Friday, March 25, 2011

Big Box

Big Box is a grungy punk band from Iowa City. The band consists of A. Havlin on drums, G. Jackson on bass, A. Luksetich on guitar, and C. Samek saying shit into the mic. Each and every one of them is and has been in other bands in the Iowa City area that you should probably check out (The Tanks, Supersonic Piss, etc.), but that's not why we are gathered here today.




If I remember correctly, Big Box formed later in the Spring of or early in the Summer of 2010. When exactly it was really doesn't matter. What does matter is the crunchy, fuzzy and fucked tunes this band makes with a completely depraved vocals over it all. There's definitely an early Nirvana (and other Pacific Northwest bands) meets Black Flag vibe going on, with hints of black metal in the riffage. It's nasty, that's for sure, so you know G.G. is a big influence.

After playing through the Summer and into the Fall and developing their mean live set, the band procured the help of David Earl to help them record their self titled demo. In November of 2010, the band recorded 5 licentious tracks in the Hall Mall of downtown Iowa City and released them on tape on Sunday, January 23 at the Blue Moose Tap House with Aseethe and Enabler. All art created by Donnie Bandy.



Side A
1. Intro
2. Jerk Dreams
3. When It's Easy

Side B
1. Brat Mouth
2. Fuck To Me
5. $5 Gummy Bear

Click to download.


I'm sure Big Box has plans to play more shows and play more around the Midwest when the time comes, that time probably being this coming Summer. I mean, I'm not a mind reader or anything though, so don't take my word for it. If you're able to catch a show, do so, and make sure you headbang. Watch out for C. Samek's steel-toed boots, however.



If you wanted a physical copy of the tape, get in contact with A. Luksetich by emailing him at adamluksetich@gmail.com. There's only 100 copies, so if you wanted one, I'd pick up the pace. In the meantime, download and play air guitar when no one is looking.



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UPDATE
04/11/2012

Big Box has gone through quite a change. Adam Havlin left the band and yours truly, Joe Milik, took up the responsibility of playing drums. The first show with this new line-up was day two of the Firecrack 500 Festival at the Blue Moose in Iowa City in July of 2011. After playing a few more shows like this, I think maybe just two including one at 109 N. Dodge with god knows who, Andy Buch was added on second guitar. The addition of a second guitar player allowed for a much fuller sound as well as some pretty sick guitar soloing between the two guitars. It's sick, trust me, I have first hand experience.



We played some shows with this lineup, a memorably moshy one being with Night People's Lantern at the Breast Imagining Center, and wrote a ton of new songs that we went in to Flat Black Studios in January 2012 to record. The songs on this recording came out sounding a lot fuller and a lot harder than the demo, but of course it would with Mr. Luke Tweedy working his studio magic. Outside of a small internet release (or whatever you want to call it), this recording remains "unreleased", but I'm sure you're gonna see it on wax sometime in the near future. Thanks to Donnie Bandy, again, for the amazing art.



1. Disease Is Crawling
2. Cut Up
3. When It's Easy
4. Burn Victim
5. Eat Something
6. Camera Shy
7. Like Another Drink
8. Brat Mouth
9. $5 Gummy Bear
10. Stagger On, Leashed

Click to download.

Any big time $$$ label$$$ should get in contact about releasing this on waxx. adamluksetich AT gmail DOT com or eatapes AT gmail DOT com. Since this recording session, however, Andy moved back to Des Moines. Currently Big Box is working out who is going to play guitar in his place and working on playing some out of town shows in the near future. Deal.

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 UPDATE
1/21/2013

The "unreleased" Big Box LP finally came out on wax thanks to Radio Is Down records out of Olympia, Washington.  After multiple long and drawn out sessions where we tried to come up with a name for the record including "Fucked At The Dump", we finally settled on Die Now.  I'm really stoked on how it came out.  It's a perverted, dirty sounding record.  Music you should listen to while applying corpse paint then rubbing your face in the dirt covering a filthy basement floor.  It's tough, full of stompers and a few rippers, and I would mosh to this live if I wasn't in the band.  Donnie Bandy is responsible for the cover art and Joe Milik, me, did the art for the back cover.  You can pick it up from us at a show or from the label!


1. Disease Is Crawling
2. Cut Up
3. When It's Easy
4. Burn Victim
5. Eat Something
6. Camera Shy
7. Like Another Drink
8. Brat Mouth
9. $5 Gummy Bear
10. Stagger On, Leashed

Click to download.


We went on a two week midwest and top of the south tour in October in support of this LP.  Recently we have been writing new songs alongside playing local shows and may soon be releasing a tape on Hurts To Hear, although nothing is solid at this point in time.