VIVIAN (20) is a guys’ girl. Her insecurities navigating hostile hardcore punk spaces as a closeted lesbian fuel her distaste of other women and lead her to act out in search of attention. Throughout the film, she is forced to re-evaluate her internalized misogyny and her unrelenting desire to find a ‘chosen family’ no matter how poorly she chooses them.

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MIKE (24) is the band’s self-destructive lead singer and he will break your heart. A devout Darby Crash fan, he’s content to live fast and die young; he’s got the heroin addiction and the scars from switchblade fights to prove it. He’s hopelessly in love with Vivian but, as her best friend and one of two people she’s confided in about her lesbianism, hates himself for his selfish unrequited fixation. 

 

DARBY (19) is Vivian’s younger brother and the band’s drummer. He lacks direction and, as such, when their parents caught Vivian with a girl and disowned her, he recklessly tagged along out of love for his big sister. Darby is nothing if not easily impressionable. 

 

JOAN (21) is a proud bottle blonde bitch always wearing a frown and not much more. She’s got all the attitude of Nancy Spungen and can shred on the guitar better than Greg Ginn though they’ve relegated her to rhythm guitar on account of her sex. The boys resent her sexual freedom behind closed doors though recognize the spectacle it affords the band onstage. The teasing has grown her a tough skin and she resents Vivian for never having to put up with that.

 

JOHNNY (23) is a recovering skinhead and a vigilant straight-edge from D.C.’s hostile hardcore scene. He’s the band’s roadie and, naturally, a bit of a punching bag though the self-admitted masochist doesn’t mind. He’s the band’s resident graphic designer, stick-and-poke tattoo artist, and a brilliant, albeit demented cartoonist. 

 

D.J. (25) is a hedonist and a trickster with a dark sense of humor inherited from the horrors of his hometown, Waco. Despite being the band’s rhythm guitarist, he loves wordplay and finds himself writing the bulk of their lyrics. He’s a womanizer and a speed demon always on the hunt for the band’s next fix. 

 

DEXTER (25) is a Malcolm McLaren and Kim Fowley wannabe; that is to say he’s their manager. He never gave a shit about the music. Only cared for pulp books, a pack of cigarettes, and a chance to get shitfaced with brats who’d end up in magazines someday. Don’t be tricked by all that academic attire, he was dumb as rocks - just liked a good story and never learned to pick outfits his Momma didn’t like.