Circle Jerks
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Any band that hammers along for 43 years should be praised. But for a hardcore outfit that first seethed \\u201cI don\\u2019t wanna live / To be thirty-four / I don\\u2019t wanna die / In a nuclear war\\u201d 42 years ago on their 1980 debut Group Sex, pushing on for over four decades is a bit of a miracle. The Circle Jerks should be honored with a skanking statue in their hometown of Hermosa Beach, California.
\\u201cIf you would\\u2019ve told me in my 20s that I\\u2019d be in a seminal hardcore-punk band in my 60s, I would\\u2019ve said \\u2018you\\u2019re fucking crazy, dude! I\\u2019m going to be dead by that time,\\u2019\\u201d jokes longtime Circle Jerks bassist Zander Schloss. \\u201cNow I say, live slow, die old!\\u201d
The Circle Jerks were formed in 1979 by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and ex-Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. (Hetson has also been a member of another seminal SoCal punk rock band, Bad Religion, from 1984-2013.) They were joined by bassist Roger Rogerson and drummer Lucky Lehrer. Group Sex is one of the most important albums in the first swell of hardcore. It\\u2019s worth noting that the 14-song collection was crammed into less than 16 minutes of tape. Tasmanian devil Morris raged his commentary on sex, drugs, politics, the rich, and even self-reflection. His bandmates redlined to keep up. Hetson\\u2019s swift, stabbing guitar parts pierced and slit through the slamming, double-time rhythmic pistons that were Lehrer and Rogerson.
Their 1982 follow-up, Wild in the Streets, contained five songs over two minutes long and three covers (\\u201cWild in the Streets,\\u201d \\u201cJust Like Me,\\u201d and \\u201cPut a Little Love in Your Heart\\u201d), but all 15 tunes were still laced together with the same frenetic guitar bursts and rambunctious rhythms of Group Sex. The last of their most-influential works was 1983\\u2019s Golden Shower of Hits, which alternated between short, melodic mayhem and slower-but-still-acerbic stompers. The next year saw the arrival of Schloss, who contributed heavily to the band\\u2019s final three studio releases: Wonderful (1985), VI (1987), and Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities (1995). While out in support of the latter, their major-label debut, the Circle Jerks imploded.
In subsequent years, Hetson focused on Bad Religion, started Punk Rock Karaoke, formed Black President, and built out his Hetson Sound studio. Schloss played guitar for Joe Strummer, drove the bass for the Weirdos, and even entertained on the silver screen, starting with the role of Kevin in Repo Man. While Morris battled health issues (he fell into diabetic comas in 2008 and 2013), he was able to get several projects off the ground and revisit old ones including Midget Handjob, Off!, and FLAG. The latter\\u2019s a Black Flag byproduct featuring former members bassist Chuck Dukowski, guitarist/vocalist Dez Cadena, and Bill Stevenson\\u2014who produced most of their 1980s catalog\\u2014on drums, plus Stevenson\\u2019s Descendents bandmate Stephen Egerton on guitar.
Before the current celebratory run marking the band\\u2019s first live shows in 11 years (and first full U.S. tour in 15), they announced drummer Joey Castillo (Queens of the Stone Age, Danzig, Eagles of Death Metal) would be propelling the Circle Jerks\\u2019 runaway train. And since the band\\u2019s core members are now all in their 60s, and the resolution of the ripping \\u201cLive Fast, Die Young\\u201d is yelled out at each show (\\u201cI don\\u2019t wanna live / To be fifty-seven / I\\u2019m living in hell / Is there a heaven?\\u201d), they\\u2019re well aware that according to...'