Big boys

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Big boys
General information
origin Austin (United States)
Genre (s) Punk , hardcore , funk
founding 1979
resolution 1984
Founding members
singing
 Randy "Biscuit" Turner († 2015)
guitar
 Tim Kerr
bass
 Chris Gates
Drums
 Steve Collier
Last occupation
singing
 Randy Turner
guitar
 Tim Kerr
bass
 Chris Gates
Drums
 Rey Washam
former members
Drums
 Kevin Tubb (1979)
Drums
 Greg Murray
Drums
 Fred Schultz

Big Boys was an early hardcore band from Austin, USA . The band, which existed from 1979 to 1984, brought elements of funk into the rather conservative hardcore scene and thus anticipated funk metal .

history

The band was founded in 1979 by Randy "Biscuit" Turner (vocals), Tim Kerr (guitar) and Chris Gates (bass), who had known each other since childhood. This made the Big Boys one of the first hardcore bands in Texas. The drummers changed frequently. Since members of the band were active skaters and from March 1983 onwards they received several articles in Thrasher magazine, as well as on his Skate Rock! -Sampler are represented, the band is also classified as skatepunk . The manufacturer Zorlac Skateboards produced a skateboard with the Big Boys as a motif. The band saw themselves as a hardcore band and played at hardcore concerts, but were often offensive because of their funk elements. The band played regularly with the Dicks - both Big Boys frontman Turner and Dicks singer Gary Floyd were homosexual. One of the first releases of both bands was a jointly recorded live album. Turner's stage costumes - he often appeared in tutus and pink cowboy boots, sometimes in a suit made from sandwiches wrapped in cling film - made the Big Boys stand out from the other bands in Austin's emerging hardcore scene. The rest of the band also took part in stage costumes, for example the Big Boys appeared disguised as members of the Ku Klux Klan .

From 1982 the band began to integrate two trombones and a trumpet into their music. The wind section was led by Nathan Gates, the brother of bassist Chris Gates. The resulting sound moved further and further away from punk or hardcore and also changed the kind of bands with which the Big Boys performed together. One band that opened as the opening act for the Big Boys was, for example, the then unknown Red Hot Chili Peppers . During this time, too, the Big Boys benefited from having a large and loyal fan base in Austin because of their unusual shows. Ian MacKaye commented on a performance by his band Minor Threat in Austin, where the Big Boys acted as the opening act:

"The next band went on stage - the almighty Big Boys. I felt humilated, how could we play after this? The Big Boys pulled out of the stops. More enormous men, decorated in jump suits, food props, great songs, a horn section, 200 friends on stage singing and dancing ... We were fucked. "

“The next band took the stage - the almighty big boys. I felt humiliated, how could we play after them? The Big Boys pulled out all the stops. Lots of cupboards in tracksuits, groceries as show equipment, great songs, a brass section, 200 friends of those on stage singing and dancing ... We were screwed. "

The following year, Minor Threat appeared in Austin as the opening act for the Big Boys. After an extensive tour in 1984, tensions within the band increased. On September 23, 1984, the Big Boys played their last show at the Liberty Lunch in Austin as opening act for Samhain . In the 2010s, the band's albums were reissued.

After the band ended, singer Randy Turner was active as a writer on poetry slams and as an actor in theater performances. He died in 2005 of cirrhosis of the liver caused by an untreated hepatitis C infection . Guitarist Tim Kerr played in various bands of various genres and was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He has also exhibited internationally as a painter and worked as a library technician for the University of Texas . Bassist Chris Gates in 1987 guitarist of the hard rock - Supergroup Junkyard . After the Big Boys ended, Rey Washam played with Lard , Ministry , Rapeman , Scratch Acid and Tad, among others . Timothy Kopra , one of the band's trombonists, later became an astronaut.

Style and reception

The Big Boys were assigned to hardcore primarily because of their affiliation to the Texan scene and less because of their music. Together with JFA and Agent Orange , they are counted among the spearheads of the American hardcore skate scene. Musically, they presented punk rock music, which was based on hardcore in terms of speed and tempo changes, but contained clear funk elements due to its bass-heaviness and rhythm and anticipated funk metal. The band's music was often referred to as "Skate Rock" or announced on flyers as "Funk Punk". The Fanzine Rest Assured saw the band "far beyond the nooks and crannies of post-punk and the machinations of hardcore". Allmusic saw "angry, fast guitars and fat, funky backbeats ", with the "sexiness of the funky rhythm section falling behind the ultra-fast speed and the not so sexy beating". Editor John Dougan assessed that the "transition from Speedcore ranting to danceable Funk & Roll (was) rarely so eloquent" happened. Singer Turner's tight voice was reminiscent of the Undertones' early Feargal Sharkey ; the Austin Chronicle describes it as "melodic and bluesy howl that would remind you of (...) Janis Joplin (if she) gargled with whiskey and volcanic sand". The music journalist George Hurchalla stated that the Big Boys had primarily started as a funk band and were only later given the attribute "punk" and even later with the attribute "hardcore". The band was unique in the punk landscape of the United States because of its behavior, but acted as a bridge between different fractions of the scene within Austin and stood for the diversity of punk.

The weekly Phoenix New Times selected the 1980 split album by the band with the Dicks in their 2015 list of the “10 best skate punk records of all time”.

Discography

  • 1980: Frat Cars ( EP , Big Boys Records)
  • 1980: Recorded Live At Raul's Club ( split album with The Dicks , Rat Race Records)
  • 1981: Where's My Towel / Industry Standard (Wasted Talent Records)
  • 1982: Fun, Fun, Fun ... (EP, Moment Productions)
  • 1983: Lullabies Help The Brain Grow (Moment Productions)
  • 1985: No Matter How Long The Line Is At The Cafeteria, Theres Always A Seat! ( Enigma Records )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Big Boys . In: Thrasher . March 1983, p. 35.
  2. ↑ a b PhoenixNewTimes.com: The 10 Best Skate Punk Records of All Time. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  3. ↑ George Hurchalla: Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1989 . 2nd Edition. PM Press, Oakland 2016, ISBN 978-1-62963-113-4 , pp. 245 .
  4. ↑ a b AustinChronicle.com: Making Biscuit. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Al Kowalewski, Holly Duval Cornell: Big Boys . In: Flipside . No. 32, August 1982, p. 12.
  6. ↑ a b RestAssuredZine.com: Big Boys Doco "Looking Back It's Just Reflections". Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  7. ↑ George Hurchalla: Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1989 . 2nd Edition. PM Press, Oakland 2016, ISBN 978-1-62963-113-4 , pp. 239 .
  8. ↑ SoundOnSound.org: Shows. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  9. ^ Austin History Center: Tim Kerr Papers: An Inventory of the Collection. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  10. ↑ George Hurchalla: Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1989 . 2nd Edition. PM Press, Oakland 2016, ISBN 978-1-62963-113-4 , pp. 221 .
  11. ↑ George Hurchalla: Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1989 . 2nd Edition. PM Press, Oakland 2016, ISBN 978-1-62963-113-4 , pp. 108 .
  12. ↑ Allmusic.com: Big Boys: Biography. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  13. ↑ George Hurchalla: Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1989 . 2nd Edition. PM Press, Oakland 2016, ISBN 978-1-62963-113-4 , pp. 236 .