The Germs

How does a one-time acting role turn into a full-time gig with a band? Ask Shane West. The actor-cum-vocalist nabbed the onscreen role of lead singer/heroin addict/punk-rock god Darby Crash in The Germs’ biopic What We Do Is Secret, and somehow transferred that into real-life gigs standing in as a resurrected Crash in the reformed Germs. Then again, the story of The Germs has been anything but orthodox: Crash made a grand exit funding his overdose with band money, only to have the news of his death eclipsed by John Lennon’s murder the next day, so this whole fake-band thing is really nothing more than an odd footnote. Expect a lively stage show, nostalgic elder punkers, and creepy sideways grins from Germs guitarist Pat Smear.

Updated 06/24/2009