Circle Jerks: My Career As A Jerk – DVD Review

The explanation of spontaneous energy is how this movie can be best described. Prolific film maker Dave Markey assembled an excellent historical video document that informs and highly entertains you along the journey of this seminal band. The film starts out on how the original members got together from various prior bands to form Circle Jerks, as well as look into the early years of Punk scene they helped shape as it exploded with true rawness.

In the band members own words they detail how they put together the songs from various random musical pieces that each member had, totally devoid of a master planning and how the music came very organically. You also understand the music talents of each member and how that became a sound that no other band had, but wish they did. Lots of great factoids about the band including he origin of the band's name is revealed by merely looking through an American slang dictionary.

There are way too many highlights in this DVD to cite, yet here are just a few. How they got signed to Frontier Records after being seen by label founder Lisa Fancher at The Cuckoos Nest. The contract for the record was done on a paper bag filled with marijuana. The album was recorded on tape that was already recorded on and reused to record the Group Sex album. Guitarist Greg Hetson expresses how the band was worried that no one would buy it and how they added 4 to 5 records to every song to make the album appear longer, so instead of 57 seconds for the song Red Tape they made it 1 minute 4 seconds. Keith talks about the recording of this record and how it was done in small multiple sessions that he was very surprised that the album had any continuity to it when it was finished. In the bonus footage you will see the original artwork and layout of the Group Sex album -album artwork was produced a lot differently back then. As you watch the bonus footage you will finally learn the origin of the phone number given at the end of the song Group Sex, and the poor guy that got all the calls… you will get a good laugh out of it.

   My Career As A Jerk movie traier


It was very interesting to hear them speak about the 2nd album "Wild In The Streets" that was put out on Faulty Records and how they felt that they could not capture the same vibe of the first album. This is all funny to hear from them since most fans love this album to death, yet it is interesting to hear them be critical of it. You will develop a greater understanding of the band, how the line up evolved through the years with members of other noted bands, you will be blown away with who was apart of this band throughout it's history. Toward the end of the video things get really somber when they spoke about the overdose death of original member Roger Rogerson back in 1996 after he had called all the members of original line up to jam again like the old days and write some new songs.

You will see alot of raw footage of live shows mixed with interviews by the band as they take you through the history and events that made Circle Jerks one of the greatest Punk bands ever. Zander Schloss gives the film a magnum opus moment with this quote that really sums up their career: "Legends are not based on being active all the time, legends are based on their absence, so what a legend does is they do something great and then they disappear mysteriously for awhile, and then come back or die, but legends are based on their absence". The quote resonates so well and teaches that all music fans should never take a band's blood, sweat and tears for granted and see them live every chance we get.

The hour and half will go by so fast and is packed with info and footage that will make you glad that you own this DVD so you can watch it over and over, just like how you play your favorite Circle Jerks record over and over. Plus, the 30 minutes of deleted footage that you get as a bonus is a movie on it's own. If you love the Circle Jerks, this is a DVD you have to have. It will reinforce why you got that Circle Jerks tattoo, put that patch on your jacket or wear that t-shirt proudly.
     ***** This is a MUST GET !

Video is out on MVD Visual: www.mvdvisual.com
The video can be found at better independent record stores everywhere and as a last resort on Amazon.

Information on the film maker can be found here: We Got Power Films: www.wegotpowerfilms.com


-Payne-
Big Wheel Magazine
 

 

 

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