"Madball is my life. Madball is my business."

Five years after Madball's first show in Bulgaria back in 2003 and less than a week before the second one - scheduled for November 23, 2008 at the Blue Box Club in Sofia - we got in touch with vocalist Freddy Cricien to find out what to expect and what's changed during these five years...

Alex Boyadjiev: Hi Freddy, where are you at the moment?

Freddy Cricien: I'm in Vienna, Austria, getting ready to do soundcheck.

A. B.: Finally you're coming back to Bulgaria. What happen to Madball during these 5 years?

F. C.: The band has definitely matured. We grew up a little, evolved a little as people, so the band did as well. As far as performance and the material we're putting out goes, it's still pure, from-the-heart hardcore. That doesn't change. It's just a bit more focused now.

A. B.: Do you remember your first show in Sofia?

F. C.: Yeah, it was great. I'll always remember that show. I remember the whole issue - getting in, the problems on the Greek-Bulgarian border...

A. B.: Yes, I remember you had to cross the border on foot, carrying all your equipment... Honestly, what were you thinking back then?

F. C.: Well, I've been in pretty shady situations in my life, but that was definitely unique. I'd never had to cross a border literally carrying our equipment across it. It was a unique experience.

A. B.: Recently you replaced your long-time drummer Rigg Ross with Mackie Jayson (a.o. Bad Brains, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Cro-Mags). Why did Rigg leave Madball?

F. C.: Rigg was one of the most talented hardcore drummers and yes, he was with us for a long time... He left for personal reasons. He wanted to pursue some other things in his life.

A. B.: How did you feel when you first played with Mackie?

F. C.: It was different. I've played with Mackie in some other projects like Hazen Street, so I was used to playing with him, but I'd never played with him in Madball... It took a little adjusting here and there, but now he fits right in.

A. B.: Do you still play with Hazen Street?

F. C.: It's an accomplishment in my life that I'm proud of, but Madball is the priority for us.

A. B.: Regarding Madball - which bands do like to most to play and hang out with?

F. C.: We're a New York-based band, so we're friendly with a lot of the local bands like Agnostic Front... which we're obviously directly related to, so it's always a pleasure to play with them. Aside from that, I like the guys from Sick of It All, Death Before Dishonor from Boston, Terror... Guys that we have a lot in common with. Not that we're against meeting new people.

A. B.: Which are your favorite places to play live?

F. C.: Everywhere. It's really hard to say one place, because sometimes I play and I say, "Wow, that was a great show!", and then I go somewhere else and it'll be as good or better... so it's really hard to name a favorite place. Of course, New York would be one of our favorites, because it's our home where we're surrounded by our friends and family, but there are so many other great places - South America, Eastern Europe...

A. B.: And what's the worst place you've ever played?

F. C.: Probably the middle of America. The rest is good - the East Coast, the West Coast, Texas, up north, Canada and stuff is always cool, but places like the dead center of America, like Oklahoma... I think one of those shows was in Oklahoma City. We were on a big and good tour, but this show was just terrible. I think it was us and Earth Crisis, and at that time Hatebreed was opening up for us, and Scarhead and... It just was bad.

A. B.: Tell me more about your work as a producer.

F. C.: It just has to be something that I'm into - not just hardcore, but something that I feel I can bring something to the table. I was honored to be asked to produce Agnostic Front's latest album, because they got me started in this stuff, so to come the full circle and now produce an Agnostic Front record was a great accomplishment for me. I hope to be doing more of it in the future.

A. B.: What do you think of Madball's latest album "Infiltrate the System" now, a year after its release?

F. C.: The people responded well to it, the songs off the album are getting good live... We don't do the whole album live, because we have a lot of material to cover, but the songs off "Infiltrate..." we do always go well live. To me that says that people are digging the direction that we went with it, and as a band we're definitely happy with that direction.

A. B.: What's next for Madball?

F. C.: When we get home from Europe we'll have another tour with Suicidal Tendencies in the States. After we're done with that we'll take a break for a little while, and then we'll start writing some stuff and work on a few other things home...

A. B.: What do you guys do besides Madball and music?

F. C.: This is what I do - I manage the band, I record, I tour... This is my life. Madball is my business.

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock