Operation Ivy is back, sort of. Though it existed for just a few brief years in the late ‘80s, the ska punk band has long been considered one of the most influential acts to ever come out of the California scene. Is one and only LP, Energy, is still considered one of the best punk albums of all time. Though half of the quartet—Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman—went on to form Rancid, frontman Jesse Michaels joined some other bands and became a painter. He performed a few times with Rancid a few years back, but the group has always denied they’d ever reunite.
Never say never, though. Armstrong and Michaels have just released a new track together, which totally means (or totally doesn’t) that Op Ivy is just seconds from getting back together. “Living In A Dangerous Land” is a pretty straightforward punk cut, and while, as Consequence Of Sound notes, “it comes nowhere close in quality to anything on” Energy, it’s still pretty good. Take what you can get, Op Ivy fans.