AGNOSTIC FRONT: NEW BLOOD

NEW BLOOD
Interview with Roger Miret
by Jason Walsh

When one thinks about the New York Hardcore scene, one of the first bands that comes to mind is Agnostic Front. Founded by guitarist Vinnie Stigma in 1980, AF added Roger Miret shortly after the group's inception, and through the highs and lows, the two have continued the legacy for nearly three decades. In recent times, they have added a crew of young guns to the lineup, which has rejuvenated these pioneers of the underground hardcore movement in NYC. Drummer Steve Gallo and brother Mike Gallo on bass, along with Joey James on guitar have brought a new voice to the Lower East Side crew, renewing support and continuing the tradition for the band that has inspired hundreds of hardcore outfits around the world.

As the world enters a new year, I had a chance to talk with Miret about Agnostic Front's history and longevity, the newest record, "Warriors," as well as the current tour and future projects that lie ahead. Newly relocated out West, we also discussed his new family, fatherhood, and the success his younger brother, Freddy Cricien of Madball, has had through his influence and support.

JW: So you told me you relocated to Arizona. Why did you decide to move out there?

MIRET: My wife's from out here and she wanted to finish her studies that she started at ASU years ago. I came here to support her and help her finish her studies and while we were here she got pregnant and we had our baby, Abby. Abby is 17-months old and now she's pregnant again and we're having a little boy.

JW: You think you're going to be out there permanent?

MIRET: Well I'm really liking it here, man. I mean it's affordable and right now we're raising a family, so those are things I have to think about. Back home, back east in New York City, it would be a lot to get a two-bedroom apartment, but we'd probably need a three really soon. The cost of living is more affordable and it's really pretty here. We really like it. The only thing that sucks is that we don't really have any family here, but we're creating our own.

JW: It sounds like it. It's a pretty cool area out there, different kind of climate all together, but yet with all your family back in the city, you probably kind of miss the city a little bit, huh?

MIRET: Yeah. I miss the seasons, y'know, when they come around. That's something that we really miss. Other than that, the climate is so nice over here. I like coming home from touring and coming here. I really feel relaxed, y'know.

JW: Kind of a good place to wind down after you've been on the road for a while?

MIRET: Absolutely.

JW: Well, let's talk about this last year. You guys have been pretty busy. Year before you released "Warriors," couple videos out of that, the Black 'n Blue Bowl in Brooklyn, then you guys started a big European tour after that. Talk about this last year. It's definitely been an active one.

MIRET: Well, we've been really busy. Once "Warriors" came out, we hit the markets pretty quick, but what we did was we went to Europe, and started it off in Europe and maintained it. We did Europe like three or four times and then went to South America. We recently just started touring it for the U.S. We divided the tour into four different parts in the U.S. and we just did the first part, which was all Northeast. We're going to Costa Rica this Saturday for one show and then right after that, we start our West Coast leg. Next year, January into February, we'll be doing the south and southeast, and then we'll eventually go to the Chicago area right after that. We're letting the weather go by.

JW: Yeah, that's probably a smart thing. Follow the sun.

MIRET: Exactly.

JW: The response on the record has been good. Have you been hearing some good stuff from the fans out there on the road?

MIRET: Yeah, we are. Personally, I think "Warriors" is our best offering to date. I think it's definitely a very genuine hardcore record and it speaks very much to the hardcore community. Musical wise, I think it's as intense as the lyrics. I mean it's real genuine. There's a lot of passion in "Warriors" and I think people are really starting to pick that up and y'know, enjoying it.

JW: I got a chance to meet Joey and Steve at the Black 'n Blue Bowl. Some really nice guys, and it seems like these new guys that you got in the band are really putting a bit of fire into the band. Do you think that's accurate?

MIRET: I think it's very accurate. "Warriors" is one of the first records ever that was really written by the whole band, as opposed to "Another Voice," which prior to that was written mostly by myself in the studio with my friend, Jamey (Jasta of Hatebreed). With "Warriors" we did the whole writing as a whole band, which is really cool, and you can actually hear the influences that each guy put in. It's funny because the influences they put in, is very much a kickback to the original stuff that Agnostic Front has been doing for years. I think "Warriors" has elements and combinations of all our records, a great collage of it all.

JW: I got that from Steve when he was describing the record. He was like, "I think it takes parts of 'Victim in Pain,' 'Cause for Alarm,' "One Voice,' and it kind of fuses them all together." It's hitting all the different eras of Agnostic Front. Honestly, as a fan, it's an incredible record and I put it at the top of my list as well, of what you guys have done to date.

MIRET: I think so. I mean, like I said, it's a great collage of our history. I think it's a great record and I hope it doesn't fall on deaf ears and that people really give it a chance and really listen to it. For a hardcore record, not that it's my own record, but I mean there aren't many records as strong as "Warrioirs" that are genuine. Everybody wants to do hardcore, play in a hardcore band, but the passion of a lot of these bands is not there or the longevity. I think the longevity and the secret to our legacy in Agnostic Front is the fact we are genuine and we are very passionate to what we do.

JW: And let's talk about that. Longevity. You guys have been doing this for a long time. What keeps you still as passionate about hardcore, and being in the band and doing Agnostic Front coming into 2009?

MIRET: To me, hardcore is something that spoke to me from the very beginning. It's a movement to me. It's not just music, it's not just something that sounds cool, or lyrical wise what was going on in my generation while I was a teen or whatever. Hardcore is something I committed to and I love being a part of to date. I love hardcore, y'know, hardcore is what has fueled my life. Some people went to high school. I never even went to high school. I joined Agnostic Front and that, to me, was the best diploma I ever got. That commitment I took towards the band and even towards our movement is just as intense today as it was years ago. I may not be living in squats or in vans or in abandoned buildings, blah blah blah, but I still have those memories and I still speak for the oppressed. I still put on the TV and I still see this world, y'know, and it may not be the greatest place in the world, this country. We still got a lot of issues here and we're still voicing them and I've seen the changes over the many years in my career of doing this. I've seen that we can't change the world, but we can make a difference and I've seen that. I'm here to continue making that difference for my own children for as long as I can live.

JW: And that's the thing about hardcore music. It's always been the place to voice against the injustices, not so much we might be able to change them, but we can call out what we see and what is wrong.

MIRET: Right.

JW: So let me ask you, back in the day, how did you find hardcore or did hardcore find you? And, how did you come to become in Agnostic Front?

MIRET: Well, I mean, how did I find hardcore? I knew from when I was young, from a really young age, I can almost pinpoint that, I knew that I was definitely going to walk out of step of society. I knew I was a rebel, I knew I was a misfit, I knew I was out of the norm. I didn't like jocks. I just didn't like the normal stuff, so I knew from a very young age I was going to rebel. Once I saw movies, like "The Wild Ones" and stuff like that, that's what I wanted to be, y'know. I wanted to be James Dean. Little by little, through my life and my journeys at school, I discovered punk rock. I discovered punk rock in '78 and I was still like 13-years old, y'know what I mean, and that was what caught me. I was involved with punk rock for many years until I discovered hardcore. I had discovered hardcore by accident. I was listening to the radio and there was a pirate radio show. I forgot the name of it. Some kind of pirate radio in New York, that's how they used to broadcast stuff, and I heard a band called Urban Waste and I was like "that's pretty damn cool, y'know, I've never heard of that band." I was more into the Brit-punk stuff and that's how I discovered hardcore. I went to go see Agnostic Front, and then I went to see all these bands. I wasn't in Agnostic Front then, I was the third singer, and that's how I got into it, and the next thing you know, I realized it was more than just music. It was more of a really strong, tight-knit family. All the bands I liked, all those Brit punk bands I liked, all lived in the U.K. The Ramones were in America. Hardcore was something I came into automatically. It was my youth, and there was only a few bands that were young, and I automatically found this bond to it.

JW: So, it was something at an early age that you could identify with? It wasn't these "rock stars" on pedestals that were unapproachable. It was people that were in your neighborhood.

MIRET: Right, exactly. But even though some of these bands that may seem like rock stars, like the Clash or the Ramones, they still weren't. I didn't feel I had much to relate to them anymore as much as I did when I met the hardcore community. It was people like me and you. I was like, "oh, these people are cool." We all started all these bands and we weren't very good, but one thing led to another, y'know.

JW: And I think the thing about it was it was fun, wasn't it? I mean that's the bottom line.

MIRET: Yeah. Well it was fun, I finally found a group of people that I felt I belonged to, a place I called home. I wrote about it in one of my songs on "Another Voice." I found a whole community of people that I finally felt like this is my home, and these are the people I could protect, and they protected me. I don't know how to explain it. It was a really welcoming feeling and it's always been that way from then and 'til today, y'know.

JW: Speaking of family, Madball is doing incredible, Freddy, your brother is doing awesome. Black 'n Blue Productions is doing great things in the city. As the older brother, you got to be pretty proud of what Freddy's got going on.

MIRET: I absolutely am very proud of Freddy. I mean, I like threw him out there with Agnostic Front. Freddy is one of those single-digit hardcore guys, y'know what I mean, kids that been into hardcore since he was seven. He actually got up and sang with Agnostic Front. It wasn't safe, y'know, I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about when hardcore was dangerous. He loved the music, he loved the movement, and his passion is great, as mine is. It was just great for me to start a band for him, and to see them take that band that we started for him and kind of live in our shadows, and then kind of take it out of our shadows, and create his own monster, that was absolutely very, very cool. I'm very proud of him, of course, and he deserves it. He's as passionate and genuine as I am and everybody else.

JW: Very cool. So this one leg you're going to be touring on is with First Blood from California and you'll be playing in Arizona. How did you hook up with those guys?

MIRET: We did a tour with them in Europe about two years ago. We've been friends ever since then, so it's kind of cool that two years later that we're all going to do something in the States together. We're doing this West Coast leg and hopefully we'll be able to do some of the dates in the South and Southeast too. Those guys are really good guys, Carl and the guys in First Blood are genuine people, so it's going to be fun. I'm hoping that one of Arizona's local bands, North Side Kings will be on the bill too. I always request them. I think they are a great band, a great local band. It's kind of cool to play around here now because I've made some friends around here so it's kind of fun.

JW: After the end of this tour, are you guys going to take some time off, maybe do some recording? What's the future in 2009 for Agnostic Front?

MIRET: Well the future for Agnostic Front right now, 2009, we still have two more legs of the U.S. tour to work on. I'm having a baby in May.
JW: There is that.

MIRET: That's going to hold us up through the summer unless we do some festivals in Europe. We do have a huge tour planned in South America, which is pretty awesome. It's Agnostic Front and Madball doing South America and Central America, something that hasn't been done before. We just did South America and sold out every major city so it was pretty intense. So now, with my brother, it's going to be really something great, y'know. So, that's the plans for October. We are writing some new stuff and it's going to be fun too.