| Cruzados | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Genres | Rock, Chicano rock |
| Years active | 1984–1988 |
| Labels | Arista |
| Associated acts | The Plugz, Tito & Tarantula, The JuJu Hounds, The Psychotic Aztecs |
| Past members | |
| Tito Larriva Chalo Quintana Steven Hufsteter Marshall Rohner Tony Marsico |
|
The Cruzados were a 1980s rock band from Los Angeles, California. The Cruzados evolved out of the punk band The Plugz; Tito Larriva, Steven Hufsteter, Chalo Quintana and Tony Marsico.
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The Cruzados were formed in 1984 by the 3rd incarnation of the Plugz, members Tito Larriva, Steven Hufsteter, Chalo Quintana and Tony Marsico. They were picked as "the next big thing" by both their musical peers and music critics, they received praise from the likes of Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, David Byrne, Brian Setzer, and Billy Joel. The Cruzados would record three albums for Arista Records but only two would be released, Cruzados and After Dark[1]., the group disbanded in 1990. The Cruzados also performed the song Don't Throw Stones at the beginning of the 1989 movie Roadhouse.
The band's self-titled album was released in 1985.
Following the release of the Cruzados, Hufsteter left the band. He was replaced by Dino's Revenge guitarist Marshall Rohner[2], who would record on the second album After Dark, released in 1987.
The band recorded one more album for Arista records that was never released (no title).The Cruzados went through many line up changes but the band finally fizzled out by 1990. Little is known about the reasons why they split up, but Larriva says,
"The Cruzados started at the tail end of the punk scene, the way I see it, we were punk rockers at heart and in true punk rock fashion we said fuck you to the punk establishment because for us it was over. We changed our name from Plugz to the Cruzados and went in a totally different musical direction. I felt we were on to something but like most bands in the mid 80's, coke and too much fun cut the ride short".
After the band broke up, Larriva started his current band Tito & Tarantula Known for their appearance in the 1995 cult classic "From Dusk Till Dawn" written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriquez From Dusk Till Dawn soundtrack.[3]
Steven Hufsteter went on to form his own band in 1985 called Shrine which was the reason he left the Cruzados. He recently started playing with Tito again in Tito & Tarantula.
In 1991, Quintana became the drummer for Izzy Stradlin & the JuJu Hounds and is currently the drummer for Social Distortion and Mike Ness's solo touring band. Marsico became bassist for Matthew Sweet in 1993 until present and recorded sessions with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey and Marianne Faithfull, among others, Rohner became a guitarist for the band T.S.O.L. but died in October 2005 of AIDS-related causes.
Jenny Morris included a cover of the Cruzados song Rising Sun on her 1987 album, Body and Soul.
| 1984-1987 Original line-up |
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|---|---|
| 1987-1988 Members at the dissolution of the band |
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Jimmy Amason - lead guitar
| Title | Year | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Cruzados | 1985 | Studio album |
| After Dark | 1987 | Studio album |
| Mexico and Mariachis: Music from and Inspired by Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi Trilogy | 2004 | Various artists compilation album, features "Flor De Mal" and "Just Like Roses" |