Off! That Outsider Feeling

Black Flag's Keith Morris and iconic artist Raymond Pettibon reignite the DIY punk fuse

Comments (0) By John Albert Thursday, Apr 29 2010

Later on the phone, Off! bassist McDonald recounts how he was initially approached by Morris at a local club. He says it wasn't until he actually heard the songs that he began to get seriously excited. "Keith gave me this CD of just Dimitri wailing on the guitar," McDonald says. "And I sat in my car listening to it and just thought, Fuck, yeah! It was definitely in the spirit of the early Black Flag. And that kind of makes perfect sense because my band started as sort of underlings of Black Flag."

When asked how the project seems to have somehow avoided the sense of nostalgia that can plague such endeavors, McDonald says, "Keith is still as pissed off as he was back then. And there's a vitality about that. He's also really good at expressing that outsider feeling. He hasn't lost that at all."

COURTESY REGEN PROJECTS, LOS ANGELES

Raymond Pettibon, no title (So You Want)

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Earlier in the day, Morris and I are standing in the restaurant parking lot after lunch, watching as Pettibon drives off. Morris is bouncing up and down with excitement, still the kinetic, young singer who stepped up to the mic in that Army jacket all those years ago.

"Did you see how happy Raymond is, how excited he is?" Morris asks. "Man, we've been calling back and forth and talking all the time. I think he's so excited because this takes him back to something that really means something."