No OFF! switch

Hardcore revivalists OFF! are supposed to be on hiatus right now, but the band has unexpectedly switched ON! ahead of schedule.

“We’re supposed to be on a year-long hiatus and we are, maybe, seven months into the hiatus,” OFF! singer Keith Morris explains. “But, we’ve been playing shows. We’ve been dealing with each other. The whole idea was we got to a point where we just wanted to punch each other’s lights out, and I don’t get to punch anybody’s lights out because I’m the small guy. Everybody outweighs me by 20, 30, 50 pounds...so I just have to pick up a two-by-four and start swinging it. But it didn’t get down to that. We ran into some turbulent, ugly times and we needed to just get away from each other.”

The dark times have passed and the band is back in bro-mode. As Morris explains it, “We’re all gonna start dressing like cowboys and head over to the brodeo.” A new album is in the early stages, and Morris hints that some of his recent listening forays into krautrock (Can, Kraftwerk, NEU!) may seep their way onto the new disc. Morris cherishes his competitive nature when it comes to songwriting.

“I am beyond psyched to be where I’m at — being 61 years old and still being able to do it, and there is a competition. If anybody says there is no competition among musicians they can go out and huff on an exhaust pipe,” says Morris, who leapt into the world of hardcore in the late ’70s when he served as the vocalist for Black Flag. His voice fuels the Nervous Breakdown EP, which can be found on the First Four Years compilation LP. And speaking of four years, how does Morris feel about the future of punk rock under President Trump?

“I could sit here and go, ‘Punk rockers are gonna have a field day. All of these folk activists, they’re gonna have a field day,’ and it’s just like any other time in recent American history. We’ve had a long line of just really shitty politicians. And you know what, I’m actually going to place Barack Obama on that list,” Morris says.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that he gets to pull off a couple things to pull the rug out from underneath the guy that’s coming in. The guy that I didn’t vote for. I voted for someone that I wouldn’t have voted for, but the only reason why I voted for that person was to keep the other person from being the president. And that’s a pretty shitty excuse to vote for somebody. Just to keep the other person out,” Morris concludes.

OFF! takes the stage at Casbah on Wednesday, December 28.