CURRENT "BLACK FLAG" tour

He should join Flag.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 8:51 AM

On November 24th 2013 the last night of the Australian Hits and Pits tour with two songs left in the set Mike V comes on stage stares me down, takes my mic and says “You’re done, party’s over get off it’s over…” He said something else to me but it was a lie so I won’t repeat it here. So with a sense of great relief that it was finally over I left the stage and walked to the hotel room. They finished the set with Mike V on vocals. There is much more that can and perhaps should be said. But for now I will spare you the gory details. The writing was on the wall since before we played our first show. So many things went wrong from the start. I was into things like having a good drummer, rehearsing and spending time on things like beginnings and endings of songs, being a little less distracted with tour life and a little more on the ball. You know things that would make our efforts worthy of the name Black Flag… Yes it is my opinion that we fell very short indeed and the deminihing ticket sales and crowds are a testament to that. However It was made clear to me that raising these issues was tantamount to a blasphemous stab in the back to Greg. How could I question him, his efforts and hard work? How could I dare be a fan of OFF! And or be friends and a fan of Flag? I was told that I had to chose sides. But I refuse to treat someone like an infalable Pope figure. No guitarist deserves such unquestioning blind devotion. And so I have been excommunicated in a very strange fashion. I truly feel sorry for anyone who had to witness the infantile behaviour and the relentless provocation I was subjected to both on and off the stage. I regret that under such fierce provocation and taunting I sometimes responded in maners bellow my standard. I am greatful for the opportunities Greg gave me. There were some magical moments at first. I was naive enough to believe in the promise of potential. But in the end the good was no match for the overwhelming bad. It am proud of my contributions including the new album and it’s cover. Come on folks it’s only rock n roll. I would not be surprised if Mike V becomes the new singer for Black Flag. It is my opinion that they have been planing this for some time. I wish them well. Mike is a true deciple of Greg and so they have a good working relationship. And Ironicly the tension over the last weeks has brought out some of Greg’s best playing. So it could be interesting. I will miss playing with Dave Klien. He is a great kid and truly an outstanding bass player. Dave was an anchor that kept me from losing my place on a nightly basis. Trust me that was no easy task for either of us. I truly apologize for being in or more accurately “appearing” to be in competition with “Flag”. They know my heart on this matter. From the beginning I was happy for them and fully supported and understood why they would want to rock those songs and have a good time with friends and family. Yes I questioned their use of the name and logo but in no way questiond their motivation or right to do their thing. I envy them for they have succeeded in ways that were never possible with “Black Flag”. And once again for the record, I agreed to do Black Flag before I knew there was a Flag. I mean no malice towards Greg or Mike although they will most likely see things very differently. I wish them luck and prosperity. I have learned many valuable lessons this year. And these lessons will enrich my personal and musical endeavours. Cheers. Ron Reyes.

PARTY'S OVER, TELL THE REST OF THE CREW

we're probably only about two-three months removed from a pro wrestler joining the lineup

lol Ginn should change the name of the band to The People's Republic of North BlackFlagistan

it's sad, who will give us more crayon-vomit cover artwork?

greg ginn will provide

http://www.sstsuperstore.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/SST359_320x320.jpg

Ron was one of the sweetest of the guys I interviewed for my Black Flag book, and I was, to be honest, a little sad for him that he'd taken part in the reunion. Hope he's not hit too hard by this shit-show.

Hope he's not hit too hard by this shit-show.

― the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music (stevie), Wednesday, November 27, 2013 3:14 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fired onstage. god i hate ginn.

listening to the new one on Spotify....

honestly it's not nearly as bad as people are saying

hank shteamer's review in pfork is a great read

it sounds fucking terrible though! like it was recorded at a guitar center in 1998

When all is said and done, Black Flag were great last night.

This was my second Black Flag show since the Greg-Henry-Kira-Anthony lineup of '85, or third if you count seeing Flag last fall (Keith-Chuck-Dez-Bill-Stephen--love the zero overlap between those versions of the band!), where Keith dedicated "Jealous Again" with "Fuck you, Greg Ginn" at the end. I loved Flag, and had to miss Black Flag's Triple Rock show, but somehow they (Greg-Mike-Tyler-Brandon) decided to swing through the Twin Cities again this summer, and played a relatively uncrowded gig at the Amsterdam in St. Paul last night.

I liked what I took to be new songs, one from the band Good For You that people chanted for, "Fucked Up." Ginn joined us in the pit for slamming during the closer "Louie Louie." He played theremin during some guitar solos. He came out and talked to everyone afterward. Maybe that's all standard, but he and the band seemed to be happy and having a blast. I thought the singer and bass player were great. The drummer was hummingbird light, easy with the shifts in tempo of those songs, and I loved being able to hear each snare beat individually and almost melodically. The respect for these songs was obvious.

Honestly, I really think only Ginn can play this way, which I knew going in to Flag, but really felt in the splatter of solos and guitar lines last night. Flag doing "Depression" with Keith on vocals was a special thing, but so was Greg playing that line, on a song about something he obviously struggled with.

Nearly everyone hates what Ginn is doing these days but Peter...

Well, this Black Flag has only been playing shows since May 15. If they'd sprung up out of nowhere, I'd say, "Go see this great new hardcore-punk-funk band with a theremin." But obviously the songbook is central and inescapable. If anything, Mike seems slightly wary of the audience, maybe for that reason, and hides in the songs. But the difference from the lineup of a year ago (at least judging by Youtube) becomes obvious on a song like "Depression," where the new drummer actually plays the fill.

Flag were so great last night. I've never slamdanced with such a grin on my face. I didn't realize how badly I needed to hear "Rise Above" live.

I started a "Fuck Greg Ginn" chant after Keith Morris said "we're being forced to tour under this name because of the way we were treated by this one complete asshole" or something like that.

do they always put the setlist in a very visible place on the drum kit? that was a little weird, knowing in advance the songs....probably to stop fanboys from shouting out requests

Hmm I have been debating going to see Flag in August but wasn't sure as it isn't cheap.

yeah I saw em a couple years ago on the first tour and honestly I was so happy it "felt" like Black Flag in a way I doubt any of these official Ginn weird lineups did.....the Descendents dude had Ginn's guitar sound and riffs DOWN

Setlist large and visible, well if you were upfront in DC. A great oldies but goodies set from Flag.

going to see Black Flag (w/ Ginn) tonight. if i had a choice between Flag and Black Flag I'd probably choose Flag, mostly because my "fuck Greg Ginn" chant wouldn't get me thrown out of that show, and well....Ginn is a dicknugget. But I don't and I want to hear these songs. so I'll tell you if it's terrible. apparently no more theremin solos though so...there's...that.

i passed on this in the bay area; a friend went and said it was very tame.

Lol this one is at a craft beer bar.

I don't expect it to be life-changing but we will see

Pre show music has been all Rat Pack and "Que Sera Sera".

Fail. Now i want a crooner show. It's cold and badly lit. Bring on the glasses of fake rum

I mean Ginn you're not THAT old

i'm really curious as to how his guitar playing's held up through his long period of jambandery

One Phish lick and i am setting this bar ablaze

I left 30 minutes in. Complete garbage

Ginn sounds fine. Vallely is a charisma vacuum of a vocalist, the sound was quieter than the opening act, and all half the crowd did was stand around and film it

If you have seen FLAG tour...you have seen a much better show. I actually moshed with kids half my age at that shit. This was like Kids Bop Black Flag

Keith Morris is pretty scathing about being involved in the original reunion with Ginn as Black Flag.
Says Ginn wanted to slow down tempos on everything. & saw Korn as a model for what a band should sound like.

Also that he went in expecting Chuck Dukowski and other exmembers to join but Ginn was against that from the start.
In fact seems weird that rin reyes would agree to apparently replace him. Might have thought he would have heard the negative from somewhere before joining.

lol. i did feel like a few tempos were slower. some people were going nuts over the music and i'm like far be it for me to like shit on something you like but my god, Ginn could have died onstage and I'd not noticed a difference.

but dear lord he could really improve things tenfold just by HIRING BACK ONE OF HIS ORIGINAL FRONTMEN, omg, Vallely sucks and he's also 3 feet tall so I couldn't see him over people's heads half the night

How many of his original frontmen would want the job at this point, seeing how Reyes was treated

I'm pretty sure I'd rather see the Chuck Dukowski Sextet live than GinnFlag

Yeah you would. I had so much more fun at Flag. I'd rather listen to farts than Ginn

I don't think Mike Vallely is short. Google says he's 5' 10".

More importantly, googling that led me to his skate videos, which are just as great as I remember.

It was probably a perspective issue with the stage, which wasn't raised much. From where i was standing, Ginn didn't look tall but I remembered he's like 6'5 or something. So Vallely obv would have looked much shorter in comparison despite not being Danzig-sized.

So I'll strike my fake news height comments, but vocals are definitely not his thing. He wasn't unusually bad, but it sounded like karaoke. Everybody could play their instruments but it felt so perfunctory.

The songs that worked best were post-My War tunes

Rhoda from Steubenville (Neanderthal) at 9:08 21 Jan 20
Lol this one is at a craft beer bar.

FLAG is actually pretty damn good, aged and cobbled together as it is. Saw em last year and had a lot of fun. Descendent’s guitarist totally nails the classic Ginn guitar sound, gnarly ass solos and all.

I’ve heard nothing but sad things about the “Black Flag” incarnation.

that's the other thing, Keith talked to the crowd. there was no communication with the crowd last night. not once.

the guitar also was very clean sounding. if the guitar was dialed down a smidge more, I'd have been at a Minutemen show. which is great, if they're The Minutemen playing Minutemen songs, not so much when you're a noisy-meedly-weedly punk band

but the thing that made me leave was the constant stream of assholes who kept rudely shoving (or trying to shove) by me to get to the front, until I spread my shoulders and cut off all entry points behind me. how the hell can you watch a show when you're constantly having your space invaded? only to come back minutes later so you have to do the whole charade again.

that's more a discussion for the show etiquette thread though.

Also, in regards to the ‘peace, man’ post, Fish Head Cantina is about as lame and shitty as you would expect it to be. The fact that the Ginn & Crew version were playing there told me enough about what to expect.

lol. I liked the place last night, but it's a place you go to have good beer with friends near the beach. it's horrible for a concert.

the place they're playing this weekend? a local Cafe/restaurant that has poker games and is equally awkward. these are teh places they're playing.

Flag, on the other hand, played the State Theater in St Pete and the shit sold out or damn close.

Shouldn't BLACK FLAG be able to play like real clubs? I feel like they should have two modern hardcore bands opening for them and selling out legit theaters.

You would think. It might also be intentional on Ginn's part. They just got announced as playing this big festival here in Sept that fuckin Judas Priest is playing at so clearly the ability is there.

But on the other hand, sales are so shit to Saturday's show, the owner of the venue walked into one of my best friends' cat cafes and just gave him two tickets (which are going for $35 even though it's literally at a restaurant).

My friend has zero interest in punk rock or Black Flag either

Hell even the current version of the Cro Mags is playing bigger venues here

Ugh it's all so dire

So many sentences in the world of punk rock begin with "If Greg Ginn wasn't such an asshole..."

Like when Saint Vitus albums were out of print for decades but no one else could reissue them, and probably almost every other SST band

yup :(

it's also been easy for me to forget in today's easy access media era how much it sucked when you wanted to hear an album and you legitimately had no way to fuckin hear it other than buying a used cd or vinyl in an eBay auction and paying way more than it was worth.

and hoping the cd you got wasn't a damn cd-r

Shouldn't BLACK FLAG be able to play like real clubs? I feel like they should have two modern hardcore bands opening for them and selling out legit theaters.