Hardcore punk legends DFL release new single ‘NO U DON’T’

U.S. hardcore punk veterans DFL (Dead Fucking Last) return with ferocity, dropping their brand-new single “No U Don’t” through European punk powerhouse SBÄM Records. The track sees the Los Angeles trailblazers reconnecting with their roots while breaking new ground in their three-decade-spanning legacy.

“This is more like a classic DFL song,” says guitarist Monty Messex. “It’s about pent up frustration about… uh… God knows what. I’m angry,” he says. “‘No U Don’t’ is all classic DFL with vocalist Crazy Tom howling while I crank out a high speed, charging riff. The track is more about the emotion of anger than any particular event as evidenced by a line near the end where I scream, ‘Now… you’re gonna DIE!’ We’re all angry sometimes and sometimes you just want someone or something or some inanimate object to frikkin die. That’s what this song is about.”

https://bfan.link/no-u-dont

DFL began in 1993 when Monty Messex decided to start a punk band with Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys and renowned skateboarder Crazy Tom Davis. The trio bonded over their shared roots in the first wave of hardcore. In 1981, Messex formed early hardcore band the Atoms (which included a pre–Guns N’ Roses Izzy Stradlin), while Horovitz came up in the early NYC hardcore scene with The Young and the Useless before joining the Beastie Boys during their own hardcore beginnings. Davis, meanwhile, was a fixture of the Marina Del Rey skate scene.

“In 1993, I was obsessively listening to Bad Religion’s How Could Hell Be Any Worse,” Messex recalls. “I had this beat-up cassette that I’d listen to over and over again on my Walkman. That record brought me back to the early ’80s hardcore scene I grew up on — the Circle Jerks, the Germs, The Adolescents. I wanted to make a record that called back to the initial rush I got from that early scene.”

Without much planning, Messex linked up with Horovitz — then recording the Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head — and floated the idea of starting a hardcore band. 

“I literally remember the moment when we started DFL,” Messex says. “Adam dropped by my place in Echo Park and kinda half joking I asked him if he wanted to start a hardcore band. To my surprise he was like, ‘uh… yeah!’ I had a few songs and we went over to G-Son. I played them for Adam and the band was born right there and then.”

Shortly after, Messex and Horovitz recruited ‘Crazy’ Tom Davis for his explosive voice and unpredictable energy, along with drummer Tony Converse. The band recorded their debut My Crazy Life in the time it takes to listen to it — about 20 minutes. Produced by the Beastie Boys’ in-house producer Mario Caldato, the album delivered 15 tracks of raw, ragged hardcore that captured the band’s manic live energy and irreverent humor.

In 1995, DFL released their sophomore LP Proud to Be on Epitaph Records. Though Horovitz had stepped away to focus on the Beastie Boys, he produced the album, helping shape another lo-fi, high-speed ripper that swam against the mainstream tide of the mid-’90s and later became a cult favorite.

The band’s third album, Grateful… (1997), was their most experimental — incorporating Balinese interludes, Sabbath-style slow burners, and presented as a single 26-minute track. Despite the creativity, DFL split just before its release and never toured behind it.

Messex and Davis reunited DFL in 2013, returning with their first new material in 24 years — YRUDFL (SBÄM Records, 2021) — to critical acclaim. The current lineup features Patrick Sullivan on bass and Snare Jordan on drums. DFL has been recording new material with punk rock icon Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise, with additional releases slated for 2025–2026 via SBÄM Records.