While London was piling up the punk rock bricks in the late 70’s and the Ramones were on the east coast, contributing to the invention of the 1 minute punk rock song, the members of OFF! were part of the SoCal music underground making history on their own island, emerging from such iconoclastic bands as Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Rocket From The Crypt. No, OFF! is not some lame-ass ‘super group’ that relies on their past exploits, they’re four guys who have been bringing punk rock fans to a frenzy for over three decades, and together through this band, are ready to keep the insanity going.
We’re talking Keith Morris from Black Flag and Circle Jerks, Dimitri Coats from Burning Brides, Steven McDonald from Redd Kross, and Mario Rubalcaba, previously in Hot Snakes, Earthless, and an act that is still in my top three performances of the annual Van’s Warped Tour, Rocket From The Crypt (and yes, I still have the now ratty T-shirt and the sight of shiny aluminum-esque suits branded in my brain).
McDonald, part of a group interview that took place at NXNE in Toronto last June, puts it this way, “The other options, what was going on in mainstream music at the time, it was like wood-paneled-kinda-laid-back-Jackson-Brown kind of vibe, which was very uninspiring to young people that really had some aggression and needed to, ya know, scream.”
In 2010 OFF! came together and kicked things, um, off, with a 7″ E.P., that parlayed into three more E.P.s that led to the First Four EPs vinyl box set and CD compilation. In 2012 the guys thought it was time for a full-length, releasing the self-titled debut on Vice Records, produced by Coats at the Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles.
Buy the new album at:
iTunes http://bit.ly/IA1UPS
US LP/CD (Insound) http://amzn.to/HADtOX
As with the songs on the previous E.P.s, OFF! doesn’t bullshit around, getting forceful messages across in less than, or sometimes just a tad more than 60 seconds.
It may be easy to assume that the lyrics to “I’ve Got News For You,” which go like this, “You think you’re a king of the scene that you created / I’ve got news for you,” applies to some kind of band vs. band rant, but the guys are way beyond that. Turn on the news, take a quick look at the world outside and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to scream “I’ve Got New For You” at the “kings” on the screen.
And with that, OFF! points a flood light onto the flaws in our society, political ‘landscape’ and overreach, bringing personal experiences that can expand into insight, frustration and anger we can all relate to on a daily basis.
It is, at it’s core, the foundation from where punk was built. Defiance. Frustration. And yes, SCREAMING. The next extension of that experience comes in the form of taking all that energy to the stage. Having toured in support of the album’s release in 2012, including international dates, OFF! hits up the west coast in February, which includes a jaunt over to the Midwest to play Denver, February 17 at the Marquis Theatre.
Kaffeine Buzz has tickets to give away to see OFF! at the Marquis with Negative Approach and Bad Antics!
To enter for a chance to win, simply email us at contests@kaffeinebuzz.com and enter in the subject line: “Get me OFF!”
Other ways to enter:
- Click to Tweet this: @KaffeineBuzz – Get me OFF! for Free at the Marquis! @offofficial @SodaJerkCO
- Visit our Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/kaffeinebuzzmag and add your Comment to our OFF! Facebook post.
OFF! Tour Dates:
Feb 7 – Epicentre – San Diego, CA
Feb 8 – The Fonda Theatre – Hollywood, CA
Feb 9 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
Feb 11 – Branx – Portland, OR
Feb 12 – Fortune Sound Club – Vancouver, Canada
Feb 13 – Chop Suey Seattle, WA
Feb 15 – The Venue – Boise, ID
Feb 16 – Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT
Feb 17 – The Marquis Theatre – Denver, CO
