Cerebral Ballzy At The Roxy

Los Angeles – When the powers that be came down and decided Cerebral Ballzy would be a perfect compliment to support OFF! on their current tour, they must’ve had an eye on the past when doing so. After all, the seemingly ageless Keith Morris, OFF!’s front man/punk rock progenitor, no doubt has his fingerprints on the Brooklyn quintet’s sound. Well, at least in part. The group even tapped longtime Black Flag and current OFF! artwork go-to man, Raymond Pettibon, to illustrate the cover for their self-titled debut.

The hardcore thrash that Morris, now 58, ushered in with the aforementioned Black Flag and then Circle Jerks has unequivocally touched Cerebral Ballzy. Morris had to see a little bit of his younger self when looking at his understudies. Their raw, sneering, and unforgiving tone were just some of the attributes that had to have made the punk rock legend smirk.

From the moment Cerebral Ballzy’s first album came out in 2011, it was clear that their music was rooted in the same urgency that Morris’ bands had had some 30-odd years before. Only now, punk rock isn’t such a vilified genre and club owners aren’t so uptight with some kids stage diving or exchanging a few elbows in the pit. Although there are small white signs posted around the Roxy that forbid stage diving everybody knows it’s more of a request than mandate.

Over the past couple of years, Cerebral Ballzy has established themselves as punk stalwarts, but show promise of being more than just a one trick pony. Next month will bring their sophomore release, Jaded and Faded, to light. With an exact date still pending a sweaty Honor Titus, vocals, assures the crowd the wait is almost over. As he pounds the rest of his beer with seeming disgust he says, “This next song is about not going to school.” So it goes.

With his usual snottiness and slurring yells, Titus barrels through “Cutting Class.” The song has the precision of a blender grinding up rusty nuts and bolts. Loud and unmistakable, the crowd begins to mosh while Titus waves his index finger above his head in a circular motion. Sweaty fists raised, the auditory assault is over almost as soon as it began. You see any tune that is over two minutes borders on being a bit too lengthy. It’s punk rock 101. There is a reason their 12-track debut clocks in a shade over 19 minutes.

The group is fiery as it blasts through its 30 minute set. “On The Run,” “Drug Myself Dumb,” and “Don’t Tell Me What to Do” have all the anti-establishment, fuck the cops mentality that the group has been known for throughout their nascent run. Peppered in are some newer tracks that still keep their gutter edge, but displays the group heading in a power popish direction a la The Nerves.

While “Better in Leather” keeps the two-minute rule in effect, the song is more melodic than the group’s previous mash and bash offerings. This becomes even clearer with “Be Your Toy” which has Titus actually singing his parts rather than his usual Ballzy screams. This marks an evolution in their songwriting sounding more pop than ever before floating in that 70s fuzz with the pacing of 80s new wave. Though one of the set’s final songs, “Speed Wobbles,” goes back to the band’s bread and butter, the new material is a departure from their earlier days.

With their second LP set to be released on Cult Records in the coming weeks, Cerebral Ballzy has some downtime in between dates. Their tour is set to pick back up the second week of May.

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Ian Joulain

Somewhere between Sublime’s 40oz. to Freedom and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic something clicked inside a young Ian Joulain’s mind. His love for music had taken root and the only way to satiate this newfound passion was mass consumption of any and all genres. While gravitating toward punk rock, hip-hop, and jazz he discovered his distaste for pop-country, but blames that mostly on the excess of tractor and NASCAR mentions in the genre’s lyrics. That said, Joulain has never met a drink that was too stiff or a beach that he didn't like. He hopes to one day hug a koala and would love to ask Greg Ginn why he’s such a dick.