“Gravity” began life as an homage to Henry Rollins-era Black Flag before It’s OK! cofounder Robert Hecker tasked a bandmate with drafting some appropriate lyrics.
“What’s the heaviest, most conspicuously aggro topic? Gravity. Space, time, motion, matter,” says lead singer Ellen Rooney. “They’re all governed by gravity, and my vision was a binary star system—two entities that can’t break apart and revolve around one another in a death spiral.”
You’d expect nothing less from a genre-bending senior outfit that’s seen a dizzying array of lineup changes over the past 30 years. Both Los Angeles post-punk institutions at this point, Hecker and current drummer Roy McDonald are best known for their work with Redd Kross. (McDonald also played with the Muffs.) Now with Rooney and bassist Dennis McGarry in the fold, It’s OK! is celebrating the physical release of its fifth album, Product Of California (Econoclast), today with the premiere of this zany “cosmic prog” nugget. Look for the album on digital formats April 4.
“The song was totally inspired by that pummel-prog trip Black Flag were on,” says Hecker. “I grew up in Hermosa Beach, and their influence on us South Bay kids can never be overstated. Ellen came back with the most appropriate title possible: ‘Gravity.’ The duality of the word—the gravity of a situation or the immutable universal law—was so fantastic.”
We’re proud to premiere It’s OK!’s “Gravity.”
—Hobart Rowland
