first practice in living room

In April 1979, the band had their first practice in the living room of original drummer, John Stielow’s parent’s home. They eventually changed the band name to Red Cross, which was allegedly inspired by the masturbation scene in the film The Exorcist . They soon began working on their 1980 debut self-titled EP . Eventually, Hetson left to join the Circle Jerks (and later Bad Religion ) and Reyes left for Black Flag . They appeared on the Posh Boy compilation The Siren , and then to complete the lineup on their first full-length album, Born Innocent , they assembled a revolving door of musicians including original drummer John Stielow. Full of the brothers’ pop culture obsessions, Born Innocent featured odes to Linda Blair (who starred in a television movie of the same name ), a cover of “Look on Up at the Bottom” by the Carrie Nations from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls , and Charles Manson (whose song ” Cease to Exist ” they covered). The album also contains nods to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker , Tatum O’Neal , and Lita Ford . Not long after the release of the album, the group was threatened with a lawsuit from the International Red Cross and changed the spelling of their name to Redd Kross.