Riot Fest | Big Drill Car

Big Drill Car

Big Drill Car
Cruz'in Once Again
By: Bill Molloy
Originally Published: September 2008

To some punk rockers the name Big Drill Car may not mean too much, but to those who came of age in the late 1980s they were a shining beacon of light during a mostly forgettable era, bringing their uniquely technical and melodic punk to America. Soured by several lineup changes however, the group disbanded in 1995, not long after their biggest shows ever, opening for The Offspring. Vocalist Frank Daly comments "(we) kind of felt like we had a chemistry going among the original four guys. We felt like we kind of tinkered with the chemistry and it wasn't like it was, you know?"

But now in 2008, Big Drill Car is back with their original, classic lineup of Frank Daly, Mark Arnold, Bob Thomson and Danny Marcroft. Unfortunately it took a tragedy to re-ignite the group. After the untimely death of former M.I.A. vocalist and long-time friend Mike Conley, the guys in Big Drill Car decided to give it another go. Friends put on several benefit shows for Conley's family and Big Drill Car initially planned on playing one of them, but as Daly puts it "with our scheduling we weren't able to play at any of those scheduled events." He goes on to remark that "It's not for Mike, but because of Mike we had this jones to play; we wanted to do it again."

Spurred on by the memory of their lost friend, they booked several home town shows in Huntington Beach, California as well as the Los Angeles and San Diego dates of the Warped Tour. The timing of the shows also happened to coincide with a re-release of Big Drill Car's long out of print back catalogue on iTunes. The timing for a reunion was perfect.

Unlike most long inactive bands, the saga of Big Drill Car is refreshingly free of inter-band drama. According to Frank, "Nobody ever left the band on bad terms, you know? It was more like 'I think I'm going to do this now' and the rest of us were like 'Ok, that's cool, I guess we'll see ya around!'" He continues on to say "It wasn't a big blow out fight or anything; nobody was sleeping with anybody else's wife... We had remained friends so getting back together was as easy as making phone calls, there were no old fences to mend or anything."

With Daly living in Bloomington, Indiana and the rest of the group still residing in Southern California, coming across rehearsal time was tough. Frank resorted to singing along to his old tapes while driving around in order to get his timing and rhythm back while the other guys locked in together across the country. Daly estimates that he "...practiced with the guys for probably three hours, maybe four hours total" before the shows.

Despite the lack of proper rehearsal, Daly couldn't be happier with how the California shows went. Reflecting on the initial reunion shows, his voice jumps an octave while excitedly declaring that they were "totally unreal! I can't even put it into words it was so much fun again. You know, [playing] with these guys and to see all these old people, all the old faithful that used to come to the shows and stuff."

Big Drill Car's influence has reached a zenith point in the form of a new tribute album recently released on Itchy Korean Records. For what it's worth, Daly seemed impressed with the results. "I've gone through the tracks. I like some of the tracks a lot," he says. "There are some re-interpretations... that I would have never sensed happening but it's cool to hear what other people do with the stuff."

During their initial run, Big Drill Car made it to the Midwest a couple times with mostly unspectacular results. According to Daly "We played Chicago twice if I remember right... They weren't all that we'd hoped they'd be." With their impending and long awaited return, optimism reigns though. "I'm really looking forward to coming up and playing a show up in Chicago... hopefully these next shows will be pretty good."

Outside the world of punk rock, Daly has found satisfaction in his role as an X-Ray technician at Bloomington Hospital in Bloomington, Indiana. He sees it as an extension of his artistic work because, in his words, "Sometimes you can't do things that the book tells you and you have to think on the fly. Some of the views are kind of cool looking; you tend to take a cool picture every now and again."

Summarizing the legacy of his band, Daly muses "if Big Drill Car was ever anything, we were totally honest, you know? We just were what we were; if it wasn't fun we weren't going to do it any more."

May 2009 Update

Though the geographical distance between California and Indiana can be tough, the men of Big Drill Car are set to embark on a mini-tour of Southern California with their brothers in arms All this upcoming July. There is absolutely no excuse to miss those shows if you're within 500 miles; ask anybody that's seen BDC within the last year why. Trust us.