Off! – Off!
Off! – Off! CD (Vice Records) *
I could try to spin this review a hundred different ways, and spend the next half hour desperately trying to avoid the blatantly obvious to anyone and everyone fact that Off! sound like ‘Wasted’ era Black Flag jamming with the Circle Jerks circa ‘Group Sex’, but it’d be pointless. Why try to deny the obvious? Especially when it’s this GOOD. Seriously, every time I listen to this band I get the same shivers down my spine and goose bumps that I did the first time I heard Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, FEAR, DOA and D.I., and it’s like being transported back in time to the eighties, to that glorious decade when punk rock ruled the underground airwaves, and fuelled global rebellion and finally left it’s indelible stamp on the world of rock-n-roll. Keith Morris has returned to, and fully embraced his roots, and with a like minded bunch of old school HC warriors has crafted an album full of anger, energy, passion and incredible songs that hurtles along and doesn’t let up for a single second. I wish there was some way that I could explain exactly how good this album is, but it’s left me speechless, dumbfounded and completely and utterly at a loss for words. Off! have bottled punk rock lightning and are offering it to the masses, so make sure you’re at the head of the line and don’t miss the magic… Tim Mass Movement
After the (what seems) long wait following the brilliant ‘First Four E.P.s’ Off! deliver their self titled full length CD. 16 songs of hardcore / punk / skater rock powerfully rammed in your face via the vocal screams of legendary frontman Keith Morris. As ever Keith spits the truth, not mincing his words, not giving a fuck, ranting about what’s on his mind. Keith Morris is punk as fuck and pissed off! You’ve got the Circle Jerks melody and punk attitude here, mixed up with the legendary Black Flag whiney guitar, and overall aggression. 16 songs in 17 minutes leaves no time to fuck around and there are certainly no fillers. All the songs are guided (and focus around) Keith Morris’s voice, the sound that made the Circle Jerks so exciting. This CD is already one of my favorite releases this year! Mark Freebase
Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Burning Bridges, Redd Kross & Rocket From The Crypt. All these bands you all should know if you’re into the U.S Hardcore scene, mix all of them together in to one big pot & you get the band OFF! I remember Keith Morris from his Circle Jerks days, they supported Broken Bones in New York at the Rock Hotel on New Years Eve in (I think) 1985 and he’d not long broke his back falling off a wall. When I downloaded the songs I noticed that they were very short, all lasting around 1 minute and a total of around 16 minutes. First impressions were that they sounded very early U.S hardcore and it was like a demo on a cassette tape. Bands that I could compare it to is MDC, early Black Flag & the first E.P by Rudimentary Peni (which was a 7” single with 10 short songs). On the second listen, I felt like I’d been cheated with such a short album but started to get to know the songs better. By the 3, 4 & lots more listens I really liked the simplicity of the songs & it took me back to my younger days trying to find all the American hardcore bands that I could find and buying them. From the opening song “Wiped Out” it never lets up, screeching guitars, pounding drums & Mr Morris’s distinctive vocals. The songs are mostly 3 chord wonders and classic 12 bar punk rock chords but I’ve always said that the simple songs sound the best. Every one of them very short, very sharp intros then in with the singing, excellent!! How easy is that? I love this short album (how many times can I say the word short?) and hope that they’re in the process of writing a follow up because I/the country/the world needs more OFF! Paul Hoddy
To say that the world changed forever in October 1978 when Black Flag – then fronted by Circle Jerks vocalist Keith Morris – released the deliriously brilliant ‘Nervous Breakdown’ EP would be a disgraceful understatement to anyone with more than a passing interest in punk rock. With the release of its first full-length album in May 2012, OFF! – also fronted by Keith Morris, and further comprised of Burning Brides guitarist Dimitri Coats, Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald, and Rocket From The Crypt drummer Mario Rubalcaba – that classic 5 minutes and 13 seconds of fury seems partially reborn as this 15 minutes and 52 seconds of, well, fury. Coats’ riffs and guitar tone owe more than a nod to Greg Ginn and his production captures the vibe of those early days of LA punk perfectly, while Morris inserts a winking tribute to the Chuck Dukowski era Black Flag song ‘You Bet We’ve Got Something Personal Against You!’ on ‘I Got News For You’. Further, every second of this entire blur of an album from OFF! feels as supercharged with genre-defining explosivity as Black Flag’s debut. Every question about how OFF! would fare in the modern age has been answered with authority since the punk rock ‘supergroup’ burst onto the scene in 2010, with four blistering EPs and a hectic touring schedule which saw the band proving night after night – and sometimes during the day, such as when I was fortunate enough to witness them absolutely own SXSW 2010 with the most energetic and on-point set of that year’s entire event, bar none – that they can deliver the goods not just as well as but absolutely better than the best of the young and brash bands operating under the banner of punk rock today. ‘OFF!’, the record, likewise sounds simultaneously like a newly discovered gem from 1978 and the best punk record of the past decade at the same time. Listening to ‘I Need One (I Want One)’ triggers my brain to start running ‘Fix Me’ on its internal jukebox during moments of silence for hours afterward. Playing ‘King Kong Brigade’ loudly enough to escape the confines of my headphones allows me to enjoy a private row of seats on the city bus, scaring away all who come near. Blasting ‘Jet Black Girls’… well, that’s just pure obnoxious fun. What a song! What an album. It’s no wonder I’ve already listened to ‘OFF!’ enough times to know every word, every riff, every bass line, and every drum fill – it’s a short, satisfying thrill-ride of infectious energy that leaves me with no other option than to hit ‘repeat’ after it finishes, again and again and again. The Impaler @impalerspeaks
Do you ever get the feeling that hardcore has lost some of the vibrancy it had in the 80s? The energy? The passion? Looks like Keith Morris and his compadres feel the same. Following on from the First Four EPs, this is short, snappy hardcore with obvious comparisons to Black Flag and of course Circle Jerks; Morris’s snotty delivery being one of the most unmistakable voices in rock. With the longest track of the 16 clocking in at just over a minute and a half, this is lean, fat free hardcore. For those who struggle to feel any affinity with the metal-core/tough guy hardcore of the 90s and 2000’s, OFF! are a breath of fresh air and a reminder of the reason why many of us got into hardcore in the first place. Ian Pickens
* Okay, here’s the deal. When this record came through, we couldn’t decide who was going to review it, so I figured everyone involved in the review, uh, “discussions” should get the chance to review, hence the multiple reviews. I mean, c’mon, it’s Off!…
