White Flag is an American punk rock band currently based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Their current lineup consists of frontman Mike Mess (guitar), Jello B. Afro (bass), and Trace Element (drums). These members have been in the band since 1982, though many have rotated in and out. White Flag has a discography that ranges from their 1982 debut ''R is for Rocket'' to 2010's ''Benefit For Cats''.

History

White Flag formed in 1982 in Sunnymead, a community in

California's California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Inland Empire, which is now part of the city of

Moreno Valley Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's po ...

. The original core lineup, which included Pat Fear, Trace Element, Doug Graves, and El Fee, released their self-released debut album ''S Is for Space'' the same year. In contrast to other bands at the time, White Flag took an anti-drug, pro-

Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, anti-communist, pro- Christian stance as a faux image, with Fear dressing up as a police officer. They played their first two shows in the summer of 1982 at keg parties, before opening a show for Black Flag. A live version of this third show was included on the 25th anniversary deluxe reissue of ''S Is For Space''. This version of the lineup featured Al Bum on lead vocals. In a 1983 '' Flipside'' interview, guitarist Pat Fear noted: In 1984 the band released the album ''Third Strike'', which featured

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 ...

singer Mike Ness singing harmonies on the song "Middle Class Hell". While mostly inactive in the 1990s, they released the album ''Eternally Undone'' in 1999. In 2006 White Flag toured in Italy for the first time. As a souvenir of the group's first visit, the band released a limited edition, hand numbered 8 song 10" vinyl album, on Roma based RARO! Records, entitled "Piangi Con Me", which is now out of print. In 2008, the band toured Europe twice, first in March (Germany and Netherlands), and then in June–July they did 23 gigs, including two with NOFX and the

Adolescents Adolescence () is a transitional stage of Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majo ...

. Some gigs in the U.S. with the Germs and the Adolescents followed. In May 2010 the band released the 7" e.p. "Keepers of The Purple Twilight" on Target Earth Records limited to 300 copies. 2010 also saw the release of "Benefit For Cats" on Cupcake Records. In 2011 Strange Magic Records released White Flag and Tony Adolescent's "Live at Bohemian Grove / White Flag & Tony" 7" EP. That same year the band, who were big fans of 70's seminal punk group

The Runaways The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", "Hollywood", "Queens of ...

contributed the track "C'mon" to the controversial tribute album "Take It Or Leave It: A Tribute To The Original Queens of Noise:

". The song featured Michael Lee Smith, lead singer of the band Starz on lead vocals. The current line-up, featured on the July 2010 vinyl only release "Benefit For Cats", performed their first Midwest shows in July 2010. With shows in Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago, on July 15,16, and 17 respectively. The shows were record release parties for the album, as well as for the Russian release limited edition 7" e.p. "Two Pack", which is limited to only 100 copies, and is a split release with Russian band Citramons. Pat Fear died on September 24, 2013. The band continued on with members Trace Element, Jello B. Afro, and Mike Mess.

Members

The punk rock names of band members were chosen to parody those of

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and politician. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Initially ac ...

, Mike Ness, and

Pat Smear Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles-based punk band The Germs and for being a rhythm guita ...

Current lineup

*Jello B. Afro- bass and

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, 1982-1984, 2007-present *Mike Mess-

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, bass, and

, 1984, ???-present *Trace Element- drums and

former members

* Pat Fear- bass, guitar, keyboards, sitar, vocals *Doug Graves *El Fee *Al Bum- lead vocals *Pick Z. Stix- drums *

Ken Stringfellow Kenneth Stuart Stringfellow (born October 30, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. Best known for his work with The Posies, R.E.M., and the re-formed Big Star, Stringfellow's discography includ ...

(credited as "Kim Crimson")- bass, drums, guitar, keyboard, vocals *Kent Crimson *Jim Tiligiant- bass, drums, guitar, vocals *Viv Vacuum- bass, guitar, vocals *

Eric Erlandson Eric Theodore Erlandson (born January 9, 1963) is an American musician, guitarist, and writer, primarily known as founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of alternative rock band Hole from 1989 to 2002. He has also had several musical s ...

Kim Shattuck Kimberly Dianne Shattuck (July 17, 1963 – October 2, 2019) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. She was the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the American punk rock band the Muffs, which formed in 1991. Fro ...

* Ronnie Barnett * Duke Seino *El Swe * Victor M. Surrounded- drums

Discography

White Flag has a large discography. This is an incomplete list:

Studio albums

* '' R is for Rocket'' (1982) * '' S is for Space'' (1983) * '' Third Strike'' (1984) * ''( WFO)'' (1985) * ''

Feeding Frenzy In ecology, a feeding frenzy occurs when predators are overwhelmed by the amount of prey available. The term is also used as an idiom in the English language. Examples in nature For example, a large school of fish can cause nearby sharks, such a ...

'' (1986) * ''

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

'' (1986) * '' Zero Hour'' (1986) * ''Wild Kingdom'' (1987) * ''Skate Across America'' (1995) * '' Eternally Undone'' (2001) * '' History is Fiction'' (2002) * ''T Is For Twenty'' (2006) * ''Benefit For Cats'' (2010)

Eps and 7"s

*'' Suicide King ''(1987) * '' Freedom Fighters'' (1988) * '' R is for Rad'' (1989) * ''Within You Without You'' (1990) * ''

White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! ...

'' (1993) (

Sympathy for the Record Industry Sympathy for the Record Industry (also known as Sympathy Records or Sympathy 4 the R.I.) is a mainly independent garage rock and punk label formed in 1988 by Long Gone John. The first Sympathy release was the Lazy Cowgirls' ''Radio Cowgirl'' ...

) * '' Don't Give It Away'' (1992) * '' 3rd Sun Mower'' (1993) * ''Novocaine'' (1995) * '' On The Way Down'' (1999) * '' Piangi Con Me'' (2006) * ''Keepers of The Purple Twilight'' (2010) * ''Live At Bohemian Grove / White Flag & Tony'' (2011)

Splits

* ''Tesco Vee and White Flag'' * '' Jail Jello!'' (1987) (split with

Necros Necros was an early American hardcore punk band from Maumee, Ohio, although they are usually identified with the Detroit music scene. They were the first band to record for Touch and Go Records. History Necros was formed in mid-1975 by then-t ...

) * '' Sator Vs. White Flag'' (1994) (split with Sator) * ''White Flag/ Baby Demons'' (2008) * ''Two Pack Split'' (2010) * ''Levitate The Listener'' (with Versus You) (2011) * ''White Flag / Crise Total'' (with Crise Total) (2011) * '' Bbs Paranoicos/White Flag'' (2012) * ''White Flag & Tony Adolescent'' * ''White Flag/Shoplifters'' (2013)

Compilation albums

* ''Sgt. Pepper'' (1987) * ''Thru the Trash Darkly'' (1993) * ''Step Back 10'' (1996) * '' R is for Rocket, U is for Unreleased'' (2003) * ''T Is For Twenty'' (2006) * ''Counterclockwise'' (2007) *''Wild Kingdom/Zero Hour/Sgt. Pepper'' (2008)

Live albums

* ''Bleedin' In Sweden'' (1986) * '' History is Fiction'' (2003)

Albums contributed to

* ''The Sound of Hollywood 3—Copulation'' (

Mystic Records Mystic Records is an American record label and music production company specializing in hardcore punk, crossover thrash, underground music, vintage and cult records. It is owned and operated by Doug Moody. The label was first established in Hollywo ...

, 1984) * ''Eat Me'' (BCT, 1984) * '' Desperate Teenage Lovedolls'' (1984) * ''Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Volume 1'' (Gasatanka, 1984) * ''Mystic Sampler #3'' (Mystic, 1986) * Another Shot for Bracken (Positive Force, 1986) * ''Rat Music for Rat People, Vol. 3'' compilation (

CD Presents David Ferguson was an American international outsider-culture impresario, activist, music producer and concert promoter. Over his career, most of which has been spent on the West Coast, he worked with musical acts such as the Avengers, John L ...

, 1987) * ''4 Bands That Could Change the World'' (Gasatanka, 1987) * ''Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them'' (Gasatanka, 1989) * '' Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones'' (

Triple X Records Triple X Records was a Los Angeles-based record company started by three former employees of the bankrupt Greenworld Distribution: Dean Naleway, Peter Heur and Charley Brown. The label was known for "a fearlessly eclectic catalogue that broke away ...

, 1991) * ''Freedom of Choice: Yesterday's New Wave Hits As Performed By Today's Stars'' (1992) * '' Germs (Tribute) - A Small Circle Of Friends'' compilation (1996) * ''

Short Music for Short People ''Short Music for Short People'' is a 1999 compilation album released on the Fat Wreck Chords record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Somet ...

'' (1999) * ''Jardim Elétrico: A Tribute to Os Mutantes'' (2007) * '' Take It Or Leave It - A Tribute To The Queens of Noise: The Runaways'' (2011)

References

External links

White Flag at myspace.comWhite Flag - BandToBand.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Flag (band) Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets Musical groups established in 1982 1982 establishments in California