The Germs

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More About

• The Germs (Band)
• Darby Crash
• Mandy Moore
• Pat Smear
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Can one claim that a band blazed fiercely but briefly if said group reforms without a key member? MIA: The Complete Anthology—the Germs' entire discography, almost, spanning 1977 to 1980—is one of those first-wave punk-era documents that feels so definitive in its lopsided, fuck-you velocity that the very idea of attempting to reignite its seminal spark feels sacrilegious. The band broke up before original vocalist Darby Crash ended his life in 1980 at age 22, but reunited a few years ago with actor Shane West—who portrayed Crash in the Germs biopic What We Do Is Secret—attempting to replicate Crash's chewing-on-broken glass yell. Understandably, punk purists and assorted keepers-of-the-DIY-flame have balked at the idea of the dude who wound up with Neela on ER and who Mandy Moore tamed in teeny-bop embarrassment A Walk to Remember fronting the L.A. foursome, but, you know, guitarist Pat Smear did time with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, and just think of the potential "The Germs" now possess as a Six Degrees of Separation game subject. The mind boggles. With Krum Bums and Virgin Whores. 18+.
Mon., June 22, 8 p.m., 2009