Talent from the film will be on hand for q & a's with the audience during opening weekend in New York & Los Angeles and the "new" Germs will be performing live shows at the Warped Tour and in LA and NY this summer in connection with the theatrical opening of this film.

1970s Los Angeles, Nihilist Philosophy, Glam Rock, Drugs, Booze, Closeted Homosexuality, Dianetics, a Yen for Rock and Roll Immortality - a convergence of forces that shaped the short, self-destructive life of Jan Paul Beahm, a fatherless boy raised by an alcoholic mother and abandoned by an older brother who died of a drug-overdose - a kid who reinvented himself coming out of a high school program for outcasts, as the one and only DARBY CRASH, the legendary lead singer of the seminal Los Angeles Punk band, The Germs.

Shane West ("ER," "ONCE AND AGAIN"), Bijou Phillips (CHOKE, BULLY), Rick Gonzalez (ILLEGAL TENDER, COACH CARTER) and Noah Segan (BRICK, CHAIN LETTER) star in WHAT WE DO IS SECRET, a biopic that chronicles the rise of The Germs and their charismatic leader Darby Crash whose image - the contorted, screaming face and death grip on the microphone, has become an icon of the U.S. punk movement and a rapt influence on bands since. Darby's cultivated punk attitude, resplendent with the hardcore, infamous onstage self-mutilation antics and volatile energy that inspired the band's mesmerized followers to riot, ultimately banned The Germs from playing every venue in the greater Los Angeles area.

But how did it start? It all started with a germ.

Los Angeles, 1975 - disenfranchised University High School teen Jan Paul Beahm (Shane West), shares his five year plan to become a legend with best friend George Ruthenberg (Rick Gonzalez). Step One. They ignore the fact that they don't know how to play instruments, as well as the fact that they don't even have instruments, and form a band. Sophistifuck and the Revlon Spam Queens is born.

Paul and George recruit band members and play their first gig, which is pretty much a giant food fight to the tune of noise. These antics distract from the band's lack of musical ability and endear them to the audience. Virtually overnight, the out-of-control group earns a reputation as a force of chaos and mayhem on the Los Angeles punk scene.

After some false starts with band members that don't work out (including Belinda Carlisle who shot to fame with the Go Go's a few short years later, but never made it on stage as a Germ!), the final Germs line up is complete. Sculpting their punk image, Paul drops the moniker "Bobby Pyn" and adopts the name "Darby Crash." He anoints George "Pat Smear," and bassist Terry Ryan (Bijou Phillips) is "Lorna Doom." Smart aleck drummer Don Bolles (Noah Segan) who heard the band's early music, arrives from Arizona for an audition, determined to be a Germ.

Darby gets off on "mind-control" (interestingly his high school unofficially taught L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics) onstage and off and soon has the "Circle One" fans buzzing around him in a cult of their own. This both fascinates and fuels him. He develops the "blue circle logo" and the viral "cigarette burn circle." He writes shockingly literate and insightful lyrics and comes to the attention of journalist Claude Bessy whose interview with Darby about his philosophies and plans for the future, provides a structural element for the film. The band runs wild in an FCC nightmare of an in-studio interview with KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer who broke the band on radio.

Increased notoriety on the underground music scene for The Germs, also captures the attention of What? Records and later, Slash Records. Ironically, as their popularity grows, ultimately the band is black balled from playing every venue in town because the destruction of the club will inevitably ensue amidst a storm of flying bottles and fights. When they are asked when they will play again, the running joke is -- "never" -- and when documentarian Penelope Spheeris wants to film The Germs for her seminal documentary on the L.A. punk scene, THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, she filmed their performance on a soundstage with a live audience, since no club would book them.

By 1980, Darby was increasingly dependent on hard drugs and unable to focus on writing more music to follow up The Germs' one and only album. He subscribed to the "Live Fast, Die Young" mentality, and with Step Five of "the plan" he sealed his status as a legend of rock 'n roll, by ending his life in heroin-overdose suicide on December 7th. While he might have imagined himself on the cover of every tabloid, ironically his death was eclipsed by John Lennon's assassination the next day. But the legend of Darby Crash and his hugely influential band, The Germs, continues to reverberate and grow.

The real Pat Smear went on to play with Nirvana and is currently with the Foo Fighters as well as the "new" Germs, a band that grew out of the making of this film. Shane West, who portrays Darby Crash in the film "channels" Darby when he joins original band members Pat Smear, Lorna Doom and Don Bolles on stage.


Credits:
WHAT WE DO IS SECRET is stars SHANE WEST, BIJOU PHILLIPS, RICK GONZALEZ, NOAH SEGAN.

WHAT WE DO IS SECRET is Written and Directed by Rodger Grossman. The Producers are Matt Perniciaro, Kevin Mann, Rodger Grossman, Todd Traina and Stephen Nemeth. The Line Producer is Bruce Wayne Gillies. Executive Producers are Shane West, Michael LaFetra and King Records. Story by Rodger Grossman and Michelle Baer Ghaffari. The Director of Photography is Andrew Huebscher. Production Designer is John R. Mott. Film Editors are Ross Albert and Joel Platch. The Music Supervisor is Howard Paar. Music by Anna Waronker. The Costume Designer. The Co-Producers are Michelle Baer Ghaffari and Andy Wombwell. Co-Executive Producer are Andre Relis and Lise Romanoff.