As the Fullerton Museum Center prepares to celebrate Orange County and Fullerton’s punk legacy with its new “Punk OC” exhibit, we caught up with T.S.O.L. front-man Jack Grisham as he reflected on his journey from suburban troublemaker to punk rock elder statesman.
Jack Grisham commands attention as the notorious front-man of T.S.O.L. (True Sounds of Liberty). While the years have mellowed him somewhat since his days of wild performances and headline-generating antics, make no mistake: the rebellious spirit that helped define Southern California hardcore punk still burns bright in the 64-year-old musician, author, photographer, and filmmaker.
“I never expected me to last this long,” Grisham laughed, seemingly as surprised as anyone that he’s guiding Punk Rock Museum tours through punk’s history rather than destroying venues. “And I sure didn’t expect anybody to care about what we were doing.”
When Grisham formed T.S.O.L. in Huntington Beach in 1978, he wasn’t thinking about creating historical artifacts.
The band’s self-titled EP and landmark debut album, “Dance With Me,” established them as pioneers who blended hardcore aggression with gothic and death-rock elements.
Songs like “Code Blue” and “Superficial Love” showcased Grisham’s dark humor and willingness to explore taboo subjects, while the band incorporated piano, varied tempos, and atmospheric elements, unusual in early punk.
[embedded content]
For Grisham, punk was never about musical innovation – at least not initially. “I got into it because it was really kind of backdrop music to causing trouble and hanging out with friends,” he laughingly admitted. “I’ve been kicked out of practically every school in the Long Beach School District. I just loved getting in trouble. Did I really love punk rock? No. However, punk rock was a great backdrop for crime. It was great for causing problems.”
He continued, “It was cool. It was fun to play. I didn’t need to know how to play an instrument. I didn’t need to know how to sing. I could just scream and fool around with our friends and bang on drums and yell. It was like this little primal therapy kind of thing.”
The Punk Rock Museum’s second anniversary celebration last weekend found Grisham both performing with T.S.O.L. and serving as a celebrity tour guide. The multigenerational crowd particularly moved him.
“It was really cool because I was there all day, listening to everybody,” Grisham said of the festival. “The crowd was great. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, but everybody’s so nice to me now. It’s like, ‘Oh, he may not be around very long. Let’s give him a good cuddle next time we see him.’”
What struck him most was seeing punk’s evolution into family entertainment. “You’d never think punk rock would be a family affair. You’d think, okay, Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews, others. You’d never think punk rock, but it totally is,” he said. “I had a kid come up to me and say, ‘My grandfather got me into you guys.’ How cool is that?”
[embedded content]
As a tour guide, Grisham’s storytelling abilities proved as entertaining as his music. “I talk a lot of crap,” he said with characteristic modesty and laughter.
“The tours were packed. Some people got real serious about it, but the majority were mellow, having a good time and laughing.”
Now Grisham is preparing to bring T.S.O.L. back to Orange County for the opening of the Fullerton Museum Center’s “Punk OC: From the Streets of Suburbia” exhibit on April 5th. The exhibition chronicles how Orange County and Fullerton became an unlikely hub for punk rock, where outcasts found community and created music that would echo far beyond suburban boundaries.
What made Orange County punk revolutionary was its context. Unlike the urban decay that birthed punk in New York and London, Orange County’s scene arose from suburban alienation – kids rebelling against the artificial perfection of planned communities and the contradiction between Reagan-era conservatism and Southern California’s carefree “endless summer” mythology.
For Grisham, the Orange County and Fullerton scene had a special authenticity.
“Maybe we weren’t as jaded as LA. You get up to Hollywood, there’s a certain factor where they grow up thinking people have to have this coolness about them. I don’t think the beach kids and the Orange County kids had that. We were just geeky kids doing this shit,” Grisham explained. “There wasn’t a lot of posing on our end. It was just such a time of innocence even though we lived in such a manicured society here in OC.”
Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
He continued, “That was the belief – that no one’s above someone else. It was shoulder to shoulder. There was no backstage, no guest list, no somebody being above somebody else. It was just so honest and cool. The minute somebody caught up and started walking around like that, they were shut down. It was just all of us hanging out as friends.”
This ethos spread through influential Orange County bands like Social Distortion, The Adolescents, Agent Orange, and DI. The region developed a distinctive sound – faster, more aggressive, and more technically proficient than many contemporaries.
[embedded content]
The influence extended internationally, with scenes worldwide taking cues from the Orange County approach.
[embedded content]
No discussion of Fullerton punk is complete without mentioning the Agnew brothers – Rikk, Frank, and Alfie – whose musical DNA appears in virtually every significant band from the region’s golden era.
Their collective influence extends far beyond Southern California, helping define punk and hardcore sounds that would reverberate globally.
“My experience is basically more with Frank and Rikk,” Grisham recalled. “Rikk actually played drums for T.S.O.L., as did Frank. Frank played guitar in T.S.O.L. on our first tour. Then our drummer broke his hand, so Frank was filling in on drums, but he couldn’t keep up. So, we got Rikk out. At one time, we had both Frank and Rikk in the band.”
Grisham’s respect for the Agnews is evident: “They should be a big part of that museum exhibit because those guys are great. That is a talented family, and they’ve done so much for music in Southern California. That whole sound… Rikk’s out of his mind. They’re both out of their mind. But they’re fun as shit, and they’re really good guys.”
[embedded content]
The Fullerton Museum will honor the city’s punk rock dynasty with a special screening of “Agnew the Concert Film” on April 11th in the museum’s Wilshire Room. The documentary captures the legendary siblings performing signature songs from their influential bands, including the Adolescents, Christian Death, T.S.O.L., and D.I. Grisham confessed, “I’m gonna go back and see the film when they have it at the museum as well. I can’t wait to see that.”
As Grisham prepares to perform at the museum exhibition opening, there’s a certain irony in his once-counterculture movement being enshrined in cultural institutions. When asked about seeing his personal items displayed in museums, he laughed.
Photo by Green-Eyed Blonde Photography
“It’s so trippy. They ask me for stuff, and I’m thinking, ‘What? What are you talking about? You want my stuff?’ I was cleaning out the storage area the other day, and I have old suits that I used to wear and the shoes that went with them. I tell my kids, ‘When I die, you give this to the museum.’ The funny thing is, my kids didn’t think I was crazy when I said it. They said, ‘Alright, dad.’ Because they know it’s going in the museum. But it’s funny to them because I am just dad.”
From suburban troublemaker to museum-worthy cultural icon, Jack Grisham’s journey embodies punk’s evolution. But through all the changes, what remains is the community spirit he encountered from the beginning.
“This one guy told me yesterday at the Punk Rock Museum tour, ‘You were the first punk I met when we were young, and you invited me over to your house,’” Grisham recalled. “‘I was just wondering why this guy would treat me like this? I don’t even know this guy.’ And then he realized there were a ton of us like that. Welcome to the family. That is what punk rock was then.”
And judging by the multigenerational crowds still showing up for T.S.O.L. shows and the influence they still have, that’s what punk rock continues to be.
The Fullerton Museum Center’s “Punk OC: From the Streets of Suburbia” exhibit opens April 5th and runs through August 10th, 2025.
Opening night features live performances by D.I. and T.S.O.L., with The Vandals’ Joe Escalante spinning records and comedian Chris Estrada serving as MC.
If you can’t wait, you can catch Grisham and T.S.O.L. at Garden Amp April 4th!
