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By: Gavin Brown
Having just released their brilliant 11th album and prime slice of NYHC, The American Dream Died, Agnostic Front, the legends of New York Hardcore are back. Gavin Brown caught up with frontman Roger Miret to talk about the new album, police brutality and his brushes with the law, the state of the band’s hometown of New York and life on the road.
(((o))): Your new album The American Dream Died is out now. Could you tell us a bit about it and what it’s about. Is the album a commentary on various problems that America is facing at the moment?
Roger: Well yeah, It’s basically pretty much my opinion too of what the American Dream was and what it is today and we’re not talking about homes, cars and apple pie and shit like that, nothing materialistic. I’m talking about little by little chipping away at our constitutional rights and what does freedom mean anymore, who knows? It’s basically questioning those thoughts. You know, there’s a lot of values lost within the American culture.
(((o))): On this record, as with a lot of your work, there is always a positive element even when dealing with negative subjects. Do you feel that this positivity is important and helps when writing the material?
Roger: There’s so much negativity that if you dwell so much then the world could look like a very miserable place. The beauty of it and the thing I love being in this band is I was always able to voice my opinion and voice as a solution. I always speak about oppression and overcoming oppression. I mean, we might not be able to change the world but we can make a difference and that’s always been my mentality. I’m not looking to change anything but to try to make a difference and not just for myself, for humanity and my children and anybody that follows and I’ve seen it happen, I’ve seen things change in very positive ways from the very beginning to where they are now, but there’s still a lot going on, you’ve got to question your government, man, and you’ve got to question what’s going on. Some people just take the back seat and let it roll, but most of the time you’ll find that it’s your own government that fucks you.
(((o))): The track ‘Police Violence’ is especially relevant with cases of police brutality still commonplace, is this something you wanted to address with this song?
Roger: Most of my songs, a lot of it has to do with my own personal experiences too. I was a victim myself of police brutality and that song itself speaks of the abuse of these officers who you’re supposed to trust with their power. I’m not saying every cop is a piece of shit because there’s always good and there’s always bad in everything. I’m just saying a lot, in the people that I’ve experienced myself have abused the situation, abused their power and that’s wrong. My statement is, look, if you’re going to do that, you should be treated like every other ordinary criminal, you shouldn’t have any more protection than any other person that had to go through the same laws. Fair is fair and that’s what that song is all about, about those brutalities and if you see what the world is seeing. I’m not talking about what you don’t see, but if, actually, the world has seen it, physically or if it’s all over YouTube and cameras and you can see what’s going on then there’s got to be some sort of justice out of it and there’s a lot of stuff that’s not on camera too. I get it, but so many people have been getting away with it forever. It still goes on.
(((o))): Do you think that will change?
Roger: Will it change? I don’t know. I really honestly feel like all the stuff going on in America, hopefully we won’t head towards some kind of martial law or something like that. There’s so much stuff going on there, it’s kind of a scary situation. There a lot of the race card being played again and there’s so much going on. Hopefully a lot of the people will have the common sense to learn with each other, respect each other and over see a lot of the stuff hopefully.
(((o))): You have a song on the album called ‘Old New York’. Is that about the New York you grew up in?
Roger: Absolutely. That songs about how I miss that old New York. A lot of people will say, why? You know. It was violent, a lot of crime, but there was something about that time that was magical. The element of danger was the element that created our scene. The whole CBGBs scene, the whole A7 scene. A lotta the bands that came outta there, a lot of the artists, a lot of writers. That element is not in New York anymore. It’s hard to capture those spirits. Yeah there was a lot of other stuff going on, prostitution and all kinds of stuff, but that was all part of the element and you know, I kinda miss some of that. I kinda miss those family values that were there. It’s hard to raise a family in New York nowadays, it’s almost not possible so it’s kinda sad. That’s the kind of New York we speak of and of course it’s not our party and they can say what they want to, but they were magical times we grew up in and I want to sing about it.
(((o))): People talk about the gentrification and cleaning up of New York and it has obviously changed since the days of A7 and the CBGBs matinees, but how do you feel about the city nowadays?
Roger: Well I haven’t lived in New York for almost 10 years. I moved away. I just felt that if this is the New York it’s turning into, which it became then there’s nothing really that much special to me and that could just be anywhere. It doesn’t have that vibe anymore. Gentrification, well they used us to get gentrification started, the punk scene, the hip hop scene, the underground movement was used to clean up stuff and get it popular and get it hip and getting other people to move in. There’s barely any New Yorkers in New York anymore, most of them are transplants and I’m not talking about immigrants, I’m talking about from other states. It’s hard to find a real New Yorker in New York nowadays, you know what I mean. It is what it is, what are you going to do. It’s not my party like I said. It’s just not the same New York.
(((o))): What is it about New York Hardcore that makes people all over the world get do inspired and influenced by it?
Roger: I just feel like the New York Hardcore scene was the one scene, the one movement that made that bridge internationally. Worldwide. No one did it, but New York Hardcore. Bands like Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, Madball, Cro-Mags, Murphys Law, Leeway, these are all bands that created a strong movement, but our voice and especially our message, in bands like Agnostic Front speaking about overcoming oppression became like a worldwide thing. People all over the world felt the same and for some read on they bonded to New York Hardcore. There was so much similarity in other parts of the world, as a lifestyle to that old New York. Berlin, when it first started, London, all these seconds that were similar to New York. Very grungy, very dangerous, very real.
(((o))): With a new album and a new guitarist, are the band excited to be back on the road?
Roger: Absolutely, you know every time we put out a new album we’re really excited. There’s a lot of challenges because it is a new album and we want to play new songs, but sometimes people just don’t know them so it’s hard for us to kind of stop our excitement and present new songs and even though people may be into it and just watch, we gotta do it. We love the songs, we believe in them so we gotta do what we gotta do.
(((o))): Will you be playing much new material?
Roger: I think so, a good 7-8 songs. That’s good enough!
(((o))): After over 30 years as a band you are still touring relentlessly. How much has touring changed since you started?
Roger: Oh, touring’s changed a lot since we started, it’s a little more comfortable nowadays for us, of course we’re all older too, we’re all in our 50s. It’s different, we’re all older, we’re all fathers and a little bit more responsible, back then we were totally irresponsible and crazy. Shit didn’t matter, but now we all gotta go home, we gotta go back to jobs, we’ve gotta go back to families. We’re very calm nowadays, but that doesn’t mean we’re blind to what’s going on. Lyrically wise we’re on top of shit, people wise, we know. We don’t act like we used to, I would throw a garbage can through a McDonalds window years ago. I can’t do that nowadays, too many cameras! Now I go out at night, put glue in the locks and put a toothpick in it!
(((o))): You have always been about unity. Do you still find unity in the hardcore scene whenever you go out on tour?
Roger: I feel like I do, yeah of course. Not just in the hardcore scene, in general. I’m a humanitarian. I’m a New Yorker. I’ve lived amongst people of different races, different religions. I believe people can come together, if they want to do why not.
(((o))): What are your top 3 hardcore records of all time?
Roger: Jesus, that’s a good one. Fuck! Minor Threat would definitely be one of them. Out Of Step. Circle Jerks, Group Sex. And if I had to pick one more. Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. Those are the top 3 records for me. I love them.
(((o))): What was the most memorable show that you ever played at CBGBs?
Roger: Oh fuck, that’s a hard question. I have a lot of memories of CBGBs. A lot of great shows that we played, almost every benefit for CBGBs we played. If I had to pick one memory, the show that Vinnie didn’t play because he smacked his head on the monitor and had staples in his head. We had to play without a guitar, that was definitely a memorable show.
