On Black Friday, legendary former Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski's (photo left) early ’70s pre-Black Flag band, Würm, will return to shops for the first time in decades with Exhumed, a limited-edition, colored-vinyl double LP comprised of the 1985 reunion album Feast and bonus unreleased tracks, demos dating back to 1977 and more. Limited to 1,100 copies, this special Record Store Day release is set to include never-before-seen photos and liner notes from Dukowski himself. In a new interview with music writer Joel Gausten, Dukowski discusses the upcoming release, his musical influences in the early ‘70s (including Black Sabbath) and Black Flag’s enduring legacy. Excerpts from the chat appears below:

Joel: First off, how does it feel to be doing interviews for an upcoming Würm retrospective in 2018 – 45 years after the band started? Why was now the time to get a reissue of Feast – as well as the bonus material – out there in the world in the form of Exhumed?

Chuck: "It feels great for all of these Würm recordings to finally be available. It’s taken me a long time to get all the parts together. I regained the rights to my Würm music after a hellish Black Flag-related lawsuit with SST Records. It’s funny, but Würm’s co-founder, Ed Danky (guitar) and I fantasized about the eventual existence of a Würm retrospective comp called Exhumed way back in 1977. We talked about it as we were doing the Spot photo session that supplied the front cover of Exhumed. We thought it’d be a cool/fun name. Andrew Rossiter at ORG Music gave me the final push of encouragement and logistical support to follow through on my threats of reissuing the Würm material, and we put together Exhumed for Record Store Day 2018.
 
Joel: The bonus track listing for Exhumed includes two familiar song titles: “Modern Man” and “I’ve Heard It Before.” How similar are these to the Black Flag songs of the same name? What made them perfect songs to incorporate into Black Flag later on?

Chuck: "There is some crossover between Würm and Black Flag, mostly lyrics. The lyrics and themes I used for Würm were important to me and, I felt, contributed to Black Flag. When Keith Morris – the first Black Flag singer – quit, I used some of Würm’s themes and some actual lyrics for a couple of the songs in the already-short Black Flag set that were suddenly wanting lyrics. ‘Just Give Me A Break’ became ‘I’ve Heard It Before,’ and I wrote a new lyric to re-title the Keith-era song ‘Red Tape’ as ‘No More.’ I also created a Black Flag arrangement of ‘Padded Cell’ with its ‘MANIACS!’ chorus line.

The Würm and Black Flag versions are different. ‘Modern Man’ is a concept I felt was appropriate to a time of growing societal alienation and disassociation. People hiding in their holes, labeling those around them as ‘other’ and living in any moment but the moment they are actually in. So in 1982, I created a Black Flag 'Modern Man.'"
  
Joel: When I listen to Feast, my ears detect shades of Sabbath with a bit of King Crimson and Captain Beefheart in spots. How accurate am I in terms of the band’s influences? How similar was the music on Feast to what the band was doing in the ’70s?

Chuck: I’ve always loved King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man.’ I saw them at the Long Beach Auditorium in ’72 or ’73, and they blew me away. I was never a big Beefheart fan, though I did try to get into his music. Black Sabbath’s music, on the other hand, was core listening for Würm. We loved Sabbath. I would often listen to all of Black Sabbath’s records back to back when I was studying in college. Our anthem was ‘Children of the Grave.’ We also were deep into Captain Beyond, Blue Oyster Cult, The Stooges, MC5, Mott The Hoople, Alice Cooper, David Bowie and a number of other ’70s Hard Rock bands.

Joel: Black Flag has earned legendary status, and of course you and some of the other former members have taken this music on the road with FLAG in recent years. Clearly, this material still resonates with people, and it’s a very rare feat to create something musically that remains meaningful to people after four decades. Why do you think Black Flag’s music has endured for so long?

Chuck: "Black Flag’s music remains meaningful to people because it’s good. We made it stand for something, and we worked tirelessly to bring it to as many people as possible."

The complete interview is available at this location.

Photo courtesy of XO Publicity