Following in the footsteps of such greats as Funkadelic and Man or Astro Man?, and not so greats like LA Guns, Great White, Asia and Queensryche, two versions of the seminal punk and hardcore band Black Flag will tour this summer. Black Flag made their announcement first with Ron Reyes, Greg Ginn and Robo announcing plans to play the Heavy Fest in England. Not to be outdone, other former Black Flag members, Keith Morrris and Chuck Dukowski announced they would to play some festivals this year, but they would call themselves Flag. They’ll be joined by former Descendents Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton. As of this posting, Henry Rollins, perhaps Black Flag’s most famous former member, has no plans of his own to do a Black Flag tour in 2013.
While you let that bit of news stew for a while, Black Flag were hardly the only ones to get the band together this past week. The Postal Service and Jurassic Five both signed on for Coachella. While, both the Stone Roses and Blur chose to continue their reunions with performances at the same fest. The former has spawned a new Tumblr in reaction to the announcement, Who the Fuck Are the Stone Roses?
The Coachella news wasn’t the only bit to come out of the Postal Service announcement. An expanded reissue is being planned by Sub Pop for the band’s debut, and only album, Give Up. And while they’re reissuing the Postal Service, Sub Pop figured they’d reissue the first three albums by The Thermals, too. See, Sub Pop hasn’t gone soft.
Aside from reissues, this week also saw new album announcements by Vampire Weekend (May 6th) and The Flaming Lips (April 2nd). While early press has hinted that this new release by the Lips will be a much darker affair, non-album track, “Sun Blows Up Today,” is decidedly more poppy, so much so, you shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you that it’s slated to be used in a Super Bowl car commercial. The Strokes also premiered a new jam this week from what may end up being a 2013 release, and, well, I was more excited about the prospect of another album by the skinny rockers from NYC before I clicked play.
Guided by Voices also have another one on the way (April 30th), but that really isn’t news any more, is it? Untcle Bob and company plan to follow the three albums they made in 2012 with three more in 2013.
Lastly, in news of the expected, the Black Keys are suing another company for jacking one of their songs, and in news of the weird, but not as weird as the carnie who got naked, masturbated, pooped, and ate the contents of a vacuum cleaner inside someone’s Florida home, master shredder, Marnie Stern, has announced, let’s say, a unique PR campaign. You can win a date with her on the release date of her new record. There are some rules, like not being crazy or being a creeper, an addict, a slacker or a vegan. Ok, there are a lot of rules and you have to be in NYC, too. Still, it’s worth a shot, right? Who wouldn’t want to date a guitar goddess.