George Hurley

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For the American football player, see George Hurley (American football).
George Hurley
improvised music
Instrument(s)Drums, percussion
Years active1979–present
LabelsSST, New Alliance, Columbia, Smog Veil

George Hurley (born September 4, 1958) is a drummer noted for his work with Minutemen and fIREHOSE.[1]

Music career

Early years

Originally from the East Coast, Hurley and his family moved to San Pedro, California, when he was six years old.[2] Hurley was a surfer before devoting himself to music.[2]

A self-taught musician,

Plexiglas and wood at the Boys Club in his youth.[1] He got his first drumkit when he was nineteen after trading a motorcycle for it.[4]

Although he is known as a punk drummer, Hurley's musical influences are primarily jazz-based.

"I’d go see Max Roach,” he recalls, “or some other great jazz drummer, and they’d have these kits that they pulled out of the trunk of their cars, three-piece or four-pieces, and they were doing things that I couldn’t imagine. They were like magicians!"[3]

Even though he went to the same high school as

The Reactionaries with Boon, Watt, and Martin Tamburovich.[4] Watt asked Hurley to join repeatedly but Hurley was reticent because they traveled in different circles and Watt was deemed "a geek".[1]
Eventually, Hurley threw caution to the wind and joined up with Watt. After The Reactionaries split, George joined a Hollywood new wave band called Hey Taxi!. In 1980, Hey Taxi! disbanded at the same time the Minutemen's then drummer Frank Tonche left the band. Hurley reunited with his two former Reactionaries bandmates in Minutemen.

Minutemen

Main article: Minutemen (band)

The Minutemen played their first gig with Los Angeles band Black Flag and after their set were asked by Black Flag guitarist and SST Records founder Greg Ginn to record an album for his label.[5] The Paranoid Time EP was followed by full length albums The Punch Line and What Makes a Man Start Fires? and two more EPs Joy and Bean-Spill[5] before recording their magnum opus Double Nickels on the Dime, an album which appears on many music critics' lists of the all-time best rock albums, including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[6] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 77 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".[7]

In 1985, D. Boon died in a van accident following the release of their final full length album, 3-Way Tie (For Last)[8] at which point Minutemen disbanded.

fIREHOSE

Main article:
fIREHOSE

Watt and Hurley formed

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
and a short tour.

Later work

Hurley has played with

Pere Ubu's David Thomas as an added participant.[10]

Hurley has formed a drum/bass duo with Constant Llama member Joe Dean called The Wrinkling Brothers.[11][12]

Personal life

Hurley has been married since 1997 and has a son, Garrett, who was born in July 2002.[13]

Hairstyle

Hurley is known for his distinctive hairstyle that he sported in his later Minutemen and Firehose days, a protruding clump of hair that he nicknamed "The Unit".[14] Hurley explained in the 2005 Minutemen documentary We Jam Econo that since his limbs were all busy when he played drums, he grew "The Unit" so that his head movements were more noticeable on stage.

See also

References

  1. ^
    Drum!
    . Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Schwier, Jeff (1986). "varmintcong.com presents: an interview with fIREHOSE". Varmintcong.com. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Rashidi, Waleed. "George Hurley". Modern Drummer.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-9860971-0-2
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8264-2787-8
    .
  6. OCLC 70672814. Archived from the original
    on October 23, 2005. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  7. ^ "Best Albums of the 1980s". Slant Magazine. March 5, 2012. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  8. ISBN 978-0-8264-2787-8
    .
  9. ^ Breihan, Tom (March 25, 2009). "Mike Watt Drops Album, Tours, Writes Opera". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  10. ^ Huddle, Mark (September 7, 2007). "Interview: Joe Baiza and Dan McGuire of Unknown Instructors". Verbicide Magazine. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  11. ^ Thompson, Elise (February 19, 2019). "Steinstock 2019 Takes Over Cafe NELA this Weekend". The Los Angeles Beat. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  12. ^ "The Wrinkling Brothers". Bandcamp. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  13. ^ "Dusted Features [ All Tomorrow's Parties - Minutemen Duet (Mike Watt and George Hurley) ]". Dustedmagazine.com. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  14. ^ Adams, Christian. "Mike Watt Interview". Black Sunshine Media. Retrieved March 17, 2019.

External links

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