Flags May Be In Your Basement

Flags Will Cover The Coffins
By Rachel Wick

No venue is too foul and no topic too taboo for Flags Will Cover The Coffins as the band carves its niche as Eau Claire’s most prominent punk-thrash metal band. The songs rattle ear drums indiscriminately whether the music is screeching out of a beer soaked basement or at a more traditional venue like the House of Rock.
Nate "Bones" Knoeck serves as the band’s key lyricist; Joe Larkin contributes bass and some vocals, while Brad Pecka brings the thunder on drums to round out this raucous trio.

The controversial name of the band stems from a song by crust/hardcore punk band Aus-Rotten and refers to soldiers coming home from the war in coffins.

Bones states, "I write about political stuff, some bands maintain such a "PC" mentality on and off stage and I write about social political stuff because that’s like real punk music, that’s what it’s about."
"I’m not going to just write about partying, I like to put a little more into it than that, but some bands just over kill it. The lyrics are simple at to the point; it’s a form of expression.

Since playing their first show in May of 2006, the band has played several underage shows and have found a different degree of energy and often a greater attention span with it younger fans; whether at Nate’s Dungeon in Altoona, or the Eau Claire Indoor Sports Center.

"There is a higher energy than at the House of Rock, I’d say, because you get a bunch of high school kids there…I love playing all-ages shows, because those kids can have a better time than a lot of people. Playing the House of Rock is fun, but a lot of people are just sitting and drinking, kind of half watching the band; when kids come to the shows, they are there to see the band," said front man Nate "Bones" Knoeck.


Although Flags has played on notable bills since its inception, the band marks a show they played with Swedish band Wolfbrigade as the biggest moment for them so far as a band.

"I saw them play in Minneapolis on Monday, and we got to play with them here (at the House of Rock) on Sunday. It blew my mind to be honest, to be able to share the stage with those guys, they are one of my favorite bands," he said.


A Midwest tour is on the horizon this winter and in the coming months; the band plans a follow-up to their first disc Wisconsyndrome. Wisconsyndrome was recorded DIY in the fall of 2006 and sold out quickly. The band hopes that the coming tour and disc will broaden their ever increasing fan base. Bones attributes a portion of the band’s success to local music connections and networking done on MySpace.

"If it wasn’t for MySpace, I don’t think that we would be half as far as we are now by meeting connections and setting up shows," Bones said.

For more information click on http://www.myspace.com/flagswillcoverthecoffins and to personally discuss punk metal or NBA basketball jerseys with the band, they can typically be found stumbling down Water Street on any given weekend reeking of booze.