Very good.
sam.agini@ultimate-guitar.com
Frank Turner: Think Black Flag
Artist profile:
Frank Turner
As we're sure you're already well aware, Rocklouder is best mates with all of your favourite bands; hanging out and living a life of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll (*cough* - Ed). So, what better than to get out our celebrity rolodex (or Myspace, as it's more commonly known), and get them to write for us? Nothing, that's what.
First up is ex-Million Dead star Frank Turner. Now a blinding solo artist in his own right, we wanted to know what pushed his buttons. Turns out, quite sensibly, it's the legendary Black Flag, and he wants you to listen to them too.
A few months ago I got a new tattoo, on my left wrist, of four black bars. It’s a pretty visible tattoo, both in design and in placing, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Leaving aside the inevitable morons asking me if it’s a (poorly drawn) barcode, I’m actually quite surprised by the number of people I know who are music fans, and heavy music fans at that, who don’t know what it is. In the case of readers of this article, the title’s given it away really, so you can all pretend to be scene and have known all along that it was the logo of long-deceased Californian punk band, Black Flag.
Getting any band tattoo (of a band that you’re not in) is not, generally speaking, something I consider eminently wise, especially not on your wrist. But not only am I pleased as punch, the number of people that I know or see (and then usually come to know) who have the bars tattooed somewhere is pretty high. It’s like belonging to a secret club. It also gives me an excuse to rant at length to people about the band, and to explain to them why they’re the greatest and most important punk band of them all. Which is exactly what I’m going to do here as well.
A brief history lesson to start off with, I think. Black Flag were formed by a guy called Greg Ginn in 1976 in a suburb of LA called Redondo Beach. From there they juggled a whole bunch of people in their line-up (including, briefly, Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks) before settling down with a young Henry Rollins on vocals (who the band had picked up from Washington DC) and a comparatively steady rhythm section, often with Bill Stevenson on drums, who went on to be in The Descendents, All and The Lemonheads. After 7 albums and endless touring, they broke up in 1986. They were never hugely popular or successful, and at the time their passing was not particularly mourned at the time.
And yet they are legends. And yet people like me get their logo tattooed – I was 5 years old when they broke up, past their prime. I never saw them play, and can only directly access them as a band through the scratchy, poorly produced albums they left behind. There are three very good reasons why they should be and continue to be remembered.
First of all, when Black Flag came out of California, punk rock as a scene in America was a limited affair, based mainly in the coastal metropolises of LA and the Eastern Seaboard. The Ramones had done one half-hearted national tour, and beyond that the only people who knew anything about punk in the states found out about it through foreign press or local college radio stations. What Flag did was to get in the van (the title of Rollins’ book about their tours) and just fucking do it. Their tour schedules are truly terrifying to behold in our era of 2 week jaunts. In 1984, for example, they spent over 200 days on the road, usually doing 2 gigs a day (a matinee for the young kids and an evening show for the over-21’s), and would have done more if Rollins’ knee hadn’t imploded completely in Canada. They effectively built the American underground, or 'indie' scene. It’s generally accepted that the music scenes that fostered everyone from Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, REM, Fugazi, to ultimately Nirvana would never have existed without the groundwork that Black Flag laid down.
Their ability to withstand that kind of schedule was informed by their second worthy characteristic: their ethics. Ginn was a total workaholic, insisting that the band practice up to 8 hours a day every day when not on tour, refuse days off in the tour schedule, book their own shows, produce their own records and so on. They were arguably the first truly DIY band, and Fugazi owe them a lot. They were also fabulously independent, artistically speaking. Their early work, captured on 'The First Four Years' album, is utterly abrasive, raw, simple, brutal hardcore punk rock. Some of their last recordings are unbelievably different – 'The Process Of Weeding Out', for example, is an instrumental wig-out that borders on free jazz at times. They never let anyone dictate their path to them, and while at the time it was a commercially unwise decision, their legacy more than outbalances that fact. They were also totally down to earth – legend has it that Dukowski (bass player and later tour manager) pushed Rollins up against the wall and ordered him to play the show of his life after the singer complained of there only being three people at the show. More than any other band Black Flag lived up to the punk rock ideal of the musicians being one and the same as the crowd.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, they fucking rock. Their early stuff is probably the best – either the aforementioned 'First Four Years' or maybe 'Damaged'. Pure, undiluted rage and defiance. 'Police Story' doesn’t just tell of how the band faced almost military opposition from the LAPD (at one Hollywood show more cops showed up than fans), it puts you there, in the thick of it, when punk rock was considered a real threat by the establishment, rather than an adolescent lifestyle choice. Hardcore was the pushing of the boundaries of punk beyond a cerebral, art-school media movement, or a conservative drug-addled subculture, into something ferocious and challenging. Black Flag were the first hardcore band. It’s not just their legacy, their ethics, it’s the tunes.
In my old band, Million Dead, we had a saying for when anything went wrong on tour – "Think Black Flag". No matter what was fucking up for us, the simple fact was that Black Flag had it worse a hundred times over and worked through it all. Not so long ago Ben, our drummer, was in email contact with Bill Stevenson, and mentioned this fact in passing. Stevenson replied that in Flag, their saying was "Think Coltrane". For me that’s just perfect – not just the fact that he’s still OK with talking about the band 20 years later, but the original hardcore band were inspired by John Coltrane’s dedication to pushing the boundaries. That, if nothing else, should show how important this band were. A quick web search will turn up loads more information about the band. Most of their records are still available on Ginn’s label, SST Records. And Rollins’ diaries, 'Get In The Van', are pretty much a bible for me as a touring musician. Go check it out, and please, never accuse me of having a barcode tattoo again. I’m not that lame.
Frank Turner
Frank Turner Official Site
Frank Turner Myspace
Buy Frank Turner CDs | Buy Frank Turner mp3s | Buy Frank Turner Tickets | Buy Frank Turner Merch
As we're sure you're already well aware, Rocklouder is best mates with all of your favourite bands; hanging out and living a life of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll (*cough* - Ed). So, what better than to get out our celebrity rolodex (or Myspace, as it's more commonly known), and get them to write for us? Nothing, that's what.
First up is ex-Million Dead star Frank Turner. Now a blinding solo artist in his own right, we wanted to know what pushed his buttons. Turns out, quite sensibly, it's the legendary Black Flag, and he wants you to listen to them too.
A few months ago I got a new tattoo, on my left wrist, of four black bars. It’s a pretty visible tattoo, both in design and in placing, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Leaving aside the inevitable morons asking me if it’s a (poorly drawn) barcode, I’m actually quite surprised by the number of people I know who are music fans, and heavy music fans at that, who don’t know what it is. In the case of readers of this article, the title’s given it away really, so you can all pretend to be scene and have known all along that it was the logo of long-deceased Californian punk band, Black Flag.
Getting any band tattoo (of a band that you’re not in) is not, generally speaking, something I consider eminently wise, especially not on your wrist. But not only am I pleased as punch, the number of people that I know or see (and then usually come to know) who have the bars tattooed somewhere is pretty high. It’s like belonging to a secret club. It also gives me an excuse to rant at length to people about the band, and to explain to them why they’re the greatest and most important punk band of them all. Which is exactly what I’m going to do here as well.
A brief history lesson to start off with, I think. Black Flag were formed by a guy called Greg Ginn in 1976 in a suburb of LA called Redondo Beach. From there they juggled a whole bunch of people in their line-up (including, briefly, Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks) before settling down with a young Henry Rollins on vocals (who the band had picked up from Washington DC) and a comparatively steady rhythm section, often with Bill Stevenson on drums, who went on to be in The Descendents, All and The Lemonheads. After 7 albums and endless touring, they broke up in 1986. They were never hugely popular or successful, and at the time their passing was not particularly mourned at the time.
And yet they are legends. And yet people like me get their logo tattooed – I was 5 years old when they broke up, past their prime. I never saw them play, and can only directly access them as a band through the scratchy, poorly produced albums they left behind. There are three very good reasons why they should be and continue to be remembered.
First of all, when Black Flag came out of California, punk rock as a scene in America was a limited affair, based mainly in the coastal metropolises of LA and the Eastern Seaboard. The Ramones had done one half-hearted national tour, and beyond that the only people who knew anything about punk in the states found out about it through foreign press or local college radio stations. What Flag did was to get in the van (the title of Rollins’ book about their tours) and just fucking do it. Their tour schedules are truly terrifying to behold in our era of 2 week jaunts. In 1984, for example, they spent over 200 days on the road, usually doing 2 gigs a day (a matinee for the young kids and an evening show for the over-21’s), and would have done more if Rollins’ knee hadn’t imploded completely in Canada. They effectively built the American underground, or 'indie' scene. It’s generally accepted that the music scenes that fostered everyone from Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, REM, Fugazi, to ultimately Nirvana would never have existed without the groundwork that Black Flag laid down.
Their ability to withstand that kind of schedule was informed by their second worthy characteristic: their ethics. Ginn was a total workaholic, insisting that the band practice up to 8 hours a day every day when not on tour, refuse days off in the tour schedule, book their own shows, produce their own records and so on. They were arguably the first truly DIY band, and Fugazi owe them a lot. They were also fabulously independent, artistically speaking. Their early work, captured on 'The First Four Years' album, is utterly abrasive, raw, simple, brutal hardcore punk rock. Some of their last recordings are unbelievably different – 'The Process Of Weeding Out', for example, is an instrumental wig-out that borders on free jazz at times. They never let anyone dictate their path to them, and while at the time it was a commercially unwise decision, their legacy more than outbalances that fact. They were also totally down to earth – legend has it that Dukowski (bass player and later tour manager) pushed Rollins up against the wall and ordered him to play the show of his life after the singer complained of there only being three people at the show. More than any other band Black Flag lived up to the punk rock ideal of the musicians being one and the same as the crowd.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, they fucking rock. Their early stuff is probably the best – either the aforementioned 'First Four Years' or maybe 'Damaged'. Pure, undiluted rage and defiance. 'Police Story' doesn’t just tell of how the band faced almost military opposition from the LAPD (at one Hollywood show more cops showed up than fans), it puts you there, in the thick of it, when punk rock was considered a real threat by the establishment, rather than an adolescent lifestyle choice. Hardcore was the pushing of the boundaries of punk beyond a cerebral, art-school media movement, or a conservative drug-addled subculture, into something ferocious and challenging. Black Flag were the first hardcore band. It’s not just their legacy, their ethics, it’s the tunes.
In my old band, Million Dead, we had a saying for when anything went wrong on tour – "Think Black Flag". No matter what was fucking up for us, the simple fact was that Black Flag had it worse a hundred times over and worked through it all. Not so long ago Ben, our drummer, was in email contact with Bill Stevenson, and mentioned this fact in passing. Stevenson replied that in Flag, their saying was "Think Coltrane". For me that’s just perfect – not just the fact that he’s still OK with talking about the band 20 years later, but the original hardcore band were inspired by John Coltrane’s dedication to pushing the boundaries. That, if nothing else, should show how important this band were. A quick web search will turn up loads more information about the band. Most of their records are still available on Ginn’s label, SST Records. And Rollins’ diaries, 'Get In The Van', are pretty much a bible for me as a touring musician. Go check it out, and please, never accuse me of having a barcode tattoo again. I’m not that lame.
Frank Turner
Frank Turner Official Site
Frank Turner Myspace
Buy Frank Turner CDs | Buy Frank Turner mp3s | Buy Frank Turner Tickets | Buy Frank Turner Merch
Comments
Sam
03 Aug 2008, 17:02
03 Aug 2008, 17:02
