Moral Crux began it's infancy in 1983 with James joining up with guitar player Jeff Jenkins to kick things off. James was in a cover band that played Clash, Sex Pistols and New York Dolls covers prior to Moral Crux, and there was a split in direction when James wanted to do more original material while some of the other members wanted to become more commercially acceptable.
James quit that band and then met Jeff who played guitar and was into a lot of the same music. They got together, wrote some songs and a revolution was soon born. Along the way they added drummer Jody Kimmell and renowned bass player Justin Warren.
Thriving in the west coast underground scene, and being featured regularly in countless magazines of the time including "Maximum Rock n' Roll, Flipside, Music Connection and tons of other independent fanzines they soon became known as "pioneers" in their genre.
Moral Crux is often credited with bridging the gap between "anarcho-political punk" and "pop". They put out releases on a number of different labels such as Coldfront, CM, and Velvetone among others, and enjoyed a decade of underground success, and a wide and very diverse acceptance throughout the scene and broke genre barriers along the way.
It wasn't long before they caught the eye of former "Lookout Records" owner Larry Livermore, and frontman of "Screeching Weasel" Ben Weasel.
Larry Livermore took a cue from Ben Weasel after hearing the "Side Effects of Thinking" album, when he said"Someone better sign these guys quick, before they are huge"
They did and and started recording their first album for Lookout Records titled "Something More Dangerous" as well as re-issuing older material via the Lookout imprint "Panic Button".
Taking a clue from Lookout Records obvious financial woes, (and probably the piece of crap new owner), Moral Crux retired from the label, and took a break from the public as well, with the exception of occasional west coast shows, and various side projects also, including Scotts's band "Scatterbox" which has recently been making a big impression on both critics and fans.
Fast forward to 2007. Moral Crux has re-united with a near original lineup and released a double LP/cd of the legendary long out of print 1987 debut album and E-bay treasure entitled simply "Moral Crux".
Originally released on the relatively small Velvetone records, it recieved a complete remastering by good friend and renowned producer Mass Giorgini, and was released with 9 bonus tracks.
This reunion of sorts has been making quite a dent in the punk rock underground.
In early 2008 Moral Crux hit the road with label mates Teenage Rehab for a tour of the west coast which was very well recieved, and their first time on the road in 4 years!
Immediately upon their return, they got to work on releasing the vinyl version of "Pop Culture Assassins" which was remastered and resequenced with all the tracks originally intended (3 bonus tracks) and was forced to be repressed within a month of it's release!
The original album with it's piss poor distribution, and lack of promotion, was released by Panic Button/Lookout Records in 2004.To this day they have yet to see a penny of any royalties owed to them from the all but defunct label.
Word of mouth alone has spread like wildfire, and the hype of Moral Crux playing regularly once again with a near original lineup is making waves not only in the U.S, but overseas as well.
Moral Crux is currently in the studio recording for a 2009 release of all new material, as well as preparing for a re-recording of the album "Nothing But The Truth".
Moral Crux will be touring nationally in 2009 with labelmates Teenage Rehab, and The Nerve Scheme.
Jailhouse! Records has 2 cd releases in the bag right now, ready for 2008 and early 2009 release, as well as a remastered vinyl LP version of "I Was A Teenage Teenager".
Due to the increased interest in vinyl, and subsequent backed up pressing plants. The "I Was A Teenage Teenager" Release has been forced to be pushed up till at least January.
Keep an eye on this page for updates, shows, tour schedules release dates and more!
