rock record. Through years of writing, we did have quite a collection of songs from different projects that had been building up. Lots of them are new tracks, but there’s a song called Parades, which we used to play together maybe 13 years ago.”

Matty: “There’s a ballad called Loves Wealth that Johnny wrote when he was just a couple years out of high school.”

Did creating ‘200K’ unlock memories from playing together in your younger years?

Johnny: “When you’re 16 and your brother’s 12, a four-year age gap is huge, you know? As you get older, that age gap seems smaller and smaller. I’d started DMA’s, but we were just writing for a couple of years, and Matty and I were playing these 200K cover shows. They’re formative years where you're really cutting your teeth, and honing your skills. The great thing about putting a three-hour cover set together is you really start to learn about how to craft a song. To this day, I think it’s really good to learn other people’s songs, because it keeps you on your toes.”

Does it feel different to be writing and playing together this time around?

Matty: “Lots of the lyrics are pretty much the exact same as when we left them. We’ve tweaked little bits and bobs, but it’s definitely very nostalgic, looking back on them and hearing them with these fresh tones.”

Johnny: “One thing I did enjoy is remembering how well we actually work with each other. Gets Better With You was an old song that I had initially written for DMA’s, and it never really found a home. But it was remarkable how Matty and I were in the drum room going through it, and we wrote the rest of it together in about 20 minutes. It reignited that thing — we’re on the same page. Playing music with my brother has always been easy.”

Your first shows were supporting Courteeners in Australia — how did they go?

Matty: “The crowds were pretty crazy. There are heaps of expats, of course, in places like Australia.”

Johnny: “You Brits get around, mate! Tommy [O’Dell, DMA’s vocalist] came out at the Sydney show and did the song that DMA’s released with Courteeners [The Beginning Of The End], and I turned to someone and said, ‘This is the rowdiest gig I’ve seen in Australia in quite a while.’ Besides something like a hardcore show. It felt like I was in England — that energy where the drinks were flying. It was funny seeing that vibe in a venue that we’ve known our whole lives, growing up in Sydney.”

Are you looking forward to revisiting some more intimate venues in the UK for your first headline tour as BIIG TIME?

Matty: “I haven't been to the UK since our last big tour with Planet in 2022. I’m excited to play Gorilla in Manchester again, and I’ve heard The Dome in London is really cool.”

Johnny: “It’s going to be three of us on stage — me, Matty and our mate Liam [Hoskins], who’s also the drummer in DMA’s. When you start a new project, it’s always exciting, because if you’re going to be a realist about it, you have to do your time. We’re really proud of where the set’s at, but we know that by the end of this tour, it’s going to go up another notch. As daunting and exhausting as some of these concepts are, it’s also really exhilarating to get back to those roots and talk to people, face to face.”

Not many people get another chance to release a debut album. How does it feel to be experiencing that in real time once again?

Matty: “It’s all fresh. This whole band is very fresh, your fans are going to be fresh. There are lots of ‘first times’ with this one, but it’s going to be really cool.”

Johnny: “I needed BIIG TIME for multiple reasons. Firstly, singing harmonies with Matty and playing music with my brother is one of my favourite things in the world to do. I can imagine us being 70 years old, coming over for Christmas and singing these songs together. But when you’re in a band like DMA’s, it is a pure collaboration in every sense of the word, but with that comes different personalities, lots of great melodies flying around. 

“Sometimes, songs don’t tend to work out for the project — maybe it wasn’t quite right for Tommy’s voice, or someone just didn’t feel as passionately about the lyrics. But that doesn’t mean that these songs shouldn’t see the light of day, that they couldn’t have a special moment for someone. There’s so much capacity for what people get out of songs, and there needs to be so many different types of songs in the world. It’d be a shame if these weren’t released.”

BIIG TIME’s ‘200K’ is out on May 9.

BIIG TIME Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:

Wed May 14 2025 - LEEDS Belgrave Music Hall
Thu May 15 2025 - BIRMINGHAM Castle and Falcon
Fri May 16 2025 - STOKE Keele University
Sun May 18 2025 - BRISTOL Bristol Strange Brew
Mon May 19 2025 - GLASGOW Room 2
Tue May 20 2025 - STOCKTON KU
Thu May 22 2025 - PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms
Fri May 23 2025 - LONDON Dome
Sat May 24 2025 - MANCHESTER Gorilla

Compare & Buy Biig Time Tickets at Stereoboard.com.

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