'I plan on doing this as long as I can': Circle Jerks' Keith Morris talks about the possibility of a new record

Impactful things come into life from time to time and change the way you look at things. Sometimes, these are major events and lead to a new ideology, and other times, they open your eyes a little bit wider. For me, both of those things happened when I put a VHS tape into my VCR when I was fourteen years old.

This is when I became aware of Keith Morris and the Circle Jerks. It was in 1984 when I watched a terrible dub of Penelope Spheeris’ 1981 punk rock documentary, "Decline of Western Civilization," on a crappy tape that someone loaned me. I never wanted to give it back, but that movie was hard to come by then.

I had heard the LP version of the soundtrack a few years before, when two of my friends from the neighborhood brought it back to Phoenix after a couple of months in California with their dad. I loved it instantly, but I didn’t really have much of a concept of what punk rock was or who these people making this music were. It sounded so cool, though.

When I saw the film, it opened up a whole new world to me. I had yet to go to a punk rock show in real life, and all I had were pictures in magazines that I was beginning to collect, and the people at my school who were wearing the punk rock uniform of the day to show me what a punk rocker looked like.

Morris didn’t look like a punk rocker in the film, though. He looked like an angry young man with something to say, and I liked that. He got down in the crowd and glared at the whirling slam dancers around him and did his thing. The next year, when Circle Jerks came to town and played the Mason Jar, I was there.
How awesome is it that forty years later, I can share with you that not only are the Circle Jerks coming back to town with Gorilla Biscuits and Negative Approach in tow, but they are playing the Van Buren (which could hold about eight Mason Jars, which is now Rebel Lounge, inside of it) and Keith Morris will have just about turned 70 years old.

“I’m getting ready to turn 70. My take on all this is that I might as well get in as much as I can before I can’t. Before I’m too old to be doing this,” says Morris over the phone.

Admittedly, Morris does show his age a little when he told me that we were talking on his ‘land line’ earlier in the conversation, but that’s just part of his irascible charm. The guy is a punk rock legend, whether he would ever admit it or not, and one of the coolest dudes on the planet.

In a world of keyboard warriors who may desire a mandatory retirement age for rock and rollers, Morris is happy to raise two middle fingers in their direction.

“You know what’s great or not great about the internet is it allows anybody with a computer to be a voice and a normal Circle Jerks post (on social media) will have six to eight people going, ‘why didn’t you guys stop when you were ahead’ or ‘you’re gonna be 70 years old and you are running around pretending to be an 18 year old.’ I never did this when I was 18 years old. Black Flag (Morris’ first band) wasn’t happening until I was about 25, so, you know, it just doesn’t work out that way. Time catches up to you, but I plan on doing this as long as I can,” says Morris.

Sure, the Circle Jerks don’t have any new material to share on Saturday, September 6, but it isn’t because they don’t want to write new songs. For Morris, it is important for anything the band does to be authentic. He refuses to put out any music that does not fit the standard the band set with classic albums like "Group Sex" (1980) or "Golden Shower of Hits" (1983). This year, for example, marks the 40th anniversary of their fourth LP, Wonderful, which is woefully underrated in punk lore.
“The band has never sounded better or played better than it is right now,” says Morris.

The current lineup is a motherfucker, too. Guitarist Greg Hetson has been with Morris the entire run of the band, but also spent a number of years in Bad Religion, which limited his availability for Circle Jerks touring and recording. Bassist Zander Schloss has also been a long-time member and played on multiple releases, but drummer Joey “Joey C” Castillo is a relative newcomer, having been in the band since 2019.

These dudes need to make a new record because the lineup is nothing short of completely badass. If you haven’t seen the band in a long time, make sure you see them when they tear the roof off of Van Buren this week. There have been some great Circle Jerks drummers over the years, but Castillo is a beast behind the kit.

“We haven’t put out any new music in 29 years, and we realize that we have to start chipping away and putting out new music, but there is an argument against this, and that is, if you go see the Rolling Stones, do you want to hear any of their new songs? I don’t want to use that as an excuse for us being lazy. We were working on some songs at Tim Armstrong’s (of Rancid) studio, and I was really uninspired. I was just like, ‘We can’t. We must create music like we fucking mean it,’ like it is do or die, you know, and we gotta approach this like we may never get to record again. This has to be the best stuff we’ve ever written,” says Morris with a certain edge to his voice that is both refreshing and a little menacing.

The world doesn’t need an uninspired Circle Jerks record, but we do need a band like the Circle Jerks. Morris mentioned that Schloss likes to hang out sometimes by the merch table and talk to fans, as well as sell copies of his excellent solo work. Apparently, Schloss does a little informal polling of people who come by to discuss why they came to the show.

“He asks, ‘Why are you here? What prompted you to come see the Circle Jerks?’ The number one answer amongst all these younger people is that they are tired of ‘new’ music and want to be part of something real. I was just blown away. He’s talked to dozens of younger people, kids, teenagers, and a lot of them have read the books and seen Decline (of Western Civilization) or whatever documentary they’ve seen, and they want to experience it for themselves. They understand there is an electric, energetic vibe going on,” says Morris.

He's not wrong, nor are the kids.

Circle Jerks will play the Van Buren on Saturday, September 6, 2025, at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.). Tickets are available here. Gorilla Biscuits and Negative Approach will open the show. The event is 13+.