Cro-Mags

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Cro-Mags
Cro-mags-logo-475x134.jpg
General information
origin New York (United States)
Genre (s) Hardcore
founding 1981 or 1982, 1998
resolution 1994
Website www.cro-mags.com
Founding members
bass
 Harley Flanagan (1981-1993, 1999-2002)
guitar
 Dave Stein
Drums
 Dave Hahn 1981
Current occupation
Vocals (since 2019) , bass
 Harley Flanagan (1981–1996, 1999–2002, since 2019)
guitar
 Gabby Abularach (1991–1995, since 2019)
guitar
 Rocky George (1999–2001, 2002–2003, since 2019)
Drums
 Garry "G-Man" Sullivan (1999, 2001–2003, since 2019)
former members
guitar
 Kevin "Parris" Mitchel Mayhew (1982–1991, 1999–2001)
guitar
 Doug Holland (1985-1999, 1991-1993, 1996-1999, 2001)
guitar
 Rob Buckley (1989-1991, 1993-1995, 2001)
guitar
 AJ Novello (2008-2019)
guitar
 Craig Setari
singing
 Eric J. Casanova (1982-1984)
bass
 Franklin Rhi (2002-2003)
Drums
 Petey Hines (1986-1989)
Drums
 Dave Di Censo (1989-1995)
Drums
 Ryan Krieger (1999-2001)
singing
 John Joseph (1982 / 1984–1987, 1991–1999, 2002–2003, 2008–2019)
Drums
 Maxwell "Mackie" Jayson (1984-1986, 1996-1999, 2008-2019)

Cro-Mags is an American hardcore band from New York and is one of the most commercially successful representatives of New York Hardcore . Her musical style is influenced by British Oi-Punk and Thrash Metal . According to Harley Flanagan, the band name should evoke the idea of ​​a “modern Cro-Magnon man ”, a kind of post-civilizing type of person.

history

About Established and duty system of the band, there are several reports in the literature, not least because of different specifications of the band members themselves. It is generally agreed that in addition to bassist Flanagan, the manager of the Bad Brains , Dave Hahn, drummer and guitarist of Even Worse , Dave Stein, were part of the founding cast. The founding year is 1981 or 1982, the singer John Joseph , Eric Casanova or the later Antidote singer. The band initially appeared in frequently changing line-ups. In 1984 the most famous line-up of the band came about. Around Flanagan, who developed his skinhead image after a tour of Ireland with his previous band The Stimulators , a quartet emerged with John Joseph as singer, Parris Mayhew on guitar and Mackie Jayson on drums .

In 1985 this quartet put their first demo tape into circulation. Most of the songs it contained then made it onto the 1986 debut album The Age of Quarrel . In the wake of bands like Slayer and Metallica , Metal was just gaining popularity in the United States, and so it came about that the Cro-Mags - very atypical of Oi instrumental skills - went on tour with groups like Motörhead and Megadeth . The band always knew how to sell very well. Harley Flanagan made no secret of the fact that he had chosen John Joseph as the front man for commercial reasons. The commercial orientation and the urge for big stages certainly questioned the affiliation to the NYHC, which in its essence was and is an off- major- oriented ' cabaret culture', so to speak . At the same time, the Cro-Mags, like other New York hardcore bands, discovered the Hare Krishna movement and adopted some aspects of their own worldview.

After the tour, however, Joseph and Jayson left the band. It wasn't until 1989 that the follow-up album, Best Wishes , was released. Flanagan had meanwhile taken over the position of singer. A recording deal with Century Media , Joseph's return to the band and the album Alpha Omega (1992) should actually mean the comeback. It was followed by Near Death Experience (1993). A year later there was another live album called Hard Times in an Age of Quarrels . The band then broke up after Joseph and Flanagan fell out. In the meantime, biohazard guitarist Bobby Hambel joined the band, performing with Cro-Mags and others. a. at the Dynamo Festival 1996.

In 1998 John Joseph organized a benefit concert in New York, where Sick of It All and Madball performed. There was also a cast of Cro-Mags. Meanwhile, Harley Flanagan and Parris Mayhew formed the band Samsara, in which Rocky George ( Suicidal Tendencies ) also played. Def Jam Recordings had the rights to an album by the band, but the release was postponed several times. After a brief dispute, the band got the rights to the album back and released it under the name Cro-Mags on their own label "Cro Mags Recording". Then there was a name dispute between Flanagan and Joseph, so that there were two bands with the name Cro-Mags for several years. However, after Flanagan and Mayhew got into an argument, only Joseph's cast still exists, while Flanagan is active with his band Harley's War . In July 2012, the conflict between Flanagan and the band culminated in assaults when the former injured then Cro-Mags bassist Mike Couls and another person with a knife during a music festival in New York. Flanagan pleaded self-defense; charges were later dropped.

In 2019, a protracted legal dispute over the naming rights to the Cro-Mags brand was settled. The protagonists were band founder Harley Flanagan and longtime singer John Joseph and drummer Maxwell "Mackie" Jayson, who wanted to claim the band name for themselves. Finally, an out-of-court agreement was reached that Flanagan could use the name without any additions and that John Joseph and his band would call the group Cro-Mags JM (for Joseph and Mackie). The first publication of the Cro-Mags around Flanagan was the EP Don't Give In , which was released in the United States via Victory Records and in Europe via Arising Empire . In the same year, the Cro-Mags went on tour through the United States as the opening act for the almost original line-up of the reformed Misfits .

Style and meaning

Cro-Mags were one of the first bands to incorporate (alongside agnostic front ) elements of metal into their raw hardcore punk . But this fact and the fact that the band appeared with numerous metal groups such as Motörhead and Megadeth also caused conflicts within the punk scene, which accused the band of commercial tendencies. Furthermore, the band was boycotted by Maximumrocknroll because the cover for Age of Quarrel showed homophobic tendencies. It was also Harley Flanagan in particular who expressed numerous conservative to right-wing extremist opinions in interviews. Among other things, in his opinion, all homosexuals should get AIDS because their type of sexual intercourse is not natural. On the album Best Wishes , a slaughterhouse was compared to the concentration camps of the Third Reich . At numerous concerts there were protests by SHARP skins who accused the band of right-wing tendencies.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
In the beginning
  DE 58 06/26/2020 (1 week)
  • 1986: The Age of Quarrel (Profile)
  • 1989: Best Wishes (Profiles)
  • 1992: Alpha Omega ( Century Media )
  • 1993: Near Death Experience (Century Media)
  • 2000: Revenge (Cro Mag)
  • 2019: Don't Give In ( EP , Arising Empire / Victory Records )
  • 2020: In the Beginning (Mission Two Entertainment)

Compilations and live albums

  • 1994: Hard Times in an Age of Quarrel (live) (published by Century Media)
  • 1999: Before the Quarrel (published by Cro Mag)
  • 2006: Twenty Years of Quarrel and Greatest Hits (published by Cro Mag)

DVDs

  • 2011: The Final Quarrel: Live At CBGB 2001 (MVD Visual)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Matthias Mader: New York City Hardcore. The way it was…. Berlin: IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR. 1st edition, May 1999, ISBN 3-931624-10-2 , pp. 67-70
  2. ↑ Steven Blush: American Hardcore. A tribal history . 2nd Edition. Feral House, Port Townsend 2010, ISBN 978-0-922915-71-2 , pp. 212 .
  3. ↑ Tony Rettman: New York Hardcore 1980-1990 . 2nd Edition. Bazillion Points, New York 2015, ISBN 978-1-935950-12-7 , pp. 220 .
  4. ↑ NoEcho.net: Louie Rivera (antidotes). Retrieved September 30, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Headbanger's Ball: Headbanger's Ball 1996. In: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23cU41CYaHk&frags=pl%2Cwn . Headbanger's Ball, May 25, 1996, accessed June 24, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Boweryboogie.com: CBGB Festival Responds to Last Night's Webster Hall Stabbing. Retrieved January 18, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Former Cro-Mags Bassist Won't Be Charged in CBGB Fest Stabbing. Retrieved January 18, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Cro-Mags settle name litigation. Visions.de , April 23, 2019, accessed on July 27, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Cro-Mags - Don't Give In ::: Review (2019). Away From Life, July 27, 2019, accessed July 27, 2019 .
  10. ↑ AltPress.com: Cro-Mags: NYC Hardcore Icons Enter A New Age Of Harmony. Retrieved August 19, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Chart sources: Germany