Big Pinch plays the Fox Theatre on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Enya Bayaraa/ CU Independent)
On the night of Dec. 4, 2024, a crowd gathered at Boulder’s historic Fox Theatre in the heart of the Hill for a concert featuring three local bands: Big Pinch, The Galentines and On the Dot.
As a line formed outside the door, inside, the band Big Pinch hung out underneath the stage, awaiting their performance. Will Cinnamond and Burke Parent, who both handle the guitar and vocals can be seen sitting across each other on the couch, practicing on their guitars. Next to them, bassist Andy Alexander and drummer Ari Epshtein, who also provided insights for this piece, converse.
It’s clear this is a comfortable environment for them and Boulder is no stranger to emerging artists. The city’s history as an epicenter of countercultural movements reflects its deep-rooted values in creativity, freedom and self-expression. This unique blend has made the city a haven for young artists.
Since its conversion to a concert hall in 1991, the Fox has been a cornerstone for both emerging and established acts. With its long-standing history as a premier live music venue, it has become a significant cultural landmark for not only Boulder musicians, but the city’s nightlife scene. Having already played ten shows at the Fox already, this night feels like any other for Big Pinch. As longtime bandmates and friends, they have been in the music scene together since 2020.
The early stages of Big Pinch coincided with Ephstein’s first moments at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“I met them coming into freshman year in 2020. Before I moved into my dorm, I posted on Craigslist looking for a place to play, practice. Will answered, and – I’ll never forget this – he was like ‘Yeah, I play music. You can play with us if you’re cool’. And I was like ‘Okay, I’ll try and be cool.’” Epshtein recounts. “He didn’t have a drum kit, so I played on the keyboard on the drum setting while he jammed on the guitar. I don’t even remember what we played. Afterwards he bought me pizza and beer and dropped me off. The next day, we bought a drum kit. Will paid for half and we kept it at his house.”
Interestingly, Epshtein and Cinnamond’s Craigslist connection wasn’t the only unconventional meeting in the band’s history.
“Will knew Burke because he posted on Reddit in 2020 looking for someone to play with and Will responded to that too,” Epshtein says.
Although brought together through modern methods, the band quickly encountered the timeless struggles faced by musicians everywhere.
“The first time we tried playing, we played for around 20 minutes and then Will’s neighbor knocks on the door and says, ‘I’m gonna call the police and get you evicted if you don’t stop playing,’” Epshtein recalls with a laugh.
Faced with this problem, the band relocated to the Hill, a lively student neighborhood where noise is just a regular part of daily life.
“We’d set it up outside of Burke’s house on the Hill in the backyard without asking anybody and just play. And people dug it,” Epshtein shares. “People would scream from across the place, ‘Yeahhh!’ or ‘Keep going!’ or sometimes they’d yell, ‘Shut the f*** up.’”
With the band playing an integral role in shaping Epshtein’s formative college experience, he reflects on the importance of his choices.
“I wanted to be in the band. That was one of my goals, coming to college,” he says.
His dedication unwavering, he drifted away from the traditional course of action on staying on campus for the entire year in order to progress his band.
“Second semester of freshman year, I didn’t move back into the dorms. Instead I moved into a house with three seniors,” Epshtein says. “When I was looking for houses, I was looking somewhere we could play. So I got this room with this huge basement and we played down there for the rest of that school year.”
However in 2020, the year COVID-19 broke out, life turned upside down. For a place as lively as Boulder, everything shut down and the college experience was deprived. But for Epshtein he saw the positive in a dire situation.
“It gave us a lot of time to be a band and figure things out. For a long time it was just us in a basement before we ever had to play for anybody,” he says.
Soon enough, the world began to return to normal, and Epshtein vividly recalls what life in Boulder was like during that time:
“We played our first show in the fall of 2021, right when things were opening up again. Parties and house shows started happening more, and there was a house called the Blue House — a punk house run by some Boulder students. They hosted touring bands, and I started going to shows there. As we began playing house shows, people started asking us to perform, and I met others in local bands. Soon, a small Boulder music scene emerged, and we became one of the main bands in that circle.
“Any show someone asked us to play, we’d do it – The Fox, the Battle of the Bands at the Glenn Miller Ballroom in the UMC, Club 156, Folsom Field. We played so much at Delta Sigma Phi, at one point we were playing there every other month. All my friends would bring their friends.
“Some bands would headline at The Fox, bands we’d never heard of, but they’d ask us to open. I realized that the reason these shows were packed was because the bands had frat connections — an automatic crowd who came just for something fun to do. We got to take advantage of that by opening for these bands, but it made me realize that we didn’t have that same built-in crowd. We didn’t have that resource, so it took longer for us to build our following. But the people we did reach liked us because of our sound.”
Epshtein reflects on the musical influences that shaped Big Pinch: “Modest Mouse was the first band I really got into. I remember finding their album ‘Building Nothing Out of Something’ on my mom’s iTunes, and the cover looked cool. When I listened, I became obsessed with it for a whole year. I got into all their other albums, watched their YouTube videos and saw them play live. I remember thinking the drummer was cool — I want to do that.”
The band’s distinctive sound stems from a variety of influences.
“Andy’s into ’90s nu-metal like Primus, Tool and 311. When I met Burke, we bonded over our love for The Strokes and similar bands like Neutral Milk Hotel. Will, who grew up in the New Jersey punk scene, draws a lot of influence from that,” Epshtein says.
As the band continues to evolve through their diverse influences, they’ve achieved several successes. For many emerging artists in Boulder, playing a show at the iconic Fox Theatre is a significant milestone – one that Big Pinch has reached multiple times. But just this summer, they hit another major milestone: their first West Coast tour.
“It was super fun to play back home,” Epshtein shares. “Having my high school homies come see me play drums for the first time was sick.”
While on the road, the band recorded tracks for their August 2024 album “Wave Goes On Forever” in California with producer Allen Moreno.
“My favorite song off the album is a tie between ‘Toad’ and ‘Fool’s Gold’. I love the guitar and my drumming on those tracks, and also the way we recorded them in the studio. The band’s favorite song is ‘Sand’ – it’s always a crowd favorite, and people love to sing along whenever we play it live.” Epshtein recounts.
Looking ahead, Big Pinch has announced another milestone — a Midwest tour starting off March 21.
“We’ll be going to Kansas City, Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison,” Epshtein announced, marking the band’s continued success.
When it’s their time to perform, Big Pinch takes the stage and sets up with ease. With many familiar faces in the crowd, the audience’s reaction is palpable. The relationship they have built with the crowd goes beyond musicians and listeners; the audience is a community that has nurtured the evolution of Big Pinch. For them, the Fox is not only a stage — it’s a home where they’ve leveled up their craft, made lasting friendships and, most importantly, forged a connection with the community.
Their comfort onstage allows them to confidently perform to a high standard, as Ephstein said: “It’s like waking up and getting out of bed – a habit.” The importance of this kind of environment is evident in how the lead singers showcase their personality and emotion when performing, captivating the audience. Their ease transcends over the venue and the crowd can be seen dancing along with one another, circles forming breaking out into mosh pits. Members can be seen laughing and smiling at one another as they headbang to the beat of ‘You Will Fall’.
Their performance paired by the energy of the crowd, perfectly encapsulates what nights at the Fox have been creating for the last 30 years: an unspoken bond between artist and audience. For these young musicians in beginning chapters of their career, it is clear the future is an exponential path full of endless possibilities. As they set their sights on crossing the country — playing in new cities, performing at new venues and connecting with new crowds — one thing remains certain: Boulder will always be home.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Enya Bayaraa at Enuun.Bayaraa@colorado.edu.
