White Flag is an American punk rock band currently based in Los Angeles. Their current lineup consists of frontman Mike Mess (guitar), Jello B. Afro (bass), and Trace Element (drums). These members have been in the band since 1982, though many have rotated in and out. White Flag has a discography that ranges from their 1982 debut R is for Rocket to 2010's Benefit For Cats.
Contents
History
White Flag formed in 1982 in Sunnymead, a community in California's Inland Empire, which is now part of the city of Moreno Valley. The original core lineup, which included Pat Fear, Trace Element, Doug Graves, and El Fee, self-released their debut album S Is for Space the same year.
In contrast to other bands at the time, White Flag took an anti-drug, pro-Reagan, anti-communist, pro-Christian stance as a satirical image, with Fear dressing up as a police officer.
They played their first two shows in the summer of 1982 at keg parties, before opening a show for Black Flag. A live version of this third show was included on the 25th anniversary deluxe reissue of S Is for Space. This version of the lineup featured Al Bum on lead vocals.
In a 1983 Flipside interview, guitarist Pat Fear noted:
People give us a lot of shit for being called 'White Flag' and that we're ripping off Black Flag and all the Black Flag bros in Long Beach want to kill us — but the truth is Black Flag are our friends, Henry [Rollins] is like our biggest fan. So why are these Black Flag people trying to kick our asses?
The whole reason for the name is to reintroduce anarchy back into the musical aspect of punk, because when it started out it wasn't political and it was not violent, like when Johnny Rotten said...he was not singing about anarchy, he wanted musical anarchy. Not social or government anarchy or violence and people blew it out of proportion.... So we're trying to get back to an anarchistic state of music...
In 1984, the band released the album Third Strike, which featured Social Distortion singer Mike Ness singing harmonies on the song "Middle Class Hell".
While mostly inactive in the 1990s, they released the album Eternally Undone in 1999.
In 2006 White Flag toured in Italy for the first time. As a souvenir of the group's first visit, the band released a limited edition, hand numbered 8 song 10-inch vinyl album, on Roma based RARO! Records, entitled "Piangi Con Me", which is now out of print.
Members
The punk rock names of band members were chosen to parody those of Jello Biafra, Mike Ness, and Pat Smear.
Current lineup
Jello B. Afro- bass and vocals, 1982–1984, 2007–present
Mike Mess- guitar, bass, and vocals, 1984, ???–present
Trace Element- drums and vocals
Former members
Pat Fear- bass, guitar, keyboards, sitar, vocals
Doug Graves
El Fee
Al Bum- lead vocals
Pick Z. Stix- drums
Ken Stringfellow (credited as "Kim Crimson")- bass, drums, guitar, keyboard, vocals
Kent Crimson
Jim Tiligiant- bass, drums, guitar, vocals
Viv Vacuum- bass, guitar, vocals
Eric Erlandson
Kim Shattuck
Ronnie Barnett
Duke Seino
El Swe
Victor M. Surrounded- drums
Discography
White Flag has a large discography. This is an incomplete list:
Studio albums
R is for Rocket (1982)
S is for Space (1983)
Third Strike (1984)
(WFO) (1985)
Feeding Frenzy (1986)
Peace (1986)
Zero Hour (1986)
Wild Kingdom (1987)
Skate Across America (1995)
Eternally Undone (2001)
History is Fiction (2002)
T Is For Twenty (2006)
Benefit For Cats (2010)
Eps and 7-inches
Suicide King (1987)
Freedom Fighters (1988)
R is for Rad (1989)
Within You Without You (1990)
Don't Give It Away (1992)
White Rabbit (1993) (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
3rd Sun Mower (1993)
Novocaine (1995)
On The Way Down (1999)
Piangi Con Me (2006)
Keepers of The Purple Twilight (2010)
Live At Bohemian Grove / White Flag & Tony (2011)
Splits
White Flag/Adrenalin O.D. LP (1986)
Peace cassette (1986) (split with F)
Jail Jello! (1987) (split with Necros)
Young Girls (1990) – White Flag & Tony Adolescent
White Flag & Dave Nazworthy 7" (1991)
Hot Rails to Hell (1991) (split with Tesco Vee)
Sator Vs. White Flag (1994)
White Flag/Baby Demons (2008)
Two Pack Split (2010)
Levitate The Listener (with Versus You) (2011)
White Flag / Crise Total (2011)
Extraordinary Renditions (with Gods of Gamble) (2011)
Og Bo Toyy – Bbs Paranoicos and White Flag (2012)
White Flag/Shoplifters (2013)
Compilation albums
Sgt. Pepper (1987)
Thru the Trash Darkly (1993)
Step Back 10 (1996)
R is for Rocket, U is for Unreleased (2003)
T Is For Twenty (2006)
Counterclockwise (2007)
Wild Kingdom/Zero Hour/Sgt. Pepper (2008)
Live albums
Bleedin' In Sweden (1986)
History is Fiction (2003)
Albums contributed to
The Sound of Hollywood 3—Copulation (Mystic Records, 1984)
Eat Me (BCT, 1984)
Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (1984)
Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Volume 1 (Gasatanka, 1984)
Mystic Sampler #3 (Mystic, 1986)
Another Shot for Bracken (Positive Force, 1986)
Rat Music for Rat People, Vol. 3 compilation (CD Presents, 1987)
4 Bands That Could Change the World (Gasatanka, 1987)
Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them (Gasatanka, 1989)
Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones (Triple X Records, 1991)
Freedom of Choice: Yesterday's New Wave Hits As Performed By Today's Stars (1992)
Germs (Tribute) - A Small Circle Of Friends compilation (1996)
Short Music for Short People (1999)
Jardim Elétrico: A Tribute to Os Mutantes (2007)
Take It Or Leave It - A Tribute To The Queens of Noise: The Runaways (2011)