Electric Circus Rock Resurges

The Electric Circus in Anaheim is back in business as an original-rock venue for local bands after a three-month hiatus due to what club owner Allen Ornstein describes as “a major license problem.”

Ornstein said that the club, at 314 N. Beach Blvd., had a temporary entertainment license when it opened last year, but difficulties with local authorities ensued when it tried to get a permanent license.

“We never had a problem at the club; police were never called,” Ornstein said, noting that it took “a lot of work, energy and money spent” to get the Electric Circus back in action.

Upcoming shows include the Sun Demons, Rhythm Lords and Barrelhouse tonight, Solomon Grundy and Mighty Smiley on Saturday, the Homewreckers on June 17 and Standing Hawthorn, Tremelo and Psychobud on June 18.

Ornstein plans to devote Fridays to roots music, Saturdays to alternative-rock bands and Sundays to reggae. Wednesdays and Thursdays will be dance-music nights, with disc jockeys instead of bands.

Shows start at 9 p.m., with admission kept to $2 because, as Ornstein put it, “everybody has less money these days.”

Instead of using outside promoters, as he did before the licensing difficulties, Ornstein plans to book the shows himself. Information: (714) 826-9686.

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A budding science career has been put on hold so the Offspring can further its budding career in punk rock.

Bryan Holland, the singer and songwriter of the Orange County band, says he has taken a two-year leave of absence from USC, where he was six months into thesis research for a doctorate in microbiology.

Holland’s time has been in demand lately with the band, which has ridden its alternative radio hit, “Come Out and Play,” onto the Billboard Top 200 albums chart--the first album on an independent label by an Orange County rock band to do so since Stryper came along back in the ‘80s.

“I was cloning a mouse retrovirus, the same family as HIV,” said Holland. “Right now there’s just no way I could give it the (needed) commitment. It gets more and more hectic every week. I was trying to do experiments, and it just wasn’t working out.”

The Offspring will play to its biggest audience ever Saturday at the KROQ Weenie Roast at Irvine Meadows. The rest of the summer is booked with tours of the United States and Europe.