OFF!

OFF!

They’re in it to win it

There are a number of people referred to as “the fifth Beatle,” but only time will tell if Raymond Pettibon will ever be popularly referred to the fifth member of Los Angeles punkers Off! This would seemingly depend on whether or not Off! gets famous, and therein lies the problem: Off! were famous before recording a single note.

Off! is Keith Morris (Circle Jerks/Black Flag), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Steven Shane McDonald (Redd Kross) and Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket From The Crypt). Some have used the “supergroup” descriptor when discussing them, but Coats is quick to shy away from that.

“I think we're a super group in that we're a group that's super, but yeah we downplay the baggage that comes with having to live up to a title like that,” he says. “The point is that no one cares what you are as long as you deliver. You can look great on paper but no one gives a damn unless the songs are good and you take heads off live.”

It’s Coats who suggests that Pettibon is the band’s “visual fifth member,” based upon the artist’s work on its debut release, First Four EPs. Pettibon, whose brother is Black Flag’s Greg Ginn, has been friends with Keith Morris for years and Coats says his “dark and damaged sense of humor [is] essential to whatever artwork we need.”

A quotable sort, Coats refers to Off! as “like Black Sabbath sped up,” as “the Guided By Voices of hardcore.” His throwback references befit the band, but more specifically its sound.

Off! plays punk rock the way punk rock used to be played. And despite the age and pedigree of its members, Coats insists the band doesn’t want a slot at the old-timer’s club. They’re aiming at the here and now. They’re in it to win it.

“We're inspired by the younger bands,” he explains. “The energy level is something we're all about. We made a conscious decision to play against Keith's strengths and aim for a younger demographic. We didn't want to be thought of as a throwback band that ends up on the old stage at the Warped Tour. We knew what we'd created was more vital than that and could appeal not only to those who were there but also those who only read about it. We're a new band that's tipping its hat to old ghosts.”

If Coats is taken at his word, therefore, Off! is as much about the future as it is the past. This is revealed in his answer when I ask him if punk’s dead.

“It isn't dead if a guy like Keith Morris still has more to say,” he replies. “You can't convince a guy who helped invent this stuff that the party is over. People will listen.”