Circle Jerks, Gorilla Biscuits, 7 Seconds at Brooklyn Bowl Sunday May 24, 2026

 

There was no Punk Rock Bowling Festival this year but a lot of places stepped up to fill the void, although this was the only gig that we made it out to for various reasons. Obviously, both Melanie and I have been fans of the Jerks since their early days, but only had a passing familiarity with 7 Seconds (we played with Kevin Seconds decades ago in NoCal) and knew nothing about Gorilla Biscuits, but got there early to see everyone.

7 Seconds opened with their brand of poppy, sing-along punk with a positive message - very simple backing with a strong drummer who really drove the songs. Not a lot of stage presence overall but catchy, super short pop tunes with plenty of parts for the crowd to join them - which they happily did! They closed with a cover of "99 Red Balloons", which seemed an odd choice to me, but apparently, they are known for it and everyone loved it!

Gorilla Biscuits had a straight edge/vegan message and plenty of on-stage energy but musically kinda almost punk-prog  - entertaining but not my cup of tea although once again the crowd certainly knew almost everything they did, so I was in the minority. (Looks like I didn't get any good photos of them - not that any of my phone photos turned out that great.)

Of course I saw the Circle Jerks back when they started - in fact I swear I saw Keith with Black Flag although I can’t prove that these days - and they were always a wild ride with the band blasting at super sonic speed while Keith ran around the stage, only occasionally singing into the microphone. Of course, these days he’s almost 71 and has had back problems so he is a lot more stationary although no less passionate. He claimed to have laryngitis but he sounded great to us, nonetheless. Greg still has a super guitar tone - SG through a Marshall - and “new” bassist Zander Schloss (ex-Weirdos) was excellent and powerful while the drummer impressed everyone as he flailed with the same style and energy as Lucky back in the day.

Definitely a greatest hits set - practically everything you could ask for - with lots of monologues from Keith in between numbers and the band almost got into a fist fight with a couple of guys up front who apparently didn’t understand the band’s politics. (They got ejected). While not as manic as the old days - which no one should expect - they still sounded excellent and were more than worthwhile!