In recent years, when asked how he was feeling, Matt Bigland\u2019s default response was to shrug and say: \u201cI\u2019ve felt better.\u201d Those three small words hardly graze the surface of the trauma the Dinosaur Pile-Up frontman has endured. He became ill in 2019 with what was initially diagnosed as Crohn\u2019s disease, later corrected to ulcerative colitis. At one point, he suffered internal bleeding, and at another, he was covered in sores. His body changed in ways that made it unrecognisable, from rapid weight loss to what he calls \u201cmoon face\u201d \u2013 when the face becomes puffy and round owing to fat redistribution and fluid retention \u2013 as a side-effect of receiving a huge dose of steroids when doctors were unsure how to proceed.<\/p>\n
In February 2021 he admitted himself to hospital. \u201cI didn\u2019t have any power \u2013 physically and spiritually \u2013 and that was horrible,\u201d he says. \u201cI was super vulnerable. I didn\u2019t feel like me and I definitely didn\u2019t feel like the dude in the band that everyone knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wider world had no idea of this, particularly as Bigland was keeping off social media. Everyone still just knew him as the frontman of a beloved band known for tearing up large rooms with swaggering alt-rock that was big-hearted and tongue-in-cheek. Forming in Leeds in 2007, they had released four albums and done support slots for British rock heroes from Twin Atlantic to You Me At Six while garnering a loyal fanbase of their own.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Until he shared his story on social media in December 2024, some fans assumed the band had broken up. They hadn\u2019t released an album since 2019\u2019s Celebrity Mansions, and that was made after a tumultuous period when they were broke, burned out and had no label. Bigland was also trapped in what he describes as a toxic relationship. \u201cThat was such a pressurised kind of situation, and [it went on] for way too long as well,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m almost certain that the outcome of that was me getting sick.\u201d After his prolonged health difficulties, which also involved him shielding as Covid-19 took hold, he pondered quitting music, but: \u201cI had songs \u2026 I wanted to write more,\u201d he says. \u201cI love what we\u2019ve created as a band, and we have such an amazing community. It felt really sad to just throw that away.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he regained his strength, he and his bandmates regrouped to write a new album, naming it I\u2019ve Felt Better in honour of what he had survived. It bottles the feverishness of a man desperate to get back to what he loved, but Bigland says that above all, it had to be fun. \u201cI don\u2019t want to moan about all this stuff. There\u2019s some sadder, more introspective parts of the album, but there\u2019s also a lot of frustration I wanted to get out into super fun party songs. It was interesting trying to find a way to articulate my frustrations in a way that made people still want to headbang.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in one way, his life had become massively better. He connected with Brazilian punk singer Karen Dio online in 2020 and the pair quickly fell in love, speaking every day even when Bigland was struggling. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t hard,\u201d he says of sustaining their relationship. \u201cThe fourth time we spoke on the phone, I knew we were going to get married. It was so strange and so intense \u2013 that cliche of people being like, \u2018When you know, you know\u2019, but it was annoyingly true. Karen became the motivation. When I was in hospital, I was like, \u2018I\u2019ve got to just fucking figure this out and get out of here, because Karen\u2019s here.\u2019\u201d At his worst, he would look at a photo of an engagement ring on his phone. They eventually married in April 2022.<\/p>\n
\u2018I learned about resilience\u2019 \u2026 Bigland (left) with Dinosaur Pile-Up. Photograph: Tom Brooker<\/p>\n
There are still challenges ahead. Bigland will soon enter his most intensive period of touring since he became ill, both with Dinosaur Pile-Up and as a live guitarist for the band Dio. A significant chunk of his touring budget is saved for the expensive Chinese medicine that has proved the most effective way for him to manage his symptoms. \u201cWith autoimmune conditions, fatigue, stress and bad diet are all complete no-nos \u2013 yet that is what touring is,\u201d he says. \u201cI have to be really careful. I\u2019m going to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ego death he experienced in his hospital bed still rings true. There, no amount of music industry politics or Spotify listeners had any meaning. \u201cNothing actually matters. The only thing that matters is time with your loved ones. It\u2019s not status or hierarchy or what\u2019s cool or what\u2019s not or material items or anything like that. It\u2019s about time with the people you love,\u201d he says. \u201cI learned about resilience, and I was schooled in that pretty hard. Sometimes it\u2019s not about the biggest show of strength, or the most visible show of strength. It\u2019s about just quietly getting through something.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve Felt Better is released 22 August on Mascot Records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In recent years, when asked how he was feeling, Matt Bigland\u2019s default response was to shrug and say:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-80318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}