For Dallas Band Little Image, It's All About the Big Picture

Little Image stylizes its name as "little image," but the group's second album is all caps: SELF TITLED comes out May 12, and the alternative rock band’s mission is all in the name.

“The people that come to our shows are the big picture for us, and we are just the smaller portion of that," says the band’s vocalist/guitarist Jackson Simmons. "We want everyone to feel welcome, feel loved wherever they are in life.”

Simmons met drummer Troy Bruner and Brandon Walters, who plays bass and synth, in high school, where they first formed a band.

"It was just kids playing music," Bruner says. "Jackson’s sister was singing with us all the time. We just enjoyed jamming together.”

Back then, they were listening to bands like Lydia and From Indian Lakes — for whom they later opened — along with a few other bands.

“We were the first band of four," Bruner says of the lineup. "It was the best day of our lives.”

From their first performance at J&Js Pizza in Denton Square to their first headlining shows at Three Links and Prophet Bar in Deep Ellum — where the other bands performing filled most of the seats — the group worked hard to get to each next level.

“From an early time even, it felt like we were doing something unique,” Bruner says.

While in high school, the group released their first album, Musings, a 10-track album that encapsulates the alternative pop rock sound they cultivated in their early days.

The group was offered a record deal by the time each member had turned 18, but at the last minute they turned it down. They're vague about their reasons for doing this, except to say that the deal wasn't in line with their artistic vision.

“We were really young," Bruner says. "[It’s the] first amount of money offered to you, and you are like this is insane, we’re huge, this is awesome. Really, though, [you should] take a step back and appreciate your art and your talent a little more than what is put in front of you.”

In lieu of a great financial opportunity, the band members learned an invaluable lesson.

“We chose at that point that, no matter what happens, we are going to stick together with what we think we can do with this thing," Walters says. "We are not going to change anything musically based on what somebody else thinks.”

The trio emphasizes the importance of mentors in this type of turning point. They had Jeremy Lutito, who reminded them to let music be the driver of all of their decisions. Lutito is now one of the producers on their forthcoming album SELF TITLED, along with Chad Copelin, whose roster includes Third Eye Blind, Sufjan Stevens and 5 Seconds of Summer.

Before the album writing could even begin, however, the band members were due to take a step back and reflect on their collective identity, which the pandemic surely allotted time for. Ultimately, the global crisis prevented the band from announcing itself to the world without a sense of artistic selfhood.

“We had been through a lot together," Simmons says. "We had gone on this writing trip together, and it was the first time that we were like, 'We are going to do this, and it is going to be the three of us, and it is going to be really special.'”

SELF TITLED includes previously released songs “Ballet,” “Out of My Mind,” “Blue,” “Lungs Burn,” “Worth It,” and “Ego.” Through the sequence of 13 songs, the artists wrestle with self-doubt and love while traversing a diverse sonic landscape. From acoustic guitar arpeggios to danceable synth lines, what we know so far from the album proves an impressive reemergence for little image.

The trio offer an impassioned visual landscape as well — a world for fans to move through as they listen to the music.

“We want the music to drive everything, it can always speak for itself," Bruner says, "but the world you create offers a place for people to live in, think, dream, hurt and cry, ask questions, and feel like themselves. That transfers over to the music videos and tour as well.”

little image has crafted a careful, sharp aesthetic. The three music videos released in the past four months (for "Ballet," "Out of My Mind" and "Blue") push their music forward, whether through dimly lit silhouettes of a dancer on a simple set or elaborate, coordinated scenery with frantic cutaways.
"It was pretty seamless to decide that we were going to make this something people could attach themselves to," Bruner says.

Opening for indie rock band Colony House, little image is taking these songs on the road on a U.S. tour.

“Shows are what all the writing and hard work in the studio boils down to," Simmons says. "Being in a room with people is a very vulnerable place to share your music, but it is also a very freeing place to share with people."

Walters agrees.

“It’s the heart of hospitality," he says. "If we get to be on stage, we want to share that with everybody else. It’s what the name means. It is all about the sound and the music and everybody feeling the same things in a safe place to feel them.”

little image also opened for Panic! At The Disco last October. They’ve taken two vans on tour with them and made a bunch of memories along the way — such as the night in Louisville, Kentucky, when Simmons accidentally broke the group’s laptop while getting up on the drum set to close out a song.

“I’ve done it a hundred times and I fell very violently … on top of Troy, on top of the drums," he says with a laugh. "And I broke the laptop.”

Walters holds up the laptop to show how it now displays a blank screen and a few vertical neon lines.

The trio teased a possible special show — potentially in Dallas — to announce the album and let people experience it together once it is released in May. The tour closes early April in Colorado, and little image will play Dallas' House of Blues on Saturday, March 25. Tickets starting at $28 are available through Live Nation.

The three musicians love the feeling of playing in their hometown.

“There is just something about your hometown,” Bruner says.

“Every time we play Dallas, somehow people always show up and know our music. We are always so stoked," Walters adds. "We are so excited about the album and to go back [to Dallas].”