The lights aren’t out on legendary West Coast Punk band Black Flag. With a never-say-die mentality and enough raw energy to power a small city, the Hardcore thrashers have reunited once again. The reassembled group is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on a new album, and with their ever-evolving sound — punctuated by atonal guitar solos and intense lyrics — you can expect this new record to pack some serious punch.
Black Flag is led by guitarist extraordinaire Greg Ginn — named one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time” — who founded the DIY Punk outfit in 1976. Ginn (the one constant member of the group since its inception) is flanked by Ron Reyes on vocals, Gregory Moore on drums, and Dale Nixon on bass. With recent Black Flag reformations only spanning a couple of live shows and performances, this will be the first studio album from the iconic group since 1985′s In My Head.
Like most great ideas, the germ for this reformation spawned from, you guessed it, a party. Reyes, who was the vocalist during the Jealous Again EP days, invited Ginn to play with him at his birthday party some two and a half years ago, and from there, the duo decided to work on new material. Well, that work payed off, as it became the foundation for the band’s new album, which is anticipated to drop later this year.
But more than simply laying down new material, Black Flag has already announced three festival dates for 2013. The group is headlining both the Ruhrpott Rodeo in Hünxe, Germany on May 18th and the Muddy Roots Music Festival in Tennessee on August 31st. The Punk pioneers will also be playing at UK’s Hevy Fest on August 4th, which will be the band’s first appearance in Britain in over 30 years. It’s also the only UK appearance for the band in 2013, so all ye’ British Black Flag faithful better get your tickets ASAP.
Ever the mystery though, Dale Nixon — notorious for never touring with the band — will miss the reunited shows, and instead, provide “spiritual guidance” to the band’s touring bass player. Nixon recorded bass for the My War album and is the author of iconic Black Flag bass lines such as “Jealous Again,” “Nervous Breakdown,” “Six Pack,” “TV Party,” “Revenge” and “Gimme Gimme Gimme” among others.
More festival and tour dates, including the Black Flag Fall 2013 US Tour locals, are soon to be announced.
SST. Despite the accuracy of the above headline, it actually stands for Solid State Transmitters, which was originally a mail-order WWII surplus radio equipment company that Greg Ginn started when he was twelve. Now thirty years after Greg changed the dial from surplus to punk, we are celebrating one of the most pivotal and influential labels of our time. How we love thee SST, let us count the ways.
Perhaps you are simply a fan of a little band that Greg started called Black Flag . Yes, THAT Black Flag; the hardcore band responsible for launching the TRUE indie DIY model/mentality. Maybe you’re a warm blooded, die hard Minnesotan with a love for Hüsker Dü and a certain Mr. Bob Mould who would go on to influence everyone from The Pixies to Green Day .
For me, I was smitten once SST put out I Against I by Bad Brains . When the worlds of hardcore and reggae combine forces it only makes sense for the offspring to reside at SST. While this was the only Bad Brains album to come out on SST their explosive frontman H.R. would continue making records with Greg for some time to come.
Crossing lines and mixing flavors was nothing foreign to SST, however, as one of their most pivotal releases Double Nickels on the Dime featured 45 tracks with styles ranging from punk to jazz and funk to country. Touching upon important social issues such as the Vietnam War and racism, the album credits inspiration from such visionaries as Jack Brewer and one time Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins .
The Minutemen , Soundgarden , Sonic Youth , Dinosaur Jr. , The Descendants …the list goes on and on and on. You have
undoubtedly rocked out to an SST release, bought a badass vintage t-shirt of one of their bands, tattooed the Black Flag logo on you forearm or sworn
allegiance to a modern day band that would have
never existed had Greg Ginn and SST not started putting out records.
For 30 years we have been following Greg Ginn’s lead by cranking up the dial, at least to 11, and personally i cant wait for the new bands 30 years from now to do the same, giving us, and a new generation of music fans a reason to rock, all while still having a home to trace it all back to.
