Madball Continues to Infiltrate the System

MADBALL CONTINUES TO INFILTRATE THE SYSTEM

interview by Jason Walsh

In the streets of New York’s Lower East Side, a young Cuban kid grew up around some of the most influential musicians in the city’s hardcore scene. At an early age, older brother Roger Miret took the younger Freddy Cricien on tour with his band Agnostic Front, and before he was even ten-years old, he was singing songs on stage during their set. Madball was a side project formed by Miret and AF guitarist Vinnie Stigma for Cricien in 1989, and from there the rest is NYHC history.

Now, twenty years later, an older and wiser Cricien has taken what he has learned on the road and in the streets and diversified the roles he plays within the scene, from producing to managing bands like Wisdom in Chains and Death Before Dishonor, to forming Black N Blue Productions with cohort “Cousin Joe” Cammarata. He has also recently started his own clothing line (FAMILIA) but at the end of the day, Madball remains the top priority.

The band released “Infiltrate the System,” their seventh studio full-length which was received with great response, and are working on new material for their followup, when they are not touring. I had a chance to talk to Cricien about being the busiest guy in the New York hardcore community and something of great importance to him. Family.

JW: So what do you have going on this year?

FREDDY: Oh man, many things. We’re in the process of starting to write the new album. We’re trying to get it out by this year so we’re trying to scramble. You know, we’re not just going to put out any old record. We’ve got a lot of stuff. Everybody’s been writing stuff for some time now so it’s a matter of compiling everything and getting it out. I guess that’s one of the priorities this year and aside from that, just a lot of touring as usual, y’know.

JW: Right. With this new record, you guys just started writing a little bit but haven’t hit the studio or anything like that?

FREDDY: No, I mean we’ve got a lot of material floating around but we’re not in the studio recording just yet.

JW: Any idea when you might get there or is it more or less, when you’re ready to go, you’ll hit the studio?

FREDDY: Yeah, it’s probably going to be when we’re ready to go, we’ll hit the studio. I mean once we’re ready to go, it should go pretty smoothly, hopefully. It’s just a matter of getting to the point where we’re ready. I mean it’s hard too, because we’re also touring a lot. We’re not touring all year round. I like to split up our tours a little more but we’re still pretty busy, y’know.

JW: Last year, at the Black N Blue Bowl, Rigg Ross announced he was leaving the band and you guys brought in Mackie Jayson (Cro-Mags). Now is Mackie still with you guys or did you guys get a new drummer?

FREDDY: We got a new drummer. Mackie helped us out. Rigg, y’know, we’re all still friends, but he had some personal stuff he wanted to handle. We went ahead and let him do that. Mackie was just our boy and he was there at the right time and just helped us out. We weren’t sure if he would be a permanent thing or not, y’know, on both sides. We just kind of went with it. Turns out it ended up not being a permanent thing just because he got really busy with the Cro-Mags stuff and it started conflicting with Madball schedule and that wasn’t really working for us. We decided to just find someone that could be a little bit more dedicated to just our thing.

JW: So who’s this new guy?

FREDDY: We got Ben (Dussault) from Throwdown. He was the Throwdown drummer for the last four or five years and his background is basically he’s a hardcore dude from Canada, you know what I mean, and he’s a solid drummer. He’s got chops and he also understands the history of our band, where we come from, and where we’re trying to go and all that. He’s just a really good fit, we tried him out, and it’s been working out so far.

JW: So he’s fallen into the Madball family pretty easily?

FREDDY: Yeah, yeah. I mean Throwdown was a little bit more of a crossover type situation, musically speaking, but out of all those guys, not trying to dis anyone, but he was like the hardcore dude out of that camp, you know what I mean? So, it kind of worked. He grew up listening to New York hardcore and it kind of fell right into place.

JW: Do you have any touring coming up with the band any time soon or are you gearing up for the Black N Blue Bowl in May?

FREDDY: Uhhh, both (laughs). I’m gearing up for the Black N Blue Bowl as we speak and I also have some scattered stuff with Madball. A one off in Belgium coming up and then we come back and we have a Canada run, then the Black N Blue Bowl, and then I have stuff after that. The way Madball tours these days, the tours are smaller, or shorter rather, but we still cover a lot of ground throughout the year, y’know.

JW: Does that make it a little bit easier to do it like that as opposed to doing long tours?

FREDDY: Yes, that’s definitely a conscious thing on my part. It makes life easier, it makes home life easier, and it makes it still exciting when we go out there and do it. I mean we could be on tour every day of the year if we wanted to, which I guess is a cool thing. Not every band is in that position and it’s a cool thing that we have that option. I’d rather not be on tour every day of the year. I’d rather do a few weeks out of every month or a month here, you know what I mean? That’s just the way I prefer it and the guys don’t have a problem with it so that’s how we do it.

JW: Does that help rejuvenate the band? You do these short stretches, you come home, you get a new burst of energy before you hit the road again. I mean, does that kind of help you guys?

FREDDY: Yeah, definitely man. You regroup and then when you come and do it, like I said before, it’s that much more exciting when you go back out there. You’re not burnt out and you haven’t been on the road for your third month.

JW: So, tell me about the BNB Bowl at the end of May this year. I saw the lineup. It looks like it’s going to be kick ass.

FREDDY: Yeah, it’s shaping up to be a pretty cool lineup, man. It’s hard. Every year it gets harder because bands are touring more and more and it’s hard to lockdown a good lineup during that time of year.

JW: It’s got to be hard to get so many good quality bands together all at the same time.

FREDDY: That’s exactly what I’m saying. Exactly what I’m saying. It’s not an easy task (laughs). Whether it be younger bands or older bands, everybody’s out there these days, you know what I mean, so it’s a hard task but I think we’re going to manage again this year. We have tons of bands: Earth Crisis, Bold, Crown of Thornz, Murphy’s Law…a bunch of bands. Tons. A couple younger bands. We’re going to officially announce it in the next few days and hopefully it’s going to be another great time. So far, knock on wood, every event has been great, turnout-wise and just show-wise, y’know, just everything. They’ve been peaceful, fun, and that’s what we’re in it for, y’know.

JW: Aside from the music and all that, you’re a busy man. You got this clothing line you’re doing. You’re managing and producing a couple bands like Wisdom in Chains and Death Before Dishonor.

FREDDY: I’m doing all kinds of shit, man (laughs).

JW: Tell me about all that stuff you’re involved with.

FREDDY: In this day and age, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. As I’ve gotten older and more involved in this world, and on the business side and the creative side, I’ve come to realize, Madball will always be a priority for me, but I also have other things and other interests, on the business side of things and even creatively. You know I’ve got a hiphop project. I’ve always been a big fan of hiphop since I was a little kid. I’ve always been involved in that culture so I’m finally dropping my hiphop record. And yeah, I manage a few bands and the management thing just kind of came from me managing Madball and just kind of spiraled into helping out a few other bands. I got to produce an Agnostic Front record last year. I’m pretty excited about that actually and I can’t complain really at this point. I’m just trying to build on everything, but Madball has been the catalyst for it all, y’know.

JW: And that’s the thing. To do a band is one thing, but to be able to branch off and do these different things. Is it rewarding for you, not just talking about making money and all that, but to be able to spread it out like that.

FREDDY: It’s definitely not financial just yet (laughs). I mean I get by, don’t get me wrong. I pay my rent. I take care of my family and I pay my bills and all that but I’m not in the lap of luxury, you know what I’m saying. The reward is more so just the fact that I was never a one-dimensional type of individual anyways and to be able to do these other things, to be given the opportunity to do these other things, that’s where the reward is for me personally. Then, of course, financially things get better then that’s great as well, because we can all use that. First and foremost, the clothing line was something I’ve been twirling around for a while. People were saying, “Everybody’s got a clothing line. You might as well do one too.” That’s almost the reason why I didn’t want to do one. I had an idea to do one, you know my clothing line is called FAMILIA, and to kind of bring my Latin roots and that aspect into my clothing, you know, not just a hardcore clothing line or hiphop clothing line. More something touching my Latin roots and that was the way to express that side. Relatives of mine are on my shirts, you know what I mean? The first shirt I put out is a shirt of my uncle in the 60s in Cuba. It’s very family related.

JW: You’re family’s got to be pretty proud that you would include them in something you’re doing creatively. They’ve got to think that’s pretty cool.

FREDDY: Yeah, without a doubt. I mean I’ve always been about family. Before the music and after the fact, family will always be there for you. I’ve always been big on family. I talk about it in my lyrics with Madball and it’s an important thing. Whether it’s dysfunctional or not or whatever, family can be your blood relatives or people you’ve grown up with that are like your brothers and sisters. I’m very big on family and they’re psyched about it and so am I.

JW: Last question, what can the kids and fans and family expect from Madball in 2009.

FREDDY: What can they expect? Brutality…hahaha. That’s what they can expect. No, I mean we’re going to bring it how we always bring it. When I do Madball, I want it to be as authentic as possible and as hard as possible and still fresh because we’re a band that, y’know with 2009, marks twenty years that we exist as a band. That’s a good thing and it’s also can be a negative. People could be like, “Well, do they still got it? What are they going to bring to the table?” We like proving to everyone, that not only do we still have it, but we can bring something refreshing to the table in being in the game this long. We’re like fine wine. We’re all getting better as we get older. Hopefully, we can give them something better than the last. That’s what we go for…better than the last.