BIO Below each trudging riff and well beyond the dense ashes of the low-end, a grinding melody appears — the core essence of Big Jesus. This draped out wall of sinister melodrama wasn’t constructed over night. As Atlanta, GA’s renowned Irreversible seemed to be embracing a temporary close, former bassist C.J. Ridings was stretching into a new solo studio project. A rough demo of the track “Black Flies” with Ridings playing all instruments became the currency to expand the vision “When I heard that riff, my brain already started working on the melody,” vocalist/guitarist Spencer Ussery said of the first time he heard the rough-cut song. Along with Ussery, drummer Zach Richards joined the fold making Big Jesus a trio of former Irreversible members. As writing continued, the thick chords and complexity made it clear more volume and more members were needed, leading guitarist Josh Hunter and O’Brother guitarist Johnny Dang to matriculate in. The pace of writing and recording their self-titled debut EP was one of leisure. The few days of writing would yield a four-month break, a chance to step away before ideas became clutter. The band recorded at Southern Tracks (Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam) utilizing free time Ridings, a producer and engineer himself, had while working there. Two hours of freedom appeared one day and three hours another day, a process that continued until the studio closed its doors for good, leaving the vocals to be captured in a small cabin. Inescapably the influential tide below Big Jesus is one of ’90s rock and the ethos of sludge it bore, but the band does not imitate the sound of their youth. One EP down and another in the works the grandiose experiment continues.