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One of the foundational hardcore bands to come out of the 1970s, Hermosa Beach's Circle Jerks birthed a new strain of punk rock by channeling the confrontational attitude of the Sex Pistols with the more physical elements of SoCal skater culture. In the many decades since their formation, Circle Jerks have inspired legions of follow-up acts, including Anti-Flag, Pennywise, the Offspring, Rancid, Green Day, Blink-182, and more.
Circle Jerks, originally called the Bedwetters, originally formed in 1979 in the Los Angeles metro area coastal city of Hermosa Beach. The initial lineup consisted of Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris, guitarist Greg Hetson, bassist Roger Rogerson, and drummer Lucky Lehrer. In the early days, the quartet recorded their 1980 debut album Group Sex, which featured 14 songs and totaled just slightly over 15 minutes. A few of the songs on Group Sex were tracks Morris had written while in Black Flag.
In 1981, Circle Jerks appeared in Penelope Spheeris' documentary about the L.A. punk-rock scene, The Decline of Western Civilization. The following year, Circle Jerks released their sophomore album, Wild in the Streets, which featured three cover songs: the title track, originally by Garland Jeffreys, "Just Like Me" (originally performed by Paul Revere & the Raiders), and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" by Jackie DeShannon.
In 1983, the band released their third album, Golden Shower of Hits. The next year, Circle Jerks' visibility increased with a cameo in Alex Cox's Repo Man, which featured the band playing an acoustic version of "When the Sh*t Hits the Fan." This version of Circle Jerks featured new members, including Black Flag's Chuck Biscuits on drums and Earl Liberty on bass. Zander Schloss and Keith Clark later replaced Biscuits and Liberty, and the revamped group released two more albums: Wonderful (1985) and VI (1987).
Circle Jerks disbanded in 1990 after Hetson left to join Bad Religion. Live recordings from their final tour were collected and placed together for the live album Gig (1992).
Circle Jerks reunited in 1994 and recorded Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities, which came out in June 1995. It featured a cover of the Soft Boys' "I Wanna Destroy You" with backing vocals from pop singer Debbie Gibson, who also performed with the band at CBGB.
The reunion was ultimately short-lived. Though they would perform together now and then in the late 1990s, the band's original bassist, Roger Rogerson, died of a drug overdose in 1996 at just 41. Morris also announced that he had been diagnosed with diabetes in 1999.
Still, Morris, Hetson, Schloss, and drummer Kevin Fitzgerald toured sporadically until 2011, playing their final show that year at the Bluebird Theater in Denver. In 2005, they released a live concert DVD, The Show Must Go Off!
Between 2011 and 2019, Circle Jerks were on hiatus due to internal conflict in the band. In 2019, however, it was announced that the band would reunite in 2020 for the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Group Sex. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to postpone and they instead reunited in 2021. That same year, Joey Castillo from Danzig and Queens of the Stone Age joined Circle Jerks on drums.
An anniversary tour is currently scheduled for 2022.
Encore
This show was opened by a local teen band called Never. I was very impressed with their talent...they played several original compositions and a phenomenal cover of rage against the machine. real up and comers. see them if you get the chance to, you wont be disappointed!
My second time seeing the Circle Jerks and it was better than the first. I had never heard 7 Seconds before and really liked them. The venue was really nice and much bigger than I thought it would be. SOOO much fun!!
The show went well from beginning with Ceremony, Municipal Waste, and 7 Seconds was amazing since they rarely play in Socal. But I was disappointed with Circle Jerks. For a majority of their time on stage lead singer Keith Morris spoke way too much during the set. It's at the beginning of their performance if the lead singer wants to talk about anything specific to rally up the crowd and maybe at some point midway during the set for a sort of "breather". But what I saw and a majority of the crowd saw was Keith talking after every single song. Not just for a few words but literally sometimes for 15 minutes ( I timed some of them when I started to get frustrated) including some of the good songs where almost to the end of the song he would cut the music and keep talking and then finish the song which is only 10 seconds left of it. I will not see Circle Jerks perform again unless a good band opens for them which I will leave before the "headliner" performs. 7 Seconds should have been the headliner for that night instead.
Municipal Waste was the best band of the night. they were very entertaining and made sure they included their fans. i enjoyed their enthusiasum and their songs. the Circle Jerks and other bands weren't as entertaining. i definitley recommend Municipal Waste even if you're not into thrash.
As usual they were good, what do you want for 15 bucks.
the hole show was crazy it was the best show ive been too i feel bad for anyone who missed it
In my opinion, this was one of the best shows that I've been to. The crowd was very rowdy and were enjoying the music! It was worth it!..etc
The circle jerks once again put on an amazing show. The opening bands could have been better but that is my only complaint.
