Off! Is On And Ready To Rock Australia
OFF!’s first new album in eight years translates the work of an alien race attempting to rebuild the remains of your destroyed record collection. Free LSD hits reset like The Beatles conjuring Revolver, The Walker Brothers Nite Flights refusal to be a reunion record, or that album by Baby Huey where every influence merges so effortlessly that it is simply one sound unified. Like the first 3 records, the raging two-minute bonfires that make up Free LSD were written by the core of the band, Keith Morris & Dimitri Coats.
The album introduces new members, drummer Justin Brown (Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Herbie Hancock) and bassist Autry Fulbright II (…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), who push the idea of punk into another dimension. Coats blankets a number of these tracks with layers of electronics and Morris sounds timeless. With a tour less than two weeks away the legendary Keith Morris talks about their relatively new album Free LSD and touring Australia.
It definitely feels like a very long time in between drinks, how much are you looking forward to returning to Australia?
It’s been too many years and a few gallons of adult beverages since we’ve set foot on your giant rock. The guys have been talking about our trip for several months and we’re salivating over our chance to return to where Mario had the opportunity to sit across from Nick Cave and two of his sons eating pizza. Mario’s a Birthday Party freak! One of the goofballs who was a member of our rhythm section dropped a hit of LSD and had a massive Josh Homme sighting after we played a lawn bowling clubhouse on the last date on the first run of shows and Mr. Homme was not in town! This run’s gonna’ be a ton of fun and a barrel of chimpanzees!
Has there been much pressure from fans asking the question why so long between tours?
I don’t want to read as if I’m some cocky, arrogant rock star but I don’t really pay much attention to fans applying pressure as OFF! isn’t a typical band where everything revolves around our musical organization. We all have different things going on in our lives. Four Kids, Two wives, two girlfriends, two dogs, seven movie scripts, Earthless, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Rocket From The Crypt, Circle Jerks and tons of other fun stuff and silly garbage. As for the amount of time between tours in your part of the world we come over when asked by promoters and sometimes the phone doesn’t ring or the emails don’t drop out of the black hole.
Is this tour focused mostly on the new album Free LSD?
Mario, Autry, Dimitri and I will playing twenty six songs that make up the entirety of “Free LSD” along with another song that’s not on the album but is included in the movie AND nine songs from previous recordings to add extra party flavors and favors to the fiesta! So get your tickets so that you won’t be the person hearing from one of your friends that one of the guys behaved on stage as if he had a lubed Koala paw inserted in his rectum…
Eight years, were you worried that you would finally get this one over the line?
Dimitri and I never worried about the writing and recording of the album as we were more concerned as to who was going to partake as our rhythm section. But the making of the movie was a whole different hectic experience! This was due to the handful of days when we didn’t know if we’d be able to finish making the movie. Of all the artistic endeavors shooting a movie is the most difficult due to the locations, lighting, camera angles, feeding the crew including the people who were actually in the movie, while sometimes showing up late, time constraints and all sorts of other scenarios. We had friends and people who wouldn’t give us the time of day barking a mantra that Free LSD would never get made and we were just wasting our time and chasing our tails. As the main dude from The Hives sings I Hate To Say I Told You So!!!!
Sonically, how would you describe Free LSD?
With all of the various strings and woodwind instruments along with the Mellotron and Theremin that give the sound a much more lush and thick rich quality we knew we were onto a “Million Seller” that was going to make us stadium size. This recording was destined to help us procure commercial success on a direct line to be included on radio playlists worldwide and in television series, commercials and other movies allowing us to rub elbows with all of our most famous contemporaries. Actually all kidding aside what I really love the most about the sound of FLSD is Dimitri’s variety of guitar tunings. I want to go out on a limb and say there’s at least six different tunings happening and another batch of sounds are Justin Brown’s drums. His addition to our songs is a chaotic eight car pile up that equates to a beautiful mess! Damn he helped take our songs to a different place.
Was it a tough album to make?
The final recording of the album itself wasn’t difficult at all. It was finding the guys to play on it! We recorded two different versions with the first being the Steven McDonald, Dale Crover, our friend from the Melvins with Dimitri and myself when we learned and recorded twenty three songs in three days. These songs somehow found their way into Mario’s ears and he after saying he didn’t want to participate in the recording as he also wasn’t going to play a role in the movie had a change of heart. He loved the songs and told us that nobody was doing what we were doing. So with Mario back behind his drum kit we got together and relearned the twenty three songs plus two others and we created a song in our rehearsal/recording studio, Wasted Satan. The way we worked was learning a song and then immediately recording it. Then things got goofy and ugly. Something happened that turned our scenario upside down and our rhythm section had to be replaced. A total unhinged bummer! We had to find a new drummer and bassist and Covid happened. We finally settled on Autry Fulbright II as our bassist and his friend from Thundercat who had also played with Herbie Hancock, Justin Brown to completely fuck with our brains on drums.
What did you think playing the album back start to end?
First off I was blown away by the fact that we’d finally finished FLSD as Dimitri and I had so many hurdles to get over and so many flaming hoops to leap through. Over the course of writing and recording this record OFF! had four different drummers along with two bassists. I’m beyond psyched for both the album which is also the soundtrack to our movie as they both accompany each other and as many recordings I’ve been a part of this is my greatest achievement. I could not be more proud!
What song do you think is the defining moment on the album and why?
I can’t zoom in on one particular song because I dig so many of them! Dimitri’s favorite song is War Above Los Angeles as he says the chorus is the strongest chorus that he and I have written together. He envisioned me standing on a smaller stage and when that chorus comes up sticking the microphone in the faces of the people yelling War A Bove Laws An Juh Luhs!!!! My faves are Black Widow Group, Suck The Bones Dry and Kill To Be Heard. These songs are in keeping with what we as a band are all about. Shoot from the hip and count the dead and wounded after the smoke and dirt settles. No standing around wondering which direction the breeze is coming from but just jump in and go for it! And with the different tunings of the guitars this helps elevate these songs to a much more happening place. I love this record to death.
What do you think that Justin and Autry bring to the band that you didn’t have before?
Both these freakazoids are way wicked characters and thinking about the two of them I get reminded of Keith Moon and John Entwhistle who did their thing in a band called The Who. Have you heard of them? Ha! Ha! Ha! Autry plays with his fingers as opposed to a pick so he has a warmer quality and sound but is nowhere as busy as Mr. Entwhistle, R.I.P.. I wouldn’t put it past Justin if he’s studied or taken a couple of classes at the school of Buddy Rich. He plays the songs and we have to chase after him or get left in his dust. At one point our guitarist made the ridiculous statement, “Hey guys we’re going to change the set list every night to make things more interesting for ourselves!”. My immediate response was, “Are you fucking kidding? We are playing with a drummer who doesn’t even play the songs the same way every time he plays them AND you’ll need four or six guitars because of the different tunings! That’s not including all of the different noise boxes and gadgets you have set on a table on your side of the stage! Plus I’m too lazy to actually have to write out a new set list each night, NO WAY!
How is the film that is accompanying the album going and when do you think we can see it?
FREE LSD is finished and we premiered it at the Slamdance Film Festival a year ago. The crowd loved it which was very encouraging for us. We’re now in the process of waiting while our friends “Shop it” which is industry lingo for finding a good home for our movie. Once we have a home it usually takes a few months for them to sort out all the details so it might see the big screen sometime in the middle of 2024.
Interview By Rob Lyon
Catch Off! on the following dates, tickets here…
