P
ARRIS MAYHEW,
guitarist, co-founder,
and co-composer of
the Cro-Mags, tells us why
old school or new school
is all irrelevant. This is
New York City Hardcore.
Cro-Mags
How well have you been received this time out?
Photo: Singer/Bassist Harley Flanagan by Patrick Graham
I can't imagine being received better. I have heard more than ten times a
night from the crowds that it was the best show that they've ever seen in
their lives.
Who are you and Harley touring with now?
This guy Rob Buckley, he's a fuckin' great guitar player. Our drummer's
name is Gary Sullivan. Gary's big gig of note was that he did a world tour
with the B-52s. He played in front of the President at the inaugural ball.
What about yourself? What have you been doing since Best Wishes
came out?
I have been working in the film business, directing music videos. I directed
the longest-running number one video on MTV ever: Onyx's "Slam." I also
did Type O-Negative's "Black Number One," Kings X "Dog Man," Insane
Clown Posse "Chicken Hunt," Run-DMC "Whatcha Gonna Do?" and five
videos for Biohazard-I've done a lot.
of this vision and how close to death he
has come. This record has more value
than any of the other records, and what-
ever intellectual or philosophical con-
tent you get out of this record will be
more valuable than what you got before.
Also, it is just a more well-written album.
We didn't sit down to write a hardcore
album when we made Revenge, we just
wrote the songs that Harley and I liked.
Are you planning to stay independ-
ent, or is there a chance of getting
on a label sometime soon?
There is no chance. Record labels are
designed to make money for record
You were playing under the name White Devil and then Samsara. labels. They prey upon the needs of the
Did that just evolve into the Cro-Mags reunion?
I wouldn't really call it a Cro-Mags reunion. When we got together and
started playing music again, we didn't know what we were going to call it.
We didn't realize that we had to call it Cro-Mags because that's what it is.
We went out on tour as White Devil, and everybody said, "Oh, those guys
from the Cro-Mags." We went on tour as Samsara and everybody said, "Oh,
those guys from the Cro-Mags." Especially once we started recording stuff
and we listened to the tape-Harley and I listened to it, and we were like,
this is the best Cro-Mags album ever.
Who are some of your influences?
You'd think your influences would be very direct and identifiable, but a lot
of the things I do that I pick up from another musician you wouldn't be able
to recognize. A lot of the ways I arpeggiate chords I definitely get from
Jimmy Page. The way I play low fifths on my chords is something I got from
Alex Lifeson from Rush. So you never know who you are going to get an
influence from. Definitely the biggest root foundation influence of the Cro-
Mags is Motörhead. When I was writing the songs on Age of Quarrel, I was-
n't thinking to myself that I was writing a hardcore album. I thought I was
writing songs that sounded like Motörhead. When I wrote the riff to "World
Peace," I was like, "Yeah, this sounds like something Lemmy would have
written." Swear to God.
What about the remix stuff that you just put out, Before the Quarrel?
Those are the demos for Age of Quarrel which we put out as a cassette right
before we got signed to Profile Records and they stopped us from releasing it.
But it is a completely different recording from Age of Quarrel. Around the New
York area that tape is revered as THE New York hardcore recording.
On the new album, is there still much of a Krishna conscious con-
tingent within the lyrics?
That was more Harley's thing, and I have no inclination one way or the
other as far as religion.
You're strictly down for playing good music?
I want to stress that the Cro-Mags is a vehicle for music. When we made
Age of Quarrel, nobody knew what that was. There wasn't a sign posted that
said "hardcore this way." I thought I was just writing songs that sounded
like Motörhead. I wrote "World Peace" when I was 15. Then when I was 21
we made Best Wishes, and here we are ten years later and that's a classic,
and now Revenge comes out, and it's different. To me, they are all the
same except this one is better. I have had a whole lifetime as a grown
man to think and develop musically. Harley's life has changed and the
songs reflect that change in an interesting way. I would sit down with
him and say, "You tell these stories about the past and they are so
insane, but that's not the person you are anymore. It would be great
to paint that picture and show how your life has changed." The
song "Tore Up" just sounds like this ill song about getting crazy
and taking drugs and being violent, but there is a vision at the end
of the song where he sees an angel and he changes his life because
band in their early stages. We fortu-
nately got involved in a record deal as
White Devil where we got signed to
Universal Music and Polygram right
before Universal bought Polygram-we
got caught up in this merger that lasted
two years. Every band that was signed
during the merger was dropped when
the merger was completed. I kept push-
ing and pushing the label to record us
and do what
Iwe needed to
do so when the
merger was over,
we could put out
our record. That way,
if anything went bad,
at least the record
would be done. When
everything did go bad, I
got the label to release the tapes
and all the artwork. So everything
we have on Revenge, Universal
Music paid for, but they gave it to us
for free. We were incredibly lucky. I
spent four months outside Leonard
Cohen's office, the president of
Universal Music. Because of my
relationship with him as a film.
director, I am allowed to stand out-
side his door and annoy him. Finally,
I got him to get the upper corporate
people to release my tapes.
How long had it been since
Revenge was recorded then?
About two years.
A long time coming.
That wasn't a problem, because
we aren't some band following
some other band in a genre that's
gonna grow old. We can record an
album and wait six years, because
to us they're just songs. Our records
are not going to get dated. When
our record came out, people said,
"Oh my God, this is a
breath of fresh air."
This is some-
thing that they
know is familiar,
but it's new, which
is great. There seems
to be this whole wave
of bands just trying to
sound like Korn, which
is a great band. Now if
the imitators recorded a
record and waited two
years, there'd be a problem,
because they are trying to
recreate something. else,
whereas we are just writing songs.
I would hope a good song would
last forever.
Thanks for your time.
I have been a skater since clay
wheels. I skate all the time. I used to
skate on different teams when I was
younger. I rode for Wayne Brown, and
G&S when I lived in Texas. I used to
compete, freestyle. I would do an
interview with Thrasher any day.
-Dietrich
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