Interview: Madball
People still care about what we do, and care about new stuff that we do. That's what motivates us to keep us going.
New York Hardcore legends Madball have just brought out their tenth album, the hard hitting Not Your Kingdom which sees the band still delivering the goods after all these years, and still full of the same high energy as they have always had. Gavin Brown had the pleasure of talking to Madball vocalist Freddy Cricien about Not Your Kingdom as well as discussing everything from Madball’s touring to hardcore and hip hop in a great interview with a true hardcore king.
E&D: Your new album Not Your Kingdom has just come out. How excited are you to be back with this album?
Freddy: Very. I mean, it’s been a while, so just to have anything new is exciting for. We’ve been touring, haven’t stopped doing what we do, but yeah, it’s always nice to have new music, and this one we’re especially proud of. So, yeah, we’re very excited.
E&D: How is the new lineup of the band working out?
Freddy: My bass player, Paul, who joined us for the album, and then officially joined us as a band member. He actually had subbed in for us many times over the years, so he’s always kind of been a go-to guy for us whenever we needed a bass player. He did tours with us 20 years ago, in Europe and the States, so he’s not new in our world, he’s an old friend, but he’s new to some people. Mike Gurnari, our guitarist, he’s going on nine years in the band, that’s longer than some bands these days have existed! Mike J, he’s been in the band 15 years, so they may be newer faces to older heads from way back when, but these guys have been with me for quite a while. It’s just that we haven’t recorded in about eight years or so. I mean, we’ve been solid, these guys are great across the board, great people, great live players, and great songwriters,
E&D: Having known everyone for so long, it must feel like a family. Is that an important thing for Madball?
Freddy: I think for Madball, traditionally, yeah, it’s always been an important thing to know the people that you’re surrounded by, that you have to live with, for pieces at a time throughout the year, and it ends up adding up to good amount of time, so you want to trust the people, you want to know them, you want to get along with them. We’ve done pretty good traditionally by doing that throughout the various lineups we’ve had since the beginning, about keeping it family. There’s been a couple of people here and there that have come and gone that didn’t quite fit the mould, but for the most part, the people we’ve had usually fit that mould and these guys are as solid as they come.
E&D: One the songs on the album is ‘Rebel Kids’. Do you feel that a sense of rebellion is missing in hardcore today?
Freddy: It can be for sure. I think it’s there for some people, and then for others it’s just as usual, you know. For me, that was more personal, that song, because of feelings I had when I wrote it, and it’s pretty much the first song that ended up being on Not Your Kingdom, because the song, lyrically and conceptually, had been around for a while and during the pandemic, is when I actually wrote that song, and then we made it an actual full-on musical thing, maybe a year and a half before the album, so yeah, that the spirit of that song has been alive for a bit.
E&D: Is a song like ‘Rebel Kids’ and ‘Can’t Stop Won’t Stop’ as well, the true spirit of Madball?
Freddy: I mean the ‘Rebel Kids’ theme is definitely the spirit of Madball for sure. We’ve always rebelled against a lot of things. It’s more direct on this album, there’s more themes that directly relate to that. But, yeah, in general, that’s the spirit of our culture, really. If you think about it, hardcore punk is supposed to be a rebellious culture, and we have our own version of it.
E&D: How did your recent European tour go, and how did the material from the new album go down?
Freddy: It went well, It was a great tour, We did four new tracks, which is pretty risky when the album wasn’t out yet, but I think they went over a great. We did ‘Rebel Kids’ and ‘Tethered’, obviously the two singles, and then we also did ‘What Say You,’ and we throw ‘Flammable’ in there because it’s a really quick, fast, hardcore song, and we were like, they might not even notice it’s a new song, you and it’s been doing its job, because it’s just a quick, crazy song, and it gets people moving, so yeah, no complaints across the board. It was good experience,
E&D: You’ll be back in Europe once the album is released and then touring in the US and Mexico. Will you be playing live shows for the rest of the year and into next year?
Freddy: We have a bunch of stuff to fill out the year. We definitely come back end of July to Europe when the album drops, it’s festival season, all that stuff. We’ve got a bunch of club shows in between. Then we come back and do Eastern Canada, and a couple of festivals in the States and Canada. September is the Mexico thing that you’re talking about, and October back to Europe for Only The Hard, which is an Eastern European thing that we do, and then November, there’s some stuff in the States, it’s pretty cool stuff, and I think that’ll round out the year.
E&D: Are you already looking into the next year’s live dates as well, and will you be making it back over to the UK.
Freddy: Absolutely, I mean, that’s the hope. We’ve been frequently recently, so it’ll probably be later than expected to the UK, but definitely next year, for sure.
E&D: Do you have good memories of those early Madball tours in the UK and Europe. I saw you on 1995 on Bradford with Punishable Act, my first hardcore show and it was incredible!
Freddy: Yeah, that was one of our first ones, great memories. I can’t remember if we had met them just before that or that during that tour, but we linked up with the guys from the legendary The Business, and sparked the friendship with them that still goes on today. RIP Mickey, and a bunch of other friendships, the guys from Knuckledust, Wema and the boys. I mean, Wema still will come out on tour with us pretty much every time we do the UK. There were some really solid friendships that came from those first tours, and I think we established ourselves in the UK. The culture, everything was pretty new to us, and we loved it. It was awesome.
E&D: Do you still get the same excitement playing live that you always did, even from back then?
Freddy: I think we have to, you know, I get something out of it for sure. You can go up there and say, well, somebody’s giving me a couple bucks, it’s another payday, or whatever, and just phone it in, but I’m of the school of, if your heart’s not fully into it, don’t do it, and then maybe that shows, and that’s why, even though we’re older, we can still hang with the young people, because we don’t go up there and just phone stuff in.
E&D: What have been some of the favourite live shows that you’ve done with Madball over the years?
Freddy: Oh man, so many. I mean, they span from like the time you’re talking about in the 90s, the early days, That was the discovery period. We’re just figuring ourselves out and figuring ourselves out as a band, as people, we were young guys, you know. So, so many great memories from the 90s until now. I mean, some of the best shows we’ve played in our lives were in the past couple years, you know, like festivals, or just random shows in South America, or Europe, it’s really hard to pinpoint!
E&D: Having done so many?
Freddy: Yeah, and thankfully, there’s been recent ones that have held up, that have been as good as others that I can remember.
E&D: That must feel good for you after all these years?
Freddy: Yeah, it’s sort of the beacon of light that keeps us going, when we can still have those experiences and still fill up a room or something, and people still care about what we do, and care about new stuff that we do. That’s what motivates us to keep us going. I’m not going to say every show we ever do is a mind-blowing experience, of course, you’ll have some shows that don’t do that, have that effect, but it’s been good, and hardcore is a healthy place too, so that doesn’t hurt.
E&D: This year marks 30 years of the Demonstrating My Style album. What are your main memories of making that record?
Freddy: Oh boy, yeah, many memories, funny ones! I mean, just a lot of pressure writing lyrics outside, as the guys were cutting the songs, and putting down some tracks in the studio, I’m outside. We were in, Massachusetts, where we did a lot of those records, Set It Off, Demonstrating My Style, Look My Way. Those records were done in, like different Mass studios, but yeah, Demonstrating My Style specifically, there was a lot of funny memories from that when we stayed in a haunted house! We would hear noises all the time, and it was this haunted building, and the guys and I would go there after the studio session, and we’d hear weird stuff! That was one memory that you can’t forget. We were the only ones in the building, and we would hear walking in the stairs and all kinds of weird creaks and things, and this place is definitely haunted, it’s from the 1800s in Northern Mass, so yeah, good chance if you believe in that stuff, funny stuff like that, more like a lot of innocent stuff like that!
E&D: Do you still get that same buzz going into the studio and making music even though you’re now on your tenth album?
Freddy: Yeah, I do. The newest one we just did was one of the more enjoyable ones I’ve done, maybe ever. To touch on what I said before, back then we were younger, we’re getting to know ourselves, we’re discovering a lot of things. Now we know more about ourselves, not saying that we’ve fully figured it all out or fully figured ourselves out, because I don’t think you do that until, I don’t know, maybe never. But we know who we are, not only as people, but as a band. We know what to do musically, there’s a lot more confidence there, so writing wise as well, we went into it with maybe less pressure than back then, even though, yes, there was pressure, because it’s number 10, and there’s a lot of factors, there’s a lot of things about it that you can really put some pressure on yourself, but thankfully I was with a group of guys that are really cool, easy to get along with, but also really great writing partners, so it made the whole experience shockingly smooth, you know, even though we were all lived in different places, and some of the stuff we had to send voice memos to each other, and put songs together remotely sometimes, but then one of us would put it all together, and, take the guitars, basically, that would be MJ, because he had a setup, and he would be the last one. He put the drums on it last, and he even threw bass on a few of the tracks until we got Paul in the mix. For being long distance, it was pretty crazy how it was so symbiotic. And then when we got together in person, the times that we did that, it all felt natural. So this was one of my more fun, I guess you could say, or just more relaxed, and good experiences, because a lot of those early days records, they were fun. We had our fun, but there was tremendous pressure. I was new to writing lyrics, I’d be outside trying to finish up, and then I’d track it, and I wasn’t always happy with the way I tracked it, but we would just have to keep moving, and I’d have to do one song 35 times. It was just a different time.
E&D: Have you got plans to do more hip hop stuff as Freddy Madball?
Freddy: I do. You’re not the first person to ask me recently. A lot of people have been serious about that, and that’s entirely my fault, because I do have a lot of beats and stuff like that that. I’m sitting on lyrics but I’ve just been so focused on Madball and my family that I haven’t sat to put it all together, I probably have two records worth of stuff if you laid it out, but I’m gonna get to it for sure. I’m gonna do another hip hop record. I’m excited to do it too.
E&D: Just trying to find the time?
Freddy: Yeah, because id that for fun, first and foremost. I’ve always been a hip hop head. I’ve always loved this and if I sell a few copies and it helps me pay for the studio expenses, or whatever else, fine, but it’s not like I’m depending on it to eat, but it did resonate with people, so I’m excited to put out another one for sure.
E&D: Have hardcore and hip hop always gone like hand in hand for you, especially in New York?
Freddy: For me personally, they have, yeah, everyone’s different, there’s different types of people. The generation before me, they know about hip hop, but they were more like punk guys that liked hip hop. I was a hardcore kid first and foremost, and a hip hop kid too. I was kind into both simultaneously, because they’re both a similar age. New York hardcore and hip hop are very close in age, so when I got introduced to hardcore, hip hop was obviously in its early stages as well, and that culture just spoke to me a lot as well, just the whole break dancing, the graffiti, and then obviously the music, and I just came up in both, and I know a lot of guys from my generation that are the same. It’s funny, it’s my generation that has that connection with hip hop, and also hardcore.
E&D: Have Madball played with rappers and hip hop groups as well?
Freddy: We have. A lot of them have been at festivals, which were pretty cool, which I love about Europe. We played with Ice Cube, we’ve played with Ice T in a festival format. At a club level, we played with Cypress Hill in New York, we’ve also played festivals that they were on, and we played with the Beatnuts in the 90s, who are a group from Queens, New York. Hoya, who used to be in the band, grew up down the block from Juju, and the guys in the Beatnuts in Corona, funny enough, so there was a connection there.
E&D: Have you ever done your hip hop stuff with Madball on the same bill?
Freddy: No, I’ve never done that. I don’t know if I’ll consider it. I mean, maybe, nothing’s ever off the table, man. I’ve done Hazen Street, that’s another project I was involved in, and Madball. We did a whole tour of that a few years ago. One of my branded tours that I do in Europe, we brought Hazen Street along, so I had two sets every night, that was fun, I’ve never done hip hop, and Madball at the same time, you never know.
E&D: What rappers are the biggest inspirations for you?
Freddy: Where do I begin? I want to preface this by saying I love all music, by the way. I’m influenced by many, many artists, in general, and that’s not just hardcore artists, obviously, just everything. I have to start with someone like Rakim, who’s your favourite rappers, favourite rapper. Chuck D from Public Enemy. Then I have to mention, Nas is great, Kool G Rap is great. There’s just so many, as far as groups go. There’s Cypress Hill NWA, Public Enemy. KRS One is great. I love Biggie, Mobb Deep, Gang Starr. I like a message. PE was great about that, it always had a strong message, and Chuck D had a very specific style, but yeah, I mean, all those guys I mentioned, all that kind of rap always, always spoke to me. Slick Rick is one of my favourite MCs, and I think he’s underrated. ‘La Di Da Di’ was one of my first hip hop things, and then later on, a lot of his storytelling stuff is great. Ice Cube was a big one for me as well, from the West Coast, Ice T later on, did something with us, which was crazy, because I used to listen to Ice T. Not even so much with the Body Count stuff, but as a rapper. ‘Colors’ is a masterpiece, ‘6 ‘N the Mornin’. The OG record had a lot of great songs on it, so yeah, and it’s cool that we’ve come full circle with some of it as far as it goes.
E&D: Going back to hardcore, do you have good memories of coming up in New York with your brother Roger and Vinnie Stigma, and the New York hardcore crew?
Freddy: Oh, yeah, I certainly do. Lot’s of craziness, a lot of chaos, but also a lot of fun times, in New York City and on the road with AF.
E&D: What do you sort of miss about New York in those days?
Freddy: The New York that I grew up with specifically, I mean, some of that grit and some of that danger has sort of resurfaced in recent years. It came a period where the hipster invasion happened, which actually brought some good things, a lot of great coffee shops, more restaurants in areas where restaurants weren’t usually a thing, with some of the gentrification, or whatever you want to call it, there’s always some good that comes out of it, but the bad part is that some things get a little bit too glossy, and people start coming in and not respecting that it’s still New York, and there’s still an element of danger, and you still have to mind your manners, and mind your p’s and q’s. I guess I miss a little bit of edginess that went away towards the end of when I was there, but, like, I said, that has sort of ramped back up, and that’s not a great thing, you know. As an older person, I don’t love some of the things that I loved when I was younger, if that makes sense, and I think that’s just called growing up, that’s called evolving a as a person. Some of the things that I might have thought were cool when I was a teenager running around in New York, I might not think are that cool today, so it’s all perspective, man. I haven’t lived there in some years, so I miss the energy of New York, and to be fair, even when I was living there, even though it had lost some of its edge, New York still had an energy about it. It’s still New York City, it still has a vibe, a thing about it, and I think it’ll probably always have that when you step into a certain area,. It’s a unique place.
