I originally went to interview Minutemen at Metro before the show, so when Minutemen went to do a sound check, Dez and Henry came in and we got into talking and the interview turned out great. After being let down in July by their show and attitudst, the talk with Dez and Henry; later Billy, Chuck and Greg, showed me that Black Flag practice what they believe (not PREACH) and aren't full of bullshit. They restored my confidence in them and what they are doing (which is a lot more than 99% of the HC bands) and I came to like and respect these guys. So here goes the talk:

Last Rites: What happened to you guys this fall in Canada?
Dez: Our trailer unhooked and went down this hill (with all their equipment), then our van broke down in Canada.
Henry: I got a buttache, ... we broke down in fucking Brockville. Spent three wonderful days there. Ever heard of it?
Last Rites: No.
Henry: You will (laughs).
Last Rites: How was Europe?
Dez: We did 17 shows; including Germany, Denmark, England, Austria, Switzerland, and Holland.
Last Rites: How did you guys go over?
Dez: Good.
Last Rites: Best and weirdest response on tour?
Dez: The best and weirdest was in Italy.
Henry: That was freaky.
Billy: What about Holland, that was cool.
Dez: In Italy, (doing an accent) "I have one liter of whiskey in me and I'm still standing." That was in Milan.
Last Rites: How was the UK audience this time? (In both Brixton and London, last time they met with some audiences who didn't like them too much.)
Henry: Yeah, a lot better. I got cigarette burns from some audiences.
Last Rites: What about the 1st UK tour (last winter)?
Dez: We played that Punk Festival in Leeds and had a whole tour booked with the Exploited and they cancelled it, but we played some dates.
Last Rites: What about this time?
Dez: People who wanted to come see us came this time. Not just people who wanted to cause shit, not the porcupines, skinheads, who didn't know who we were or think we're hippies or Nazis. That's the reason why we're there; not as many people came this time, but the response was better.
Last Rites: Why does Wattie hate you guys?
Dez: People ask him why and he says he doesn't know.
Henry: There are people in this building who hate us. We're used to it. I asked their promoter (of the Exploited) why they hate us and he said they have a reputation as being really heavy, to be this heavy band and we "out-heavied" them and they didn't like that. When we played at the Rainbow in London, Wattie was out in the crowd with a bee-bee gun, trying to shoot me! His lackeys thought it was funny, Ian (from Minor Threat) came with us and called the promoters attention to it.
Last Rites: What about all your records being released in the UK?
Henry: We took everything we had and now we have SST England.
Last Rites: How is SST doing?
Henry: We have had a few problems with the police.
Dez: Well, we are trying to release a helluva lot of bands. Most of them are in the can, and it just takes getting the records out and to get some money to put them out. We have St. Vitus, Stains, Dicks and Overkill lps.
Henry: (talks about Overkill) - The album needs vocal tracks, but the music is great.
Dez: Their old singer quit, so they are trying to get him back into the studio, he'll do it, but band politics...
Henry: He's a very interesting, creative guy and he's got a cute ass, almost as good as Boy George's, I'm into that guy! (everyone laughs)
Last Rites: He's fat!
Henry: (standing up and putting up his fists) Take it back! (laughs)
Dez: We have Everything Went Black which has pretty much the same material as Damage. which will never come out in the UK or Europe. Henry isn't on it except for a few commercials.
Last Rites: What was the problem with Unicorn
Henry: We were never on Unicorn. They were a participant on the album and one single (TV Party) and a year went by and it wasn't out in England, that's pretty lame,--and never did any promotion and the album sold a lot and we never saw a penny of it and they weren't even our label, just a participant! We are smart enough to manage ourselves, so we took them to court. We are right and they aren't. We've had to borrow money from Greg's parents and others, we don't have expensive cars and fancy places to live. Money would be nice, I hate all those days I don't eat.
Last Rites: What about the commune?
Dez: Well, it's kinda SST. I don't live there anymore, cause it's a really small place and there is too many people there and too much pressure.
Henry: About 9 people live in one room, it's near Lawndale.
Last Rites: (to Dez) Did you get any shit about the length of your hair?
Dez: Well, more questioned why. There were some people (accent) "Go Home Hippy Bastard" or "Piss off, Hippy". There is no real reason why it's this long, it doesn't matter.