Mike Neider Of Hardcore Punk Band BL’AST! On Bringing Music To A New Generation Of Punks

-by Zack Sigel

BL’AST! is ready for its due. The hardcore skate-punk outfit from NorCal released three genre-defining albums in the late 1980s that helped shape the sound of hardcore punk as much as anything Black Flag had done in the few years before. Their music inspired such luminaries as Dave Grohl, who played a concert with the band long before he joined Nirvana, and Greg Anderson, co-founder of the huge metal label Southern Lord and the beloved drone metal band Sunn O))).

BL’AST’s original members Clifford Dinsmore and Mike Neider recruited Nick Oliveri (of Kyuss, probably the most underrated rock band in history) and Joey Castillo (who played with Oliveri in Queens of the Stone Age). BL’AST! hadn’t put out original music in nearly thirty years, but, after releasing rerecorded albums through Anderson’s label, they decided it was time. Now, with Grohl joining the band on drums, and Chuck Dukowski, of Black Flag, filling in on bass, the band is ready to bring traditional Reagan-era hardcore to a new generation. Essentially picking up where they left off, I reached Neider by email to talk about how their new EP, For Those Who’ve Graced the Fire, came together.