George Hurley

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

Music career

Early years Originally from the East Coast, Hurley and his family moved to San Pedro, California, when he was six years old. Hurley was a surfer before devoting himself to music. Hurley created his own drumsticks out of Plexiglas and wood at the Boys Club in his youth.

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!" 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, Slant Magazine listed the album at on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".

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

fIREHOSE

Watt and Hurley formed fIREHOSE in 1986, alongside newcomer Ed Crawford on guitar and lead vocals. They recorded three albums with SST Records, then joined Columbia Records for two albums and an EP. The band dissolved in 1994 citing creative stagnation, and reformed in 2012 for an appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and a short tour.

Later work Hurley has played with the Red Krayola Their first album, The Way Things Work, was released in late September 2005 by Smog Veil Records. In October 2005, they returned to the studio to record their second album, this time with Pere Ubu's David Thomas as an added participant.

Hurley has formed a drum/bass duo with Constant Llama member Joe Dean called the Wrinkling Brothers.

Personal life Hurley has been married since 1997 and has a son, Garrett, who was born in July 2002.

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". 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.