Intense punk outfit Off! comes to the Independent
SAN FRANCISCO -- Legendary punk singer Keith Morris brings the current line-up of his modern hardcore band Off! back to San Francisco Friday, headlining the Independent.
When it comes to American punk rock singers, few have a more impressive CV than SoCal hardcore pioneer Morris. Along with guitarist Greg Ginn, the vocalist co-founded the band that would eventually become Black Flag -- they were initially known as Panic -- in 1976.
While it took some time to solidify a line-up due to their dogged work ethic, Morris was still fronting the band during the recording of their groundbreaking debut Nervous Breakdown EP in 1978 and when they played their first live show under the name a year later.
Personal issues with Ginn led to Morris leaving the band that same year, but the singer landed on his feet soon afterwards when he started Circle Jerks with former Redd Kross guitarist (and future member of Bad Religion) Greg Hetson. Like Black Flag, the group would emerge as one of the cornerstone bands of the burgeoning Southern California punk scene, appearing in the seminal 1981 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization and Alex Cox's landmark sci-fi punk classic Repo Man.
The band's debut effort Group Sex featured several songs Morris had co-written with Black Flag including "I Don't Care" and the drunken punk anthem "Wasted," leading to more acrimony with Ginn and his former band who re-recorded "I Don't Care" with pointedly different lyrics for the new song, "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!"
In late 1980, the band signed to Faulty Records, a subsidiary of successful indie label I.R.S. and issued their influential sophomore album Wild in the Streets. Mixing covers including the Garland Jeffreys-penned title track and a version of the Paul Revere and the Raiders hit "Just Like Me" with alternately obnoxious and politically charged originals, the album firmly established Morris and company as snide and snotty leaders of LA's punk rock pack.
While their next effort Golden Shower of Hits continued the band's streak of solid effort, changes to the band's rhythm section and indifferent production contributed to the lackluster Wonderful in 1985. The band returned to form somewhat with the Relativity Records follow-up VI two years later, but went on an extended hiatus in 1990 as Hetson focused on recording and touring with Bad Religion.
Circle Jerks would periodically reunite to tour well into the 2000s, but only managed one collection of new material -- 1995's Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities on Mercury Records. It was during an abortive attempt at recording a new Circle Jerks album in 2009 that led to an acrimonious split as everyone from the band except Morris demanded the firing of producer Dimitri Coats (at the time best known as the leader of the band Burning Brides).
Instead, Morris and Coats enlisted Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald and drummer Mario Rubalcaba (Hot Snakes, Rocket from the Crypt, Earthless and numerous other bands) to form the punk supergroup Off! which has been the singer's main creative outlet. The caustic, minute-long blasts heard on a string of EPs hearkened back to the ferocity of Morris' earliest songs with Black Flag as Off! earned fans young and old with extensive touring and several celebrated releases.
Morris has focused on some other projects since then, leading the group Flag with a number of other Black Flag alumni playing classic material without Ginn, who was touring and recording with his own substandard version of Black Flag. He published his memoir My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor in 2016. The autobiography written with Jim Ruland was met with wide acclaim for its blunt honesty and vivid portrayal of the early West Coast punk scene. He also reconciled with the members of Circle Jerks and embarked on a long-delayed reunion tour -- its first in 15 years -- after the pandemic derailed those plans for the better part of two years. A couple of the band's influential albums -- Group Sex and Wild in the Street -- received the deluxe reissue treatment by Trust Records.
With those touring commitments finally completed, Morris has returned his attention to Off! Last year, the group participated in The Metallica Blacklist tribute album which featured over 53 bands covering songs from the metal crew's hugely successful "Black Album" to mark its 30th anniversary. A demented video for their version of "Holier Than Thou" featuring a cameo by Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore and a starring turn by the Jesus Lizard singer David Yow as a degenerate priest introduced the band's new rhythm section of bassist Autry Fulbright II (of the band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead) and drummer Justin Brown (Thundercat) to took the place of departing members MacDonald and Rubalcaba. In late September, Off! released its latest explosive album Free LSD, the quartet's first for Fat Possum Records that will also serve as the soundtrack to the forthcoming sci-fi musical comedy of the same name directed by guitarist Coates and scheduled for release next year. For this Friday night show at the Independent in San Francisco, rising LA-based Black powerviolence band Zulu kicks things off with their incendiary, politically charged musical onslaught.
Off! and Zulu
Friday, Dec. 16, 8:30 p.m. $25
The Independent
