Black Flag: Family Man & The Process of Weeding Out

Trevor MacLaren

Trevor's life long obsession with music has led to jazz at 3AM and room full of worn out vinyl

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Published: February 1, 2006

Both works should have been released as a combined effort, since they feature the same trio and explore similar directions. Led either by Roessler's pulsating bass—which would later flesh out Dos with one-time husband and Minutemen/fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt—or Ginn's guitar, the music sounded unlike anything else before, then or since. Using a loose time signature, the pieces build around Ginn's speedy playing and atonal rants, which sculpt sound into a body of free ear-splitting work. Ginn's playing has been compared to Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy, not only by Rollins, but also by critics. Certainly no jazz critic would make the same assumption. Ginn is a master of free improv and these releases show his prowess as a would-be jazz player, but there is no way in hell that his sound or technique could even come close to Coleman or Dolphy. Ginn is not working in the same medium, nor is he trying to assume the same soul or spiritual heights that either of the aforementioned players aimed for.

Still the music is visionary and married jazz to a more primal medium, while Kenny G was boring jazz to new lows in the pop world. The distorted guitars and atonal feedback of players like Sonny Sharrock and James Blood Ulmer reign supreme in a sludgy Black Sabbath riff. In fact, if Ginn could be compared to anyone, it would be these two players. Though his style and technique isn't as advanced as theirs, his speed-driven playing and noisy rants on the guitar were certainly something they shared in common.

When Ginn broke up Black Flag, he devoted a band to this sound, known as Gone, and released a companion piece to these two records, Let's Get Real, Real Gone For A Change. Henry Rollins would not only prolifically write more "poetry," he formed the great Rollins Band, adding jazz/funk bassist Melvin Gibbs and free jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle at one point—check out 2004's Weighting, a collection of previously unreleased and rare work from 1994's Weight, to hear Gayle cutting loose.

Black Flag was not the only band that was exploring jazz at this time. NY no-waver James Chance was putting put out some exciting and innovative material as well. Another personal favorite who would also explore jazz through punk was a group known as The Minutemen. Their 44-song opus Double Nickels on the Dime (released on Ginn's SST label) features Mike Watts' brilliant jazz-influenced bass, along with odd time signatures, not to mention a cover of Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu." This is an absolute must for fans of punk, alternative music and experimental jazz.

Though not for all tastes, walking into the world of punk-fused jazz can be scary. Some bands, like Television, are more laid-back, lacking distortion and favoring pop hooks, while others, like Black Flag, rage with atonal fury. But for those who seek a real adventure and think that Last Exit was perhaps too extreme, Black Flag's Family Man and The Process of Weeding Out are choice lost gems.

Suggested Spins:
Albert Ayler, Spiritual Unity, ESP 1964
Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, Trout Mask Replica, Reprise 1969
Gone, Lets Get Real, Real Gone For A Change, SST 1986
Mothers of Invention, We're Only in it For The Money, Verve 1968
Naked City, Naked City, Elektra/Nonesuch 1989
The Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime, SST 1984
The Rollins Band, Weighting, 2.13.61 2004
Sonny Sharrock, Ask The Ages, Axiom 1991
Television, Marquee Moon, Elektra 1977
James Blood Ulmer, The Tales of Captain Black, DIW 1978
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground and Nico, Verve 1967
Tom Verlaine, Tom Verlaine, Elektra 1979