Rikk Agnew

In 2013, Agnew was active playing in Wrong Beach, producing bands and recording solo work and various projects. He also rotated between guitar, drums and bass for Chaotic Stature. In 2015, Agnew was listed as active with the Detours and also had a touring band of his own, the Rikk Agnew Band. In Los Angeles he occasionally works on film soundtracks. He is also currently active in the Gitane DeMone Quartet and Only Theatre of Pain (a band that performs the entire Christian Death album of the same name).

In 1990, Agnew was engaged to Karen Mountain, with whom he had a daughter named Polina (Polli) . He became engaged to fellow former Christian Death member Gitane DeMone on May 3, 2013. Each has a daughter from a previous relationship.

Agnew struggled with alcohol and drug use over much of his career, but in 2010, had a health crisis and started an effort to stay sober. Besides being a musician, Agnew is also a visual artist, working in painting and sculpture.

Agnew toured with the reunited 45 Grave, in place of original guitarist Paul B. Cutler, in 2004 and 2005. He also played guitar in Poop (with Scott Hoogland, former frontman of the influential Orange County band The Mechanics) and the reunited Detours.

In 2000, Agnew again regrouped with the Adolescents and continued to play with them until 2003.

When the Adolescents reunited in 1986, Agnew rejoined the band until its hiatus in 1989. He rejoined Royer and Tony Adolescent to record Where Were You? with ADZ in 1992.

He joined D.I. in 1983, playing on their 1983 debut EP Team Goon (originally known simply as D.I.) as well as their first two albums (1985's Ancient Artifacts and 1986's Horse Bites Dog Cries) before deciding to leave the band in 1987.

Agnew has also pursued a solo career and released his debut album, All by Myself, in 1982. He later released Emotional Vomit in 1990 and Turtle in 1992.

In 1982, Agnew released his first solo album, All by Myself (Frontier), on which he played all the instruments. Agnew went on to release two more solo albums, Emotional Vomit (under the name Rikk Agnew's Yard Sale) in 1990 and 1992's Turtle, both on Triple X Records. About the album Emotional Vomit, Agnew said, "A lot of (the songs) I wrote while I was in a very bad state, a very lonely and self-abusing state. It was a way of letting it out".

In 1981, Agnew attended a performance by Christian Death in Pomona, California. Attracted by their style and sound, he approached them after the show and asked if they needed another guitarist. Agnew joined Christian Death soon after leaving the Adolescents, writing and playing guitar on the seminal Only Theatre of Pain album, issued by Frontier in March 1982. He also performed on the band's Deathwish EP, recorded before the album during the sessions for the compilation Hell Comes to Your House but not released until 1984.

With Casey Royer, Agnew played in Social Distortion and the Detours in 1979. He joined the Adolescents in 1980. His guitar style and writing dominated the Adolescents' Blue Album, released in May 1981 on Frontier Records. Agnew left the band soon after the album's release due to personal and creative differences.

Richard Francis "Rikk" Agnew, Jr. (born December 9, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and visual artist.

Richard Francis Agnew, Jr. was born on December 9, 1958, in Newport Beach, California. He is half Irish and half Mexican-American and was raised in a blue-collar neighborhood in Fullerton, California. He attended La Vista High School. Because he was shy, Agnew gravitated toward music, and along with his younger brothers Frank and Alfie played various instruments that they found around the house.