Agent Orange is an American punk rock band formed in Placentia, California in 1979. The band was one of the first to mix punk rock with

surf music Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental su ...

History

The power trio's original lineup was Mike Palm on guitar and vocals, Steve Soto on bass, and Scott Miller on drums. They first gained attention for their song "Bloodstains," originally appearing on their self-released debut 7" EP in 1980. A demo version of the song was given to

Rodney Bingenheimer Rodney Bingenheimer (born December 15, 1946) is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of ''Rodney on the ROQ'', a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also m ...

, a DJ at Pasadena radio station

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The st ...

, who placed it on his seminal 1980 compilation album, ''Rodney on the ROQ'', on

Posh Boy Records Posh Boy Records is a Hollywood, California-based record label owned by the American-born, British-educated Robbie "Posh Boy" Fields, a sometime high school substitute teacher and former copy boy at the '' Los Angeles Times'' who took an inter ...

. With

James Levesque James Levesque (1962 – October 19, 2014) was an American musician. He was best known as the bass player from the hardcore punk/ surf punk band Agent Orange. Levesque was the bass player for the touring punk band from 1979-1988, along with or ...

on bass (replacing Soto, who left to form

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 ...

), the group recorded their debut '' Living In Darkness'' album with Brian Elliot, best known for composing

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

's hit " Papa Don't Preach." The record was released by Posh Boy in November 1981 and included another, newer version of "Bloodstains" (later used in '' Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''). A 12" EP, ''Bitchin' Summer'', followed in 1982 on Posh Boy. Signing to

Enigma Records Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. History Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/ ...

, the band released another 12" EP, 1983's ''When You Least Expect It...'', followed by a second album, ''

This Is the Voice ''This Is the Voice'' is the second studio album by American punk rock band Agent Orange, released in 1986 by Enigma Records. A retrospective AllMusic review said, "The long-delayed second Agent Orange album isn't quite ''Living in Darkness ...

'', released in 1986. In 1988, former

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...

bassist

Brent Liles Brent Harold Liles (September 7, 1963 – January 18, 2007) was an American musician who was the bassist for Social Distortion from 1981–1984 and later was the bassist for Agent Orange from 1988 – 1992. Early life Liles was born on Septembe ...

replaced Levesque, and the following year, Derek O'Brien (also a former member of Social Distortion as well as D.I.) replaced Miller on drums. In 1991,

Restless Records Restless Records is a record label that was started in El Segundo, California in 1986 by Enigma Records and primarily released alternative, metal, and punk records. Restless also licensed and released records from Bar/None Records, Metal Blade R ...

released the ''Real Live Sound'' live album, recorded at The Roxy in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

on July 21, 1990. It was the only Agent Orange recording to feature the Palm/Liles/O'Brien line-up. Sam Bolle replaced Liles in January 1992, remaining with the band until May 2003, when he left to join

Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known a ...

's band. A third studio album, ''Virtually Indestructible'', was released in 1996 on the Gunka Disc label. The album featured drummer Charlie Quintana, formerly of

the Plugz The Plugz (also known as "Los Plugz") were a Latino punk band from Los Angeles that formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1984. They and The Zeros were among the first Latino punk bands, although several garage rock bands, such as Thee Midniters a ...

and later of Social Distortion. ''Greatest & Latest – This, That-N-The Other Thing'' a compilation of rerecorded older material and new songs, was released in 2000 on

Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, ...

, and featured Bolle on bass and Steve Latanation on drums. Latanation as well as Dusty Watson alternately played drums through 2008. In 2006, Perry Giordano joined on bass. In 2009, the band added drummer Dave Klein, who had previously recorded with numerous bands including

the Bomboras The Bomboras are an American all-instrumental surf band from Los Angeles, California, United States. The band was formed in the summer of 1994, sharing a love of 1960s surf and garage music such as The Ventures, Booker T, and The Sonics. Donning D ...

Ghastly Ones The Ghastly Ones are a surf–garage rock band from Van Nuys, California with a late-night monster movie theme. History The Ghastly Ones were formed by two Special FX make up/movie monster makers, Garrett Immel aka Dr. Lehos and Norman Cabrera ak ...

and

the Seeds The Seeds were an American psychedelic garage rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965, best known for their highest charting single " Pushin' Too Hard". The band's classic line-up featured frontman Sky Saxon, guitarist Jan Savage ...

Sky Saxon The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

. In 2019, Sandy Hansen joined on Drums. Former bassist Liles died on January 18, 2007, and former bassist Levesque died on October 19, 2014. Founding member and former bassist Steve Soto died on June 27, 2018.

Band members

;Current *Mike Palm – guitars, lead vocals (1979–present) *Perry Giordano – bass, backing vocals (2006–present) *Sandy Hansen - Drums (2019-present) ;Former *Scott Miller – drums (1979–1989) * Steve Soto – bass (1979; died 2018) *

– bass (1979–1988; died 2014) *

– bass (1988–1991; died 2007) * Derek O'Brien – drums (1989–1991) *Scotty Lund – drums (1991–1995) *Sam Bolle – bass (1992–2003) * Charlie Quintana – drums (1996; died 2018) *Steve Latanation – drums (1997–2003) *

Dusty Watson Dustin "Dusty" Watson is an American drummer who has played in a number of notable bands, as well as backed up famous solo artists. Earning a scholarship to Stan Kenton Band Clinics and joining the Musicians Union at age 17 allowed Dusty to bec ...

– drums (2004–2008) * Dave Klein – drums, backing vocals (2009–2018) *Bruce Taylor – bass (2004–2005)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Living in Darkness'' (1981,

) * ''

'' (1986,

) * ''Virtually Indestructible'' (1996, Gunka Disc)

EPs

* ''Bloodstains'' 7" EP (1980, self-released) * ''Bitchin' Summer'' 12" EP (1982, Posh Boy Records) * ''When You Least Expect It...'' 12" EP (1983, Enigma Records)

Singles

* "Everything Turns Grey" 7" (1981, Posh Boy Records) * " Secret Agent Man" 7" (1986, Invisible Records) * ''"Eldorado" Found: The Lost 12th Song'' 7" (1990, Posh Boy Records) * "The Electric Storm" 7" (1992, self-released) * "Bloodstains" 7" (1997, Anarchy Music) * "This House Is Haunted - Whistling Past The Graveyard" (2010, self-released)

Live albums

* ''Real Live Sound'' (1991,

)

Compilation albums

* ''Greatest & Latest – This, That-N-The Other Thing'' (2000,

) * ''Sonic Snake Session'' (2003, Restless Records) * ''Blood Stained Hitz'' (2004, Anarchy Music) * ''Surfing to Some F#*ked Up S@!t'' (2008, Anarchy Music)

Selected compilation appearances

* "Bloodstains" on ''Rodney on the ROQ'' (1980, Posh Boy Records) * "Mr. Moto" on ''Rodney on the ROQ – Volume 2 '' (1981, Posh Boy Records) * "Everything Turns Grey" on ''Posh Hits Vol. 1'' (1982, Posh Boy Records) * "Out of Limits" and "Surf Beat" on ''What Surf'' (1983, What Records?) * "Bloodstains" on ''Blood on the ROQ!'' (1983, Quiet) * "Shakin' All Over" on ''Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Vol 2'' (1984,

Flipside Records ''Flipside'', originally known as ''Los Angeles Flip Side,'' was a punk zine published in Whittier and Pasadena, California, from 1977 to 2000. The magazine was associated with its own record label, Flipside Records, releasing vinyl records ...

/Gasatanka) * "Surfbeat '85" on ''What Surf II'' (1985, Iloki Records) * "Fire in the Rain" on ''

River's Edge ''River's Edge'' is a 1986 American crime drama film directed by Tim Hunter, written by Neal Jimenez, and starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye Leitch, Daniel Roebuck and Dennis Hopper. It follows a group of teenagers in a Norther ...

'' (1987, Enigma Records) * "It's in Your Head" on ''

Under Cover ''Under Cover'' is the ninth solo studio album by English heavy metal vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. The album consists entirely of cover songs, with an emphasis on rock music from the 1960s and 1970s. This is Osbourne's first and only album to fe ...

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' (1987, Enigma Records) * "Pipeline" on '' The Allnighter – Original Soundtrack'' (1987,

Chameleon Records Chameleon was a record label formed by producer, music entrepreneur and former Capitol Records A&R executive Stephen Powers, in association with Bob Marin, Managing Director of alternative rock importer Sounds Good, and Richard Foos, co-founder of ...

) * "Out of Limits" on ''What Surf III'' (1988, Iloki Records) * "Bloodstains" and "Misirlou" on ''The Best of Rodney on the ROQ'' (1989, Posh Boy Records) * "Everything Turns Grey" and "Pipeline" on ''Posh Boy • The Singles Vol. One'' (1990, Posh Boy Records) * "Tiki Ti" on ''Attack of the New Killer Surf Guitars'' (1997,

Shanachie Records Shanachie Records is an American, New Jersey-based record label, founded in 1975 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. The label is named for the Gaelic word '' seanchaí'' (anglicised as shanachie), an Irish storyteller. It was previously distrib ...

) * "

On a Plain "On a Plain" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It is the 11th track on their second album, ''Nevermind'', released in September 1991. The song was released as a promo single in 1992, peakin ...

" on ''Smells Like Bleach – A Punk Tribute to

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...

'' (2000, Cleopatra Records) * "

Seek & Destroy "Seek & Destroy" is a 1983 song by the American heavy metal band Metallica and ninth track from their debut studio album, ''Kill 'Em All''. It was also featured on the demo '' No Life 'Til Leather''. It was the first song the band recorded in ...

" on ''A Punk Tribute to

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

'' (2001, Cleopatra Records) * "Everything Turns Grey" on ''Freddy Got Fingered'' (2001, Restless Records) * "Bloodstains" on ''Punk and Disorderly'' (2001, Cleopatra Records)

References

External links

Agent Orange official website

Agent Orange BeBAD.us videos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agent Orange Musical groups from Orange County, California American musical trios Musical groups established in 1979 Hardcore punk groups from California 1979 establishments in California Enigma Records artists Posh Boy Records artists Restless Records artists