Josh Brolin is currently in the process of making a documentary about his teenage punk band Cito Vice Squad, who went on to become hardcore group Rich Kids On LSD – check out the full interview above.
Speaking to NME about growing up in the Los Angeles punk scene, Brolin said that he used to climb out of his bedroom window at night and drive down to legendary venue Godzilla’s, which he compares to iconic New York gig spot CBGB. “We’d watch amazing bands like Beer Guts, Circle Jerks and Black Flag,” he said, with Dead Kennedys and Wasted Youth also part of the scene.
He also spoke about his time in Cito Vice Squad, who he formed with “best friend” Jason Sears. “We were really motivated by Sex Pistols. That was probably the band that initiated it all.” Sears and fellow Cito Vice Squad member Richard “Bomer” Manzullo went on to form hardcore skatepunk band Rich Kids On LSD.
“I was in a really bad garage version [of Rich Kids On LSD] called Cito Vice Squad,” said Brolin, who called the band name “super dumb.”
“I was drums, but I wasn’t a good drummer. And then Bomer came in. He was an amazing, amazing musician. All self-taught and he could play the bass, the guitar, the drums and the piano. He composed later. It was amazing,” he explained. “The idea of being in a band is always great. You see a lot of actors that try to have that side gig. And I get it. It’s not great for everybody, but I get it.
“We’re doing a documentary on those guys right now, and talking to [filmmaker] Amy Berg about the L.A. punk scene,” he added.
In a 2002 interview with Thrasher, Sears said the band’s name came from an early critic who said “those kids will never be anything, they’re just a bunch of rich kids on LSD.”
Rich Kids On LSD released their debut EP ‘It’s A Beautiful Feeling’ in 1984 and their first full-length ‘Still Laughing’ came the following year. The band broke up in 1989 after the release of second album ‘Rock ‘n Roll Nightmare’ before a version of the band reformed in 1992. In 2005, Bomer died from heart failure tied to his battle with drug addiction while Sears passed away two months later due to complications while undergoing detox treatment.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2014, Brolin said he was also part of a surf gang called the Cito Rats in his childhood. “It was Santa Barbara. It was the 80s. It was punk rock. You either had the children of rich, neglectful parents or children of poor, neglectful parents, so it was a mix. But we basically grew up the same way.” “I tried heroin,” he continued. “That sounds so horrible when you put it like that. But yeah, I tried heroin. I mean, I never got into it and I never died from it, which is a good thing. I’ve had 19 friends who died. Most of those guys I grew up with, they’re all dead now.”
Brolin also spoke to NME about his love of David Bowie and Pearl Jam.
“‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders from Mars’ is just so good [and] ‘Ten’ changed my life. I heard it when I was in my early 20s and it changed my whole trajectory,” he explained. “It’s amazing when music changes the trajectory of how you see everything. Bob Dylan did that. My son’s 38 now but his introduction to language was Dylan. Before he could speak, he probably learned 30 Dylan songs and knew the lyrics by heart. He started having conversations after that.”
Josh Brolin’s latest movie ‘Whalefall’ is out in UK cinemas from today (Friday October 16)
