Circle Jerks
The Circle Jerks formed in Los Angeles in 1980 by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and former Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. Roger (Dowding) Rogerson (bass) and Lucky Lehrer (drums) completed the line-up. That same year, after several club gigs all over the Los Angeles area, via Frontier Records, the quartet released one of America's first truly hardcore/punk albums--"Group Sex".
In 1980, an LP with such a title, featuring 14 blistering songs, yelling about angst, disgust, and defying authority, could only happen in a place like L.A.. What happened over in England, and was happening in New York City, was beginning to blossom in California as well. X, Fear, The Germs, Black Flag, and The Circle Jerks were kicking up an American revolution.
"Group Sex" sold admirably and made the band a major staple in what was going on. In 1981, a full length film was made documenting the L.A. scene. The film, ironically titled "Decline Of The Western Civilization" features live footage of the forementioned bands and is still considered a cult classic among the new punks of today.
Their second album "Wild In The Streets", was released in 1982 on The Polices' manager Miles Copeland's Faulty label. The title track, a cover version of a Garland Jefferies' tune, became a trademark for the band over the years to come. Between that and the closing track, a medly of two more cover songs, were twelve original tracks, mostly all lyricaly apposing popular political views.
Around this time The Circle Jerks had become a favorite among L.A. underground radio show Rodney On The ROQ. Their songs were played on Rodney's show regularly. The title track of the second album was featured on the first Rodney On The ROQ compilation album, along with several other punk compilations such as Let Them Eat Jelly Beans, and Rat Music For Rat People (all three now considered collectors items). The bands live set was also filmed for another punk scene documentary entitled "The Slog Movie"
In 1983 the band recorded "Golden Shower Of Hits". The album was released on Rhino Records and sales far surpassed those of the previous album. Lyrically, the songs didn't stray too far from the political views on "Wild", and two songs in particular (Coup D'etat and When The Shit Hit's The Fan) would later landed the Band on the set of a major motion picture starring Emilio Estevez.
Prior to the Golden shower of Hits tour the Circle Jerks added their newest members. Hard driving drummer Chuck Bistcuits (DOA, Black Flag, later Danzig and Social Distortion). Bassist Earl Liberty (Saccharine Trust) was recruited by Kieth over a beer at a Bangs concert in Hollywood. Rodger Rodgerson moved from bass to guitar. This new lineup debuted in LA and rocked the house giving The Jerks a huge sound and renewed driving energy with Biscuits leading the rhythm section.
But this new lineup would only last a few weeks when after only four gigs into a three month North American tour, Rodger left the band and flew home without a word leaving Kieth, Greg, Chuck and Earl to finish off the tour. Wounded, but not broken, the band powered through the tour.
Returning from three months on the road the band returned and rerecord two "unplugged" songs for the film, "Repo Man." Repo Man was about....well....a repo man, who had a harsh punk rock attitude. The two songs were used in the film, and one scene including the band onstage in a dingy bar wearing sequence tuxedo jackets and playing a slow cocktail lounge version of "When the Shit Hits the Fan".
This lineup lasted through many local gigs and another three month North American Tour which almost ended in tragedy. After playing their last gig in Houston the band was traveling home less one member (Greg) who opted to fly home. That ended up being a blessing in disguise. While in the early morning, near Midland Texas, the bands Van hit black ice and skidded off the road, tumbling over an embankment. The Van (which was brand new and rented) ended up on it's roof. All members made it out safely with only minor injuries. Surely, had Greg opted to ride with the rest of the band, someone would have been killed �The passenger side roof smashed all the way into the seat. Soon after this tour Earl Liberty announced he was leaving the band and played his last gig at Perkins Palace in Pasadena in the spring of 1984.
Zander Schloss (Estevezs' co-star in the film, Repo Man) was an accomplished musician and had caught wind that The Circle Jerks were in need of yet another new bassist. Zander was taken in as the new bassist and drummer Keith Clark came in to replace Biscuits. By 1985, The Circle Jerks were signed to Combat Records, a heavy-weight label back then, and "Wonderful" was released.
"Wonderful" was a bit of a shock to some of the old school hardcore crowd. The band slowed down their songs and dropped the political backdrop. This time they relied more on humorous and sarcastic observations about the world and the music business. They poked fun at the metal uprising of the eighties, and they mocked the religious fanatics.
Although they might have thrown some of the hardcores for a loop with the latest album, they obviously won over a new crowd. Once they hit the road in support of "Wonderful" it became obvious that punk rock had rooted itself all over America and was only getting bigger. They played too much, much bigger crowds and record sales were climbing higher than they'd ever expected. The Circle Jerks logo (skanker kid) was all over the place.
In 1986 the band was on soundtracks for two major motion pictures. Th first was a skateboarder movie called "Thrasher", which was a box office bomb. The second was "Sid And Nancy", the story of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious and his junkie girlfriend Nancy Spungeon. "Sid And Nancy" was a box office smash and Keith Morris even got to do a cameo (look for him in the jail cell scene).
1987 was most the most successful year ever. The band did a three week stint in Europe to standing room only crowds, and released a new album simply titled VI (Six). VI was released on Relativity Records and was the bands most defined effort yet. The new album was well received by fans, new and old alike.
There were at least three entire U.S. concert tours in support of the album over the next few years, covering every major city in the United States. The crowds were bigger than ever, and the Jerks name carried enough weight to take along such well known acts as 7 Seconds, Dag Nasty, and Necros as their warm-up band.
They celebrated their 10 year mark in 1990 with their biggest and most successful tour to date. The rigorous touring kept the band out of the studio entirely for the longest period of time ever, and nothing new was released until 1992 when Relativity released GIG, an eighteen song live album recorded on the bands last tour.
Gig included tracks taken from shows in California and Tijuana, Mexico, which was rumored to be the last ever Circle Jerks live performance. The Tijuana show was also filmed using several cameras and bootleg copies have been found by die-hard fans. The original footage has yet to have seen the light of day on the commercial market though.
After the live release the group went their separate ways. Keith Morris left sunny California and moved around a bit on the East coast. Soaking up a different atmosphere, Morris live in North Carolina and Virginia, then eventually settle for a while in Boston.
Greg Hetson focused his time solely to his other band Bad Religion. BR had a very demanding schedule anyway, so this gave them an opportunity to tour much more and since then, their success has surpassed that of his former band in large leaps.
Zander Schloss focused his new found time on film scores and became very high in demand as a session guitarist.
Keith Clark mostly moved away from the music business and started his own accounting firm.
Although the band mates kept in contact over the years, it wasn't until 1994 that Keith Morris, still in Boston, was inspired to give Greg a ring with a proposal to get it all back together. The time apart made them realize that here were too many places they wanted to see together, and they weren't quite ready to throw in the towel just yet.
The big commercial success of punk/indie music brought on by bands like Nirvana and Green Day had the major labels desparatley searching for something that would blow th lid off of everything. It was this that lead Polygram/Mercury Records to the possible Circle Jerks reunion album. The contracts were signed and before anyone even knew it, after nearly eight years, the band was in the studio laying down tracks for the long awaited new release.
Purely by bizarre coinsidence, former teen star Debbie Gibson was in the same studio and was cool enough to lay down some backing vocals for the Jerks for a cover tune of the Soft Boys' "I Wanna Destroy You". The bands first ever promtional video was eventually shot for this song, and can be seen on a Hopless Records video compilation called Cinema Beer Goggles.
So it was 1995 that Oddities, Abnormalities, and Curiosities was released. Twelve brand new songs ranging from fast, heavy upbeat rockers to midtempo, catchy melodic tunes. The bands first ever 7 inch single featuring two songs (Teenage Electric and Fable) was also released along with the album. The response to the new Circle Jerks was mixed among old school die hards, but the sales were respectable and the live shows were still mind blowing.
Following the albums release, the guys were geared up for a reunion tour. Four weeks into the tour, while in the midwest, tension mounted between band members and resulted in the cancellation of the remaining dates. After the tour the band memebers went there separate ways with no plans of working together again.
Four years later, in 1999, Keith Morris' body decided to take him for the ride of his life. His energy seemed to have disappeared completely, and his immune system didn't seem to be fighting off illness. In the end, he was diagnosed with Adult Onset Diabetes. The Diabetes made it difficult for Morris to work as the medical bills piled up. With no helath insurance there seemed to be no escape from the dreaded bill collectors.
As word spread of Morris' illness, the music community in the Los Angeles area came together for several benefit concerts to aid the singer in his financial hardship. As word spread outside the state of California, a young independent record label in midwest USA started work on a project to assist the singer as well. It was a compilation album of artists covering Circle Jerks songs and giving the majority of the proceeds to Morris. A tribute to the Circle Jerks.
Keith's new project, Midget Handjob, released their debut full legnth about this time. The bands unusual musical approach was an unexpected shock to Circle Jerks fans, as it was so new and hard to describe. It resemebled more of a retarded jazzy lounge act, than the energetic instances from his past. Greg and Bad Religion were making punk rock history, Zander was all over the place, and Keith Clark was running his own business (still is) that had nothing at all to do with music.
Would they ever play again as The Circle Jerks? There was no way of telling at that point. Then on May 17th of the year 2001, the band dropped a nuclear bomb onto the punk rock scene, when they played (less one Keith Clark) an almost unannounced show at The Key Club in Los Angeles. They were back! People stood in awe as the band played a 30 minute set that sounded as if the 6 year gap never took
place.
Three months later, after several warm up gigs in the Los Angeles area, Circle Jerks hit the road for a month long U.S. tour. No new record, no label support, just four guys doing what they do best. The crowds were even more receptive than they were in 1995, and the band seems to be back at it in full force. Now the remainder of the year 2001 awaits the release of the Tribute compilation on which some of the biggest acts in music are contributing, as well as at least a few more Circle Jerks tours. Hopefully!