True story: I got into the Big Boys when I saw Félix Reyes of Los Angeles hardcore revivalists Lifes Halt wearing the “skate-anarchy” T-shirt. I needed to hear the band with the awesome shirt design and although I certainly wasn’t expecting the funk or the horn section, the fast skate punk songs reeled me in and eventually their entire catalog enamored me. After Lifes Halt broke up, I didn’t see much of Félix at shows anymore and it wasn’t until a few years later that I found out through a mutual acquaintance that he’d moved to Seattle. Even more years went by before Iron Lung records CEO Jensen Ward revealed to the world that he’d spotted Félix and he had some songs he’d been working on with a ragtag group of musicians in grunge city. The project was labeled “futuro,” Spanish for future, and now known as Big Crux. We Got a Jam compiles the band’s earliest material from their debut 7”, single-sided 12”EP, split 7” and a few compilation tracks. The Big Boys are certainly a jumping off point but you’ll want to dig a little deeper into the seven layer dip that is their sound. Yup, that’s some Plugz and Minutemen you’re tasting. Once you’re done savoring this appetizer you’re definitely ready for the Latin American flavors infused into the main course (or debut full length, if you will) that is their opus, the Ponchito LP. And yet, Big Crux we hardly knew ye: the band has recently called it quits. Some of us at Razorcake are fucking bummed. It’s like the time our favorite local lunch time Chinese food restaurant closed. It didn’t mean much to more than a handful of us. There was nothing we could do except lament and remember the deliciously good moments. B
–Juan Espinosa (Not Normal / B