NOISE

New York trio Earl Greyhound, which rolls into town this week, isn't the only band to borrow its name from a mode of transit ...

Name: Earl Greyhound


Sounds like: Zeppelin! At the Thriftstore.

Good mode/music match? Most definitely. Go Greyhound, and leave the driving (guitars) to them.

Name: Train


Sounds like: Top 40 adult-contemporaries with only a hazy memory of their alt-rock roots.

Good mode/music match? Looking to kill time while riding the rails? "Meet Virginia" will knock you out faster than you can say "Amtrak."

Name: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club


Sounds like: Taking shrooms in your parents' garage.

Good mode/music match? No. The Hells Angels would kick your lily ass for listening to these mopes.

Name: Jet


Sounds like: Classic Brit-rock doused in motor oil.

Good mode/music match? Unlikely. It would take several mini-bottles to bring you down from the amped-up high of in-flight Jet.

Name: The Cars


Sounds like: Stuttery, synth-heavy New Wave.

Good mode/music match? Sure, if you're riding in one of those flying Jetsons cars.

Name: Hey, That's My Bike!


Sounds like: Ethan Hawke drowning in Gen-X angst.

Good mode/music match? Absolutely. In this instance, Reality would not Bite.

Viking Moses


Crosses (2 1/2 stars)

Roses are Red


What Became of Me (2 1/2 stars)

New beginnings are a prevalent theme on the second effort from the one-time screamo also-rans turned modern-rock contenders. Good times and their corresponding bad times are equally dissected, though it's the band's pervading optimism that'll be the deciding factor in achieving their mainstream-radioplay goals.

I know Pennywise has a loyal following but I'm kinda wondering why they're not opening for you.

The bottom line is, Circle Jerks in their career, which is longer than 26 years, have sold about 300,000 records. Pennywise has sold about three million. They're fans of ours, so originally their stipulation was that they play before us. But we have the same booking agent, and eventually he told the guys from Pennywise that at these shows, if 3,000 people show up, 2,000 will be there to see you and the other 1,000 might be there to see all the other bands. He made them realize these need to be Pennywise shows with special guests the Circle Jerks.

I read that you guys might actually be working on the first Circle Jerks album since 1995. True?

Yeah, actually, we already have one new song. The nut that we have to crack is that the last time we put an album out there were only a million bands. Twelve years later there's a billion bands. Every kid in this town [LA] has a band, and there's 20 kids on every corner. So we've gotta make it distinctive, a real Circle Jerks album. We can't dick around like we have on the last two or three albums. We're talking minute-long, two-minute-long songs, the kind of energy where if you go to the bathroom, when you come back out we're already into the next song.

You were scheduled to participate in a Black Flag reunion a few years ago, but didn't. What happened?

I don't really have much of a rapport with Greg [Ginn]. When we started Black Flag we were friends, but it got really bad, really sour. But I was still gonna do it, because I was psyched to play with Greg and Robo and Chuck Dukowski. But when I went down to rehearse and it was just Greg and some other drummer, and you or I in three weeks time could play drums better than this guy. From there the situation deteriorated. It just got comical. If there were to be more scenes in Spinal Tap, the Black Flag reunion at the Hollywood Palladium would certainly fit into that category. I was eventually told that my services weren't needed, and Dez Cadena ended up doing [vocals] instead.

The lineup for Coachella '07 has been announced (coachella.com), and it looks pretty freaking good from here. A few tunes we hope to hear April 27, 28 or 29 in Indio, California: The Arcade Fire, "Intervention" (Neon Bible, 2007) Air, "Kelly Watch the Stars" (Moon Safari, 1998) Happy Mondays, "God's Cop" (Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, 1990) Ghostface Killah, "Shakey Dog" (Fishscale, 2006) Sonic Youth, "Schizophrenia" (Sister, 1987) Manu Chao, "Mentira ..." (Clandestino, 1998) The Jesus and Mary Chain, "Taste the Floor" (Psychocandy, 1985) Bjork, "Hyper-Ballad" (Post, 1995) Crowded House, "Don't Dream It's Over" (Crowded House, 1986) Rage Against the Machine, "Bulls on Parade" (Evil Empire, 1996)