Circle Jerks

Formed in 1979 in the Hermosa Beach and Los Angeles area, Circle Jerks immediately became part of the first wave of Californian hardcore punk centered around Keith Morris, the former singer of Black Flag, and guitarist Greg Hetson, who later also played with Bad Religion. Circle Jerks developed a dry, fast and direct sound made up of very short songs, nervous riffs and tense vocals, with a strong sense of social satire and the absurd. The first album, Group Sex (1980), captured this aesthetic in about fifteen minutes, followed by Wild in the Streets (1982), Golden Shower of Hits (1983), Wonderful (1985), VI (1987) and Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities (1995), their most recent studio album to date. Through lineup changes, Circle Jerks remained connected to the Southern California punk scene and appeared in The Decline of Western Civilization as well as in Repo Man. After several splits and reunions, notably in the 1990s and 2000s, Circle Jerks returned to touring from 2019 centered on Keith Morris, Greg Hetson and Zander Schloss, with Joey Castillo on drums since 2021.