Negative Approach and Circle Jerks joined Descendents on their European tour, with the former on support and fronted by John Brannon, whose vocals consist of primal screaming and plenty of angst. They performed from their only studio album ‘Tied Down’ including favourites such as ‘Pressure’, ‘Evacuate’ and their single ‘Dead Stop’, with its tribal drumming, as well as the marching beats of ‘Live Your Life’. They were later joined on stage by guest Thurston Moore, who played guitar with them on ‘Genocide’ and ‘Nothing’, the former of which saw him perform an earth shattering noise introduction and the latter with humming, high pitched guitar feedback before Brannon broke into the lyrics.
The band also covered Sham 69’s ‘Borstal Breakout’.
Circle Jerks hail from the punk rock melting pot of Southern California, with Morris naming The Weirdos, The Alleycats, The Last, Black Flag, Redd Kross and LA’s Wasted Youth as some of the bands from the region. Formed of founding members Keith Morris (vocals) and Greg Hetson (guitar), along with Xander Schloss (bass) and new drummer Joey Castillo, the band went straight into the opening track on their 1980 debut album, ‘Group Sex’, with ‘Deny Everything’, which they followed by ‘Stars and Stripes’ which featured a guitar solo by Hetson. They then performed the band’s well known tracks from the same album, ‘Back Against the Wall’ and the clattering drums of ‘I Just Want Some Skank’, with the latter meshing into the dark riffs of ‘Beverly Hills’. Morris then issued a disclaimer about the band not spreading the word of the US government.
They moved onto the next block of tracks, this time from the band’s 1983 studio album, ‘Golden Shower of Hits’, playing songs that Morris co-wrote with Hetson, including ‘When the Shit Hits the Fan’, the dual layers of ‘Under the Gun’ as well as ‘Coup d’Etat’, with Morris’ trademark screaming vocals. They played their Garland Jeffreys cover of ‘Wild in the Streets’, taken from their second studio album of the same name, which Morris said was the closest to a ‘punk rock hit’ that they ever had and reminiscing about it receiving airplay on Southern California’s KROQ radio alongside Agent Orange, The Adolescents and Amoeba. Circle Jerks then returned to their debut album with early song, ‘Live Fast Die Young’. Morris shared some more hardcore history with the audience; growing up with bands such as The Germs, The Screamers, X, The Eyes, Controllers and Middle Class, he explained the origin of cover track ‘I, I & I’, which was co-written by The Flesh Eaters’ Chris Desjardins (Chris D.) and The Plugz’ Tito Larriva and features on Circle Jerks’ ‘Wonderful’ album. They also further into their later albums with ‘I Don’t’, written by Hetson and Schloss for the band’s 1987 ‘VI’ album.
Circle Jerks ended their set on more songs from ‘Group Sex’ including ‘World Up My Ass’, ‘Wasted’ and ‘Red Tape’ and the band’s cover of the Soft Boys’ ‘I Wanna Destroy You’.
15/03/25: Negative Approach + Circle Jerks @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London.
Photos © Ayisha Khan and © E. Gabriel Edvy/Blackswitch Labs.
© Ayisha Khan.