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. A self-taught musician, Hurley created his own drumsticks out of Plexiglas and wood at the Boys Club in his youth. He got his first drumkit when he was nineteen after trading a motorcycle for it. Although he is known as a punk drummer, Hurley's musical influences are primarily jazz-based. Even though he went to the same high school as D. Boon and Mike Watt he did not meet them until around 1978. That same year, Hurley formed The Reactionaries with Boon, Watt, and Martin Tamburovich. Watt asked Hurley to join repeatedly but Hurley was reticent because they traveled in different circles and Watt was deemed "a geek". 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 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. 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 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|Rolling Stone'''s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]. 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 E.P. The band dissolved in 1994 citing creative stagnation, and