Black Flag is an American
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...
band formed in 1976 in
Hermosa Beach, California
Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. The c ...
by
Greg Ginn
Gregory Regis Ginn (born June 8, 1954) is an American guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter, best known for being the leader, primary songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led ...
, the band's guitarist, primary songwriter, and sole constant member. During Black Flag's 10-year existence, the band went through 16 distinct lineups involving 17 different musicians. Aside from Ginn, the longest-lasting members were bassist
Chuck Dukowski (6 years), vocalist
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...
(5 years), vocalist
Keith Morris
Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the ...
(3½ years), and drummer
Roberto "Robo" Valverde (3½ years). The 1983–1985 lineup of Ginn, Rollins, bassist
Kira Roessler
Kira Roessler (born June 12, 1961) is an American musician and two-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue editor. She is best known as the bassist for the influential hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1983 to 1985. Since the mid-1980s, she has been ...
, and drummer
Bill Stevenson recorded four albums and three
EPs together in a sixteen-month period. After breaking up in 1986 and briefly reuniting in 2003, Black Flag announced another reunion in January 2013. Two versions of Black Flag are currently touring; the Ginn-fronted band known as Black Flag, and a group featuring founding vocalist Keith Morris and other previous members known simply as Flag.
Members
Current members (Black Flag)
*
Greg Ginn
Gregory Regis Ginn (born June 8, 1954) is an American guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter, best known for being the leader, primary songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led ...
– guitar
(1976–1986, 2003, 2013–2014, 2019–present)
*
Mike Vallely
Mike Vallely ( ), also known as Mike V, is an American professional skateboarder and musician. Since November 2013, he has been the lead vocalist of hardcore punk band Black Flag. Vallely is the second-longest-serving member of the band, althou ...
– vocals
(2003, 2013–2014, 2019–present)
* Charles Wiley – drums
(2022–present)
* Harley Duggan - bass
(2022–present)
Current members (Flag)
*
Keith Morris
Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the ...
– vocals
(1976–1979, 2013–present)
*
Chuck Dukowski – bass
(1977–1983, 2013–present)
*
Dez Cadena
Dez Cadena (born June 2, 1961) is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with Misfits from 2001 to 2015, init ...
– vocals
(1980–1981, 2003, 2013–present), guitar
(1981–1983, 2003, 2013–present)
*
Bill Stevenson – drums
(1983–1985, 2013–present)
*
Stephen Egerton – guitar
(2013–present)
Former members
*
Raymond Pettibon
Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for ...
– bass
(1976)
* Bryan Migdol – drums
(1977–1978)
* Kansas (Jim Dearmen) – bass
(1977)
*
Glen "Spot" Lockett – bass
(1977)
*
Roberto "Robo" Valverde – drums
(1978–1981, 2003)
*
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...
– vocals
(1981–1986)
* Emil Johnson – drums
(1982)
*
Chuck Biscuits
Chuck Biscuits (born Charles Montgomery on April 17, 1965) is a Canadian drummer best known for his work in several punk rock bands.
Biscuits was a member of D.O.A. from 1978 to 1982, playing on the band's first two albums before briefly join ...
– drums
(1982)
*
Kira Roessler
Kira Roessler (born June 12, 1961) is an American musician and two-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue editor. She is best known as the bassist for the influential hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1983 to 1985. Since the mid-1980s, she has been ...
– bass
(1983–1985)
* Anthony Martinez – drums
(1985–1986)
* C'el Revuelta – bass
(1986, 2003; died in 2017)
*
Ron Reyes
Ron Reyes (born July 24, 1960) is an American musician most noted as the second singer for the Los Angeles punk rock group Black Flag.
Reyes joined Black Flag after original vocalist Keith Morris had quit to form the Circle Jerks. Black Fla ...
– vocals
(1979–1980, 2013)
*
Dave Klein – bass
(2013)
* Gregory Moore – drums
(2003, 2013–2014)
* Isaias Gil – drums
(2019–2022)
* Joe Noval – bass
(2019–2022)
Member history
Ginn formed the band with singer
Keith Morris
Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the ...
in the summer of 1976.
Ginn's younger brother Raymond—known later by his pseudonym
Raymond Pettibon
Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for ...
—played bass guitar with them in early rehearsals but soon bowed out of the group to focus on his college education.
To fill out the
rhythm section Morris recruited some of his friends, whom he described as "scruffy beach rat types who were more interested in getting laid and finding drugs than really playing".
By early 1977 these included a bassist known only as "Kansas" and drummer Bryan Migdol, though both would frequently skip rehearsals.
[Chick, pp. 29–30.] The band originally called themselves Panic.
[Chick, p. 30.] Ginn's friend Glenn Lockett, also known as
Spot
Spot or SPOT may refer to:
Places
* Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States
* The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia
* South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse
People
* Spot (prod ...
, played
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
with the group during rehearsals in early 1977.
Würm
The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. The length of the river is , or including the ''Steinbach'', the main feed of Lake Starnberg. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villag ...
bassist Gary McDaniel, who later adopted the pseudonym
Chuck Dukowski, began sitting in with the band and soon became their permanent bassist.
Spot became a
recording engineer and
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
, recording the band's releases over the next eight years and working with many of the other bands on Ginn and Dukowski's independent record label
SST.
Panic changed their name to Black Flag in 1978, and released their debut EP ''
Nervous Breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
'' in January 1979.
[Azerrad, p. 19.]
Migdol left and was replaced by Robo, a Colombian national.
Morris recorded basic tracks for Black Flag's second release, but left the band to form the
Circle Jerks shortly before Black Flag was to embark on a summer 1979
West Coast tour.
[Azerrad, p. 21.] He was replaced by
Ron Reyes
Ron Reyes (born July 24, 1960) is an American musician most noted as the second singer for the Los Angeles punk rock group Black Flag.
Reyes joined Black Flag after original vocalist Keith Morris had quit to form the Circle Jerks. Black Fla ...
, who also recorded tracks for the band's second release but quit mid-performance in May 1980.
The band convinced him to return to finish recording the ''
Jealous Again
''Jealous Again'' is a 12" EP that was the second release by American hardcore punk band Black Flag and the third-ever release on SST Records.
History
Although eventually released as a 12" 45 RPM extended-play, ''Jealous Again'' was initially ...
'' EP (1980), then replaced him with
Dez Cadena
Dez Cadena (born June 2, 1961) is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with Misfits from 2001 to 2015, init ...
in June 1980.
[Azerrad, pp. 21–24.] Cadena sang on the "
Louie Louie
"Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and ...
" single (1981) and both sang and played guitar on the ''
Six Pack'' EP (1981), but his voice suffered from the strain of constant touring and he expressed a desire to move to guitar.
[Azerrad, pp. 24–25.] When the band toured the
East Coast of the United States in December 1980, they met
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
native and
State of Alert
State of Alert (often abbreviated to S.O.A.) was an American hardcore punk group formed in Washington, D.C. in October 1980, and active till July 1981. S.O.A. was fronted by Henry Rollins, then using his original surname Garfield.
History
S.O. ...
singer
Henry Garfield, who stayed in touch with Dukowski.
[Azerrad, pp. 27–28.] When they returned to the East Coast that spring, Garfield jumped on stage at a New York City show and sang a song with them.
[Azerrad, p. 28.] A few days later they asked him to audition in New York City and offered him the position of lead singer.
[Azerrad, pp. 28–29.] After settling his affairs at home, Garfield met up with Black Flag in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
and sang at
soundcheck
A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small p ...
s and
encores throughout the rest of the tour while Cadena continued to sing the main sets.
[Azerrad, p. 29.] On arriving in Los Angeles with the band, Garfield took the pseudonym Henry Rollins.
The five-piece Black Flag lineup of Ginn, Dukowski, Robo, Cadena, and Rollins recorded the band's first full-length album, ''
Damaged'', in 1981.
[Azerrad, pp. 32–33.] However, Robo encountered
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
problems at the end of a December 1981 tour of the United Kingdom and could not legally return to the United States.
[Azerrad, p. 37.] Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a ...
drummer
Bill Stevenson was brought in to finish the tour with a week of East Coast dates.
For the first half of 1982, sixteen-year-old Emil Johnson drummed for Black Flag, playing on the title track of the ''
TV Party
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
'' EP, but quit in the middle of a U.S. tour after a fight with the band's
roadie
The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...
Mugger.
[Azerrad, pp. 37–38.] He was replaced by
Chuck Biscuits
Chuck Biscuits (born Charles Montgomery on April 17, 1965) is a Canadian drummer best known for his work in several punk rock bands.
Biscuits was a member of D.O.A. from 1978 to 1982, playing on the band's first two albums before briefly join ...
of
D.O.A.
DOA may refer to:
* Dead on arrival
* Dead or Alive (disambiguation)
Film
* ''D.O.A.'' (1949 film), a ''film noir''
* ''D.O.A.'' (1988 film), a remake of the 1949 film
* '' D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage'' (1980 film), a documentary on the gene ...
, but Biscuits lasted only several months as he would not agree to the band's demanding rehearsal schedule.
[Azerrad, p. 38.] With the Descendents on hiatus, Bill Stevenson joined Black Flag in early 1983 as their new drummer, and the band toured the United States and Europe.
[Azerrad, p. 39.] Cadena left Black Flag in April 1983 to form his own band,
DC3, and was not replaced.
[Azerrad, p. 40.] Ginn also attempted to edge out Dukowski, desiring a new musical direction, and in the fall of 1983 Rollins took it upon himself to fire Dukowski from Black Flag in order to resolve the situation.
[Azerrad, pp. 40–41.] Dukowski remained involved with Black Flag, acting as their manager and booking agent.
[Azerrad, p. 41.]
Throughout 1982 and 1983, the band had been in a legal dispute with Unicorn Records over the rights to ''Damaged'' that had prevented them from releasing material under the Black Flag name, though they had released the 1982 compilation album ''
Everything Went Black
''Everything Went Black'' is a compilation album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1982 through SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by music ...
'', consisting of
demos recorded during Morris, Reyes, and Cadena's stints as singer (Morris was credited as "Johnny 'Bob' Goldstein" and Reyes as "Chavo Pederast").
[Azerrad, pp. 36–37.] When Unicorn went bankrupt in late 1983, the band was free to release new material and recorded their second album, 1984's ''
My War
''My War'' is the second studio album by American band Black Flag. It was the first of three full-length albums released by the band in 1984. It polarized fans due to the LP's B-side, on which the band slowed down to a heavy, Black Sabbath-e ...
'', with Ginn playing bass guitar under the pseudonym Dale Nixon.
[Azerrad, p. 43.] Shortly after the album's recording,
Kira Roessler
Kira Roessler (born June 12, 1961) is an American musician and two-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue editor. She is best known as the bassist for the influential hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1983 to 1985. Since the mid-1980s, she has been ...
was added as the band's new bassist.
[Azerrad, p. 46.] The lineup of Ginn, Rollins, Stevenson, and Roessler was Black Flag's most prolific, releasing three more albums in 1984 (''
Family Man'', ''
Slip It In
''Slip It In'' is the fourth studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag, released in 1984 on SST Records.
''Slip It In'' is an extension of the sound Black Flag utilized on its second album ''My War'': heavy, cathartic, intense ...
'', and ''
Live '84
''Live '84'' is an album released by Black Flag in 1984 on SST Records. It is a live recording of a show played in 1984 and features mostly tracks from ''My War'' and '' Slip It In''. A video was shot simultaneously and was briefly available th ...
'') along with two more albums (''
Loose Nut
''Loose Nut'' is the fifth full-length album by American band Black Flag, released in 1985 on SST Records.
Track listing
Personnel
*Henry Rollins – lead vocals
*Greg Ginn – guitars
*Kira Roessler – bass, backing vocals
* Bill Stevenso ...
'' and ''
In My Head'') and an EP (''
The Process of Weeding Out
''The Process of Weeding Out'' is the fifth EP by American band Black Flag. One of the most potent realizations of guitarist Greg Ginn's fascination with the avant-garde, ''The Process of Weeding Out'' is described by critic Chris True of AllM ...
'') in 1985.
[Azerrad, pp. 46–54.]
Stevenson was fired from Black Flag by Ginn in late April 1985 and returned to the Descendents.
[Azerrad, pp. 55–56.] He was replaced by Anthony Martinez, who toured North America with the band and played on the live album ''
Who's Got the 10½?'' (1986).
[Azerrad, pp. 56–57.] Roessler was fired in September 1985 and replaced by C'el Revuelta, who performed on the band's final tour from January to June 1986.
Ginn disbanded Black Flag that August.
[Azerrad, p. 59.]
In September 2003 Ginn organized three Black Flag reunion shows to benefit cat rescue organizations. The lineup for these performances was Ginn on lead guitar, Dez Cadena on vocals and rhythm guitar, C'el Revuelta on bass guitar, and Robo on drum. Pro-skateboarder
Mike Vallely
Mike Vallely ( ), also known as Mike V, is an American professional skateboarder and musician. Since November 2013, he has been the lead vocalist of hardcore punk band Black Flag. Vallely is the second-longest-serving member of the band, althou ...
sang for Black Flag and drummer Gregory Moore was on the drums for one of the sets of this show when the band played the entire
My War
''My War'' is the second studio album by American band Black Flag. It was the first of three full-length albums released by the band in 1984. It polarized fans due to the LP's B-side, on which the band slowed down to a heavy, Black Sabbath-e ...
album with a pre-recorded bass track by Ginn.
In January 2013, Ginn announced that he was reuniting Black Flag with
Ron Reyes
Ron Reyes (born July 24, 1960) is an American musician most noted as the second singer for the Los Angeles punk rock group Black Flag.
Reyes joined Black Flag after original vocalist Keith Morris had quit to form the Circle Jerks. Black Fla ...
on vocals and Gregory Moore on drums and that the band would make a European and North American tour as well as release a new album. Black Flag has been confirmed to headline the
Hevy Festival
Hevy Music Festival was a rock festival established by Claire Baker and James that took place annually near Folkestone, Kent, in the UK. It was originally held on 1 August 2009 on Folkestone seafront as a one-day festival with Feeder, Gary Nu ...
in the U.K., the Ruhrpott Rodeo Festival in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and the
Muddy Roots
Muddy Roots is an American music festival held in Cookeville, Tennessee, U.S. It began in 2010 as an annualfestival at the June Bug Boogie Ranch in Cookeville, Tennessee. The music festival included camping, vendors, a car show, and a pin-up pa ...
Music Festival in
Cookeville, Tennessee
Cookeville is the county seat and largest city of Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was reported to be 34,842. It is recognized as one of the country's micropolitan areas, or smaller ...
in 2013.
In November of the same year, Reyes was fired on stage and replaced by
Mike Vallely
Mike Vallely ( ), also known as Mike V, is an American professional skateboarder and musician. Since November 2013, he has been the lead vocalist of hardcore punk band Black Flag. Vallely is the second-longest-serving member of the band, althou ...
from Ginn's other band Good for You.
Also in January 2013, other former Black Flag members who are estranged from Greg Ginn, former singer
Keith Morris
Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the ...
, former bassist
Chuck Dukowski and former drummer
Bill Stevenson announced that they would also play some shows as "Flag", playing Black Flag songs, with
Stephen Egerton of
All
All or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All al ...
and
The Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a s ...
instead of Greg Ginn on guitar during Spring and Summer of 2013.
Singers
Keith Morris
Keith Morris grew up in Hermosa Beach and attended
Mira Costa High School
Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first began operating in 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic ...
, where brothers
Greg Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname.
People with the name
*Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people
*Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadi ...
and
Raymond Ginn were also students.
[Chick, p. 10.][Chick, pp. 14–15.] After graduating in 1973 he studied fine art and painting while working at his father's
bait shop.
[Chick, p. 11.] One of his co-workers at the shop was
Bill Stevenson, a Mira Costa student eight years Morris' junior who would also go on to be a member of Black Flag (Morris' father befriended
Ozzie Cadena
Oscar "Ozzie" Cadena (September 26, 1924 – April 9, 2008) was an American record producer with Savoy Records and Prestige Records who recorded gospel and jazz music in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and helped popularize jazz music in Los Ange ...
, who son
Dez would also later join Black Flag).
[Chick, p. 9–10.][Chick, p. 13.] Becoming a fan of heavy rock and
protopunk
Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wi ...
groups, Morris took a second job working at local record store Rubicon Records.
[Chick, p. 14.] It was here that he struck up a friendship with Greg Ginn, whose sister was dating Morris' record store co-worker.
Morris soon left the family bait shop and began working for Ginn's
amateur radio and electronics business, Solid State Tuners (SST).
[Chick, pp. 26–27.] The two bonded over shared musical tastes, including an interest in early
punk rock groups, and decided to start a band together.
[Chick, p. 27.] Morris originally planned to play drums in the group, but Ginn convinced him to take the role of vocalist after witnessing his frantic energy while singing along to the radio.
[Chick, p. 28.] In the summer of 1976 they began rehearsing songs that Ginn had written on guitar, with Ginn's brother Raymond accompanying on bass guitar.
By early 1977 Morris had recruited friends of his to serve as the
rhythm section, including bassist "Kansas" and drummer Brian Migdol, and the group took the name Panic.
Morris performed at Panic's early shows and on their debut EP, ''
Nervous Breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
'', recorded in January 1978.
[Chick, pp. 50–51.] Later that year he and then-Panic bassist Gary McDaniel (later known as Chuck Dukowski) took up residence at "The Church", an abandoned
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
church the band was then using as a rehearsal space.
[Chick, pp. 60–61.] The band changed its name to Black Flag in early 1979.
[Chick, p. 62.]
![CircleJerksBySteveHopson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/CircleJerksBySteveHopson.jpg)
By November 1979, however, Morris was growing "burned out" with Black Flag's long and frequent rehearsals, and began making excuses to miss them.
[Chick, p. 114.] His feelings of isolation within the band exacerbated his problems with drugs and alcohol:
"I was doing a lot of drugs, and I was drinking quite a bit", he later recalled, "That's like the major reason for me leaving Black Flag, because it wasn't fun, and part of my fun was to drink away the bad stuff, or party away all the things in my life that I didn't want to be a part of."
Tensions came to a head during the band's two-day recording session that month for a prospective full-length album, and Morris announced at the end of the session that he was leaving the group.
[Chick, pp. 114–116.] McDaniel later said that Morris quit because "he wanted to stay exactly the same. Our music was changing, and he didn't like a lot of our new songs."
[Chick, p. 116.] Morris claimed to have felt blamed by the other members for slowing the band's progress: "Whenever there would be arguments, everyone would be pointing their finger at me, and it would be my fault. Like, if we weren't learning new songs fast enough, it was my fault. Coming to rehearsal after having drunk a six-pack of beer, maybe having snorted a couple lines of
coke, that would be my fault. They made me feel like I was the cement shoes attached to their feet."
Black Flag's constant rehearsals also eroded Morris' friendships with Ginn and then-Black Flag drummer Robo: "I guess our line of communication just ceased to exist, and that's really important", he later said, "There has to be some free space, some head time, we can't be around each other in these grungy, dirty, filthy-carpet-covered rooms all the time. We needed to get out and breathe some fresh air, rub elbows with our friends in other bands, and play more shows, instead of just rehearsing, rehearsing and rehearsing all the time."
[Chick, p. 117.] According to Morris, his departure was not acrimonious:
It was entirely my decision. For me, we had pretty much run our course. I love Robo, I still respect Greg, Gary kind of irritated me at times. But the fact of the matter is, when I left I felt no hatred towards them; it wasn't like "Fuck you guys, man, I don't ever wanna see you again!" It wasn't like that. Because I still lived in the church and they were still rehearsing there. They probably breathed a sigh of relief, because I was completely in the throes of being a full-blown alcoholic cokehead, and it didn't help that Robo was one of my suppliers. A couple of weeks later, I started my next group.
This next group was the
Circle Jerks, which included guitarist
Greg Hetson
Greg Hetson (born June 29, 1961) is an American guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in the Los Angeles area since he was 2 years old. Active since 1979, Hetson is best known as the guitarist for the influential hardcore pu ...
, who had recently quit
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
, as well as drummer
Lucky Lehrer and bassist Roger Rogerson.
[Chick, p. 129.] Their early set list included some of Morris' Black Flag lyrics set to new music: ''Nervous Breakdown''
's "Wasted", the recorded-but-unreleased "I Don't Care", and two songs Morris had written with Black Flag but had not recorded: "Red Tape" and "Behind the Door" (originally titled "Room 13").
They also used some songs that Hetson had written with Red Cross, and gave them new lyrics.
This caused conflict with Morris' former bandmates in Black Flag: "They were extremely angry and spiteful about it," he said. "These were songs that I did with Black Flag, but I wrote the lyrics, so I can do with them whatever I want. We souped them up, we changed the notes, the tempos... The only people who were upset about this were the guys in Black Flag and Red Cross."
The Circle Jerks' versions of these songs appeared on their debut album ''
Group Sex'' (1980). Black Flag responded by rewriting "I Don't Care" as "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" for 1980's ''
Jealous Again
''Jealous Again'' is a 12" EP that was the second release by American hardcore punk band Black Flag and the third-ever release on SST Records.
History
Although eventually released as a 12" 45 RPM extended-play, ''Jealous Again'' was initially ...
'' EP, taking the music from their original version but changing Morris' lyrics into a screed against him, accusing him of stealing their song and lying about it, and declaring "you've got nowhere to go but down".
[Chick, p. 130.]
Morris was asked by director
Penelope Spheeris
Penelope Spheeris (born December 2, 1945 or 1946; sources differ) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. She has directed both documentary and scripted films. Her best-known works include the trilogy titled '' The Decline of ...
to sing with Black Flag for her documentary film ''
The Decline of Western Civilization
''The Decline of Western Civilization'' is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a ...
''.
[Chick, pp. 150–151.] Morris declined, and ultimately both the Circle Jerks and Black Flag appeared in the film, the latter with Morris' replacement Ron Reyes singing.
After Reyes quit Black Flag in May 1980, Morris filled in for two shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco. "Black Flag was my first love;" he later recalled, "I've got the Black Flag bars tattooed on my heart, branded in my brain. Greg
inn
Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
and Chuck
ukowskiasked me to fill in, and I knew that I was just filling in, that I wasn't rejoining Black Flag on any permanent basis, because the Circle Jerks had made a record, it was very popular, and people really loved us, and we were selling out shows. So everything was cool, and I had no problem filling in for Ron Reyes for a couple of nights."
[Chick, pp. 159–160.]
Ron Reyes
Ron Reyes, a punk rock fan of
Puerto Rican descent, dropped out of Mira Costa High school at age 18.
[Chick, p. 74.] He was present for Black Flag's first performance, at the
Redondo Beach Moose Lodge, and the experience left a strong impression on him:
I was just blown away. Keith orris Orris may refer to:
People
* Peter Orris
* Orris C. Herfindahl
* Orris Pratt
Places
* Adam Orris House
* Orris Baragwanath Pass
Other uses
*Orris root
*Orris oil
Orris oil (orris butter or Beurre d'Iris) is an essential oil derived from ...
was like an ''animal''; it was so fun, to see this guy just screaming and shouting. Everything about them was so over-the-top, and so energetic; the bands I'd seen before, like X and the Germs, they just paled in comparison to the energy that Black Flag had. Those other bands, they were 'rock bands', and Black Flag were...something ''else''. The intensity of Greg Ginn's guitar playing, I have never seen anything like that, to this day. And Gary McDaniel, y'know, he was just wild, crazy, and so intense. It was just the intensity of it all. I'd never seen anything like that before.[Chick, pp. 74–74.]
Reyes and Dez Cadena were friends and had practiced songs together on guitar.
[Chick, p. 121.] In summer 1979 Reyes moved into "The Church", where Black Flag rehearsed; He would watch the band practice and became good friends with them, particularly Morris.
[Chick, pp. 87–89.] He purchased a drum kit from a friend as a favor, and soon began drumming for a group called The Tourists, with
Greg Hetson
Greg Hetson (born June 29, 1961) is an American guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in the Los Angeles area since he was 2 years old. Active since 1979, Hetson is best known as the guitarist for the influential hardcore pu ...
and brothers
Jeff
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
and
Steven McDonald
Steven D. McDonald (March 1, 1957 January 10, 2017) was a New York City Police Department patrolman who was shot and paralyzed on July 12, 1986. The shooting left him quadriplegic.
Shooting
A former U.S. Navy hospital corpsman and third gene ...
.
[Chick, pp. 96–98.] The Tourists opened for Black Flag at their infamous July 22, 1979 performance at
Manhattan Beach's Polliwog Park, and the following month changed their name to
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
.
[Chick, pp. 105–110.] Reyes continued to follow Black Flag, travelling to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
that fall for their first performances outside the Los Angeles area.
[Chick, p. 113.] By the time Morris left Black Flag in November 1979, Reyes had quit Red Cross and was playing drums with a group called The Tracks.
[Chick, p. 119.][Chick, p. 122.] Greg Ginn and Gary McDaniel approached him with an offer to sing for Black Flag.
"I was a little bit nervous, I guess," recalled Reyes, "but it seemed really natural; I had no experience as a singer, I'd never wanted to be a singer, but I wasn't intimidated. Because it was very clear to me from the get-go that the whole spirit of punk rock was not about experience, and talent, and chops — It was all about attitude and energy. I figured I had enough of that to get by."
Reyes speculated that Black Flag chose him because he was not part of the Hollywood punk rock scene:
They had quite a lot of distaste for the Hollywood scene. So I think they went out of their way to avoid that, and finding a home-grown South kinda guy was attractive to them. Certainly, I was a huge fan, I loved the band, I was at all their shows, right up the front, raising a bunch of hell with them. Black Flag was really kind of a family down there in the South Bay, it was close-knit, and I don't think they would have been interested in going the normal route of doing auditions with people they didn't know. Probably it was just being in the right place, at the right time.[Chick, p. 123.]
Reyes' first show with Black Flag was December 16, 1979, less than three weeks after Morris' departure.
His performance style was spirited and anarchic, characterized by the frantic energy with which he would dash across the stage and hurl himself into the audience while barking the lyrics in a howling, out-of-breath fashion.
[Chick, pp. 147–148.] Ginn also began teaching Reyes how to play guitar, with an eye towards making him a
rhythm guitarist as well as vocalist, which would free Ginn up to play
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...
and add
solos to his songs.
[Chick, p. 148.] Ultimately, however, Reyes would never play guitar in Black Flag.
He appeared with the band in the documentary film ''
The Decline of Western Civilization
''The Decline of Western Civilization'' is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a ...
'' and performed with them on their first shows outside of California, traveling to
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, and
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
in February and April 1980.
[Chick, p. 146.][Chick, p. 150.] Having attempted to record their debut album with Morris the previous November, Black Flag made another attempt at it with Reyes in April 1980.
[Chick, p. 153.] The session was unsuccessful, in part because Reyes would sometimes leave the studio mid-take.
"I was a little intimidated by the studio process", he later admitted. "Put me on stage for 20 minutes, where I could just go wild, and I loved that. But now I had to sing the song in key, in tune...And Greg was committed to a level of excellence. He would not have let us do anything that wasn't great. Some of our earlier recordings were frustrating for a lot of us."
Reyes quit Black Flag mid-performance during a May 23, 1980 show at The Fleetwood in
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Sa ...
.
[Chick, pp. 153–154.] "There was a lot of violence, and I was really starting to lose my taste for it", he later recalled. "It seemed like it didn't matter what we did up there, we could've just been up onstage masturbating and it wouldn't have made a difference;
he audiencewould have kept on slamming and going around in circles and doing their thing, and that's all they cared about. I felt, 'What's the point?' ... So I just walked offstage. I remember saying something to the effect of, 'I don't really care about being the background to whatever it is that you're doing out there...' It didn't have anything to do with the other band members, I had no beef with any of them."
Black Flag finished the set by playing an extended version of "
Louie Louie
"Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and ...
", with various audience members taking the microphone.
[Chick, p. 154.]
Despite having quit the band, Reyes agreed to return to finish recording the tracks they had begun in April.
[Chick, p. 155.] Recording engineer and
producer Spot
Spot or SPOT may refer to:
Places
* Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States
* The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia
* South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse
People
* Spot (prod ...
recalled that "recording the vocals in a posthumous manner
eyes
Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and con ...
was surprisingly cooperative and I was moved to remark: 'This is so easy now! Why didn't you quit the band before this?
Reyes later remarked that "Spot just wanted to finish the project. I don't think they had a desire that I would join the band again. I felt, 'OK, that's cool'. I still loved the band, I loved the music, I had no bad feelings towards the guys, so I was totally into it."
According to Ginn, "Ron was kind of apprehensive about recording. He liked to sing live, but he just hated the recording process, so it was like pulling teeth, but we finally got it done. And that's the thing about Ron, his energy was incredible onstage, he would just burst out, you know? And we finally got that performance on tape, but it took a little bit of doing, just because he wasn't ever really comfortable in the studio."
Reyes had begun dating a girl from Vancouver, and soon moved there.
[Chick, p. 156.] When the ''
Jealous Again
''Jealous Again'' is a 12" EP that was the second release by American hardcore punk band Black Flag and the third-ever release on SST Records.
History
Although eventually released as a 12" 45 RPM extended-play, ''Jealous Again'' was initially ...
'' EP was released in August 1980, he was credited on the sleeve as "Chavo Pederast", a mean-spirited joke on the part of Black Flag: "Chavo" after the homeless orphan character in the Mexican
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
El Chavo
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...
'', and "Pederast" after
pederasty
Pederasty or paederasty ( or ) is a sexual relationship between an adult man and a pubescent or adolescent boy. The term ''pederasty'' is primarily used to refer to historical practices of certain cultures, particularly ancient Greece and an ...
.
[Chick, p. 157.] "At the time, I'm not even sure I understood the derogatory nature of the name, and I don't think I would have cared anyway", said Reyes.
"It seemed a very natural, punk-rock thing to do, and I would have done the same thing if I was in their shoes ... When I became a family man, and the meaning of that name became more apparent to me, then it was something I felt a little shame over. I found I had to explain myself, a lot, when people called me Chavo Pederast."
Dez Cadena
![Misfits Dez Cadena 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Misfits_Dez_Cadena_1.jpg)
Dez Cadena moved with his family from New Jersey to Hermosa Beach in 1974, at age 13.
[Chick, p. 9.][Chick, p. 164.] His father,
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
promoter
Ozzie Cadena
Oscar "Ozzie" Cadena (September 26, 1924 – April 9, 2008) was an American record producer with Savoy Records and Prestige Records who recorded gospel and jazz music in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and helped popularize jazz music in Los Ange ...
, befriended Keith Morris' father Jerry Morris.
In February 1979 the 17-year-old Dez was present, along with his friend Ron Reyes, for Black Flag's first performance.
He continued to follow the band, hanging out at their rehearsals and attending many of their performances.
In June 1980 he was playing guitar in a reformed
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
when Black Flag approached him to replace Ron Reyes as their singer.
[Chick, p. 165.] Cadena recalled Chuck Dukowski asking him to join the band: "He said, 'You know all the words to our songs, in a week we have to play a gig in Vancouver, why don't you become our next singer?
Never having sung before, Cadena was initially reserved, but Dukowski assured him that did not matter.
"Black Flag was my favorite band," Cadena later said, "and these guys were my friends, so I didn't want to let them down."
In contrast to the sardonic anarchism of Keith Morris and the chaotic energy of Ron Reyes, Cadena's singing was a blunt, flinty bark delivered with passion and fury, evoking vocal cords strained almost to breaking point.
His guitar-playing skills were attractive to Ginn, who planned—as he had with Reyes—to eventually position Cadena to also play
rhythm guitar, freeing Ginn up to play
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
and add
solos.
[Chick, pp. 165–166.]
Cadena's first performance with Black Flag was a party at the end of summer 1980 to close out "The Church", the abandoned
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
church they had used as a living and rehearsal space since 1978.
[Chick, p. 166.] The band had moved out of the building several months prior, and on the eve of a
West Coast tour invited many of their fans to demolish the property as means of provoking the police before they left town.
Henry Rollins
![HenryRollins Singing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/HenryRollins_Singing.jpg)
Henry Rollins had been the lead singer of the Washington, D.C., based hardcore punk band
State of Alert
State of Alert (often abbreviated to S.O.A.) was an American hardcore punk group formed in Washington, D.C. in October 1980, and active till July 1981. S.O.A. was fronted by Henry Rollins, then using his original surname Garfield.
History
S.O. ...
. He had befriended several members of the band and had invited them to crash at his house during their East Coast tour at one point. When Cadena moved to rhythm guitar from vocals, the band hired on Rollins to perform lead vocal duties. After Black Flag broke up in 1986, Rollins, who had already begun a
spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
solo career, founded his own band
Rollins Band. Since 2006, Rollins has mostly left the music industry, and has focused his career on his spoken word performances, acting in films and on television, and as a television presenter.
Mike Vallely
Vallely was friends with Ginn during the years when Black Flag was not a performing band, and had sung with the band during a 2003 reunion show. When the band reformed in 2013, Ron Reyes was their vocalist for the first several months. Reyes was fired mid-performance during a November, 2013 show in Australia, and Vallely was invited on stage to finish the set. He has been with the band ever since. Besides singing with Black Flag, Vallely is a professional skateboarder and singer with a number of other punk bands.
Guitarists
Greg Ginn
![Greg-Ginn-Black-Flag-@RobxWallace-ReelNegative](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Greg-Ginn-Black-Flag-%40RobxWallace-ReelNegative.com-WEB-1500px.jpg)
Greg Ginn is Black Flag's lead guitarist, primary songwriter, sole constant member, and the only musician to play on all of the band's releases. He attended
Mira Costa High School
Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first began operating in 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic ...
with Keith Morris, and started a mail-order company for
amateur radio equipment called Solid State Tuners (SST).
[Chick, p. 18.] He became interested in
blues and jazz while studying
economic
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
s and business management at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, and began playing guitar at age 19, becoming a fan of the
Grateful Dead as well as various
protopunk
Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wi ...
and
punk rock groups
[Chick, pp. 19–23.] He befriended Morris when Ginn's younger sister began dating Morris' record store co-worker.
Morris started working for SST, and he and Ginn bonded over musical taste and decided to start a band.
In the summer of 1976 they began rehearsing songs that Ginn had written, with Morris singing Ginn's lyrics and Ginn's younger brother Raymond accompanying on bass guitar.
By early 1977 they had named the band Panic, with Morris' friends "Kansas" and Brian Migdol on bass guitar and drums, respectively.
Because Kansas and Migdol would often fail to show up for rehearsals, Ginn modified his guitar style to a percussive strum that doubled as a lead and
rhythm section.
During the band's early years he played a transparent
lucite
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...
Ampeg
Ampeg is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guitar Group. Although ...
Dan Armstrong
Dan Kent Armstrong (October 7, 1934 June 8, 2004) was an American guitarist, luthier, and session musician.
Biography
Armstrong was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started playing the guitar at age 11, and moved to New York in the early 1 ...
guitar that he heavily customized, caulking it to prevent blood and sweat from seeping into the electronics and hard-wiring the cord into the instrument so that the socket would not be pulled out if someone tripped on the cord.
[Chick, p. 60.] He had rented storage and workspace for SST at an abandoned
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
church, and this became Panic's new home when they were kicked out of their rehearsal space in late 1978.
When Panic became Black Flag in early 1979, Ginn booked their first shows under the new name himself, and released their debut EP ''
Nervous Breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
'' through his own label,
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipm ...
(which shared its name with his electronics company).
[Chick, pp. 91–92.]
Dez Cadena
After the band hired Henry Rollins to be their lead vocalist, Dez Cadena moved to rhythm guitar. After leaving Black Flag in 1983, Cadena went on to front
DC3 from 1983–1988. He spent the 1990s playing in various bands for relatively short stints before joining the
Misfits
Misfits or The Misfits may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift
* ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film
* ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...
in 2001. He left the Misfits in 2015 and currently appears with the Keith Morris-fronted Flag.
Bassists
Raymond Pettibon
When Greg Ginn and Keith Morris first began rehearsing together in the summer of 1976, Ginn's brother Raymond accompanied them on
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
.
By early 1977 Raymond had bowed out of the group to focus on earning his degree in economics from UCLA, after which he became a high school mathematics teacher.
"I kinda played bass and learned their songs, but I was never in the band", he later recalled, "There's nothing I could do that would deaden the mind more than play bass in a punk band. Especially that band."
In early 1979 the band was looking to change their name from Panic, and it was Raymond—who had since quit his teaching job in favor of pursuing a career as a visual artist under the pseudonym Raymond Pettibon—who suggested the name Black Flag and designed their logo.
[Chick, pp. 62–65.]
Over the next six years Pettibon's single-frame illustrations were used for the band's sleeve artwork, posters, and gig flyers, their unsettling and provocative imagery becoming synonymous with Black Flag's music while helping to build the group's notoriety and expand their fan base.
[Chick, p. 65.][Azerrad, p. 51.] His artwork appears on the covers of ''
Nervous Breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
'', ''
Jealous Again
''Jealous Again'' is a 12" EP that was the second release by American hardcore punk band Black Flag and the third-ever release on SST Records.
History
Although eventually released as a 12" 45 RPM extended-play, ''Jealous Again'' was initially ...
'', ''
Six Pack'', ''
Everything Went Black
''Everything Went Black'' is a compilation album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1982 through SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by music ...
'', ''
My War
''My War'' is the second studio album by American band Black Flag. It was the first of three full-length albums released by the band in 1984. It polarized fans due to the LP's B-side, on which the band slowed down to a heavy, Black Sabbath-e ...
'', ''
Family Man'', ''
Slip It In
''Slip It In'' is the fourth studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag, released in 1984 on SST Records.
''Slip It In'' is an extension of the sound Black Flag utilized on its second album ''My War'': heavy, cathartic, intense ...
'', ''
Loose Nut
''Loose Nut'' is the fifth full-length album by American band Black Flag, released in 1985 on SST Records.
Track listing
Personnel
*Henry Rollins – lead vocals
*Greg Ginn – guitars
*Kira Roessler – bass, backing vocals
* Bill Stevenso ...
'', ''
The Process of Weeding Out
''The Process of Weeding Out'' is the fifth EP by American band Black Flag. One of the most potent realizations of guitarist Greg Ginn's fascination with the avant-garde, ''The Process of Weeding Out'' is described by critic Chris True of AllM ...
'', and ''
In My Head''. He also did artwork for other SST releases including the compilation albums ''The Blasting Concept'' and ''Cracks in the Sidewalk'', and released pamphlet books of his art through SST.
However, he had a falling out with Black Flag and SST in 1985 over the ''Loose Nut'' artwork, which had been used for a flyer several years earlier.
[Azerrad, p. 54.] Greg Ginn resurrected it without telling his brother and turned it over to drummer
Bill Stevenson to do the layout, who cut it into pieces and used them as elements for the cover and lyric sheet.
Pettibon became irate and ended his relationship with the band and the label, and he and Ginn stopped speaking for some time:
[Chick, p. 346.] "As far as I'm concerned, SST is not even a part of my past. For one thing, it was dishonestly procured. I was never paid for any of that stuff. If you talk to
STit's like Stalinist Russia, rewriting history. Somebody is some big commissar and the next day he's purged and all traces of his existence are literally written out of the official history."
Pettibon later worked with Keith Morris again, providing cover artwork for his band
Off!
Off! (stylized as OFF!) is an American hardcore punk supergroup, formed in Los Angeles, California in late 2009 by Circle Jerks/ Black Flag singer Keith Morris, Burning Brides frontman Dimitri Coats, Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald ...
in 2010.
Jim "Kansas" Dearman
After Pettibon's exit from the group, a friend of Morris' known as "Kansas", real name Jim Dearmen, became their new bassist.
[Chick, p. 20.] Described by Morris as "just this huge stoner", Kansas and drummer Bryan Migdol were not committed to the band and would often fail to show up for rehearsals.
This caused Ginn to modify his guitar style to a percussive strum that doubled as a lead and
rhythm section.
Kansas left the band before the summer of 1977, and was replaced at rehearsals by Glenn "Spot" Lockett.
[Chick, p. 33.]
Spot
Glen "Spot" Lockett was a friend of Greg Ginn and a staff engineer at Media Art recording studio, and Ginn invited him to play bass guitar with Panic in rehearsals after Kansas' departure.
[Chick, pp. 35–36.] He later recalled his experience in the liner notes of ''
Everything Went Black
''Everything Went Black'' is a compilation album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1982 through SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by music ...
'':
The band had a total of six songs, each of which lasted no longer than one minute. Greg showed me the simple repetitive chords..."OK, here we go, 1–2–3–4..." and BANG!! the drummer started smashing out a fast, trashy straight four-pattern beat, and the wiry little singer started bellowing and jumping around wildly, and Greg's body lurched forward as he underwent a remarkable transformation from Jekyll to Hyde...Within seconds it was over. Jekyll calmly stepped out of his Hyde as if stepping out of a routine nightmare...I was dumbfounded, shocked; my eyes wide in amazement, my mouth hanging open in disbelief. We played again. "1–2–3–4!!"...Ten minutes later we had played the entire six-song set twice.[Chick, pp. 36–37.]
Spot decided that he could not commit to playing with Panic, and was soon replaced by Würm bassist Gary McDaniel.
[Chick, p. 41.] Spot continued to work at Media Art and convinced Panic to record their first record there in January 1978, which produced the ''
Nervous Breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
'' EP.
[Chick, p. 50.] The studio's senior engineer, Dave Tarling, acted as
producer for the session, with Spot's role limited to "setting up microphones and later running some rough mixes for the band."
Chuck Dukowski
Gary McDaniel was the bass guitarist of the band
Würm
The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. The length of the river is , or including the ''Steinbach'', the main feed of Lake Starnberg. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villag ...
, and met Greg Ginn when he sold the latter a
speaker cabinet
A loudspeaker enclosure or loudspeaker cabinet is an enclosure (often rectangular box-shaped) in which speaker drivers (e.g., loudspeakers and tweeters) and associated electronic hardware, such as crossover circuits and, in some cases, power a ...
in early 1977.
[Chick, p. 40.] By that summer Würm were living and rehearsing at a space in the Hermosa Bathhouse, which they referred to as the Würmhole.
[Chick, p. 37.] Würm guitarist Ed Danky met Keith Morris and, learning that he was also in a band, invited him to hang out at their rehearsals.
Morris and Greg Ginn came to observe Würm and ended up renting the vacant half of the Bathhouse for Panic, sharing practice space with Würm.
When Spot decided that he could not commit to playing bass with Panic, McDaniel began jamming with them.
He fit in well with the band musically, and impressed Ginn with his outspokenness and intellectual restlessness.
By the end of the year Würm had broken up, and Ginn invited McDaniel to join Panic permanently.
"I wanted to tour, I didn't just want to play in my living room", said McDaniel, "I thought Panic's music was easy to 'get'. It came across. Later, our music became more challenging to the audience; but back then, it hit heavy and hard, and people got it instantly."
McDaniel performed on Black Flag's debut EP, ''
Nervous Breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
'', recorded in January 1978.
Later that year the band was evicted from the Bathhouse, and McDaniel and Morris took up residence in their new rehearsal space "The Church", an abandoned
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
church.
By December 1979 McDaniel had quit his job working for a pool table company in order to commit himself to Black Flag and SST Records, and had taken the pseudonym Chuck Dukowski.
[Chick, p. 125.] "It was for fun, at first, just trying on personalities," he later said of the name change. "At first I didn't use Chuck all the time, but when I quit my straight job to work on the band full-time, I made a break. I found the new name to be convenient when I had to deal with the police. And I had to deal with them too fucking much. I liked the name Chuck Dukowski — it seemed like a regular guy name."
[Chick, pp. 125–126.] Dukowski developed a prominent presence in Black Flag through both his playing—which was physically aggressive and produced powerful, thudding low-end notes—and through his intellect and passion for revolutionary thinking, which informed the band's
ethos
Ethos ( or ) is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution, and passion. The Greeks also used this word to refer to ...
.
[Chick, p. 126.] An outspoken
anarchist, he would often use interviews and between-song pauses during shows as opportunities to declare his ideas and beliefs.
Kira Roessler
Roessler (sister of
Paul Roessler
Paul Roessler (born August 27, 1958) is an American musician and record producer. Roessler was a prominent member of the L.A. punk scene during the late 1970s and 1980s. He played keyboards in bands such as The Screamers, Twisted Roots, 45 Gra ...
from L.A. gothic punk rock band
45 Grave
45 Grave is an American rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1979. The original group broke up in 1985, but vocalist Dinah Cancer subsequently revived the band.
History
The band was founded during the punk rock movement by Paul B. Cutler i ...
) replaced Dukowski and played with the band through their mid-to-late period work (1983–85) appearing on the albums ''
Family Man'', ''
Slip It In
''Slip It In'' is the fourth studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag, released in 1984 on SST Records.
''Slip It In'' is an extension of the sound Black Flag utilized on its second album ''My War'': heavy, cathartic, intense ...
'', ''
Loose Nut
''Loose Nut'' is the fifth full-length album by American band Black Flag, released in 1985 on SST Records.
Track listing
Personnel
*Henry Rollins – lead vocals
*Greg Ginn – guitars
*Kira Roessler – bass, backing vocals
* Bill Stevenso ...
'', and ''
In My Head''.
C'el Revuelta
C'el joined the band in 1986 replacing Roesler on bass. He only played on the final tour of the band in 1986. He later came back in the 2003 Black Flag reunion. He did not appear in any of the releases. C'el died on May 3, 2017, after a long battle with stage 4
brain cancer.
Dave Klein
Klein is known for being a bass player in
Screeching Weasel
Screeching Weasel is an American punk rock band consisting of Ben Weasel (vocals), Mike Kennerty (guitar), Mike Hunchback (guitar), Zach "Poutine" Brandner (bass) and Pierre Marche (drums). Screeching Weasel is originally from the Chicago subur ...
(2011–2013) and he went on tour with Black Flag in 2013. Klein left Black Flag in 2014.
Tyler Smith
Smith originally joined Black Flag in early 2013 but had to back out due to personal obligations back home. When he learned that the previous bass player left the band, he contacted Greg, auditioned again, and rejoined Black Flag.
Joseph Noval
Joseph Noval joined as the bands bassist in 2019.
Harley Duggan
Harley Duggan joined as the bands current bassist in 2022. He also plays in Darkhorse Rising.
Drummers
Bryan Migdol
Bryan Migdol (aka Brian Migdol) was recruited from amongst Morris' friends in early 1977 to serve as the drummer for Panic (the band that was the precursor to Black Flag).
He performed at Panic's early shows and was developmental in the arrangement of many of the songs which would later be recorded by Black Flag. He played all the drum tracks on the band's debut EP, ''
Nervous Breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
'', recorded in January 1978 at Media Art Studios,
as well as some of the tracks appearing on the albums ''
Everything Went Black
''Everything Went Black'' is a compilation album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1982 through SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by music ...
'', ''
The First Four Years
''The First Four Years'' is a compilation album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1983 on SST Records. The compilation consists of all of the group's material released before Henry Rollins became the band's voc ...
'' and ''
Wasted…Again''.
Disappointed with so much rehearsing and very little performing, he decided to leave the band in the summer of 1978. "Our mentality was, we were never popular, and playing music wasn't going to change that. We played because we needed to play — we played what we played because most of the time when we played, we were playing for ourselves. We did an awful lot of rehearsing, and that was because nobody wanted to hear what we were."
Robo
![Misfits3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Misfits3.jpg)
Colombian native Roberto Valverde replaced Migdol in Panic by the end of the summer of 1978.
[Chick, p. 59.] He had entered the United States on a student
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
and was living in
El Segundo, working in a plastics factory.
He had begun playing drums in 1976 and responded to an advertisement that Panic had placed in a record store reading "Band from the South Bay looking for drummer. Into
Ramones,
Sex Pistols."
Valverde impressed Panic with his audition, setting up his transparent
perspex
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...
drum kit—which happened to match Ginn's transparent lucite guitar—so that all the drums and cymbals were level, and playing with a stiff, robotic style that relied on arm rather than wrist movement.
[Chick, pp. 59–60.]
Emil Johnson
Emil Johnson was 15 when hired, although his place in the band was short lived. His only playing credit is the A-Side of the ''
TV Party
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
'' EP.
Chuck Biscuits
Chuck Biscuits played with Blag Flag for several months in 1982. He appeared in no official studio releases, but does appear on the live album ''
Live at the On Broadway 1982
''Live at the On Broadway 1982'' is a live album by the hardcore punk band Black Flag. The album features 2 separate live performances from the band performing at the On Broadway venue July 23–24, 1982. It is the only official Black Flag rele ...
'' and several bootlegs and demo recordings. Prior to joining Black Flag he had been a member of the Canadian hardcore punk band
D.O.A.
DOA may refer to:
* Dead on arrival
* Dead or Alive (disambiguation)
Film
* ''D.O.A.'' (1949 film), a ''film noir''
* ''D.O.A.'' (1988 film), a remake of the 1949 film
* '' D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage'' (1980 film), a documentary on the gene ...
After leaving Black Flag he had a few brief stints playing drums with the
Circle Jerks and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...
, though he was mostly out of the music industry until he began to work extensively with
Glenn Danzig, appearing with his bands
Samhain
Samhain ( , , , ; gv, Sauin ) is a Gaelic festival on 1 NovemberÓ hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth Legend and Romance: An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p. 402. Quote: "The basic Irish division of the year ...
and
Danzig, and later worked with
Social Distortion
Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...
. He has also had short stints with a number of other punk acts.
Bill Stevenson
Black Flag's fifth drummer was
South Bay native Bill Stevenson. A
Mira Costa High School
Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first began operating in 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic ...
student and avid fisherman, he frequented Jerry Morris' bait shop and ended up working there alongside Keith Morris.
Stevenson first auditioned to drum for Panic in summer 1978, at age 15, after Brian Migdol had left the band.
[Chick, pp. 57–58.] His audition turned into a drunken
jam session including members of Panic and
The Last The Last may refer to:
*The Last (band)
The Last is an American, Los Angeles-based, early pop/punk band, formed in 1976 by Joe Nolte with high school bandmates Vitus Matare and Dave Harbison. By 1978 the band included three brothers: Joe (guitar ...
, and the position of drummer in Panic ultimately went to Robo.
By late 1978 Stevenson had joined the
Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a ...
, who made their onstage debut as an opening act at Black Flag's second performance, at a
San Pedro community center in February 1979.
[Chick, p. 81.] He would later join Black Flag as their regular drummer, and served with them from 1983–1985, appearing on all of their studio albums from ''
My War
''My War'' is the second studio album by American band Black Flag. It was the first of three full-length albums released by the band in 1984. It polarized fans due to the LP's B-side, on which the band slowed down to a heavy, Black Sabbath-e ...
'' through ''
In My Head''. After leaving Black Flag in mid-1985, he reformed the Descendents, and would later found the band
All
All or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All al ...
, and play drums with
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member.
After their initial punk-influenced releases and tour ...
.
Anthony Martinez
Anthony Martinez replaced Bill Stevenson, and was their last drummer before their breakup. He played on the live album "Who's Got The 10 and a 1/2?" and the live EP "Annihilate This Week", which consists entirely of songs from Who's Got The 10 and a 1/2?
Gregory Moore
Gregory Moore is a drummer from Georgia who is sometimes credited as Gregory Amoore, or simply "Drummer". He has recorded and toured with Greg Ginn on several of his solo releases as well as Ginn's projects
Gone, El Bad, and Get Me High. He performed with Black Flag at their 2003 reunion show, their tour in 2013, and on the "What the..." album. Gregory currently plays with the bands Are You A Cop, 2Ton Bridge, and Fer in Los Angeles.
Brandon Pertzborn
Brandon received an email from Greg in early 2014 to see if he would like to audition for Black Flag. He called Greg later that night and they set up an audition two days later. Brandon learned a good number of songs and then drove to Greg's studio to audition. Over the course of a few hours, Brandon played about 15 songs. After he drove back home, he recorded two songs a day and would send them to Greg every day for a week so Greg could get more of an idea what his playing style sounds like. A week after his audition, Brandon got the call that he made the band. Brandon did not know Mike or Greg personally before he started playing with Black Flag, but he had known who they were for years. As a Black Flag fan growing up, Pertzborn was familiar with Ginn's role with the band. Pertzborn used to skateboard in his spare time and knew of Mike Vallely's career as a professional streetskater and a musician.
Pertzborn currently dates Emily Vallely, who is the daughter of Black Flag lead singer Mike Vallely.
Isaias Gil
Isaias Gil joined as the band's drummer in 2019.
Charles Wiley
Charles Wiley joined as the band's current drummer in 2022.
Timeline
References
{{Black Flag
Black Flag