About the new record 'My Life, My Way' , about the values, the bikes and about everything.

'My Life, My Way' - the tenth studio record of NYHC kings AGNOSTIC FRONT will be released on 4В March 2011В through Nuclear Blast/Wizard.

A good reason for Tangra Mega Rock to call frontman ROGER MIRET.

an nterview conducted by Alexander Boyadjiev

HI ROGER, WHERE ARE YOU AT THE MOMENT?
I'm home, I'm in Arizona - with my children, relaxing, doing a couple of interviews before I have to go to work. Just enjoying live in Arizona.

SO HOW'S LIFE IN ARIZONA, HOW'S YOUR WORK?
My work is very dirty ha ha! I've been working in a body shop - actually it has been fun, because I've been working on my 1954 Chevy, just re-doing a lot of body modification, you know the stuff I love to do.

I love working on my motorcycles, Harley Davidson, I've been a Harley Davidson mechanic. I love working on cars, re-manufacturing and re-doing hot-rods and custom cars.

I KNOW FOR A LONG TIME THAT YOU'RE INTO HOT-RODS AND HARLEY DAVIDSON. YOU GOT ALSO A CLUB?
Yeah - the Rumblers car club which we have here in America. And we have two chapters in Germany... actually a third one in Luxemburg although I'm not sure if it's a different country ha ha. And also we have two chapters in Italy. So it's fun man, it's good stuff - it's a great hobby.

OK, LET'S GET TO THE POINT - YOU GOT A NEW RECORD COMING OUT ON 4TH OF APRIL THROUGH NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS - CAN YOU TELL US FEW WORDS ABOUT IT?
Yeah, I'm really excited about My Life, My Way. We worked on it, last two times we were in Europe - we did pre-production for it on the tour, we bought equipment, started writing all the songs. I feel like this album is a great combination of Victim In Pain meets Something's Gotta Give, meets Warriors - and I think it has elements of all our past records.

Our true fans I think they're really gonna love it! It's more anthems than any of all our other records. I hope I will be right. It's a great sing along record - it's a true hardcore record, I was recorded in a true hardcore vein, very natural sound, very straight up hardcore. I'm really happy with it!

THAT'S WHAT I WANTED TO ASK YOU - IF IT WAS PLANNED TO DO A RECORD LIKE THIS, OR IT JUST CAME OUT LIKE THIS... YOUR BROTHER FREDDY CRICIEN PRODUCED IT RIGHT?
Freddy produced it - he produced Warriors and this one too. Yeah that's another reason why it sounds so great - my brother grew up with Agnostic Front, as we all know. He's been in the scene, since when he was 7 years old, with Agnostic Front.

So - nobody know AF better than my brother! He loves AF and he loves to make things work great for AF, and he is very very proud of this record. He was very proud to do Warriors, that was his first production job, when we asked him and then we asked him again, and then when he heard the songs, he was really happy – and then after the studio he was totally amazed, he thinks this album is a banger. It’s great to work with my brother – it’s family time for me. He’s old school hardcore, we’re old school hardcore, you know what I mean.
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SPEAKING OF FREDDY & MADBALL, I REMEMBER BACK, BACK LONG TIME AGO IN 1992 OR 1993 WHEN AF TOOK THAT BREAK AND EVERYBODY WAS SAYING “YEAH MADBALL IS THE NEXT LEVEL AF”, BUT THEN YOU CAME BACK TOGETHER AND EVERYTHING CAME TO THIS POINT…
Yeah, but you know – I took a break, I wanted to go and finish up Harley Davidson school, I used to work on motorcycles and I decided I wanted to work for Harley Davidson and get a degree with Harley Davidson and just get a more secure job, which I did.

At that time when I took that break, back then I was playing with Agnostic Front and Madball, then Hoya took my place for Madball. Then Madball went out and they kind were trying to find themselves in the very first record – it was really half Agnostic Front… but you gotta give them a credit that they went through it, they stuck through, they were waving the Agnostic Front flag but with a new twist, it was Madball of course.

And then they created their own style, their own sound. We’ve come our own ways – Madball is very independent from Agnostic Front and when they first started, it wasn’t like this. I was just old AF songs and my brother created his own thing – and Hoya and Mitz and all the other guys, they came their own ways – they are great band, doing great things and I am really proud of that!  

NOW WITH THEIR NEW RECORD, MADBALL ARE WORKING WITH NUCLEAR BLAST TOO – DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT?
Yeah, of course I put my brother in touch with Markus, the owner of Nuclear Blast, who is big fan of Agnostic Front and big fan of Madball of course. We sat down together - me, my brother and Markus, and we made it work.

I’m really glad to have Madball as our label-mates too. So it’s good. You know Nuclear Blast is mainly metal, they have other hardcore acts of course too, but mostly it is metal, so it’s kinda good to have especially family - my own brother as a label-mate.

THIS MEANS WE SHOULD SEE AGNOSTIC FRONT AND MADBALL TOUR OVER EUROPE TOGETHER?
Well, you never know – it could happen. There’s always some shows we do together here and there. Most of the problem is the fact that we’re always touring at different places at different times. We are two very active bands and it kinda sucks for me and for Freddy, because we don’t get to see each other that much, family wise, because he’s busy – when I’m in Europe, he’s in Australia or in America and when he’s in Europe, I’m in America or South America.

We did a South American tour together, which was great, was a lot of fun. We planned that way ahead. You never know, what can happen… Sick Of It All and Madball just did a tour together, which was great! And I’ve been trying to get Sick Of It All and Madball and AF to do a tour together, for a very long time…

YEAH, THAT WOULD BE THE ULTIMATE NYHC TOUR!
Yeah – it’s a great tour, but never the right timing … maybe some day it will happen, I don’t know I hope to see it.

AF with TMR's Ale on a trip in the East

YOU’VE BEEN LIVING IN ARIZONA FOR A WHILE AND THE REST OF THE AF GUYS ARE STILL IN NEW YORK – HOW DOES IT WORK FOR THE BAND AND WRITING PROCESS OF THE NEW RECORD?
Well it takes technology – writing is not a problem, you know how it is: we all have Macintosh, lay down some songs, send it on “garage-band” to each other, we like – we don’t like, I throw some lyrics, go back to Mike, Mike goes back to me, throws some bass, gives it to Joe, Joe throws some guitar… we could do stuff like that, but we don’t.

We really get together, at our tours, we talk about new songs, we start rehearsing them during our sound checks, we start recording them… and we got to feel them...  because if you do it all digitally and through internet it’s not natural, you have to feel the song you know.

So it takes a little bit of time with us, because they’re in New York and I am in Arizona, so only when we are together we talk about new songs and create the new songs, and then we can do some stuff via internet.

That’s how all the writing happens with Agnostic Front, that’s how all the writing happens with The Disasters, because it is the same situation: I am living in Arizona and the rest of the guys live in Texas.

YOUВ MOVET TO AMERICA LONG LONG TIME AGO, BUT HAVE YOU BEEN BACK TO CUBA SINCE THEN?
No, I haven’t been back to Cuba. You have to understand that my family left Cuba in 1969, under political asylum – they didn’t wanted anything to do with Castro, they were anti-Castro, and it’s not safe to be anti-Castro and return to this country.

It’s not that I didn’t want to go to Cuba – I had a Cuban passport forever, but I couldn’t go. I just became an American citizen about 5 years ago, so now I have American passport and I could probably go… but you know – these are the circumstances: when you leave your country under political asylum I don’t think it’s a very safe idea to go back. I was a kid, I had nothing to do with that, I was just a kid following my mom and my father.

AF with friends in Sofia

AND ONE OF THE CLICHÉ QUESTIONS, BUT IT CAN’T GO WRONG WITH AGNOSTIC FRONT. FOR ALL THESE YEARS, BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW ANY OTHER OLDER HARDCORE BAND THAN YOU, FOR ALL THESE YEARS WHAT KEEPS YOU DO THAT AND HOW LONG DO YOU THINK YOU CAN CONTINUE TO DO THAT?
Well… let me ask you a personal question, I know you personally Alex, so let me ask you a question, let me turn this question on you: how long do you see yourself involved with hardcore?

WELL… I WOULD SAY ALL MY LIFE…
OK there we go – so if you really love this music, and you’re really passionate about this music, and you really care about this music, there shouldn’t be a time on your passion and your love. It should be all your life.

Whether I play with Agnostic Front or not, this is a passion I have in my heart that will be with me for the rest of my life! If you read the lyrics of this new record – this is not something that we just talk about or read about, we actually live this life, and you live this life too, so it’s hard to see yourself not involved with hardcore. That’s the way I look at it.

It’s hard to go to your father for instance and say “hey dad – I want you to stop doing what you’re doing, you need to end what you love, because you’re getting older”. That’s ridiculous!

The truth is – we hold our own,  Agnostic Front has been here for 3 decades, 30 years! That’s more than a lot of bands could say. A lot of people just grow out of it or they were never that passionate about it. This is our passion, this is our dreams, this is our life.

You just don’t walk away and turn back on it. And that’s what our lyrics are all about – fundamental stuff: family, respect, pride. This is all stuff we live with, this is our life – we’re not going anywhere!

rights Tangra Mega Rock