'Compared To What' and 'Live at Generation Records' by OFF!

OFF! is the new band from former Circle Jerks and Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris, along with former members of Burning Brides, Redd Kross and Rocket From the Crypt/Hot Snakes. They are a band that understands the idea that great hardcore works better in small doses, so their output remains all on 45-rpm 7” EPs: a four-7” box set and now these two new releases, totaling six 7”s.


By Justin Schwier
Rating: 4/5
Southern Lord Records 7''
4/26/2011

Compared To What musically is a little different from the majority of their songs from the First Four EPs box set from last year. There’s a bit of San Diego swagger to the song, almost as if they were channeling Drive Like Jehu or Hot Snakes guitar riffage heroics. While “Rotten Apple” is a rager of a song, more in tune to classic Circle Jerks style hardcore with a section in the middle with a near spoken vocal part where Morris uses that wonderful voice to great effect. Short and fast and certainly to the point, this single adds a bit of musical growth to the band's catalog. it also comes on one of the sturdiest pieces of vinyl I’ve seen. I just wish it came with a lyric sheet and a download card too.


By Justin Schwier
Rating: 3.5/5
Vice Records 7''
4/16/2011

Live at Generation Records is another part of a series from a great record store in New York that throws free shows and has slowly been releasing the recordings. There are four songs on this one and all of them are performed with absolute precision and as raging as the studio versions. You gotta love bands that can 'bring it' live too. The only thing I really don’t like about this is that I wish there was more between song talking, as anyone who’s ever seen Keith Morris perform knows he TALKS and it’s usually some pretty great stuff that would compensate for the fact that all these songs come from last year's First Four EPs box set. Not 100% essential, but a good taste of what you’re gonna get if you see them play live.

Interview with Keith Morris of OFF!/The Circle Jerks/Black Flag

Photo by Katie Hovland

Chris Carlton interviewed Keith Morris of OFF!, The Circle Jerks and Black Flag via the web recently about his new band, OFF!, the state of the Circle Jerks, his influences and much more.

Squid Pro Quo: Thank you very much for taking time our of your busy schedule to talk with Squid Pro Quo, Keith. I know you've been touring nonstop with OFF! for the past few months. How did the band get together?

Keith Morris: "We can blame this OFF! mess on those swell guys in the Circle Jerks. Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), the guitarist in OFF!, came to the CJs to get us in songwriting mode in order to create a new record and of course, it turned into an ugly situation. Dimitri was fired as producer and in the process, I quit over this shitty crybaby episode. Now it was my idea to start the CJs in the first place and I wasn't gonna walk away from something I helped create. I thought to myself, 'everybody in the Jerks has 20 other things they do to make scheduling nothin' but a royal flaming CLUSTERFUCK so I'll add to the confusion by starting OFF! and creating my own schedule!' This new band's probably the best decision I've ever made. During our creative process, I told Dimitri that the other guys in the Jerks were gonna figure out a way to ruin the scenario and that the songs we've written are way too happening to be tossed out with the garbage. Let's come up with plan #B, #C and #D and make something outta this! That's when Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless/Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt) and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) stepped up and it's been pretty much non stop party action since then."

SPQ: The short, in-your-face blasts of music that you're doing with OFF! are reminiscent of the first Circle Jerks album. Was it the band's intention to make fast, in-your-face hit-and-run music? Or was it just a natural direction to go in?

KM: "Well, we were attempting to make a CJs record but one day, Dimitri hit the strings on his guitar and I was totally wiped out! YEAH! That's where we need to take this! The way we'd work is him starting out riffing and us going back and forth as to how it should be put together which also applied to my lyric writing. He played something on the six string device which reminded me of where I came from in Hermosa Beach. He comes from a 'heavier' Nirvana-esque place and I told him to pay attention to the guitarists we'd listened to the previous day: Link Wray, who is the Father of the 'down stroke' and Johnny Ramone, who popularized it! No more 'butterfly,' which is the technique a metal or folk guy uses to strum on the strings, it has to be down strokes and attack! AIM FOR THE FLOOR!"

SPQ: The band's been touring nonstop. Any plans for a break in the tour to record a full-length album?

KM: "'The First Four EPs' is our album! I'm on break as I type and we'll get together next week to start writing new songs so we won't fall into the same hole as before. My initial idea was to release a four-song EP every two or three months until we had 16 or so songs then compile them into a full-blown record. It didn't work out that way as we were gonna sign with Epitaph Records but then decided to see what else was out there and test the waters. We signed with Vice Records 'cause their marketing's beyond CRAZY! Vice gave us a couple of deadlines to meet to really make this happen as they had abso-fuckin'-lutely nothing goin' on for a couple of months and told us we would be their priority until the Black Lips finished their album. We jumped at the opportunity and here we are!"

SPQ: You worked with legendary artist Raymond Pettibon on the artwork for the band's 7" EPs. Being the original singer for Black Flag (Pettibon did the album artwork during their career), did it feel like you came full circle having worked with him again after so many years?

KM: "The great thing with Raymond Pettibon is that we get to re-establish a long lost friendship as when we hung out at the Church in Hermosa Beach and were drug and boozin' buddies! I'm no longer doin' any of that stuff as I'm a diabetic so I've got no time for that but Raymond and I immediately hit it off and started carrying on like a couple of crazy teenagers! He realized how his older Bro stepped all over the bands and peeps he dealt with so we had that in common and Raymond allowed me to come into his workspace and gave me carte blanche when it came to his artwork. He's a Stud Prince Rawker of the tallest order and plays a seriously mean tambourine!"

SPQ: When you worked with Black Flag on the "Nervous Breakdown" EP or the first couple Circle Jerks albums, did any of the band members get the sense that the music you were creating was going to be as influential as it turned out to be?

KM: "We were CLUELESS! We were excited to just be doin' what we were doin' and being able to receive an invitation to the punker-dunker party. There wasn't a map or a plan as to how we'd do things; we just did them and suffered whatever consequences later on. There weren't any managers telling us what to do or record companies that sniffed around at our gigs. We had to go by the "live and learn" technique and let it all go down however it was gonna' happen! We didn't sit around talking as to what our music/noise was gonna' do out in the public 'cause our credo was pretty much just 'go for it!' and worry about all this stuff further down the road."

SPQ: How do you feel the hardcore scene has changed since the early days? Do you feel it's gotten better or worse?

KM: "I try not to pay any attention to this as it's music and it's gonna be shoved in some of the faces of the music-listening public, dark corners and under dirty rugs. As with any genre of music, some of it will stick to the wall and some is gonna be so thin and watered down, it'll slide right off. I listen to so much music that I really could care less about any one category! College rock, hardcore, sweater, foxcore, punk, prog or whatever they're labeling it; if it's great, it transcends or rises from any box it's being placed in!"

SPQ: Is there any bands out there that you feel are carrying the torch as far as making music on their own terms and not conforming to what's considered popular by today's standards?

KM: "I'm moved by Deerhunter's "Microcastle" recording, who are a drone band outta Atlanta, Georgia or The Shins who made an almost perfect "Pop" record called "Chutes Too Narrow" that came out on Sub Pop a few years back. I'm also very partial to Trash Talk, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Moon Duo and Fucked Up."

SPQ: It's been 16 years since the last Circle Jerks album of original material. Are there any plans in the near future for a new album or possible tour?

KM: "When it comes to the CJs, it all started to come down to money and the fact that we're older guys who are set in our ways; TOTAL BUMMER! The mentality became, 'We're who we are and can write/record whatever we want and our fans will buy it because it's us!' and that's REALLY weak! I told them that I wouldn't be a part of the 30th anniversary tour 'cause I'm busy with the OFF! first anniversary tour."

SPQ: You seem to still have that fire and energy in you that you had back in the late '70s and through the '80s. Your passion for your craft is obvious. Do you still find enjoyment in playing live and creating new music?

KM: "Well, I'm on a bit of a roll and OFF!'s providing me with new opportunities that my other band couldn't make happen. OFF! is going to Europe for the entire month of August to play several festivals and tour across Holland, Germany, Sweden and Norway and my feelings toward this is that I'd be a fucking idiot to not go over there and have some fun! The CJs would only talk about this and end up not doing it!"

SPQ: Who are some of your musical influences? And what drives you to be as creative as you are?

KM: "Too many: The Kinks, Iggy Pop, Jagger & Richards, MC5, Jeff Beck, John Dwyer, Jon Wurster, Ray Davies, Lennon & McCartney, Pete Townsend, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Alice Cooper, Leon Russell, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Henry Rollins, Dave Vanian, Jerry Morris, Bob Caldwell, John Jancar, y mas!"

SPQ: Your musical history has influenced countless bands for more than 30 years and counting, with no signs of slowing down. Where can people get in touch with OFF! for tour dates, new releases and merch?

KM: "OFF! has a facebook page that has an 'Events' section that lists all of our tour info. or go to http://www.offofficial.com, which is our 'real' site!"

SPQ: Keith, I want to thank you again for taking the time to talk with Squid Pro Quo. It's truly an honor and a pleasure to speak with you (NOTE: via web). We're all looking forward to more OFF! releases and more amazing live performances. Thanks again.

KM: "Well that's really a misnomer as we didn't speak! Don't be a liar! Just kidding! If you wanna take the time to write questions, I'll gladly take a portion of my time to answer them. YER' WELCOME! Have fun!"

Fest 10 Info:

From No Idea Records:
THE FEST 10 has launched their full website for the big 10 year anniversary of their annual multiple day, multiple venue party down in Gainesville, Florida.
The festival will take place October 28, 29, 30 of 2011. Organizers have planned an alumni reunion from years past to celebrate the big milestone!!! See below a list of bands confirmed so far! The FEST 10 has also opened up weekend passes for sale as well as official FEST 10 hotel bookings. The FEST 10 passes will be available at an early booking special rate of $75 from now until July 1st. On July 1st the price will increase to $100 for the 3 day weekend pass.


Bands confirmed so far include: Hot Water Music, Against Me!, Less Than Jake, Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Touring Company, Samiam, Lifetime, Bouncing Souls, Youth Brigade, Dillinger Four, Smoke or Fire, None More Black, Paint it Black, Small Brown Bike, Dead to Me, Teenage Bottlerocket, Toys That Kill, Lemuria, Tim Barry, A Wilhelm Scream, Polar Bear Club, Circle Takes The Square, Off With Their Heads, The Holy Mountain, Cobra Skulls, Magrudergrind, Bomb The Music Industry, No Trigger, Trap Them, Dear Landlord, Underground Railroad to Candyland, The Menzingers, The Copyrights, Broadway Calls, La Dispute, Fake Problems, The Soviettes, Cheap Girls, Ninja Gun, Nothington, Good Luck, Shook Ones, Paul Baribeau , The Arrivals, Banner Pilot, RVIVR, Static Radio, Rehasher, Armalite, Screaming Females, Coliseum, The Swellers, Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves, We Are The Union, Grabass Charlestons, Iron Chic, Mikey Erg, Ampere, Worn in Red, The Measure (sa) [FINAL SHOW], Burning Love (Canada), Tiltwheel, Bridge and Tunnel, Dan Padilla, Blacklist Royals, The Snips (Canada), The Brokedowns, The Bomb, The Catalyst, Algernon Cadwallader, Red City Radio, New Bruises, Shores, Future Virgnis, The Riot Before, Make Do and Mend, We Were Skeletons, Pianos Become Teeth, The Flatliners (Canada), Young Turks, Campaign, OK Pilot (UK), Look Mexico, Dirty Tactics, The Dopamines, The Arteries (UK), Bent Left, SSSSNAKES(UK), How Dare You, Comadre, Grown Ups, Such Gold, Tigers Jaw, Touché Amoré, The Great Explainer, PJ Bond, Carpenter (Canada), Annabel, One Win Choice, Amateur Party, Cynics (UK), Sexy Crimes, Greenland is Melting, Spanish Gamble, Captain We’re Sinking, Senders, O Pioneers! Pure Graft (UK), Caves (UK), Mixtapes, Vultures United, Living With Lions (Canada), Mose Giganticus Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, Whiskey & Co., Protagonist, Dukes of Hillsborough, Max Levine Ensemble, Big Eyes, No Friends, Failure’s Union, 1994!, Landmines, Heartsounds, After the Fall, Cletus, Coffee Project, Savage Brewtality, King Friday, Fellow Project, Gateway District, Worthwhile Way (Japan), Calvinball (UK), Leagues Apart (UK), Glocca Morra (Canada), Slow Death, The Anchor, Punch, Goddamn Doo Wop Band, , Banquets, Old Man Markley, Red Collar, Weak Teeth, Deep Sleep, No More, Reverse the Curse, Assassinate the Scientist, Army of Ponch, Naïve, Capsule, Jeff Rowe, Koji, Go Rydell, Pine Hill Haints, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, Former Thieves, Elway, The Wild, Pygmy Lush, Too Many Daves, Joey Briggs. City of Ships, INxSANE (Slovenia), Spraynard, Vacation Bible School, \…and many more alumni to come!!!
THE FEST 10 will host over 250+ bands over three days at 11 venues all within walking distance in downtown Gainesville, Fl.

Weekend passes are currently available for sale!
EARLY TURD SPECIAL RATE:
3 DAY PASS - $75 (from now til July1st)
*July 1st 3 DAY PASS = $100
Go to: http://www.thefestfl.com to purchase weekend passes/ book hotels/ buy FEST 10 merch.

Stream 'Fell and Found' by Small Brown Bike

From Southern Lovin' PR:

To celebrate the release of Small Brown Bike’s new studio album, Fell & Found, No Idea Records has posted a full stream of the new album.

You can listen to the album in it’s entirety over at No Idea Records.

The album was produced by J Robbins and is the band’s first full-length, featuring the four original members since Our Own Wars, released in 1999 by No Idea Records. The band’s last full length, The River Bed, was released in 2003 by Lookout! Records.

Fell & Found features 11 new songs recorded at Million Yen Studios in Chicago, IL. Mike Reed, singer/guitarist, had this to say about the new album: “This record brings together everything we’ve done as a band, but still feels new. We didn’t over think things and just had fun making music again. We’ve written 20 or so songs since we got back together and these are some of our favorites.”

Working with J Robbins was also a big factor in the overall sound of the album. Reed said, “Recording with J was something we’ve always wanted to do. It was such an honor to make it happen. He put in long days and kept the ship running smoothly. It was gratifying to come full circle and still have fun in the studio with your best friends. We owe a lot of that to J.”

Small Brown Bike have also announced a few shows to support the new album. They will be headlining two Midwest shows with support from long time friends, The Casket Lottery who they did a split EP with back in 2002 that was released by Second Nature.
The band is also performing at this year’s Krazy Fest as well as THE FEST 10. Read below for all dates.
Small Brown Bike released material on Second Nature, Smallman and were part of the No Idea Records family. They released several ground breaking albums before leaving the label to release their final swan song for Lookout! Records and ultimately broke up in 2004.

The band reformed with their original line up in 2009. They have played select shows since and have released two 7”s of new material entitled Composite Vol. 1 and Composite Vol. 2. that came out on No Idea Records.

Check out Small Brown Bike on their upcoming dates:
Friday, May 13 – Kalamazoo, MI at The Strutt w/ The Casket Lottery, Minutes.
Saturday, May 14 – Chicago, IL at Subterranean w/ The Casket Lottery, Cheap Girls.
Friday, May 20 – Louisville, KY at KRAZY FEST 2011 w/ Against Me!, By The Grace of God, Chamberlain, Bane, The Bled, Strike Anywhere, and many more.
Oct 28-30th – Gainesville, FL at THE FEST 10 w/ Hot Water Music, Against Me!, Less Than Jake, Samiam, Lifetime, Bouncing Souls, Dillinger Four, and many more.

BRAID at Metro in Chicago 8/27/2011

Keep checking the facebook event for deets!

$17
18+
Doors at 8 p.m./show at 9 p.m.

'Live at Generation Records' by The Bouncing Souls

By Justin Schwier
Rating: 3/5
Independent Label Collective
4/16/2011

I must admit that this was an impulse buy and didn’t realize it was an acoustic live album, so shame on me for not doing my research. This was recorded on 2010’s Record Store Day at Generation Records in New York. The recording captures the whimsical prevalence in the earlier days of the band, struggling with the 'serious artists' that they are today; and I’m not saying that in bad way, they’ve clearly matured from the days of "I Like Your Mom." Lead singer Greg Antonito is his typical goofy self throughout and it’s great to hear him really soar on “Gasoline” from their latest album, Ghosts on the Boardwalk. For the most part, the only songs he really sounds confident on are the more recent ones, which were clearly written for the acoustic setting that the band's been gravitating toward for the past few years. They stick to earlier material through most of their set (five of the 11 songs come from their first two albums) and throw in a charming ukulele’d cover of Sick Of It All’s “Good Lookin’ Out.” They close their set out with the classic song, “Night on Earth” from Hopeless Romantic.
They totally skipped over four entire albums, so I’d have liked to see a more balanced set, or have heard them a little more rehearsed, but this is a novelty release, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. This isn’t a total waste. It’s certainly not a perfect record, but the high points will inspire repeat spins and actually made me appreciate a few of the newer songs that even make me curious to pull out a few of the last albums and give them another chance, which is probably about the nicest thing I could write.

Track Listing:
1. Quik Chek Girl
2. Lamar Vannoy
3. Here We Go
4. Ghosts On The Boardwalk
5. I Like Your Mom
6. The Freaks, The Nerds, and The Romantics
7. Joe Lies (When He Cries)
8. Big Eyes
9. Gasoline
10. Good Lookin' Out [Sick Of It All cover]
11. Night On Earth

Pressing info: 1,500 copies.

Interview with Camilo Gonzalez of Naked Raygun/Silver Abuse

Photo from www.nakedraygun.org
By Chris Carlton

Camilo Gonzalez played bass on Naked Raygun's "Basement Screams" EP and "Throb Throb" LP. He is also a founding member of Silver Abuse, and played in later incarnations of Toothpaste. Since 2007, Gonzalez has been playing with the reunited Silver Abuse. He also played bass on one Shellac song, "The Rambler Song."

Squid Pro Quo: You were born in Havana, Cuba. When did you move to the States?

Camilo Gonzalez: "Boy, let's see: My family moved to Miami when I was five. I still remember Cuba and wonder what life would have been like there. My dad was tired of all the killing and instability and I think he feared it would never end. He's never really liked Marxism."

SPQ: What was the first band that really influenced you into wanting to play the bass?

CG: "I've always like music, but I never learned to play an instrument or write formally. When I was in high school, progressive rock was the cutting edge. I knew I could never play that. Therefore, I was really pleased when I heard Neu! and Terry Riley and some of the other minimalist "Kraut Rock" of the early seventies. Bob Damnrau, Bill Meehan, Dennis Sosniak and myself had a type of stick band. We'd go over to the park, get drunk and pound on the ground with sticks. The big sticks would produce a boomier sound so of course, I was the bass stick because I lifted weights. Later on, Bill's dad bought him a bass but he sang and let me borrow the bass. Then Dennis tried to stab Bill to death, so we disbanded."

SPQ: What was the punk scene in Chicago like back in the late '70s/early '80s?

CG: "There was no punk rock in Chicago during the mid-'70s that I was aware of. There were pioneers a bit later, Skafish, Tutu and the Pirates and ourselves. And then, perhaps reflective of what was happening internationally, a wave of great bands seemed to spring from nowhere. One week, we'd go to Oz on Hubbard and hear The Effigies for the first time, then Strike Under the next week, then maybe The Wayouts! Because of the deteriorating manufacturing and printing base here in Chicago, loft space became absurdly cheap and folks would host parties where it was possible to hear great bands for free or very little. The community was small and somewhat incestuous for all the good and bad that entails. I recall drugs and sex being easily available. We hosted one party where a lesbian orgy supposedly broke out in the washroom. At that same party, a fight broke out between an African-American friend we had invited and a Nazi skinhead. The skinhead thankfully, got the worst of it, but I think that spoke to the fact that even back then, punk was not monolithic and infighting occurred."

SPQ: How did Silver Abuse get started? There are two different versions out there. Can you give us your version of how the band got together?

CG: "Some time after Dennis tried to kill Bill, Santiago Durango was inspired to form a band. I had met him in high school art class and played drums with an earlier band with him and another guitarist. Bob Damrau later became our drummer, I moved over to bass and I don't think the other guitarist was into punk. Bill Meehan joined us as singer. I don't recall when we finally called ourselves a band; might have been in Santiago's parents' gold coast condo sub-basement over shots of piss-poor whiskey."

SPQ: Did you and Durango leave Silver Abuse to join Raygun, or did you and Santiago juggle both bands for a time?

CG: "I was an art student, so I though punk rock should be minimalist and musical virtuosity was an impediment. Sant didn't agree and wanted a more sophisticated sound. We butted heads, he left to form Naked Raygun and Silver Abuse broke up to form The Wayouts! I played with The Wayouts! and later, a reformed version of Silver Abuse before Sant asked me to join Naked Raygun. But I might add the initial transition was rough and I almost didn't make it. I never played in both bands concurrently until recently."

SPQ: I know you played a couple shows with Raygun recently: The Busted At Oz reunion gig at Double Door, along with Silver Abuse and your other band, Toothpaste. How did that gig come together, and was it difficult playing in all those bands in one night?

CG: "Initially, I suggested to Eric Spicer that we should reform an earlier version of NR and have it play a few songs. Unfortunately Pierre, NR's current bass player, suffered a stroke and couldn't perform. It was decided that the original lineup should play the whole set, not just a few songs. Jim broke his collar bone in a bike-riding accident and Eric was able to fill in. It was exhausting to play in three bands, but I didn't feel it right away since on stage, you run on adrenaline. It took me a couple days before I was my chipper self. Not something I would recommend."

SPQ: I'm sure it brought back memories of playing with bands like Articles Of Faith. Was there ever any tension or rivalry between bands back then? Or was it a big happy family type scene?

CG: "In retrospect, there seems to have been some tension between the hardcore and the more classic punk crowd. Naked Raygun always liked hardcore bands and played with many of them, so I could never understand the rift. The principle tumults seemed to have been Mr. Vic Bondi and the Effigies and Mr. Bondi and Steve Albini, but after a while, things seem to have gotten increasingly fractious. I'm a big goofy guy. If there was tension, I wasn't aware of it. I tried to get along with all and generally, I did. For the most part, bands were cooperative. We informally booked shows together in a wide variety of punk-friendly venues, so a lot of cooperation was necessary."

SPQ: How did the after-show gig at Cobra Lounge the night Raygun opened for Dropkick Murphys come about? Where you asked to join in, or were you just there in house?

CG: "Eric talked to me earlier about possibly playing the Congress set with them but realized I didn't know the later songs. He suggested maybe I can join them for a few songs anyway. I went to the Congress Show, but was too late to see them so Gretchen and I went to another bar to see another band. I got a call from Eric asking me to come to Cobra Lounge and play."

SPQ: I know you got an in-store lined up with Silver Abuse in the coming days. Any new gigs or plans for recording any new music in the near future?

CG: "We're playing with The Wanton Looks at the Cobra Lounge June 25th, scary-good pop rockers, worth the price of admission themselves. We have an album coming out soon, so find out the best way to pirate it. Maybe a few more things in late summer."

SPQ: How can fans get in touch with Silver Abuse and Toothpaste? Do you have a website you want to promote?

CG: "We have MySpace pages (Toothpaste and Silver Abuse).

SPQ: Thanks a million for taking the time to talk with Squid Pro Quo, Camilo. Being a big Raygun fan, this is really a dream come true.