Black Flag fans should be excited at the news of the band’s first new material in nearly three decades, instead the reports of a new album is likely to polarise dedicated punk followers.
A new record is due from Black Flag this November, well one version of the hardcore punk veterans at least, namely, the one featuring guitarist/singer Greg Ginn, who has been in and out of courts with a lawsuit over the rights to the Black Flag name and logo against his former bandmates.
Ginn had sued ‘retired’ vocalist Henry Rollins, and the quartet of co-founder Keith Morris, bassist Chuck Dukowski, Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton, and drummer Bill Stevenson, for reuniting under the FLAG banner playing Black Flag material, with Ginn claiming that he and his label, SST Records, had exclusive rights to the Black Flag name and logo.
Despite a recent ruling that saw a judge denying Ginn’s preliminary injunction against his estranged bandmates over the creative trademarks, as Consequence Of Sound reports, Ginn’s Black Flag are going ahead with the release of the first new album since 1985’s In My Head.
The new record is called What The.., a 22-track collection that was recorded by Ginn’s lineup – of Ron Reyes, Gregory Moore, and Dave Klein – and includes previously released singles ‘Down In The Dirt’ and ‘The Chase’, as Brooklyn Vegan reports.
If that news wasn’t enough to upset the ongoing legal disputes between parties, the new release is more likely to rile up fans with its presentation as much as its tunes, specifically What The…’s cover art. It might accurately represent its title, but the What The… sleeve is clearly a contender for worst cover art of the year, if not ever.
Along with the Black Flag name and logo emblazoned in haphazard fashion, the sleeve looks like someone swallowed a whole decade’s worth of bad punk merchandise with Target’s line of ‘edgy’ kids clothing, then vomited it onto the feet of Matt Groening.
(Image: Black Flag – What The… album cover. Source: Brooklyn Vegan)
Unsurprisingly, the design is not the work of long-term Black Flag visual artist Raymond Pettibon, and may instead be a slight (unintended or not) towards the illustrator, whose distinctive style has long been associated with the Californian punk band.
A move that’s all the more pointed considering that Pettibon, who is also responsible for his memorable monochromatic covers for Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, OFF!, and Minutemen, is actually Gerg Ginn’s brother. Ouch.
Back in August, Ginn’s lawsuit against FLAG and Rollins called their use of the Black Flag name and logo as “a colorable imitation” that was “likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception among consumers;” words that take on new dimension of irony now.
Speaking about the twin versions of Black Flag in June, prior to the legal action, Henry Rollins remarked: “Some of my peers, for one reason or another, can’t seem to walk away when it’s obviously after the fact … It’s their lives, I’m very busy with mine. I’m not that dead yet and so that’s why I do not do the past, really… I don’t need to be 18 again.”
The punk vocalist-turned-author/columnist/touring speaker has since turned his back on music entirely, announcing he was officially quitting music earlier this year, claiming that “music used to compel me to play it,” but that he was no longer inspired to perform, tour, or write.
“As painful as it was to leave music, I had to be as reverent to it as when it was still putting fire into my veins, and so, as a respectful Samurai, I had to re-sheath the blade and walk away,” said Rollins at the time.
(Image: Rob Wallace. Source: IrisConcepts.net)
