The Big Boys was a pioneering punk rock band who are credited with having helped to create and introduce skate punk as a new style of music, which became popular in the 1980s. Based in Austin, Texas the band members were Randy 'Biscuit' Turner on vocals, Tim Kerr on guitar and Chris Gates on bass. Over the years the group played with four drummers in all; Steve Collier, Greg Murray, Fred Shultz and Rey Washam. The band also featured a horn section on some recordings and at many of their shows.
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The Big Boys was a pioneering punk rock band who are credited with having helped to create and introduce skate punk as a new style of music, which became popular in the 1980s. Based in Austin, Texas the band members were Randy 'Biscuit' Turner on vocals, Tim Kerr on guitar and Chris Gates on bass. Over the years the group played with four drummers in all; Steve Collier, Greg Murray, Fred Shultz and Rey Washam. The band also featured a horn section on some recordings and at many of their shows. The hardcore punk style, a development from the earlier punk sound, arose spontaneously in various cities, but in Austin it was represented by MDC, Big Boys and The Dicks. The bands often played with each other, and Big Boys and The Dicks released a split single and an LP, Live At Raul's, together. Big Boys shows were legendary, frequently involving food fights, 'Biscuit' in a tutu, or dress, and invitations to the audience to come up and sing along, which often occurred. At the end of early shows the band was famous for yelling, "OK y'all, go start your own band". The Big Boys are credited as well with the introduction of funk rhythms to hardcore, producing funkcore, an innovation influential on later bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were also one of the first bands involved in the skate punk scene, appearing in Thrasher skateboarding magazine and in Thrasher's videos, and had their own Big Boys skateboard. After a Bad Brains show in Austin that ended in controversy involving Biscuit (and later inspired the song "Pay to Come Along" by MDC), conflicts began to arise within the band, specifically between Biscuit and Chris. The Big Boys played their last show very unexpectedly. Biscuit and Chris never spoke to each other again. Tim Kerr went on to play with many bands, including Poison 13, Bad Mutha Goose, Monkeywrench, Jack O Fire, Lord High Fixers and, in 2004, The Total Sound Group. He has also been involved with the recording of bands. Chris Gates was also with Poison 13, Junkyard and Charter Bulldogs. Chris can currently be heard fronting Big Chris Gates and Gatesville, a southern fried country group based in Austin. Of their drummers, Rey Washam has played consistently with such groups as Jerry's Kids, Scratch Acid, and Ministry. Randy Turner has performed with The Slurpees, Cargo Cult, and Swine King, the latter band contributing the song "All Broke Down" to Outpunk Records' Outpunk Dance Party compilation. In 2004 the queercore band Limp Wrist released the song "Ode", a homage to Randy 'Biscuit' Turner and Gary Floyd of The Dicks as well as Joshua Plague of Mukilteo Fairies, as inspirational openly gay men in the hardcore punk scene. Big Boys were innovative in many ways and were influential in the direction music and music scenes would take in their wake. Randy Turner was found dead from Hepatitis C complications in his home on August 18, 2005.
