TELL YOUR BOSS YOU’RE TAKING ONE MINUTE OFF!

So many great frontmen either rest on their laurels or otherwise spiral downwards, and to a certain extent we excuse this state of affairs and even come to accept it. None of us ever really expect Ozzy Osbourne to truly impress us ever again. We might be entertained by his latest record, or even catch a fleeting glimpse of what endeared us to him, but we aren’t expecting a Johnny Cash styled career reboot from the guy. Not only are his best days behind him, but his second-best are as well.

On that same point, Keith Morris doesn’t need to make good music anymore. His hallowed name has already been recorded in the hardcore history books thanks to his founding roles in Black Flag and Circle Jerks. Yet his latest project, the simply and provocatively monikered OFF!, is causing quite a stir as a remarkably authentic continuation of the work Morris began roughly three decades ago. Bolstered by veterans of Redd Kross and Rocket From The Crypt/Hot Snakes axis, OFF! slip the punk back in hardcore, bridging a divide that has exponentially widened since the 1980s. The above clip is for “Darkness”, a spittle-flecked, fast-n-furious track off the SST-referencing 1st EP 7″ — featuring sleeve art from Raymond “I-Designed-Every-Fucking-Black-Flag-Record” Pettibon — out as of today on Vice Records. I get chills hearing Morris bark with the same dead-on intensity he had back in the Nervous Breakdown days.

Take a minute — well, 59 seconds, to be exact — and watch the video if you have any love for classic hardcore. U.S. tourdates are below.

Oct 13 – Amoeba Records instore – Hollywood, CA
Oct 13 – Club Lingerie – Hollywood, CA
Oct 21 – Club Europa – Brooklyn, New York
Oct 22 – Generation Records instore – New York City, New York
Nov 7 – Fun Fun Fun Fest (Waterloo Park) – Austin, TX

-GS