Greg Ginn Trio
Rocks Los Feliz
Black Flag Reunion Show
Planned for September

By Thom White

LOS FELIZ, Calif. -- June 4, 2003 -- The Greg Ginn Band brought the punk noise of yesteryear to the ears of Angelenos Wednesday night at the Los Feliz junction of the band's whistle-stop tour of Southern California.

Ginn and two other guys (Duckett on drums, and Jay on bass) kicked the show off at the Big Foot Lodge with an excellent instrumental noise rocker, then played some fifteen early Black Flag tunes and one extended noise jam in the middle of the set. Stand-outs in the set were a riotous "Gimme Gimme Gimme" and the furious "Can't Decide."

Ginn is out promoting a "re-launch" of SST Records this summer 2003 with the release of four new records by four different groups in which Ginn plays guitar.

It was just announced also that he and other members of Black Flag are reforming for a benefit gig on September 12 at the Hollywood Palladium. Ginn is participating in order to raise money to benefit cat rescue programs. There is no nationwide Black Flag tour planned but there possibly will be two shows if ticket sales are brisk. Ginn is using these shows around LA as a warm-up for the big gig in September.

Greg Ginn first gained renown in the late 1970s with his creation of Black Flag, a mad outfit out of Hermosa Beach, California. Ginn wrote nearly all of Black Flag's music and lyrics and was the only member to survive the entire existence of the band until they broke up in 1987. Greg's younger brother Raymond helped cement an image for the band with the "four-bar" Black Flag logo and with his disturbing and notable comic-style artwork that appeared on the band's flyers and records.

On Black Flag's 1978 debut record, Keith Morris's gruff ways matched up well with Ginn's harsh guitar stylings, but only set the stage for the "Jealous Again" EP of 1980. With this five-song diddy, Greg Ginn's creativity and "jazzy" style with the buzzsaw guitar began to blossom and he refined what later would be termed the "anti-solo." In this manner of playing, the guitarist makes sounds that are so hyperactive and amelodic that the untrained ear might believe the performer may not known how to play his instrument.

Black Flag's music was grounded in power chord progressions and guitar leads found in other rock music. But Ginn's confusion of noise is the basis of Black Flag's unique position in punk rock history. His "anti-solo" injections into the rock formula make for a raw sound that is near impossible to replicate. It was the little fills and frills, the effects and noise that somehow fit into each razor sharp crack of mile-a-minute tuneage that distinguished Black Flag from every other Los Angeles punk band of their era.

The Black Flag Benefit for Cats is scheduled for September 12, 2003 at the Hollywood Palladium. No former Black Flaggers besides Ginn are confirmed yet for the scheduled "First Four Years" show but bassist Chuck Dukowski and singers Keith Morris and Dez Cadena will likely take part. Many are hopeful that "Chavo" Ron Reyes, Black Flag's teenage shouter for a brief stint in 1979-80, will also take the stage to recapture the glory days with a couple bars of "Revenge" and "White Minority."

Tickets for the benefit are $27.50 plus an additional $10 in Ticketmaster fees.

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Update 19 August 2003:

Keith Morris, original lead singer for Black Flag, has announced on the Official Circle Jerks web site that he will not be participating in the reunion shows on September 12-13, 2003. Read his message to fans here.

Read an August 2003 interview with Greg Ginn : "My War."

Reader Comments

From: Bmx52971@aol.com
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003

My opinion of the September 12, 2003 ..... The best music/show ever! For the past 22yrs. I have listened to BLACK FLAG. I never expected to see a show. That was the greatest experience of my life...... I wish I could have sung DEPRESSION and a few other songs. Anyway I will let my life continue, with the night of Sept. 12 as an overwhelming,unforgettable event.

Greg Ginn wrote some powerful songs and that was 25 yrs ago. Those songs [EVERYTHING WENT BLACK] touch my soul and help me see the world and society for what it is....GREED!

In closing, I will say some day I will let it go and the Nervous Breakdown inside will play out as a quiet nightmare of the child that never understood. I wish I was part of the social circle. They all judge too harshly and eventually I will get my anger and fix it with a bullet.... FUCK THE RICH! Ah, what the hell.

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