BOTH WORLDS
John Joseph is an imposing figure. As the lead singer for the Cro-
Mags, one of the founding members of the New York hardcore fra-
ternity in the early to mid '80s, John "Bloodclot" was an icon of the
brass-knuckled Lower East Side set. Standing impatiently outside
the Chinatown restaurant at which we plan to meet (I am ten min-
utes late), Joseph is still an intimidating figure, a stocky mass of
thick muscle and heavy ink work. Yet, an easygoing demeanor
betrays his tough as nails look. I approach, offer apologies, and am
introduced to a warmer, gentler John Joseph.
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Joseph's story is a hardcore legend. A street kid growing up in and
around New York City in the '70s, he and his two brothers were fos-
ter home kids, forced to scam on the streets and shoplift for food and
clothes. "But I had this little fucking AM radio that I used to listen
to every night-that was my salvation," he says with a thick New
York accent between gulps of vegan fare. In his late teens, Joseph
roadied for the immortal Bad Brains and, along with former cohort.
Harley Flanagan, began the Cro-Mags, who became instrumental in
making New York hardcore an institution throughout the 1980s.
They would rob drug dealers and
murder people here and there. It
never happened in front of me but
it was known that these guys had
some bodies under their belts
Nowadays, Joseph is pushing his new group, Both Worlds, and their
first full length, Memory Rendered Visible. "Both Worlds" is an appro-
priate moniker for Joseph, who is still a combination of sinister and
sage. A long-time devotee to the Hare Krishna faith, Joseph displays a
well-practiced, ingratiating calm. His well-worn baseball cap reads
"Mastery Through Practice" underneath its Zoo York Institute logo.
But the ex-druggie, ex-convict, and ex-Navy man unleashes an intense
guttural drawl on Memory Rendered Visible that mixes with the band's
spacecore, power rock. But Cro-Mags diehards beware; this is not some
rehash project. "I am not trying to play the same music that I was
playing 15 or 16 years ago. I think I've evolved a bit as a musician
since then," he says with a hint of sarcasm.
But while he and his bandmates-guitarist AJ Novello, who co-produced
the record with bassist Eddie Coen, and drummer Pokey-should be
preparing for a summer tour with Vision of Disorder, Joseph has other
things on his mind. Just two weeks after releasing the record, the band's
record label, Roadrunner Records, unceremoniously pulled tour support
and effectively dropped Both Worlds from its roster. "The guy said the
label is having financial problems, but who the fuck knows. I just wish
they would have done it before they released the record because now we
are in an awkward
ша
and go about our bition. Now we are trying to get an official release
and
t our business," says Joseph. According to Roadrunner
Records' spokesperson, there were company-based factors that prohibited
Roadrunner from fully supporting the band on tour, though she would not
comment on which factors specifically. She said the company felt it would
be in both parties' best interest to end their relationship.
Yet Joseph remains upbeat, taking Both Worlds' bad news in stride.
"They decided to do what they did and I will roll with the punches. That is
the way I have always been my whole life, from being a little kid growing
up on the street to today. I roll with the punches no matter what," he says.
Additionally, Joseph is close to finishing his first screen-
play, a near-autobiographical tale of growing up in a lower
Manhattan neighborhood that had been overrun by drug
dealers during the mid to late 1970s. As a young heroin
courier, Joseph met "this group of guys that were the illest.
They would rob drug dealers and murder people here and
there. It never happened in front of me but it was known
that these guys had some bodies under their belts," he
says, noting that three of his four former cohorts are dead,
while the last one will spend the rest of his life in prison
on a multiple homicide rap.
But Joseph is looking forward to delivering some of his own
blows. This past spring, he enlisted help from some of New
York's biggest hardcore bands like Sick of It All, Burn, CIV,
VOD, and Madball for his Hardcore for Hunger project. The
all-day affair netted more than $10,000 for Prabhupada
Sankirtan Society, Joseph's Hare Krishna that distrib-
A group
utes food to the homeless in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
"The show reminded me of the vibe at the old school hard-
core shows when everyone is hanging out and it's like one
big family," says Joseph. More important, the money allows
the Krishna devotees to buy much-needed kitchen equipment
and extend their food distribution schedule from three days
a week to seven.
But most of Joseph's time these days is spent
dealing with Both Worlds. He has even seemed to
settle things with Flanagan, his one-time Cro-
Mags partner and long-time nemesis. "Harley is
Harley. I got no beef with that guy." Rather,
Joseph is looking to move forward, with his sites
already set on the band's next project. "I still
don't think we have written the album that we
are capable of writing," he says.
Truly mastery through practice.
-Joseph Epstein
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21045 FUGAZ Kesker
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