Especially with the bands present here (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Fear), this 1981 documentary by Paul Young feels like a mini-sequel to Penelope Spheeris' seminal punk film The Decline of Western Civilization. In case you feel those grizzled punks complaining about how kids today have it soft are just seeing things through shit-coloured glasses, this film really captures the violent, repressive milieu these kids lived (and reveled) in.
We've spent much of the last week assessing the present and the past of LA hardcore pioneers Black Flag (See HERE). While the band has yet to see the full-scale documentary treatment, too much bad blood I expect, David Markey from Painted Wille did make a documentary on the band's final tour called Reality 86'ed. While it's far and away my least favourite phase in the the band's seven year career, it's a fascinating document for sure.
Black Flag are like a worm, chop them in half and instead of dying they just split into two separate, subterranean organisms. And that's what happened in 2013, we got two bands playing the crushing music of Black Flag. One iteration, using the name Black Flag, features Ron Reyes and Gregg Ginn plus two hired guns, while the other, who go under the name FLAG (more HERE), feature Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Dez Cadena, Bill Stevenson and Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton.
These L.A. Eighties hardcore progenitors saw seventeen members pass through their ranks in eight years, so that's a lot of people with Black Flag on their resume. In fact, I'd argue that, academically anyway, you could chop that worm up into three and make another version of the band, let's call them BF, with Rollins on vocals, Kira on bass, Robo on drums and, since FLAG bent the rules to fill in for Ginn, Mike Neider from BL'AST on guitar.
Idle speculation aside, it's fair to say that if Greg Ginn decides to call a band 'Black Flag' then they are, damnit. That's why it's so fitting that FLAG play up the "We're doing this for fun" angle, while Ginn & co. take the "(We're not) some sort of greatest-hits act" tack and Mr. Rollins goes the "Music had moved on" route.
Of course, that all this Flag-waving has not gone without raising some ire. Some argue that old men wrapping themselves up in the Flag is undignified or unseemly or unworthy. However, I'd argue that neither is a false Flag and both attest to the long-lasting inspiration created by a group of disaffected men and women set on making their own musical nation.
So, if you missed Black Flag the first time around (I had other plans that kept me from Desh Bhagat Hall in 1985) there's little reason not to take this opportunity by the throat, I know I will, given half a chance.
So which, if any, version of Black Flag would you see in 2013? Let us know in the COMMENTS section!
You daily of ferociousness is here, beware of an overdose! Here's a live recording of the re-united/re-configured FLAG, Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Dez Cadena, Bill Stevenson and guitarist Stephen Egerton, ripping through a set of Black Flag songs. If you want to see what Greg Ginn & co. are up to, here's Black Flag 2013 doing "Rise Above" and "Down in the Dirt".
The sound quality of this bootleg is solid, if a little boxy, as if the mike was real close to the stage.
(Drawing by Chris Shary)
FLAG
Meerhout (Belgium), Groezrock Festival (Etnies Stage)
28th April 2013
Setlist:
01 Revenge
02 Fix Me
03 Police Story
04 I Don't Care
05 Depression
06 I've Had It
07 No Values
08 My War
09 No More
10 Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
11 White Minority
12 Jealous Again
13 Wasted
14 Clocked In
15 Nervous Breakdown
16 American Waste
17 Spray Paint
18 Thirsty And Miserable
19 Six Pack
20 Rise Above
21 Louie Louie
"You could've just as easily gone to the Green Day
concert tonight and thrown shit at them!"
Keith Morris to the audience at Redondo Beach Moose Lodge
Thanks to my man, Ian for this link to a decently-shot (would the rest of you put down your fucking phones!) video of the secret show by Flag (Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Dez Cadena, Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton doing Black Flag songs) this week at the Redondo Beach Moose Lodge. What a fucking marvel that a fifty-eight year old diabetic like Keith Morris can rock out like a madman. For more on this show, read THIS.
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Re: Re-Ups
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