Their current lineup consists of frontman Mike Mess (guitar), Jello B. Afro (bass), and Trace Element (drums).
White Flag formed in 1982 in Sunnymead,[3] a community in California's Inland Empire, which is now part of the city of Moreno Valley.
[4] The original core lineup, which included Pat Fear, Trace Element, Doug Graves, and El Fee, self-released their debut album S Is for Space the same year.
[5] In contrast to other bands at the time, White Flag took an anti-drug, pro-Reagan, anti-communist, pro-Christian stance as a satirical image, with Fear dressing up as a police officer.
So we're trying to get back to an anarchistic state of music...[8]In 1984, the band released the album Third Strike, which featured Social Distortion singer Mike Ness singing harmonies on the song "Middle Class Hell".
As a souvenir of the group's first visit, the band released a limited edition, hand numbered 8 song 10-inch vinyl album, on Roma based RARO!
[12] The punk rock names of band members were chosen to parody those of Jello Biafra, Mike Ness, and Pat Smear.