Bazillion Points Books is proud to reveal that Freddy Cricien of MADBALL has contributed the foreword to November’s upcoming NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980–1990, by Tony Rettman. Based on original interviews with over 100 key historical figures, the dense 450pp volume features over fifty chapters covering the bands, venues, labels, hangouts, and larger-than-life characters that built New York hardcore.
In his foreword, Cricien—who has led Madball since the age of thirteen, for twenty-five years, and first made his stage debut with Agnostic Front at age seven—describes the transformation of his brother Roger Miret into hardcore punk and pillar of the Lower East Side hardcore scene during the 1980s.
Writes Cricien: “These years were formative ones. For those that lived it, you will be transported back in time and you can revel in the nostalgia. To those that didn’t live it, go ahead and transport yourself to that period and be grateful that you’ve discovered this special scene. Read on and take everything in—but don’t feel like you missed out! This book is a way to get caught up on history, and also a bridge to a whole world that is as relevant today as its ever been.”
NYHC will be available wherever books are sold in November 2014.
Tony Rettman’s ambitious oral history captures ten years of struggle, including the scene’s regional rivalries with D.C. and Boston, the birth of moshing, the clash and coming to terms of hardcore and heavy metal, the straightedge movement, and the unlikely influence of Krishna consciousness.
The gripping and sometimes hilarious narrative is woven together like the fabric of New York itself from over 100 original interviews with members of Absolution, Adrenalin O.D., Agnostic Front, Antidote, Bad Brains, Bloodclot, Bold, Born Against, Breakdown, Cause for Alarm, Citizens Arrest, Cro-Mags, Crumbsuckers, Death Before Dishonor, Even Worse, False Prophets, Gorilla Biscuits, H20, Heart Attack, Inhuman, Into Another, Irate, Judge, Kraut, Leeway, Life’s Blood, Major Conflict, Murphy’s Law, Nausea, Nihilistics, Nuclear Assault, Numskulls, Outburst, Pro-Pain, Quicksand, Raw Deal, Reagan Youth, Rorschach, S.O.D., Sacrilege, Savage Circle, Sheer Terror, Shelter, Shok, Sick of it All, Side by Side, Skinhead Youth, Straight Ahead, the Abused, the Cryptcrashers, the Mad, the Misfits, the Misguided, the Mob, the Psychos, the Ritz, the Stimulators, the Undead, Token Entry, Underdog, Urban Waste, Virus, Warzone, Youth of Today, and many, many more.
“New York City has an energy that you’re not going to find anywhere else. People who have that passionate, driven mindset; they gravitate to New York City. Being in that intense environment—you had to come into your own to survive that area.”—John Porcelly, Youth of Today/Shelter
Tony Rettman is a freelance music journalist whose work has appeared in the Village Voice, Vice, The Wire, Philadelphia Weekly, Cleveland Scene, Arthur, Swindle, Signal to Noise, Mean, and Thrasher. At age 14 in the 1980s, he was the coeditor of Common Sense zine. He has provided liner notes for such artists as Hackamore Brick, Bored Youth, Beyond and many more. He is a contributing editor to DoubleCrossXX.com. In 2010, Revelation Records released his acclaimed first book, Why Be Something That You’re Not: Detroit Hardcore 1979-1985.
MOSH IT UP!
