OFF! played The Bell House
May 31st, 2012 by chocko
OFF! played a last minute show with The Bronx at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NYC last night. It was a day after they played the Bowery Ballroom and the show was easy on the wallet…FREE! All you had to do was show up and pick up a wristband to get you in. Chocko had some time to kill, so wandering around Park Slope and shopping for some comic books was a no-brainer. Bergen Street Comics at 470 Bergen Street is a recommended spot if you’re in the area. Chocko bought some books including Ben Marra stuff (his art was hanging on the walls…cool!) and the new Super Crooks by Mark Millar and drawn by Leinil Yu. Millar and his crew recently made a trip to The Philippines to do a signing at The National Bookstore. Check out the story behind “The Milla in Manila” here.
10:30 p.m. rolled around. Keith Morris, the dreadlocked, insane lead singer of OFF! and a direct descendant of the legendary West Coast bands BLACK FLAG and CIRCLE JERKS, taped up the set lists and the rest of the band emerged from the back stage. The other band members of OFF! consists of Dimitri Coats (guitar), Steven McDonald (bass) and Mario Rubalcaba (drums), who’ve all been in other bands including Red Kross, Burning Brides and Rocket From The Crypt. Once the pleasantries were out of the way…it was down to business and blowing the roof off the place…old school L.A. punk style. Keith Morris yelled and screamed all night, stopping only to tell brief stories including one of his old friend Jeffrey Lee Pierce (The Gun Club) who tragically passed away in 1996.
OFF! songs are fast and furious…some clocking in at less than a minute. They played a lot of songs from their first four EP’s and it wasn’t until the eighth song in their set that they played a track off their new self titled album which is highly recommended. The new album delivers and is the musical equivalent of a roundhouse kick to the face. Brutal stuff. It looks like OFF! have a busy summer ahead of them…tons of shows in Europe, back in NYC and the East Coast in July and opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Staples Center in Los Angeles in August. The Bronx played after. I’m sure it rocked but Chocko needed to escape from New York and get back to the cave for some serious slumber.
SET LIST
Panic Attack
I Don’t Belong
Borrow And Bomb
Poison City
Now I’m Pissed
Jeffrey Lee Pierce
Blast
Feelings Are Meant To Be Hurt
Wrong
King Kong Brigade
I Got News For You
Vaporized
Crawl
Rat Trap
Wiped Out
Peace In Hermosa
Cracked
Black Thoughts
Darkness
Upside Down
Tags: black flag, brooklyn, circle jerks, keith morris, new york city, nyc, off!, punk, show, the bell house
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