If you don’t know, now you know.
Big Skinny is an independent pop/hip-hop band based in Austin, Texas. The primary members are vocalist Rayden Timple (known by his stage name, Kid Due), vocalist/musician Preston Ashby, and writer/producer Lance Lane. The band released their debut album, Sweet Spot, in collaboration with Studio 601 in October 2022.
Sweet Spot combines early ’70s funk/RnB instruments, old-school MPC drum tones, analog percussion, sub-bass synths, and an eclectic mix of song samples. Big Skinny jokingly refers to their sound as “hip-pop,” due to the often melodic nature of Timple’s rapping and Ashby’s compositional structures. The result is a rich, organic sound reminiscent of Blackalicious, Chance the Rapper, Lyrics Born, OutKast, Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest, and UGK.
Preston Ashby and Rayden Timple met on a pub crawl in Austin, Texas in 2017. They collaborated on several singles, which they released through Timple’s solo project, Kid Due, and Ashby’s rock trio, Foxi Moxi. In 2020 they officially formed a standalone project that would be called Big Skinny, and they started writing songs and creating demos. The duo linked up with producer and co-writer Lance Lane that same year.
Ashby and Timple have been performing together since 2018, but they played their first show as Big Skinny in March 2022 during the South by Southwest festival. They performed at the Paramount Theatre on New Year’s Eve 2022 as an opening act for Austin legend Bob Schneider. The group is already working on their next project, which they plan to release in 2023. For booking and all other inquiries, email info@bigskinny.band.
