DESCENDENTS & CIRCLE JERKS | THE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
DESCENDENTS
The North American Tour
February 28, 2024 by Jed Gammon
Legendary punk bands Descendents and Circle Jerks have joined together for a co-headlining tour with Adolescents over the next few months. This means we can look forward to three incredible punk bands heading our way.
The Hermosa punk legends have been killing it for over four decades. They hit it big with their debut album “Group Sex.”
With this tour, they are taking their influential music on the road with original lead singer and original guitarists Keith Morris and Greg Hetson, long time bassist Zander Schloss, and Joey Castillo on drums.
Despite only having released six studio albums – plus an occasional individual song during their sonic journey, the band’s popularity has always been strong worldwide. Songs like “Live Fat Die Young,” has always been a motto for the punk movement, reason # 101 that their music has endeared them to their fans
“Group Sex” remains a staple album in the punk genre. Like many of their songs on subsequent albums, including “Wild in the Streets” and “Golden Shower of Hits,” the songs hit hard, hit early, and hit often.
Releasing five albums in their first seven years, the band had continued success and delivered their signature sound to their fans, while over time mixing in more metal tones. As evidenced at last summer’s Punk in the Park fest.
After the release of “VI” in 1987, the band took a break and has mostly been on an on-again/off-again rotation.
But in 2019, the band announced they were reuniting for a 40th anniversary tour of “Group Sex,” and have been playing together since.
DESCENDENTS
As for Descendents, they are Manhattan Beach locals they did good! They too have played the on-again/off-again game in between releasing eight studio albums. The lineup since 1986 has remained front-man Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez, and drummer Bill Stevenson.
They had been working on new material before COVID and dropped new songs in 2020 – the single “Suffrage,” which also included “On You” and “Hindsight 2020.” In 2021, they released another single – “Baby Doncha Know” – which brought forth the announcement of the new album, “9th & Walnut,” which did extremely well with their fans.
No matter who you talk to at a Descendents show, everyone has a favorite song and reasons why. Highlighting their music catalog, “Bikeage,” “Everything Sucks,” “Clean Sheets,” and “I’m the One” cause an eruption at every show.
They have been hitting the road hard supporting “9th and Walnut” hitting epic events such as Punk in Drublic, Riot Fest, Punk in the Park, plus headline shows of their own, In July 2023 we got a scare when Aukerman suffered a heart attack. Fortunately, it was mild and he has made a full recovery, and the band is rocking live shows once again.
ADOLE-
SCENTS
Supporting the two legendary punk bands are Fullerton’s favorite punkers, Adolescents. Best known for their uber-hit, “Amoeba.” It’s been tough to think of this band without Steve Soto, as time has gone on, his spirit lives on through his bandmates, and the band never disappoints.
The tour begins March 15th in Arizona and will cover most of the US. No west coast dates, but since they are locals, don’t be surprised if we see them soon. In the meantime, OCMN will catch them in Raleigh and give you a full report.
