When two different Black Flag iterations each announced their intention to tour this year—one as Black Flag, one as FLAG—smart punks knew to expect some sort of friction between them. And that anticipation has paid off, as the bands have finally started firing verbal shots at each other.
Yesterday, Black Flag (Greg Ginn, Ron Reyes, and Gregory Moore) released a new single, “Down In The Dirt,” the first from a new LP due out sometime this summer on SST. In the press release, Black Flag calls out FLAG (Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Bill Stevenson, and Stephen Egerton), deeming it a “fake” band “covering the songs of Black Flag in an embarrassingly weak ‘mailing it in’ fashion.” (Black Flag Burn!) And meanwhile, Henry Rollins remains at home, waiting for the red phone of justice to ring and looking at his tattoos.
Provided this doesn't escalate further, both versions of Black Flag/FLAG are still touring this summer. Dates for Black Flag are below, and dates for FLAG are available on the band’s page.
Black Flag tour 2013
May 14—Rockhat Club—Luxembourg, Luxembourg
May 15—Alcatraz—Milan, Italy
May 16—Dynamo—Zurich, Switzerland
May 17—The Orion—Rome, Italy
May 18—Ruhrpott Rodeo—Hunxe, Germany
May 20—Arena Wien—Vienna, Austria
May 23—Infest—Austin, Texas
May 24—Trees—Dallas, Texas
May 25—The Korova—San Antonio, Texas
June 6—Granada Theatre—Lawrence, Kansas
June 7—Wooly’s—Des Moines, Iowa
June 8-9—Reggie’s Rock Club—Chicago, Illinois
June 10—Majestic Theatre—Detroit, Michigan
June 14-15—Warsaw—Brooklyn, New York
June 17—Union Transfer—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 19—Buster’s—Lexington, Kentucky
June 20—Southgate House—Newport, Kentucky
June 21—Fubar—St. Louis, Missouri
July 10—Tricky Falls—El Paso, Texas
July 11—Club Red—Tempe, Arizona
July 12-13—The Observatory—Santa Ana, California
July 14—Vex Arts—Los Angeles, California
July 16—Catalyst—Santa Cruz, California
July 18—Hawthorne Theatre—Portland, Oregon
July 19—EL Corazon—Seattle, Washington
July 20—TBA—Vancouver, British Columbia
July 23—Oakland Metro Operahouse—Oakland, California
July 24—Majestic Ventura Theatre—Ventura, California
Aug. 3—Resurrection Fest—Viveiro, Spain
Aug. 4—Hevy Fest—Kent, United Kingdom
Aug. 9—Ieperfest—Ieper, Belgium
Aug. 10—Melkweg—Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug. 31—Muddy Roots Music Festival—Cookeville, Tennessee