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| Mike Vallely of Black Flag performs during a concert. Vallely is the lead singer for the hardcore punk band. PHOTO PROVIDED BY KAREN MANDALL |
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Black Flag with HOR and Cinema Cinema Be Here Now Tonight: Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m. Pre-sale ended at midnight Wednesday, $20 day of show For more information, visit click here. |
Black Flag, a hardcore punk band started in 1976, will perform tonight at Be Here Now.
Since the band’s beginnings, it has seen many musicians, including Henry Rollins in 1981. Currently, Black Flag is made up of founding member Greg Ginn on guitar and Mike Vallely as lead singer, Tyler Smith on bass and Brandon Pertzborn on drums.
The Daily News spoke to Vallely in a phone interview for the following Q&A.
Q: How has the whole process been for you to move from a managerial position in Black Flag into the role of lead singer?
A: Well, it’s kind of just, it’s been really easy because it totally makes sense to me. Obviously, it makes sense to Greg [Ginn, primary songwriter of Black Flag], and it’s sort of the natural evolution of a friendship, a creative working relationship and a business relationship. It’s been relatively easy and easygoing and a lot of fun. It’s really positive stuff.
Q: Black Flag has a mostly new lineup at this point. Do you feel like you guys are still being well received by your fans?
A: We’re being very well received by anyone coming out to see us play. People who have any kind of idea of what they think it’s supposed to be and are not coming to the shows for those reasons, well, what do we care about what they think?
We’re out playing the songs, we’re giving it all we’ve got every single night, and it’s definitely going over well and we’re having a lot of fun doing it. That’s the reality we’re living in.
Q: What are some things people should look forward to coming from you guys in the future?
A: We’re not really projecting anything into the future other than our commitments we have to play the shows we have booked.
Right now, it’s really just, come out, have a good time and get to hear all of the songs that you love from a band that you love. That’s kind of really where it’s at.
Our set list is a very heavy classic Black Flag set list — a lot of songs that are real important to people and that people love to hear, and that’s really it. It’s about the shows right now.
Q: What brought you guys to Muncie?
A: We just want to play. Promoters will contact us and say they would like to book us, and we usually take all of those conversations very seriously and try to accommodate anybody who is trying to have the band perform.
We don’t think of Muncie as “Why Muncie?” We think “Why not Muncie?” You know?
Q: Black Flag is such an iconic band, and there has been a lot of negative press in the last few years. How do you guys deal with that as a band?
A: You just ignore it. What is the motivation for the negative press? The motivation is generally people who think they know what’s best for Black Flag, what’s best for Greg Ginn. This negative press has existed since the band started. The entire time the band has existed, it was evolving musically. It was evolving with musicians. It was never a stagnant thing. It was never something you could put in a box and say, “Oh, Black Flag is this.”
Now people want to say, “Stay in a box.” But they want a band and an individual to stay in a box that were never in a box. I think that becomes the motivation for the negative press. People have their memories, and memories are attached to moments in time where this music resonated with them for whatever reason, but it’s not realistic to what was actually happening with the band musically.
The people who have remained fans and who have remained positive supporters of the band have always understood that the band was something that was evolving, expanding and moving and was a living thing. It wasn’t some dead thing. ... It was a living organism that breathes.
When people look back, that’s what they’re doing, they’re looking back on something that’s dead.
You just have to ignore that stuff. There’s no reality to it. It’s not something that anyone could bother to give any energy or time to. We’re out playing. We’re dealing with enthusiastic and positive people every night who are enjoying themselves. That’s our reality.
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