A long-overdue tribute record to one of the most prolific punk bands of our time. The Big Boys mean a whole lot to a whole lot of people and reading the introductions submitted from nearly every band gives you even more insight into just how powerful their music is even after all these years since their inactivity and the untimely passing of vocalist Randy “Biscuit” Turner. I’d like to start off by complimenting the astonishingly beautiful album artwork courtesy of Big Boys guitarist Tim Kerr. This particular copy is one of the limited versions with spray paint stenciled art and on coke bottle-colored vinyl. The album as a whole is completely listenable from start to finish without a single disappointing / mangling moment to be heard. Toys That Kill lead off the festivities and give “Nervous” a shot in the arm with their off-kilter San Pedro style stomp. Night Birds swoop down from Jersey and super-charge their version of “Wise Up.” Mind Spiders update the television viewing audiences’ favorites while adding some weirdo synth into their rendition of “TV.” Other personal favorites include, but are not limited to, Spokenest, Drunk Injuns, Tight Lips, The Nervous, Low Culture, and Riverboat Gamblers with their superb take on perhaps the most beautifully melancholy Big Boys song “Sound on Sound.” Gary Floyd (The Dicks frontman, longtime friend, and co-performer) provides some touching and heartfelt words for Biscuit and for the Big Boys, in general as a band, whose time and place happenstance simply cannot and will not be replicated. Their existence as a live act is something that very few fortunate souls can vividly recall. For the rest of us, there’s stories and online video footage to keep us happy and now there’s also this record to remind us that we’re all in this together and in great company as fans, admirers, and artists. Fun, fun, and more fucking fun! Biscuit would be proud.
–Juan Espinosa (Stiff Hombre)