Ep550: Black Flag Vocalist Max Zanelly
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Black Flag vocalist Max Zanelly shares how she went from waitressing to fronting one of punk's most legendary bands and how the new lineup is carving their own space in legacy of the band.
Australian tour tickets and info here.
Topics Include:
- Max Zanelly checks in from Toronto, post-Canada tour
- Black Flag heading to Australia: four cities in late May
- One year ago, Max had just started rehearsing with Black Flag
- Only prior music experience: saxophone in middle school band
- A longtime fan, Max attended a Black Flag show in Vancouver
- Greg Ginn noticed Max singing every word from the front row
- Numbers exchanged; Greg said he wanted to make music someday
- A month later: the vocalist left, Greg offered Max the role
- Max sent vocal demos and flew to Texas to rehearse
- Already knew the full catalog; My War was the gateway album
- Side two's slow, sludgy tracks resonated the most deeply
- Favourite songs to perform live
- New recordings underway, still at early instrumental stages
- Max currently writing lyrics for a potential new Black Flag record
- Big age gap with Greg, but the band dynamic gels well
- Lineup reveal photos triggered massive online backlash before any shows
- Live shows quickly won skeptics over, including 80s-era veterans
- Henry Rollins is Max's personal favourite past Black Flag vocalist
- First rehearsals: nervous and shy about screaming into a mic
- Fake-it-till-you-make-it; fully unleashed onstage by the fourth show
- Voice conditioned gradually; 24-hour rest between shows is enough
- Bassist David sparked Max's interest in record collecting on tour
- Grew up religious; told mum she was just selling band merch
- Mum eventually came around; Max now inspiring women to start bands
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:10.1 | Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer. |
| 0:13.5 | Hey, everyone, it's Nate. |
| 0:15.4 | Welcome to episode 550 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:22.7 | And today, ladies and gentlemen, incredible conversation with Max Zanali, who is the new |
| 0:29.0 | vocalist of Black Flag. |
| 0:31.7 | Max joins us to discuss how she ended up joining the group, essentially coming from zero prior experience to |
| 0:38.9 | fronting one of punk's most legendary bands. It's a pretty incredible story. Wait |
| 0:45.0 | to you hear how she tells it. We discuss today that the current touring of the band, boy, |
| 0:51.2 | they're all over the place. We address the rumor of new black flag recordings |
| 0:55.7 | and even how the band is moving through the online hate and starting to turn some opinions around. |
| 1:03.0 | You know, there are a lot of opinions flying around about this black flag lineup, but, you know, |
| 1:07.6 | keep in mind, punk is rooted in the idea of giving it a go, no matter what your background or experience level is. |
| 1:15.6 | So I certainly wish this new lineup lots of luck, and it looks like they're having a lot of fun doing it. |
| 1:20.8 | Again, it was a pleasure to have Max here on the podcast, and it will also be a pleasure to welcome Black Flag back to Australia, May 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast. Tickets available at Trubador Presents.com. |
| 1:38.4 | And hey, real quick, we've had some amazing guests on the show recently, including Max's bandmate and Black Flag and SST Records founder Greg Ginn, Episode 547. |
| 1:51.3 | We recently had filmmaker Dave Markey on the podcast. |
| 1:55.4 | We talked about his recent documentary, The Secret Lives of Bill Bartel, Episode 549. |
| 2:03.0 | Swami John Reese joined us, Episode 540. |
| 2:06.3 | We had Mike Watt on talking about his time with the Stooges, Episode 527. |
| 2:12.3 | And, of course, funk legend Bootsie Collins made an appearance episode 522 and literally hundreds more episodes. |
| 2:20.0 | Follow the Vinyl Guide for free in your podcast app. |
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