Ginn, Reyes get Black Flag going again

Ron Reyes sings a Black Flag song in Shoreline, WA, last May. (Cat Rose photo)

Greg Ginn and Ron Reyes are officially back together again in a new version of Black Flag, according to a post on Reyes' Facebook page today.

The band is in the process of putting the finishing touches on a new album with Ginn on guitar, Reyes on vocals, Gregory Moore on drums and "Dale Nixon" on bass.

Black Flag will be headlining the RUHRPOTT RODEO in Hünxe, Germany, on May 18, the UK's Hevy Fest on Aug. 4 and the Muddy Roots Music Festival in Tennessee on Aug. 31. More festival and tour dates will be announced soon including a Black Flag U.S. tour in the fall of 2013.

Ginn currently plays with Good for You and Greg Ginn and the Royal We, while Reyes -- who sang in the "Decline of Western Civilization" film and on the "Jealous Again" EP -- plays guitar in his Vancouver, BC-based outfit, Piggy. Moore formerly played with Gone and another version of Black Flag in 2003.

As for the bass-player slot, Reyes' post reads: "While Dale has lent his skills to the new album, he is currently contractually obligated for a stint on Celebrity Rehab. Still, as he has always done in the past, he will continue to provide insight and spiritual guidance to the current bass player." (Dale Nixon is Ginn's alias, which was used on the "My War" credits.)

Ginn and Reyes in Vancouver in July 2010. (Courtesy photo)

Ginn and Reyes jammed at the singer's 50th birthday party in July 2010 in Vancouver, playing "Jealous Again," "Revenge" and a new original song, "Broken."

"He shows up and we put a guitar in his hand, and he started playing and it was pretty amazing seeing him play after all these years. Being in rehearsal with him was pretty impressive. Our jaws were just dropping when he got in his groove," Reyes said in a There's Something Hard in There blog interview on May 18, 2012. Reyes was in Seattle at the time for a gig with Piggy at The Funhouse.

On Black Flag's work ethic, Reyes added in the There's Something Hard in There interview:

"I think it got even way more crazy and intense after I left. Certainly by the time Henry came down. I had the opportunity to go down and see them and spend some time with them in rehearsals with Henry and Kira, that lineup, and it was monstrous how they would jam for hours and hours and hours and hours. It was pretty incredible.

"It was great music, I love the fact that Greg was doing something that was groundbreaking. It was very unique."

The next night at Darrell's Tavern in Shoreline, Reyes got into Black Flag mode by singing "Revenge," "Police Story" and "Nervous Breakdown" with some local bands, Sioux City Pete and the Beggars and The I Love Myselfs.

At the end of the night, Reyes was a demon unleashed as he plowed into the crowd and nearly knocked over a table, but still sent beer bottles banging to the ground. People were stoked on the scene and left with their ears buzzing and faces beaming.

**We previously posted our editorial on Flag, featuring Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton.