OFF! 'is on' according to the not so subtle tour promotional art by Paul Curtis.
The band, described in various quarters as a supergroup, is a collaboration mainly between the legendary punk-rock vocalist Keith Morris and guitarist Dimitri Coates, with the current line-up including Autry Fulbright II on bass and Mario Rubalcaba on drums.Local band Division are an appropriate opening support at The Gov (12 January), their full-frontal assault a warm-up for the unfortunately sparse audience assembled at this time, giving their all, barely pausing for breath between songs.
Party Dozen immediately win over the potentially unfamiliar audience, their simple pairing of drums and saxophone a surprising maelstromic force.
Kirsty Tickle plays saxophone, making it sound like a distorted blues harmonica and singing into the bell of the saxophone, while behind her on a raised platform, the statuesque Jonathan Boulet plays drums and sampler – their set takes on the feel of a live techno rave.
'Wake In Might' is both a physical and aural assault and their finale 'The Iron Boot' channels Black Sabbath, the bass tones pummelling a scattered audience.
Touring is not an easy undertaking, especially for a diabetic, near septuagenarian, and as OFF! commence their set, seemingly improvising an apocalyptic soundscape, momentarily Keith Morris walks around the stage, watching his bandmates almost as though he is not in the band and has arrived here by accident.
Suddenly he raises the microphone to his mouth with two hands, his rapid-fire vitriolic performance paced but constant, the brief songs containing instrumental passages seemingly designed to give Keith respite between charged vocal spurts.
Their most recent 'Free LSD' album sees the band pivoting slightly away from their hardcore punk roots and into prog-rock with an overarching concept of conspiracy theories. Although there is more of a stoner feel than past material, OFF! show no sign of compromise or mellowing.
Shorn of the linking quarterly saxophone interludes 'F', 'L', 'S', 'D', this album is played in its entirety and in the absence of the saxophone skronk of the recorded versions, Dimitri's performance of abstract electronics takes up the slack and keeps it in the realm of free-jazz.
In retrospect, there is an opportunity missed in not having Party Dozen's Tickle join the band to replace the missing saxophone honks and squeals.
OFF! give as an unrelenting a performance as you will ever experience, with 26 songs in under an hour, the music never stops and there is always something going on.
Keith's revelatory-between-song-monologues are musings on a dystopian now and encompass the dichotomy of the late 1960s Summer of Love. As the band complete their playback of the album, there is some form of respite in Keith's LSD tirade regarding the album's title track before a return to the intensity of their earlier material with 'Void You Out', the start of a reverse chronological dive into their back catalogue.
It seems as though this is what some in the audience have been waiting for with 'Darkness' and 'I Don't Belong' driving the audience into a frenzy.
There is no encore as such but only the slightest of pauses before Keith announces: "One more song," prior to an incendiary performance of 'Poison City' before it is over way too soon.
It may not be the last time you will have a chance to see Keith perform live, but given Dimitri's discourse elsewhere regarding the future of OFF! at the end of this cycle of promotion regarding the 'Free LSD' project (LP, EP and forthcoming film), it is apparent he is moving on to other things, so it is more than likely that this incarnation of OFF! will be coming to an end, but on a definite high at that.
