The big ass interview with Abel of Big Ass Truck, Ishiki, and Baori.

Big Ass Truck is an Inland Empire hardcore band formed in 2023. We caught up with front man Abel in Rancho Cucamonga, CA at the VFW in November 2024.

 

ECZ: What is your name and what do you do in the band?

ABEL: My name is Abel from Big Ass Truck, I scream at people in the band about trucks and dogs and beer and all kinds of cool stuff.

ECZ: How did the name Big Ass Truck come about?

ABEL: Big Ass Truck was made as we were on tour with our other bands last year. It’s 2024 so if you’re hearing this in the future, here it is…The year was 2023 when we were on tour with our other bands; my drummer’s band God Awful, and my other band called Ishiki, was on tour with our guitarist Jacob’s other band, Muerte Buena. We were driving past Oxnard and it was just flat lands and there’s just semi trucks coming past us and we were listening to beatdown being stupid and all that stuff. I was like, somebody’s got to make a beatdown band called Big Ass Truck!. The joke spread across throughout the touring party and it just snowball affected into this big joke band and now we take it super serious and we love playing shows!

We discovered Big Ass Truck and discussed in detail the show that put them on our radar (a video from 197 Media on YouTube), a show they played back in August 2024 at a wall to wall packed dining area at a pizza place in San Clemente, CA. Abel summarized how appreciative the kids were to have their band play there and how grateful they were to have hardcore back in that area. Before this show, it had been years since we had heard of hardcore shows happening in south Orange County. When we asked Abel how the reaction was he stated, “We played a show at a pizza spot called “Stuft Pizza” in south Orange County. When we showed up five people pulled me aside and were like, “You’re Big Ass Truck!”. I was like yeah! And they said “Thank you so much for doing this, we haven’t had hardcore in this area in forever.” We were just playing a show, but we’re more than happy to help! And lastly while discussing the show, we asked if they got any free food but was told only free water was provided while both sharing a laugh.

ECZ: What’s something memorable that you can recall from a show or touring in general?

ABEL: It’s kind of a weird story that involves some chick fangirling. We just got off an 11 day tour and we played at The Shredder in Boise, ID. We were getting on stage setting up, and this girl comes to the front of the stage. She’s there the whole set. She had bright colored blue hair and she’s screaming the entire set. Towards the middle of our set, we play our song From the Grave, and right before it goes on I’m saying, Hey, this is a new one. And she yells, “I’ve been waiting for you!” And I was like, what?! She goes “I’ve been waiting for you!”. I was on the mic and everyone was watching. I was like you, you specifically have been waiting for us? She’s like, “Yeah!” I said Alright, this next song goes out to her! and we played the song. After the set, she comes up and in front of about 100 people says, “I was telling my boyfriend you’re my Mexican daddy!” And we’re in the middle of tearing down and it’s just silent.

Transitioning from unexpected passionate moments at shows, the discussion shifts to the significance and importance of the IE. Abel shares his background being born in Fontana, moving around across the states due to his father being in the Navy, which he expressed led him joining the military as well from 2015-2022. He continuously kept in touch with friends, bands, the scene in general, and mentioned that if the pandemic didn’t occur, he would have had a full time career outside of music that would be unfulfilling.

ECZ: What does the IE mean to you?

ABEL : As cliché as it feels to say the IE is home! It’s family, it’s home. It’s where my best memories are. I’m glad I’m back here supporting the Inland Empire scene again. Throwing shows and bringing the name around the world like Big Ass Truck has given me a platform to show people what the Inland Empire is. I mean, the first lyrics we ever wrote were “Baker’s, Stater’s and McDonald’s straight out of the Inland Empire”.

ECZ: Speaking of Baker’s, what is your go to order?

ABEL: It used to be the mama meal with the burrito, but for the past two and a half years I’ve been going and just getting the ground beef burrito and loading it with sour cream, cheese and lettuce. I don’t know it just does it for me. I love ground beef even though it makes me feel like a dog it’s so good lol. It gives me the same feeling as corned beef hash does. I feel like an animal. I feel like somebody just throws it in my bowl and I’m just eating it. Honestly it’s super simple, I have two or three things and that’s it.

ECZ: Baker’s and the IE intertwine, what do you think the IE scene is missing? What is going to distinguish and set our scene apart for the future?

ABEL: A venue owned by somebody that is in the scene full time. We have, obviously, we’re doing this in the VFW right now. The VFW is amazing. I myself am a veteran so I see all the workers that work, that do all this stuff. They obviously care about it a ton and they take good care of it. I mean, if we can get a spot similar to this that’s not under somebody else that doesn’t entirely get what the scene is about. Because it’s the Inland Empire, we move left and right. If we lose a venue, we’ll get one back in three months or something like that. We move like crazy. But if we can get a venue that’s controlled by somebody that knows how it works, that knows that if somebody gets hit in the face it’s not an assault, it’s consensual violence. As weird as that sounds to the layman, it’s consensual violence. You get hit, you know what you signed up for. There’s an unwritten contract that everybody signs going into the door of a hardcore show. We just need a spot that has that handled off the bat.

ECZ: I agree 100 percent. Last questions, what is your advice to a person that is out in the crowd that looks up to you and your band? A person who is experiencing our scene for the first time, what would be your one piece of advice for them to get actively involved and be a part of the hardcore community?

ABEL: Learn an instrument, preferably drums, because we’re lacking on that Jesus Christ, there’s three drummers in IE that support all 50 bands lol. Talk to people, don’t be scared. Every single person I’ve ever talked to in the scene has come up to me, they’ve either been scared or they’ve been cordial. It’s mostly cordial and everyone understands that. It’s a community, and everyone at shows are meant to either be listening to music and/or socializing. So it’s a social aspect. You’re literally in a hub of people, of conversations, and everyone has something in common- they like music. I’ve literally met people at a show that I’ve talked to for an hour straight, just about bands. Now I know them for the rest of my life. So talking to people I’d say that’s more important like up there with moshing for the bands. Showing support is unique, yeah, because it’s what keeps things driving. It’s like Andres, he’s the reason he’s gotten 5.7 booking to where it’s at is because he talks. He makes friends, and those friends have a coexistence thing in their scenes. He’s friends with people from LA to San Diego. He helps tours that come through because he talks to the people that he knows.

It was a pleasure seeing Big Ass Truck at FTC 2024 representing IEHC on the main stage and completely crushing it! We’re looking forward to their next show with Gridiron in Downtown LA https://www.ticketweb.com/event/gridiron-big-ass-truck-mongrel-the-paramount-tickets/14042203?pl=SOSPL , and last but not least, we’re excited to see them perform at Welcome to Rockville festival at the Daytona International Speedway in May 2025! 

Support Big Ass Truck on: IG:http://instagram.com/bigassmftruck X:http://x.com/bigahhtruck  

 

*Disclaimer: All text copyright El Corazón Zine 2024. Do not duplicate without expressed permission and fair use*