OFF!

OFF!
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, USA
Genres	Hardcore Punk
Years active	2009 - Present
Labels	VICE, Fat Possum Records
Associated acts	Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Burning Brides, Legend of The Seagullmen, Redd Kross, Metroschifter, Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Thundercat, Esperanza Spalding, Nirvana, Fecal Matter, Altamont, Earthless, Melvins, Shrinebuilder, FLAG
Website	OFF! Official
Current members	Keith Morris Dimitri Coats Autry Fulbright II Justin Brown
Past members	Steven McDonald Mario Rubalcaba Dale Crover
Band Logo

OFF! are a hardcore punk supergroup based out of Los Angeles, California. Forming in late 2009 following a proposed Circle Jerks reunion that didn't go through, OFF! features Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) and Mario Rubalcaba (Hot Snakes, Rocket From The Crypt, Metroschifter, Earthless). Notably Dale Crover (Melvins) has also filled in as a touring drummer on and off from 2014 - 2018. Raymond Pettibon, known for his artwork with Black Flag, has contributed artwork to several of the band's releases.

Gaining significant buzz and critical acclaim with their debut album First Four EPs, the band would tour North America and Europe, releasing two more albums and 7" Singles in quick succession. To date the band has four studio albums released to date.

History

Formation and First Four EPs (2009 - 2011)

OFF! was formed in Los Angeles, California in late 2009 by Circle Jerks/Black Flag singer Keith Morris, Burning Brides frontman Dimitri Coats, Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald, and Rocket From The Crypt/Hot Snakes/Earthless drummer Mario Rubalcaba. The idea to form the band came after Coats had worked as producer on a Circle Jerks album which fell apart. During that time, Coats and Morris had written several songs together which they used to start this new band. Notably the band would be performing all new material and no songs by either The Circle Jerks or Black Flag.

The group made its live debut at the 2010 South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Off!'s first Los Angeles show featured an original art installation by Raymond Pettibon at a downtown warehouse space. Notably in 2010 OFF! would play sporadic shows, notably at FYF Fest, FunFunFun Fest, Amoeba Records and Generation Records, the latter recorded for a live 7".

In an interview with PunkNews, frontman Keith Morris explains how OFF! had formed:

“	"Well, Dimitri Coates, who is in Off! and is also a producer, came to me and said "it's time for the Circle Jerks to record a new album." We decided that we were gonna record a punk record. We were only gonna spend a weekend in the studio recording and then we might spend another couple of days mixing the songs. We were not gonna play around, not use a lot of over dubs. The vibe was that we were gonna go back to Group Sex. Just trim it all down. No guitar solos. No quadrupling the guitars. No backing vocals. Just 18 songs in 20 minutes. I mean, I was foaming at the mouth- I hadn't been this excited in 14 years. Dimitri said, "look guys, bring your stuff to the rehearsal space," but he was pretty much shooting down most of the new Circle Jerks material. I don't blame him, because I would have shot down most of the material myself. Well, Greg Hetson, says, "fellas, I’m getting ready to leave for Warped Tour to tour with Bad Religion, and we have to record the album before I leave." We set a deadline and Dimitri starts getting a little bit panicky. He says, "Hey guys, we don't have that much time and we don't have that many songs. But, we have to record in two months. The songs that you are submitting aren't good enough for a Circle Jerks album." He wasn't mincing words and not being polite. He wasn't being the sympathetic producer. To get everything put together, Dimitri put out the word and said, "we are gonna meet in Keith's living room." No one showed up. So me, Dimitri and Greg wrote four or five songs together. But, really, Dimitri and I end up writing the bulk. Whether it took us 4 hours or 12 hours, Dimitri and I were writing a song a day. Two weeks before recording time, everyone starts panicking. People start hemming and hawing and get flaky about things. They are like, "We don't know if we want to work with Dimitri, he's not punk rock." All of these other excuses come up like, "He's arrogant, overbearing, egotistical." But, don't the last three adjective describe band members in the Circle Jerks? Finally, the rest of the band decides to fire Dimitri. But Dimitri and I wrote the bulk of the album. If you fire one of the guys who writes the bulk of the album, it means you might be plotting a swoop of his material. That's just not cool. Greg Hetson calls me up and says, "I know you're gonna quit the band on the decision we're making, but we have to make it." So, I said to Greg, "You are 100% correct. I quit!" Well, after that, I decided that "I started the Circle Jerks, so why do I need them? I'll start a new band!" The Circle Jerks schedule is based on The Bad Religion schedule anyway. [On Mario Joining] I saw Mario play with Earthless and on the last Rocket From The Crypt. I put out the word with a couple of my friends that I wanted to talk with Mario. Mario came to town and played with Earthless… I was planning to go see Earthless, but I couldn't go, so Mario calls me a couple days later. Mario said he would drive up from San Diego to be part of the band. That's how much mutual respect we have for each other. [On Steven Joining] Steven McDonald called me and was asked to do some vocals on the new Turbonegro album, and I said, "Hell yeah, I love TurboNegro!" So I worked with Steven, who was also in Redd Kross. Later on, I'm partying back stage after a Jay Reatard show and talking to the guys in that band. Steven McDonald is there. I said "Stephen, I'm getting ready to get a band together." Stephen is kind of ho hum, but he perked up cause he had heard the Burning Brides a couple times. He didn't know who Mario was, but the two guys that were hanging out with him were doing mental back flips. They said "Stephen you've got to pay in this band!" Stephen said "Get me some music." After I gave him three songs, he called me back the next day and asked me "when are we rehearsing?"	”
	— Keith Morris, PunkNews

Recording songs in the Spring, the first release by OFF! is a 7" vinyl EP called 1st EP, which debuted on 13 October 2010. That EP, along with three more EPs, would comprise the band's debut album, First Four EPs. First Four EPs would be released circa 14 December 2010 on CD, Cassette and as a four 7" box set, all of which featuring artwork by Raymond Pettibon. Music videos for all four songs of the first EP would be composed to further promote the band. First Four EPs would attain critical acclaim from several publications from the likes of Pitchfork (8.5/10), and Punknews (4.5/5) to name a few, many critics citing the album as a fresh breath of air in the hardcore punk genre.

OFF! would tour extensively throughout 2011 to support First Four EPs, beginning with short tours surrounding marquee appearances at SXSW, Coachella and NXNE among a string of dates with Henry Rolling and Dinosaur Jr. The band would tour Europe and Australia for the first time to further support the record. A Record Store Day exclusive 7" entitled Live at Generation Records would be released in the Spring while Southern Lord Records would release a 7" single in Compared To What on 3 May 2011.

Self-Titled Album (2012 - 2013)

With enough material written for a new album, OFF! would record at Kingsize Soundlabs from 16 - 18 February 2012. The eponymous OFF! would see release on 8 May 2012 to critical acclaim, followed by extensive touring with the likes of Trash Talk, Refused, Negative Approach and Power Trip among marquee appearances at SXSW, FunFunFun Fest and The Power of The Riff. Several videos were filmed to promote the album, two of which featuring actor Jack Black.

Notably OFF! would tour Australia in early 2013 as part of Big Day Out, along with several dates supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers to some backlash, to which Morris would clarify in an interview that "I’ve known Anthony since the beginning of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anthony and Flea are my friends and if I want to go out and play shows with some of my friends, I’m going to. I’ve been playing music for over 33 years, and I have some friends that are in extremely large bands. We could go out night after night and play to people who know who we are, and that’s all fan-fucking-tastic, but part of our job is to take it up a couple of notches. Those people may hate us, but maybe they’ll love us. There’s only one way to find out and that’s to do it." Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has been one of Morris' friends for over 30 years (Morris at one point in the '80s filled in for Kiedis, who was off scoring drugs and missed his band's show) and is a huge fan and supporter of Off!. At every date on the Chili Peppers I'm with You World Tour, Kiedis has worn an Off! hat to promote the band. He has also sported the hat in some of the band's music videos.

A West Coast tour following Big Day Out would be planned that February with Negative Approach but would be canceled when Keith Morris would slip into a diabetic coma. The band however would eventually bounce back for their first tour of South America later that year. Work would begin on a third studio album.

Wasted Years (2014 - 2018)

Recording would begin on a third studio album between December 2013 and January 2014. The band recorded 19 songs at their rehearsal space to analog tape, leaving three off of the album. Two of the songs would make up an exclusive Record Store Day 7" in Learn To Obey. The first song from this album, "Void You Out", was premiered by Rolling Stone on 22 January 2014. A video for "Hypnotized" would also be released, starring David Yow (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard). Premiering on The Billboard #67, Wasted Years would see release on 8 April 2014 to generally positive reviews, attaining a 74/100 score on Metacritic.

To support Wasted Years OFF! would tour North America, followed by marquee appearances at Punk Rock Bowling, Burger Boogaloo and the band's first shows in Japan and Mexico. The band would notably tour that August with Dale Crover (Melvins) filling in on drums. Crover would state that the time spent with the band would lead to Steven McDonald joining The Melvins in 2016 and in turn, Crover joining Redd Kross in 2018.

OFF! would tour in 2015 alongside Bad Religion, followed by an extensive European tour to further support Wasted Years. The band performed more sporadic shows over the next few years as the respective members of the band remained busy with other projects, along with Keith Morris releasing a memoir in 2016.

New Lineup and Free LSD (2019 - Present)

On 1 April 2019 OFF! would announce for an April Fools Day gag that Keith Morris was now the President of Kickstarter. The same day a proper announcement would come for Watermelon, a sci-fi rockumentary depicting the band's breakup and reformation as time-traveling, crime-fighting superheroes with the band's fourth album serving as the soundtrack. The band would announce that the film and album would be funded through Kickstarter, with a $175,000 goal featuring bonuses such as exclusive Raymond Pettibon prints and a concert filming in Los Angeles as part of the film's production, planned for 2020. However the crowdfunding campaign would only reach roughly $151,000, falling short of the crowdfunded goal.

Despite the unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign, OFF! would still write for the new album, stating that roughly 25 songs had been written, several of which over three minutes long. OFF! would notably perform at several festivals in 2019 such as Camp Anarchy, Gnarlytown, VANS 25th Anniversary, 77 Montreal, This Is Hardcore and Muddy Roots Music Festival. Notably a Circle Jerks reunion would be announced and initially set for 2020, with that band performing all of their debut album Group Sex in line with the iconic album's 40th anniversary. However due to the CO-VID19 Pandemic, these reunion dates would be postponed to 2022.

In June of 2021 it would be announced that the band has a new rhythm section and plans to record the fourth studio album in July 2021, along with the Watermelon movie during the Circle Jerks tour. On 7 July 2021 OFF! would unveil their cover of "Holier Than Thou" by Metallica for the 53-band tribute album The Metallica Blacklist, along with a music video for the song starring David Yow. Along with this news the band would reveal a new rhythm section in bassist Autry Fulbright II (ex-...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead) and drummer Justin Brown (sideman for Thundercat, Esperanza Spalding). Lastly, the band would also sign with Fat Possum Records to re-issue their back catalog, along with continuing work on the fourth album and feature film.

In an interview with Stereogum, Keith Morris would explain the depatures of both Rubalcaba and McDonald, stating that Rubalcaba refused to participate in the Free LSD film and ultimately quit while McDonald was fired due to friction between him and Dimitri Coats.

On 27 July 2022 OFF! would announce their fourth album Free LSD, with a 30 September release via Fat Possum Records. The band would unveil a music video to promote the album in "War Above Los Angeles" and announce a tour of North America to support it. Further touring would take place in 2023 along with a new EP entitled FLSD EP released on Record Store Day.

Discography

Studio Albums

• First Four EPs (2010, VICE)
• OFF! (2012, VICE)
• Wasted Years (2014, VICE)
• Free LSD (2022, Fat Possum Records)

Live Releases

• Live at Generation Records (7" EP) (2011, VICE)
• Live at 9:30 Club (12" LP) (2013, Outer Battery Records)
• Live From The BBC (10" EP) (2015, VICE)

Other Releases

• First EP (7" EP) (2010, VICE)
• Compared To What? (7" Single) (2011, Southern Lord Records)
• Sugar Daddy Live Split Series Vol. 3 (Split 12" with Melvins) (2012, Amphetamine Reptile Records)
• Learn To Obey (7" Single) (2014, VICE)
• High Desert Overdose (Split 10" with Melvins, Redd Kross) (2016, Amphetamine Reptile Records)
• FLSD EP (EP) (2023, Fat Possum Records)

Members

Current Members

• Keith Morris - Vocals (2009 - Present)
• Dimitri Coats - Guitars (2009 - Present)
• Autry Fulbright II - Bass (2021 - Present)
• Justin Brown - Drums (2021 - Present)

Past Members

• Steven McDonald - Bass (2009 - 2021)
• Mario Rubalcaba - Drums (2009 - 2021)
• Dale Crover - Drums (2014 - 2021)

List of Known Tours

• First Four EPs North American Tour (2010)
• 2011 SXSW Tour (With Trash Talk) (2011)
• 2011 Coachella Mini-Tour (With Culture Kids) (2011)
• 2011 NXNE Tour (With Black Lungs) (2011)
• Bug 2011 North American Tour (With Dinosaur Jr., Henry Rollins) (2011)
• First Four EPs European Tour (Select dates with Trash Talk, Fucked Up) (2011)
• Fall 2011 North American Tour (With Cerebral Ballzy, Retox) (2011)
• First Four EPs Australian Tour (2011)
• OFF! Spring North American Tour (2012)
• OFF! European Tour (With Trash Talk) (2012)
• OFF! July North American Tour (With Refused) (2012)
• OFF! September North American Tour (With Negative Approach, Power Trip) (2012)
• OFF! October North American Tour (With Double Negative, The Spits) (2012)
• 2013 Australian Tour (With Red Hot Chili Peppers) (2013)
• 2013 Winter North American Tour (With Negative Approach; Canceled) (2013)
• 2013 South American Tour (2013)
• Wasted Years North American Tour (With Cerebral Ballzy, NASA Space Universe) (2014)
• June 2014 Shows (2014)
• Wasted Years August Tour (With Bad Antics) (2014)
• Wasted Years European Tour (With Cerebral Ballzy) (2014)
• 2015 North American Tour (With Bad Religion) (2015)
• 2015 European Tour (2015)
• November 2016 Mini-Tour (2016)
• High Desert Overdose (With Melvins, Redd Kross) (2016)
• 2018 California Shows (With Toxic Holocaust, Haunt, Municipal Waste) (2018)
• 2019 Festival Shows (2019)
• Free LSD Spain/North American Tour (2022)
• Free LSD European Tour (2023)
• Free LSD North American Tour (2023)

External Links

• OFF! Facebook
• OFF! Instagram
• OFF! YouTube