Greg Hetson (born June 29, 1961) is an American guitarist. He was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York and has lived in the Los Angeles area since he was 2 years old. Active since 1979, Hetson is best known as the guitarist for the influential

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

bands

Redd Kross Redd Kross is an American rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a punk rock band called the Tourists, which was started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while Steve was still in middle school. With the additi ...

, Circle Jerks and

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...

. He is known for his high energy stage antics which people have coined the term "The Hetson Leap ". Hetson was a founding member of and also plays guitar in another supergroup,

Punk Rock Karaoke Punk Rock Karaoke is a band originally formed in 1996 in a Los Feliz bar and restaurant in Los Angeles called Vida to serve as entertainment for a New Year's Eve party. Created as an all star side project by Greg Hetson (Redd Kross, Circle Jerks, B ...

, and the hardcore punk band G.F.P.

Career

The Circle Jerks

In 1980, Hetson abandoned his position as guitarist of the punk/alternative band

to form

The Circle Jerks Circle Jerks (stylized as Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs) are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. To date, Ci ...

with former Black Flag vocalist

Keith Morris Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the ...

. Soon after, they released their debut LP, ''

Group Sex Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. Participants in group sex can be of any sexual orientation or gender. Any form of sexual activity can be adopted to involve more than two participants, but some forms have their ...

'' and in 1980 were featured in the Los Angeles documentary ''

The Decline of Western Civilization ''The Decline of Western Civilization'' is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a ...

'' along with several other Los Angeles punk bands. In 1982, The Circle Jerks released their second album ''

Wild in the Streets ''Wild in the Streets'' is a 1968 American comedy-drama film directed by Barry Shear and starring Christopher Jones, Hal Holbrook, and Shelley Winters. Based on the short story "The Day It All Happened, Baby!" by Robert Thom, it was distribu ...

''. This album, while popular, did not sell nearly as much as their third LP ''

Golden Shower of Hits ''Golden Shower of Hits'' is the third studio album by American hardcore punk band Circle Jerks, released July 21, 1983, by the labels Allegiance and LAX Records. It was the band's last album to feature the band's original bassist Roger Rogerson ...

'', released in 1983. While Bad Religion was on hiatus, the Circle Jerks continued touring and recorded two more albums ('' Wonderful'' and '' VI'') before breaking up in 1990. However, they reformed in 1994 and released ''

Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities ''Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities'' is the sixth studio album by American hardcore punk band Circle Jerks, released June 20, 1995 by Mercury Records. It is the band's last studio album to date. ''Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities' ...

'', their last album to date, a year later. Hetson would continue to play for both Bad Religion and The Circle Jerks. Despite having not released a full-length album since 1995 (although they did release a new song, "I'm Gonna Live", on MySpace in 2007), the Circle Jerks have been playing live occasionally over the years, with the exception of two more hiatuses, one from 1995 to 2001, and another from 2011 to 2019. In 2019 the band announced plans for a 2020 tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ''Group Sex'' however the tour was postponed until 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Bad Religion

Greg Hetson was credited on Bad Religion's album ''

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? ''How Could Hell Be Any Worse?'' is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on January 19, 1982 by Epitaph Records. Released almost a year after their self-titled EP, it was financed by a $3,000 loan by guitarist ...

'' for playing the solo for the song Part III. His first (official) release with Bad Religion was the '' Back to the Known'' EP, released in 1985, which declared the band's return to their original punk sound after releasing the highly unsuccessful,

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

album '' Into the Unknown'', after which the band disbanded. After the release of ''Back to the Known'', Bad Religion broke up for a second time, but reformed in 1986 with the ''How Could Hell Be Any Worse?'' line-up and Hetson was included. Bad Religion recorded their first three highly acclaimed reunion albums, '' Suffer'', '' No Control'' and '' Against the Grain'', before drummer

Pete Finestone Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities ...

quit the band in 1991. Bad Religion replaced Finestone with

Bobby Schayer Bobby Schayer (born December 23, 1966 in Los Angeles, California) was the drummer for Bad Religion from 1991 to 2001. He was a resident of Encino, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley. He started drumming in 1976 at the age of 10, but it was not ...

, then recorded their next album, ''

Generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...

''. The album was completed in the spring of 1991, but the band was forced to delay its release until a year later. For the album, Bad Religion also filmed their first music video "Atomic Garden", which was also their first song to be released as a single. In 1993, the band left their original label Epitaph Records and signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, who released their next album ''

Recipe for Hate ''Recipe for Hate'' is the seventh studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on June 4, 1993. It was their last album on Epitaph Records for nine years (until 2002's '' The Process of Belief'') and the band had switched to A ...

''. While moderately successful, this was the first Bad Religion album to reach any

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

charts and two videos for the album, " American Jesus" and " Struck a Nerve", were made. The band's popularity grew in 1994 with their widely successful album '' Stranger Than Fiction'', including their well-known hits " Infected" and " 21st Century (Digital Boy)", which are often considered concert staples. After the album was completed, longtime guitarist

Brett Gurewitz Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums f ...

soon left

to concentrate on the future of Epitaph, citing the increasing amount of time he was spending at Epitaph's offices as

The Offspring The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guita ...

became one of the biggest bands of the mid-1990s, but it was well known that his departure was not on good terms. Gurewitz was replaced by former

Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitaris ...

Dag Nasty Dag Nasty is an American punk rockGreenwald, p. 14. " Ian Mackaye was such a huge Rites of Spring fan that he not only recorded what was to be the band's only album in 1985 and served as a roadie for them while on tour, but his own new band, ...

guitarist Brian Baker and Bad Religion recorded three more albums without him. He returned to the band in 2001, the line-up consisting of

Greg Graffin Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer and evolutionary biologist. He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and only constant member of punk rock band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He embarked on a s ...

(vocals), Gurewitz, Hetson, Baker (all on guitar),

Jay Bentley Jay Dee Bentley (born June 6, 1964) is the bassist and co-founding member of the punk rock group Bad Religion. He has played with the band through its whole existence with a small break between 1983 and 1985. Along with vocalist Greg Graffin, Ben ...

(bass) and

Brooks Wackerman Brooks Wackerman (born February 15, 1977) is an American musician. He is the current drummer of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was '' The Stage'' (2016). He is most known as ...

(drums). In April 2013, Hetson stopped touring with Bad Religion, supposedly due to divorce, and after briefly playing as a four-piece band (as Gurewitz does not tour with the band due to his commitments with Epitaph), Bad Religion recruited

Mike Dimkich Mike Dimkich (born February 15, 1968) is an American guitarist who is currently a member of the punk rock band Bad Religion. He has also played for The Cult, Channel 3 (band), Channel 3, Suckerpunch, and Steve Jones (musician), Steve Jones. Mus ...

The Cult The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...

to fill in for Hetson. Bassist Jay Bentley released the following statement: "Greg Hetson is dealing with some personal issues, if he wishes to make a statement we will support that, if he chooses not to we will support that. Mike Dimkich is indeed helping us out right now, and we are genuinely appreciative. Right now we are just looking forward and getting ready to play our shows." In January 2014, Bentley confirmed that Dimkich is an official member of Bad Religion, meaning that Hetson is no longer a member of the band. In April 2014, Hetson tweeted that he is no longer in Bad Religion.

Punk Rock Karaoke

Hetson plays guitar in the all star band Punk Rock Karaoke with

Eric Melvin Eric Scott Melvin (born July 9, 1966) is an American musician and founding member of the punk rock band NOFX. Melvin sings backup vocals on most NOFX songs and wrote the guitar riffs for NOFX songs such as the intro for " Leave It Alone". His v ...

of NOFX, and Steve Soto of

The Adolescents The Adolescents are an American punk rock band formed in Fullerton, California in 1980. Part of the hardcore punk movement in southern California in the early 1980s, they were one of the main punk acts to emerge from Orange County, along with ...

, Stan Lee of

The Dickies The Dickies are an American punk rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, in 1977. One of the longest tenured punk rock bands, they have been in continuous existence for over 40 years. They have consistently balanced catchy mel ...

and original Goldfinger drummer Darrin Pfeiffer. Other notable past and recurring members have included Bob Mothersbaugh of

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

, and Mike Watt of Minutemen,

Iggy and the Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave ...

. It was the first interactive live Punk Karaoke band since 1996. The band released DVD/CD set on MVD which has "sing along with" videos as well as a covers album featuring singers such as Matt Skiba, Dave King and

Mike Herrera Michael Arthur Herrera is an American singer, songwriter and musician best known as the lead vocalist, bassist and songwriter for the punk rock band MxPx. He is also the frontman of Tumbledown and the bassist of Goldfinger. Early life Herre ...

New Musical Project

Hetson is currently working with

Loomis Fall Loomis Fall is an American songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician, actor and stunt performer who has performed with several rock and punk bands, most notably with Wax, an early-1990s California pop-punk band, which was compared to the like ...

, on a side project which include guests Bobby Alt,

Chris Vrenna Chris Vrenna (born February 23, 1967 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails ...

, Christopher Chartrand and engineered by Josh Achziger. Though, no release date has been stated.

External links

Bad Religion Tribute
All About Bad Religion(domain expired)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hetson, Greg 1961 births Living people Bad Religion members Circle Jerks members Redd Kross members Musicians from Brooklyn American punk rock guitarists Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from New York (state) American male guitarists Black President (band) members 20th-century American guitarists Punk Rock Karaoke members