BLACK FAG do limp wristed Black Flag cover versions, not only a classy idea, sounds pretty good too!. They were however cheeky enough to split my '3' questions into parts A, B & C on occasion but we can forgive them i suppose....
1: So (most of) you obviously love the cock and love black flag, so it makes sense to blend the two, but why no 'queered up' lyrics? the songs you've posted are just straight covers, what gives?
The whole point of the band is that Black Flag's lyrics were as queer as a 3 dollar bill to begin with! If you sing the same lyrics with a lisp and a sassy attitude, they take on a whole new dimension. "Nervous Breakdown"? "Jealous Again"? Does it get much bitchier than that...? In fairness, we do change up the lyrics on occasion just to spice things up. "TV Party" has a whole new list of TV shows during the chorus..."I Don't Care" includes the line "I Don't Care / If your parents still think you're straight"...and "My War" becomes a song about fashion design entitled "My Wardrobe". It's not about cock. It's about ATTITUDE!
1a.) Theres a wealth of cover bands around so why become one? why not just do your own band?
"Straight" cover bands are pretty pointless, but we're doing a parody and trying to put our own twist on the music, so we figured it would be worth the time and effort it has required. So far people seem to appreciate it overall! Everyone in the band has other musical projects that they're working on, Black Fag is just for fun.
The whole point of the band is that Black Flag's lyrics were as queer as a 3 dollar bill to begin with! If you sing the same lyrics with a lisp and a sassy attitude, they take on a whole new dimension. "Nervous Breakdown"? "Jealous Again"? Does it get much bitchier than that...? In fairness, we do change up the lyrics on occasion just to spice things up. "TV Party" has a whole new list of TV shows during the chorus..."I Don't Care" includes the line "I Don't Care / If your parents still think you're straight"...and "My War" becomes a song about fashion design entitled "My Wardrobe". It's not about cock. It's about ATTITUDE!
1a.) Theres a wealth of cover bands around so why become one? why not just do your own band?
"Straight" cover bands are pretty pointless, but we're doing a parody and trying to put our own twist on the music, so we figured it would be worth the time and effort it has required. So far people seem to appreciate it overall! Everyone in the band has other musical projects that they're working on, Black Fag is just for fun.
1b.) the reviews ive read on your blog all love the cd, but is it not gonna wear thin after a while?
When the joke wears thin we'll stop playing, but so far we've found ways to keep up the interest. No two shows are ever the same, we always change our song order or plan out some little skit or do something to keep people coming back and to prevent ourselves from getting bored.
1c.) are you gonna cover the entire black flag catalogue?
Probably not. We're huge Flag fans, but truth be told they DID write one or two really shitty songs... We have 17 songs in our repetoire, only 10 of which are on our CD (available through interpunk.com!!). We will probably learn a few more and if someone puts up the dough maybe we'll release them!
2: We know that TSOL are fans!, but what about any of the original black flag? you met any of them? or Rollins, he's a pretty macho kinda guy, reckon he'd be a fan? you had any feedback from any of those old fucks?Keith Morris is the only member who's responded to us directly. He said our CD was "awesome/hilarious!" (again: available at interpunk.com!) We also got a compliment out of Raymond Pettibon, who did all of the artwork for Black Flag. Our drummer handed Rollins a CD, but we never heard anything back from him. I get the feeling that if he listened to it on the right day he'd love it and if he listened to it on the wrong day he'd hate it. I don't know what day he got the CD... We've had some great feedback from other old schoolers and punk personalities, though. Adam Stern from Youth Brigade once told me drunkenly that he was going to call in to Henry Rollins' radio show and tell him that we blow the real Black Flag away!
2a.) I read your gonna give 10% of any money made to gay charities? thats pretty cool, how much you given away so far?
Zero, unfortunately. We haven't made a profit off the record yet, so there's nothing to donate. But we're really close! If we sell another 10 or 20 CDs we'll have broken even and soon after that we'll make out our first check. People can buy the CDs at our shows or, if I haven't mentioned it, through interpunk.com!
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3: It must be kinda hard to try and be original when your a cover band and you must've played with a fair few other tribute bands? who do you rate? i was looking through your top friends and hardly any of them have any songs up, you can tell us, is it cos theyre all shite?Our favorite tribute band to play with is the Bitchfits because they're the most fun. One band that I would love to play with is Black Flab, the all-fat Black Flag cover band, but they live all the way up in Canada, so I don't know if it will ever happen. I can't say for sure why other bands don't put up songs, but it's probably because recording is a chore and being in a cover band is supposed to be fun, so why deal with the hassle?Thanks for the interview and tell everyone to catch us on our EUROPEAN TOUR this December!!! Dates and info on our website. Live proud and RISE ABOVE!
Many thanks to Liberace Morris for the replies, you really ought to check them out at:
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