I was 17 years old when a 15 year old mate of mine crudely carved 4 black bars into my wrist in a reptile shop he worked in, after hours and certainly before much consideration. The result was my ‘black blob’. an objectively terrible first tattoo which has since been covered by a better attempt but still looks pretty horrendous. While not a great decision, it was one made out of dedication, dedication to one of the most important and influential punk bands of all time. A band who have inspired countless musicians and perhaps even more bad DIY tattoos……Black Flag.
35 years after their last UK tour, Black Flag return. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of the most important punk bands of all time, and yet… the Tramshed in Cardiff is NOT sold out. It’s busy, and there’s a buzz of excitement in the air, those who are attending realise the magnitude of the event they are at however the last decade hasn’t been kind to the bands legacy. Founder Greg Ginn reformed the band in 2013 along with Ron Reyes and recorded a new album ‘What The…’
Reyes was kicked out of the band mid set and replaced by pro skater Mike Vallely three weeks before the album came out and it was poorly received by fans & critics alike. Even the most die hard Black Flag fans struggled to get any enjoyment from this album, and I should know, I’m one of them.
Around the same time, Ginn engaged in legal battles with rival band ‘Flag’ consisting of original Black Flag members: Keith Morris, Dez Cadena, Chuck Dukowski & Bad Religion’s Bill Stevenson which further divided the fan base, with many favouring the star power of Flag. It’s with the excitement of years of fandom and the trepidation based on recent years events that I head to the Tramshed, Cardiff for tonights show.
There’s a wait of over an hour between doors opening and the support band playing. I presume this time is to encourage more sales at the bar but since I’m sober my time is spent perusing the merch stand, which provides some surprises: Total Chaos have a broad selection of hats, scarves, CDs, patches, pins and more; in contrast our headliners have two items 1 shirt and 1 long sleeve. Extraordinarily reasonably priced, cheaper than their support band and in fact cheaper than some local bands. I picked up a tour shirt for £10 and continued my wait for the entertainment.
Total Chaos are the solitary support for the tour, assaulting the audience with their ferocious L.A. street punk sound. Fast, unrelenting punk rock, no frills, no messing around, you know what you’re going to get with Total Chaos as soon as you see them.
Liberty spiked frontman & founder Rob Chaos sums up some of the bands views in between songs, they boil down to:
Government = bad
Police = bad
Racists = bad
Punks = good
They’re not exactly Bad Religion when it comes to deep political thought, nor do they profess to be, but I’m not arguing with any of their stances and their involvement in various non profit organisations to back up their words. If you like street punk you’ll enjoy Total Chaos and I do, so I did.
There’s another long wait between bands and there’s audible frustration from some attendees, though most are content drinking and singing along to the punk classics playlist that echoes around the room from the PA.
Black Flag wander onto the stage like they’re entering a rehearsal space, no fanfare, Greg removes his guitar from the case and fiddles with his amp, Vallely gets his bandmate a water, it’s all slightly surreal.
And then out of nowhere it hits, that thundering, squealing Ginn guitar tone, the drums come in and Vallely springs into life, instantly the whole floor is a mosh pit, bodies flying everywhere, attendees unexpectedly caught in the melee speed towards the pits outer ring as others charge towards the action.
‘Depression’ is the opening track but it could have been anything, this crowd have waited decades for the opportunity to see Black Flag live and here we are. Any arguments about line ups or law suits are completely forgotten and what follows is one of the most blissful punk rock shows of my life.
‘No Values’ - ‘I’ve Had It’ - ‘Fix Me’ (My personal favourite) - ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ it’s an onslaught of short fast, perfect punk songs. ‘Black Coffee’ stretches on longer and is met with raucous sing-a-longs but for the most part, the first half of the set is comprised of the early EP’s and seminal debut album ‘Damaged’.
I’m yet to mention the rhythm section as they are essentially session musicians, they’re note perfect and near invisible, fulfilling their role perfectly all eyes are on the Ginn & Vallely. As the bass intro to ‘Six Pack’ begins, Ginn toasts the crowd with his tea cup, an endearing moment from the punk legend.
At the mid way part in the set ‘Bastard In Love’, ‘Slip It In’ and ‘I Can See You’ are bookended by long instrumental sections which do have a hint of filler about them but when all the hits are 2 minutes long you’ve got to pad them out with something. Ginn’s visible joy is contagious, he smiles as he solos and frantically shakes his head as the songs speed up again. You certainly can’t begrudge a guitar hero wanting to play his guitar even if the crowd would prefer the break neck pace we started with.
The crowd chant for ‘TV Party’ and the band oblige, somehow the pit just keeps getting bigger and the singalongs louder, it’s apparent now that the sets middle section was the only nod to Black Flags later more experimental work and thankfully 2013’s ‘What The..’ Is entirely omitted as we’re back now to the short fast early material ‘Jealous Again’ ‘Can’t Decide’ ‘Nervous Breakdown’ this is pure fan service and the Cardiff crowd is loving it. Total Chaos retake the stage to provide backing vocals for ‘Rise Above’ which has the feeling of a closer but no! There’s more, the band launch into ‘Louie Louie’ and then things get odd…
Vallely snarls his way through the original verses featured on ‘Damaged’ and the crowd join in on the choruses. The song progresses into the now familiar drawn out instrumental sections in which Vallely turns his back on the crowd, the members gather toward the drum kit and Ginn solos away in his iconic discordant style. It’s impossible to recall how long this went on for but it felt like an age, especially in contrast to the other material: ‘Fix Me’ has a run time of 0:58 on record and they play it even faster live. As the ‘Louie Louie’ solo dragged on the room seemed to cool down, for the first time all set the pit stopped moving, the band got quieter and the distance grew between Ginns guitar parts. And then… it stopped, the band packed up, the punk classics playlist came back on and Black Flag left the stage, leaving in their wake a perplexed audience.
A bizarre ending to a near perfect performance. A few hits were notably absent ‘My War’ and ‘Wasted’ among them, but with the amount of material they have to pick from Black Flag made a clear effort to give the fans their moneys worth and then some. Leaving out all of ‘What The…’ and ‘Family Man’ was the right decision and while there was some moments of self indulgence it all felt earned.
And that would have been it, but as the crowd poured out of the venue I spotted the two key men Vallely & Ginn talking with some fans, never one to miss out I was able to grab a selfie with Ginn and have a brief chat. He responded to me complimenting his set not like a rockstar trying to move me along instead like a new musician hearing it for the first time. I told him I never thought I’d see Black Flag and that it was a dream show and as I went to leave he hugged me.
My biggest take away from the whole night; from the reasonable ticket prices, the affordable and minimal merchandise, causally wandering on and off stage and chatting with fans after was that Black Flag and Greg Ginn who is Black Flag (whether people like it or not) loves punk rock.
Many will review this cynically and many will have made up their mind before they got to the venue but for me personally this ticked all the boxes. If this is the only time I ever see Black Flag it was everything I could have asked for.
Words & Pictures: Hena