Barred for Life

How Black Flag's Iconic Logo became Punk Rock's Secret Handshake

Stewart Dean Ebersole

• Publisher: PM Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781604863949
• eBook ISBN: 9781604864861
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Punk Music

" The Bars represent me finding my people. We were like a tribe. Together we are strong whereas before we felt weak and ostracized. "

Barred for Life is a photo documentary cataloging the legacy of Punk Rock pioneers Black Flag, through stories, interviews, and photographs of diehard fans who wear their iconic logo, The Bars, conspicuously tattooed upon their skin. Author Stewart Ebersole provides a personal narrative describing what made the existence of Punk Rock such an important facet of his and many other people's lives, and the role that Black Flag's actions and music played in soundtracking the ups and downs of living as cultural outsiders.

" The Bars say 'I'm not one of them, ' and it also lets the right people know that I am one of them. " Stark black-and-white portraits provide visual testimony to the thesis that Black Flag's factual Punk-pioneering role and their hyper-distilled mythology are now more prevalent worldwide then when the band was in service. An extensive tour of North America and Western Europe documents dedicated fans bearing Bars-on-skin and other Black Flag iconography. Nearly four hundred "Barred" fans lined up, smiled/frowned for the camera, and issued their stories for the permanent record.

" It is the black flag of anarchism, and that is the opposite of the white flag of surrender. " Barred for Life expands its own scope by presenting interviews with former Black Flag members and those close to the band. Interviews with alumni Dez Cadena, Ron Reyes, Kira Roessler, Keith Morris, and Chuck Dukowski, as well as photographers Glen E. Friedman and Ed Colver, and the man responsible for tattooing The Bars on more than a few Black Flag players, Rick Spellman, round out and spotlight aspects of Black Flag's vicious live performances, forward-thinking work ethic, and indisputable reputation for acting as both champions and iconoclastic destroyers of the Punk Rock culture they helped to create. " When I see The Bars I think 'Black Flag the band, ' but they also represent an entire movement of people that are not going to conform. They are part of a culture of people that stand up for themselves. "

SCENE NUMBER TWO
THE FIRST-PERSON PERSPECTIVE

“…back then most big cities on my coast had just such an exclusive club …

The New Loft was the picture-perfect venue for my first big show.”

MY FIRST PUNK ROCK SHOW

Almost three decades ago I found myself at a Circle Jerks show in Baltimore, Maryland, at a club then called the New Loft—a dark, dingy, and smelly place. The ceilings were really high, and graffiti covered one wall front-to-back. As a “club,” it exclusively hosted Punk Rock shows. Nowadays, ambitious promoters can find show-spaces almost anywhere, but back then most big cities on my coast had just such an exclusive club: A7 in New York, Love hall in Philadelphia, and 9:30 Club in D.C. The New Loft was the picture-perfect venue for my first big show.

Lore suggested it was a condemned building spared the city’s wrecking ball for damn near four years, which made the place even more Punk Rock. The original Loft, located just down the street from the “New” Loft, was briefly featured in the film Another State of Mind. In the film, the Stern brothers and other stranded California travelers heap accolades upon the D.C. scene, Dischord Records, and the band Minor Threat, who, ironically, play a show, sans microphone, at Jules’ Loft in neighboring Baltimore.

Between 1983 and 1986, the New Loft was my home away from home. In that time period, every hardcore band that could manage to mount a tour played there. When I finally got my driver’s license, I spent every weekend supporting that scene, so I was lucky enough to see extraordinary bands. At the Circle Jerks show, everything turned around for me. By that time, I was more or less a Punk Rocker (albeit, a “Mall Punk”) for about a year, and I knew very little about Punk Rock’s roots and history. Without a frame of reference, I had no idea that Keith Morris, the Circle Jerks singer, was the first singer of legendary Los Angeles band Black Flag. Being so new, I was concerned with surviving the show without getting the shit kicked out of me, making the long drive home, and then going to school the following Monday more than I was about Punk Rock’s timeline and major players.

Keith Elliott

Age: 36

Home: Lancaster, PA

Occupation: Tattooist

Favorite Singer: Keith Morris

Favorite Song: Six Pack (with Rollins singing)

Will Tarrant 3

Age: 38

HOME: Brooklyn, NY

Occupation: New York City Social Worker

Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins

Favorite Song: My War

Favorite Album: Damaged

Sweettooth Hinkley Jr.

Age: 27

HOME: Brooklyn, NY

Occupation: Professional Loser

Favorite Singer: Chavo

Favorite Song: Nervous Breakdown

Favorite Album: Damaged

The five of us arrived in Baltimore that night in my parent’s aging Chevy conversion van. For four of us, this was our first show outside our own tiny hometown scene. Immediately upon arrival, like little children, we tuned our virgin ears to the advice of the scene veteran in our company. In all, everything went better than expected. From the moment I paid my five dollars and placed my foot firmly in this new world, my life changed forever. Besides our personal hardcore “guru,” who’d been going to shows for a full year or two by that time, all of our lives changed radically, since most of us stayed involved in the Punk Rock scene for a long time afterward despite all moving to disparate parts of the United States.

Dan K.

Age: 29

HOME: Ridley, PA

Occupation: Pizza Delivery Person and Solar Energy Installer

Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins

Favorite Song: Depression

Favorite Album: Damaged

Jason Duncan

Age: 28

HOME: Brooklyn, NY Occupation: Dog Walker

Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins

Favorite Song: My War

Favorite Album: My War

After all these years, I can still remember every detail as though it were yesterday: the circumstances surrounding my departure from home; the anticipation of going to my first big-city Punk Rock show; the music we listened to on the way from our tiny little town towards the “gigantic” city of Baltimore; how tough and seasoned the other people at the show appeared to me; the way the room smelled of sweat and stale beer, and the change that immediately connected me to the growing Punk Rock culture of the early 1980s. I wasn’t on the outside anymore. I was finally an insider!

Audrey Dwyer

Age: 26

Home: Philadelphia, PA

Occupation: hair Stylist

Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins

Favorite Song: Black Coffee

Favorite Album: My War

STUFF OF MYTH AND LEGEND

Looking back, one might think that Punk Rock was as accessible as it is now, like a sort of easy-entry situation, or like an easy opt-out of the mainstream, as portrayed on television or in a shitty movie. Today, parents might actually...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Acknowledgment
• Contents
• My Disclaimer
• Scene Number One Remembrances on a Culture of Youth Rebellion
• Interview Dez Cadena
• Scene Number Two the First-Person Perspective
• Interview Glen E. Friedman
• Scene Number Three Indefenseofbroad-Sweeping Generalizations
• Interview Ron Reyes
• Scene Number Four Adding up the Columns, It Was Totally Worth It
• Interview Keith Morris
• Scene Number Five Awkwardmomentsandamazing Recoveries in the History of Punk Rock Music
• Interview Rick Spellman
• Scene Number Six Black Flag and My Punk Rock Life
• Interview Chuck Dukowski
• Scene Number Seven My Bars, Your Bars, and the Bars
• Interview Kira Roessler
• Scene Number Eight Reconnecting to Punk Rock on My Own Terms Years into the Future
• Interview Edward Colver
• Scene Number Nine Get in the Sedan