The Godfather of NYHC lives in AZ now

Voodoobillyman - 1-25-2007 at 06:27 PM

Punks grow up, too.

Just ask Roger Miret, vocalist for Agnostic Front - a punk/metal/oi band that helped defined the New York hardcore sound back in 1981. AF has outlasted most of their contemporaries (Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, etc.) and done so with grace.

"I'm just not that angry anymore," the 42-year-old Miret says about the difficulty in writing songs these days. This, from that guttural voice spitting lyrics about social justice on anyone within earshot of their 11-minute debut LP, Victim in Pain?

Miret and his new wife recently relocated to Arizona from New York, and are expecting their first child together.

He is also the father of a 20-year-old daughter, from his former relationship with Nausea singer Amy Keim.

Still, his passions are poured into numerous creative outlets - in addition to AF duties, Miret fronts Roger Miret and the Disasters (who just released their third album, My Riot), and serves as national president of the The Rumblers Car Club, where he gets to flaunt his 1932 Chevy Coupe with other car enthusiasts.

Dirty Devil Apparel, Miret's own Kustom Kulture-inspired clothing line, debuts in February at Magic (a fashion industry trade show held annually in Las Vegas).

At the time of this interview, he was also en route to Florida, where he'll appear while producing a punk record for Yoji Harada of the TLC show Miami Ink.

Punk rock's 21st-century popularity doesn't bother the old-schooler.

"Like anything that gets big, it always gets watered down," he says. "But there's always a really good core underground following that remains. There's always young kids discovering something new, something real. It's also safer, which I like better. Granted, it was rough when I grew up - nobody knew us, nobody accepted us. Today it's nothing for kids to have spiked hair or long hair or tattoos. Back then, you were definitely an outcast."

Like most bands, Agnostic Front paid their dues.

"We've done many basement tours - we played a bar mitzvah out west once in Arizona or New Mexico. We didn't know it was a bar mitzvah until we got there. We only had 15 minutes of music but we played it twice. Then the mother took us out to eat ice cream," he says with a laugh.

These days Miret enjoys the band's status as the "godfathers of New York hardcore," but empathizes with young upstarts: "Clubs and labels are more accommodating now - which is good for us, but for new bands starting out, it's kind of tough. There are only so many national places to play and there are so many national acts on tour, that unless you have some kind of recognition, it's hard to get into clubs without doing a basement tour."

He says he does not resent the "mall punks" of today, though he did at first. "I grew up making my own T-shirts and pins and stuff like that ? but I can't get jaded by that. Kids go to Hot Topic and it may be their introduction to punk or metal, and then they discover things on their own. Everyone's got to start somewhere. Nobody's born with tattoos," he says, before joking: "But I was."

Miret hopes his new child will share some of his family's ideals. (Brother Freddy Cricien sings for Madball, who are playing some of the dates on this tour). "I think punk rock is great. They kind of put it in your head what you should like these days, but I want my child to go out and discover bands, pick up a record and read what they're about, hopefully use the Internet in a good way. I really don't like downloading music - what about the other efforts of the band, like the artwork and the lyrics? People don't care about that anymore. I want my child to take all that into consideration. It's art. It's not just music."

BDx13 - 1-25-2007 at 06:37 PM

that guy is an inspiration. having dinner with him and getting to do the disasters album was definitely a highlight of my career.

by the way, he called Thorp about flying down to Miami to be on that episode as well. as 'the label guy'. unfortunately, he had too much going on and couldn't schedule it. funny shit.

XHonusWagnerX - 1-25-2007 at 08:07 PM

wow.... Rogers in AZ, Toby is in CA.... tsk tsk tsk .....

Kid Ugly - 1-25-2007 at 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BD
that guy is an inspiration. having dinner with him and getting to do the disasters album was definitely a highlight of my career.

by the way, he called Thorp about flying down to Miami to be on that episode as well. as 'the label guy'. unfortunately, he had too much going on and couldn't schedule it. funny shit.

Roger is vegan. Confirm/Deny? I heard it somewhere, and I'm just curious as to whether or not it's true, and as someone how had dinner with him, I figured you're a good source.

beaner - 1-26-2007 at 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Boycott Christian HC

Quote:

Originally posted by BD
that guy is an inspiration. having dinner with him and getting to do the disasters album was definitely a highlight of my career.

Awesome.

i second that. AWESOME

Voodoobillyman - 1-26-2007 at 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kid Ugly

Quote:

Roger is vegan. Confirm/Deny? I heard it somewhere, and I'm just curious as to whether or not it's true, and as someone how had dinner with him, I figured you're a good source.

I don't believe so, I read another interview right after 1984 came out and one of the questions was, do you eat meat? He said he did but very little of it.

BDx13 - 1-26-2007 at 09:16 AM

my recollection is he odrered fish, but don't quote me on it.

clevohardcore - 1-26-2007 at 09:56 AM

DANNY NSK said he moved out that way a while ago I believe. Danny said something to the effect that AZ is where "hardcore vets go to retire". Funny stuff.

necrobutcher - 1-28-2007 at 04:28 AM

He mentioned being a vegetarian when I saw them play a few months ago.