So, as some of you may know, a few days ago guitarist (and basically heart and soul of the band) Greg Ginn announced that he would be performing as Black Flag with drummer Gregory Moore (who played with them a decade ago), singer Ron Reyes (you may know him as vocalist Chavo Pederast on the Jealous Again EP), and bassist Dale Nixon (aka Ginn; Dale Nixon is also credited as the bassist on My War). However, in context, it just seemed like Black Flag would be playing a one-off festival show in the UK, but apparently earlier today (January 28th) it was announced that they had just finished recording a new album, and are now preparing to tour it.
Meanwhile, there’s another band called FLAG, which is going to tour playing old-school Black Flag tunes instead of new ones. The lineup on this one seems much more promising: Keith Morris (second best vocalist after Rollins), bassist Chuck Dukowski (responsible for the weird basslines in songs like “What I See”), guitarist Stephen Egerton (hey, the Descendents and All!), and rounding it out drummer Bill Stevenson (also from the Descendents and All, but he played in Black Flag from My War through In My Head, when he got kicked off right before the next tour and got back with a reunited Descendents).
So, basically, there’s two reunited Black Flags who are touring the world right now. Personally, I think FLAG sounds much more promising; who wants to hear a bunch of the boring new jazzy garbage that Ginn’s sure to toss onto the new record? I just want to mosh to the old stuff until the enamel in my teeth has turned to gelatin. Besides, Reyes was easily their worst vocalist– he sounded like he was trying to do a Darby Crash thing but it wasn’t quite working out for him. Still, you have to give him credit for the angriest versions of “White Minority” and “Depression” that Black Flag ever performed:
Either way, old-school Black Flag is still going to get crazy daps. They were excellent, they endured some of the most brutal low-budget tours of all time, and without SST Records other awesome 80s bands like (oldfag jizz alert) Sonic Youth, the Meat Puppets, Husker Du, the Minutemen, Dinosaur Jr, and the Descendents probably wouldn’t have found a home. So they deserve cred for that at least.
Wat u bros think? Should Black Flag stay dead and buried? Was Reyes their worst vocalist? Why aren’t Dez Cadena or Kira Roessler getting in on the money action? Should Keith Morris stop joining so many bands? Are you going to see the the two new Black Flags live? Was Black Flag the greatest band of all time, or just the greatest hardcore band of all time? Are oldfags going to get butthurt or jizz over this??
