Los Angeles punks the Circle Jerks won't exactly be living up to the title of their 1982 album, Wild in the Streets, when they hit the road this August, frontman Keith Morris says.

"What we're doing for this tour is stocking up on Geritol and Viagra; we've got some Formula 44 and the Helsinki treatment," Morris said Tuesday. "Our vehicle is like an oxygen tank on wheels. I need a walker and an electric wheelchair." All joking aside, Morris said he'll have to forgo some of his old stage antics and take it a little easier on the group's first road trip in six years, which kicks off August 1 in San Diego. Diagnosed with adult onset diabetes in 1999, the 46-year-old singer only recently became well enough to work (see "X, Weirdos, Pennywise Help Raise Money For Circle Jerks Singer").

"I'm feeling pretty good, but I'm still only about 80 percent," he said. "I can't get up there and be the partymeister, which is what I wanna do. I wanna do somersaults and back flips and cartwheels and leap off the third-story balcony, but I can't do that anymore." The band's lineup also features original Jerks guitarist Greg Hetson (also of Bad Religion) and latter-day bassist Zander Schloss. Ex-Geraldine Fibbers drummer Kevin Fitzgerald replaced Keith Clark.

The Circle Jerks originally decided to reunite for a string of dates on the Vans Warped Tour, but the job fell through. "We just said, 'Look, there's still all these places we can play — let's go,'" said Morris, who co-founded the Circle Jerks in 1980 after a few years in Black Flag.

The band has played some spot warm-up shows to prepare for the tour, beginning with a May 17 gig at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California. "We did a 45-minute set, and at the end of it I felt like I'd run into this big wall that had spray painted across it, 'Guess what? You're old!'" Though the setlist for the shows will span the band's career, Morris said he's retired some favorites, including the classic "Live Fast Die Young" from the Jerks' 1981 debut, Group Sex. "Back then, I wholeheartedly believed in it, but now I don't. I've seen death, and I'm not afraid of death, but it's like, 'Hey, if I can put it off a little while I've got some places I wanna go.'" Morris, who also fronts a group called Midget Handjob, said a new Circle Jerks album is "very likely," but the band will have to work around Hetson's schedule with Bad Religion.

Also in the works is a Circle Jerks tribute disc to help Morris pay his medical bills. Artists confirmed for the project include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Breeders, Fishbone, Fu Manchu, Mudhoney, Nashville Pussy, Pennywise, Superchunk and Go-Go Jane Wiedlin.

"When you've got really great bands, you're at the mercy of their schedule," Morris said, adding that Pearl Jam, the Beastie Boys and Los Lobos have also expressed interest in contributing to the project.

He said he hopes Los Lobos will record their cover in Spanish, since he's not interested in the contributors staying loyal to the Jerks' original recordings. "All these punk rock tribute albums have punk rock bands covering punk rock songs, and why do you need a punk rock band playing another punk rock band's punk rock song on a punk rock tribute?" Circle Jerks tour dates, according to their booking agent:

  • 8/1 - San Diego, CA @ 'Canes
  • 8/3 - Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
  • 8/4 - Las Vegas, NV @ Huntridge Theatre
  • 8/5 - Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theatre
  • 8/7 - Tucson, AZ @ The Rock
  • 8/9 - Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Live
  • 8/10 - San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
  • 8/11 - Austin, TX @ Emo's
  • 8/12 - Houston, TX @ Engine Room
  • 8/13 - New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
  • 8/15 - Boynton Beach, FL @ Orbit
  • 8/16 - Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues
  • 8/17 - St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing
  • 8/18 - Jacksonville, FL @ Fat Kat Music Hall
  • 8/19 - Atlanta, GA @ Cotton Club
  • 8/24 - Spartanburg, SC @ Ground Zero
  • 8/25 - Winston-Salem, NC @ Ziggy's
  • 8/26 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Abyss