Ex-Operation Ivy Frontman Jesse Michaels Returns with New Classics of Love Line-up & Self-released World of Burning Hate EP (Bandcamp)

Jesse Michaels is most widely known as the frontman of seminal "East Bay" Ska Punk band, Operation Ivy, which featured both Tim "Lint" Armstrong & Matt "McCall" Freeman, who would later go on to form Rancid. Operation Ivy (or Op Ivy) were only active from about 1987-89, but their '89 debut, Energy—later, re-packaged as Operation Ivy in 1991 and 2007 with additional EP and compilation tracks—helped shape the 90's Ska Punk genre and is often cited as one of the most influential releases across the genre. Michaels would go on to expand his creative talents across art, painting, and literature, as well, and went on to form a number of bands, including Big Rig, Common Rider, and Classics of Love. Jesse Michaels, additionally, guested on a wide array of albums, EP's, and releases by other artists in recent years, including Screeching Weasel, The Bruce Lee Band, Leftöver Crack, One Time Angels, Rise Against, and one-time bandmate Tim Armstrong's Tim Timebomb & Friends.


Classics of Love were initially active from about 2009-12 and prior to disbanding, featured Michaels, along with Hard Girls members Max Feshbach, Morgan Herrell & Mike Huguenor. Classics of Love, actually, took their name from a similarly-titled track from Jesse Michaels' previous band, Common Rider's 1999 debut, Last Wave Rockers. Classics of Love issued an EP, Walking In Shadows, and a full-length self-titled album on Asian Man Records before amicably disbanding in 2012. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, eight years after disbanding, Michaels has decided to effectively re-form Classics of Love with a brand new line-up including Peter John Fontes & Sharif Dumani. "Recently, a new project developed and The Hard Girls boys gave Jesse the OK to keep using the name. This new line-up is Jesse on [vocals] and principle song-writing, Sharif Dumani (Alice Bag, Exploding Flowers, etc.) on guitar and bass, and Peter John Fontes (Los Nauticals, Surf Fronts) on drums," reads a description uploaded to Classics of Love's newly-launched Bandcamp page.


Classics of Love's new EP, World of Burning Hate, was recently uploaded to their Bandcamp page, as well, and rather than a Reggae-influenced Ska Punk record, this one's a straight up Hardcore Punk EP. With five tracks clocking in at less than 10 minutes total, World of Burning Hate EP was recorded in LA at ABC Practice Pad on a Tascam 1-inch MS-16 by Sharif Dumani. Classics of Love further explain they "wrote and recorded these songs over a couple of months in the surreal world of Corona Lockdown, but none of the songs are topical, they are just about how the world is garbage in general." It was engineered by Sharif Dumani and mastered by Mass Giorgini at Sonic Iguana Studios. Jesse Michaels himself told The Witzard, via Instagram Messenger, he's "planning to do a full-length, but it will probably take a long time" because he has "to get the right people and write songs and then, demo them and all that sh*t." Classics of Love's World of Burning Hate EP is now available exclusively on Bandcamp, but it appears as though a 7-inch will be pressed later this year.