Flag’s origins can be traced back to 2011, near the 30^th anniversary of Black Flag’s first LP, Damaged. The Descendents were playing a show in Santa Monica, CA when former Black Flag drummer/current Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson and Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton, were joined onstage by original Black Flag singer Keith Morris and former Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski. The four proceeded to play Black Flag’s first record, Nervous Breakdown, in its entirety. Eventually this lineup made known that they would form under the name Flag, with plans to play songs from Black Flag’s entire catalog at various tour dates, both stateside and abroad. Flag’s lineup would be solidified once former Black Flag singer and rhythm guitarist, Dez Cadena, joined the fold on guitar. Flag recently played Riot Fest Chicago and we spoke with Stevenson, Egerton, Dukowski and Cadena. We discussed how they got together, the continued legacy of Black Flag’s music and their current thoughts on Black Flag’s lyrics. We also talked about their Riot Fest performance, future plans and more.

Bill – What were some of the factors that led to you guys getting together and deciding to play shows?

Chuck – Because it was enjoyable to do it.

Stephen – Coincidentally, The Descendents were playing the Goldenvoice 30^th anniversary shows in Los Angeles and the promoters had contacted Chuck to see if there was any chance of Black Flag playing, which there wasn’t. The idea was then presented that maybe Bill and I, along with Keith and Chuck, could get up and do songs and that seemed like fun, so we did that. There was a very enthusiastic response, we had an excellent time doing it, and we decided to do a few more shows. We got Dez onboard and here we are. That’s how it came together.

Bill – Tell me more about what the response has been like at your shows so far.

Bill S. – It’s been a categorically wonderful response. That’s what’s been feeding it so much. Everyone’s just so stoked to kind of hear a proper rendering of a lot of that material.

Chuck – My phrase has been the “E.C.E.,” which stands for epic cathartic energy.

Bill – Given that Black Flag broke up in 1986, how do you feel about the band’s music maintaining its relevancy and popularity after all these years?

Chuck – I sure am amazed and proud and blessed that the stuff I started doing as a kid and worked so hard to make happen, that people care and that it got across. It’s awesome.

Dez – Probably when the band first started, they never even thought about things like if it would last for a long time.

Chuck – I wanted it to.

Dez – Well yeah, but you didn’t really think about those things. I know when I joined the band it was just that we knew we had to do this thing and that was it. There are probably a lot of bands out there who might have felt the same way. Maybe X feels the same way, I don’t know.

Bill S. – There’s this thing with not only our band, but there’s something about punk rock that seems to have a kind of longevity to it. If you think about the other movements, whether you’re talking about beatniks or the hippy movements, none of those have the cultural longevity that punk rock has. I don’t know why. That doesn’t account for the crappier of the punk bands, but as far as the good punk bands, I feel like people still appreciate it, similarly to how they did 20 or 30 years ago. I don’t know exactly what makes that phenomenon that way, but we put a lot of our heart into what we did back then and we’re still doing it. I think there are reasons why people attach themselves to it. I think it’s pretty real.

Stephen – I think the idea that all of the music was created without any expectation of anything, other than the pure enjoyment of making it, resonated with people that listened to it. Down the road, you can still hear that in the music, you can hear that the music was done for very pure reasons. So it’s all the more likable and you don’t feel like you’re sort of being given a propped-up show or an idea, you’re just listening to people expressing themselves and that can be really enjoyable.

Chuck – I think we live in a time when people are seeking out good music, regardless of genre or era of origin, and we’re a part of that.

Bill – What are your favorite Black Flag songs to play live?

Bill S. – My position is strange on all this, because I played on every single one of the later records, but I don’t like any of that stuff. I mean, at all. I like “Police Story” and “My War” and “Padded Cell.” I like all the early stuff, but that’s just me personally.

Chuck – I enjoy playing all of it live. It’s always been fun to play. I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t, and it wasn’t a phase.

Dez – I’ll tell you the most painful one, “Damaged I.”

Stephen – Black Flag was one of my favorite bands as a kid, but I remember there was a turning point for the band when I first heard the song “Clocked In,” Dez’s version of it. The band was starting to sort of change and the guitar playing was starting to head into its earliest improvisational structure, against these kind of more basic rock songs in a way. So anytime that I play that song, I get pretty fucking stoked about it. I could listen to that song over and over again for hours and just be blown away by it.

Bill – In terms of lyrics, which songs do you still connect the most with and why?

Stephen – That’s probably a day by day thing.

Chuck – Yeah, you know, we wouldn’t play them if we didn’t like them.

Bill S. – I gotta go back to “Police Story” on that one. I’ve taught my kids to be very suspicious of any kind of implicit authority and I think “Policy Story” was an early education for me as far as just taking a hard look at how things kind of are and how constrictive things can be.

Chuck – It’s real, you know? My mom grew up in Nazi Germany and she told me when we were running into our problems with the police in the early ‘80s, she goes “This country is like what my country was when I was a youth.”

Stephen – For me it’s “My War,” because when we play that song I know that the feelings expressed in “My War” are something that everybody has absolutely felt at some point in their lives, and so it’s very easy for me to quickly identify with where that song is lyrically. It’s so intensely personal and you know that everybody in the audience has experienced it, which is why people react so strongly when we play it.

Chuck – I like “My War” too. I also like “Spray Paint” a lot. It may seem silly, but it goes “My life is their disease.” I went and had four kids to spread it, (laughs).

Bill – Are there any specific goals with Flag or is it more just about playing music with friends?

Chuck – We’re going to change the world, (laughs).

Bill S. – So far we’ve been refreshingly without agenda, just kind of doing music for the sake of music and enjoying ourselves, just trying to apply ourselves to what we’re doing and doing it well. There’s no big five-year master plan or anything, so as long as we continue to have fun doing it I think it will grow and who knows what directions it could grow into.

Chuck – Bill brings the truth and earnestness.

Bill – What were some of the highlights from your set at Riot Fest today?

Bill S. – I liked the vibe. The audience was giving back a fair amount of energy. There have been times when I’ve played shows where I felt like I was really producing a high level of output and the audience would be tepid. That has happened in Europe a few times. And then conversely, I’ve been up there playing a really sucky show, but the audience is just eating it up. Neither one of those situations make me comfortable. I like it to be where they’re there with us and if we do something rad they feel it and if we do something mediocre they become tepid. I like that. I like it to be an equivalency where we’re on the same page.

Stephen – There’s a lot of effort placed into rehearsal and trying to stay in shape to play this music and be really forceful with how we play it. With any luck, all of the effort that you put in to committing yourself physically to practicing it, knowing it and being really deliberate with it, manifests itself in the ability to not sit there and execute it perfectly, but have a really kick-ass time and vibe, and have the entirety of the building, you, them, everybody enjoying that as one or getting something out of it.

Bill – Has Flag discussed the possibility of writing any new material?

Bill S. – Only superficially, we’re not that far down the road yet. We’re just kind of seeing where this takes us.

Chuck – Mostly in interviews, (laughs).

Bill S. – That’s really the only time we discuss it.