fter eighteen years, this must have been their zillionth show
A
and probably their eight millionth interview. That's what I
kept thinking wandering through the cavernous Capital
Ballroom in Washington, DC looking for the members of Agnostic
Front-vocalist Roger Miret, guitarist Vinnie "The Legend"
Stigma, bassist Rob Kabula, and drummer Jimmy Coletti (the
same lineup that recorded the classic Victim in Pain LP). After a
three-year hiatus, the band is back with Something's Gotta Give, a
collection of old school hardcore anthems about confrontation
and hardcore pride, as well as Stigma's solo acoustic song about a
beer-drinking dog. But despite their storied heritage, few bands
have worked as hard and persevered as long with as little com-
mercial success as Agnostic Front.
So how did you guys get back together?
Roger: It just happened. It wasn't planned or
anything. Madball was playing a show and they
were going to play one of our songs. But I was
there, Vinnie was there, Rob was there. So we got
up there, did maybe two songs. Two weeks went
by and we saw each other at a matinee. We went
to Vinnie's house, went up on the roof, and decid-
ed to do the single. Then, Vinnie called to set up
a rehearsal. Welcome to rehearsal-it sounded
just like Victim in Pain because that is
knew how to play. We redid a couple of the old
songs, played a à couple of shows, and recorded
the new album a few months after that.
You guys have a love/hate relationship with
record labels. In one respect, they suck and
they don't know what they are doing. On
the other hand, you've indicated that
want a video and your message to get out
there. After all these years, has your view-
ing the ind
point changed regarding the industry?
all they
you
Roger: The industry is important at our level to
get the music all over the world. That is the only
purpose of the industry at this point because we
y at this pont
can do everything else ourselves. But it's the
same vicious circle. When we asked for a video,
we had to pay for the video out of our pockets.
We were promised we would get our
tour money
back and we only got half of it back. But it's
always something that when you get there, they
pull something away-it is always two steps for-
ward, one step back. As soon as you get there,
boom, boom, you're back again. They never let
you get ahead.
Jimmy: They want to keep you hungry so that
you keep working.
Roger: The only people they are keeping hun-
gry are our kids; we got kids over here and they
have to go to school.
How is that? I mean, most of the people in
hardcore don't really have kids.
Rob: I wouldn't say that is true. Everybody in
the other bands playing in the Unity Fest has kids,
except for Maximum Penalty.
Vinnie: Guys in the Bombs have kids. Dropkick
Murphys have kids.
Rob: Guy in the Dropkick Murphys has a 16-
year-old kid.
Jimmy: He sang with us at the show.
Vinnie: The kid's great.
Roger: Hardcore was always our way of life and
when kids came around...my brother was a kid
accepted in the scene. He was six or seven years
old. So we never looked down at that. I was never
like, "You are an old man because you have a
kid." So we want the kids, our own kids, to get
involved with our thing, but that didn't work and
Hanson took over. Our kids are Hansonized. My
ARNOStic
FRONX
kids are into the Spice Girls...it didn't happen the
way it was supposed to.
So hardcore isn't hereditary?
Roger: Nah...she hasn't rebelled yet. She still
may rebel and become a punk rocker. It could be
worse; she could be into hip-hop. I won't tell her
and let her know what really bothers me.
Hardcore has always been music with politi-
cal commentary. After all these years, what
changes have you recognized in the scene's
social politics?
Roger: The scene is evolving and we kind
of flowed. Because you either flow or you
stay back and next thing you know, you're
nothing but old news. And that is what
always
AF alive: we keep in touch with
kept
the people. When things changed, we kinda
changed though not deliberately.
Have you recognized changes within
yourselves?
Roger: I used to say, "Live fast, die young."
Now I want to be old and see my grandchildren.
What can I say? Hey, I don't want to die fast. I
want to see her grow up and get married. I say
live and live.
Vinnie: Live and let live.
Rob: I still say live fast and die young.
Roger, I know you are also involved with
another project, Lady Luck. How does
that fit in?
Roger: It doesn't. When I go home, I do that of
course,
, but i it is like yin and yang. There are two
different fields.
How do you balance these two interests?
Vinnie: It makes his marriage life a lot easier.
Roger: Yeah, my wife sings in it and she's cool
with it. I tell him that if they want, they can find
another bass player, but my wife enjoys writing
music with me and she is cool. She's always like,
"Be nice," and all that. I really enjoy writing that
kind of music but I couldn't write that for AF. It
just won't work.
Do you guys see
this as a second
chance or a second life for AF?
Vinnie: I do in a way. I see it as before Madball
and post Madball, because I kept playing.
Roger: Even though we weren't playing for two
years or so, we always went to the shows and
that's all that matters. Sometimes you become the
center point and everything is around you and
you don't think right until you step out of that cir-
cle. And then you go back in and fix it. That is
what we are
we are doing going
oing back in and reintro-
ducing old school hardcore.
Vinnie: New school hardcore doesn't have the
flavor that old school hardcore does because new
school hardcore has metal riffs in it. It has no fla-
vor. They have good bands but their flavor is a
groove-it's metal, riffs, and a groove.
Roger: Old school is just straight up aggression.
Vinnie: Yeah, straight up aggression.
As a band, what have you learned to do this
second time around?
Roger: We have been a stepping stone for a mil-
lion bands, and then boom, they jump off our
back and they're gone. They don't look back and
they forget. But they have to come down the
same way they went up, know what I mean? We
always seem to stay at a certain level...but we
want to take that leap. I don't want to name
names but why can't a band say, "Hey, you guys
have done so much and have struggled so much.
Come do some shows with us." They wear our
shirts on stage and all that, but why don't they
give us a show and really help us out? That is
what we do to any band; that's what we're
about. The good thing is that we have a
real loyal following. But so many bands
are here today and gone tomorrow.
-Joseph Epstein
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