Episode 006: Keith Morris

Keith Morris is a punk rock icon who has influenced everyone from Green Day to Nirvana. A boisterous kid from Hermosa Beach, who wanted nothing more than to sidestep inheriting his father’s bait and tackle empire, Keith helped launch the hardcore punk movement that steamrolled through Southern California in the late ’70s, as lead vocalist and founding member of Black Flag and The Circle Jerks.

In between creating a new genre of music and helping define an era, Keith Morris has played with everyone from Chuck Berry to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, not to mention surviving drug and alcohol abuse, diabetes, and a suicide attempt on the Santa Monica Freeway.

Punk rock means many things: a musical genre, a lifestyle, an attitude—Keith Morris personifies them all. Enjoy this after hours conversation with the man himself.

The owner of Mississippi Nights said to me, ‘When Chuck Berry left, he said that you are one of the greatest rock n roll bands he has ever seen.’ You’re not gonna get a higher compliment than that.Keith Morris

Keith Morris Discusses:

• Growing up in Hermosa Beach
• Spying on The Doors
• Early exposure to music
• Buying his first-ever album
• Early concerts
• Playing with Chuck Berry
• Getting into punk rock
• Black Flag
• The early L.A. punk scene
• Fear
• The Decline of Western Civilization
• Group Sex
• Greg Hetson
• Songwriting
• Signing with Mercury Records
• Off!
• FLAG
• Rock t-shirts
• Being in the Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Attempted suicide

Links

Keith Morris – Facebook

Keith Morris – YouTube

Black Flag – YouTube

Circle Jerks – YouTube

The Decline of Western Civilization – Amazon