Black Flag singer Max Zanelly misses the US tour over a work visa issue

Black Flag will tour the United States without their singer. Max Zanelly has hit a work visa issue that prevents her from performing on the run, and vocalist London Downey has been brought in to front the hardcore punk band for the duration.

Founding guitarist Greg Ginn announced the change on the band's social media accounts, describing the problem as an issue Zanelly is working to resolve and thanking Downey for stepping in at short notice. Ginn said Zanelly is looking forward to seeing everyone once the situation is sorted out.

The timing is tight. The tour opens on 3 September at Belly Up Aspen in Colorado, two days after the announcement, and runs 45 dates through to a Houston show on 1 November. Colorado Springs, Boulder, Salt Lake City, Boise, Billings, Fargo, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Atlanta are among the stops.

The lineup being disrupted is itself a recent construction. Ginn, now 72, relaunched Black Flag in 2025 with himself and three musicians in their early twenties, a configuration that drew attention for the age gap as much as the music. Zanelly, bassist David Rodriguez and drummer Bryce Weston made up the rest of the band.

Ginn has said he picked Zanelly for the job after seeing her in the crowd at a Black Flag show months earlier, screaming along to every word. That origin story has been part of how the current version of the band has been presented, which makes her absence from a 45-date run more conspicuous than a standard fill-in would be.

Downey takes the microphone for the tour rather than joining the band, and the announcement frames the arrangement as temporary. It is the second time in recent memory that a founding member's control over a legacy rock name has decided who stands at the front of it, and the dates are listed on the tour guide.