Agnostic Front
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| Agnostic Front | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">New York City, USA</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Hardcore punk</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1982-Present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Epitaph</td></tr><tr><th style="background: ;" colspan="3">Members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Roger Miret |
Agnostic Front are a New York hardcore punk and crossover formed in New York City in 1982.
Contents |
[edit] History
Formed by guitarist Vinnie Stigma (formerly of the Eliminators) in November/December 1980 with Diego on Bass and Rob Kreekus on Bass. Agnostic Front went through a few singers two of them being John Watson and Jimmy the Russian before settling with Roger Miret (formerly of the Psychos). They soon added Ray Barbieri (aka Raybeez) on drums and Adam Moochie on bass. Their debut EP, United Blood, was released in 1983 on an indie label has since become a collector's item.
The follow-up was Victim in Pain (1984) and is regarded as a seminal New York hardcore release. Dave Jones replaced Ray Barbieri on drums and Rob Kabula on Bass. In 1984 Jim "the Kid Colleti joined on drums. The album pushed the band to the forefront of New York's fledgling hardcore scene, which was centered around CBGB's, where they played with bands like The Cro-Mags and Murphy's Law.
1986's Cause for Alarm was a difficult album to record, due to constant line-up changes and personnel problems. Released on Combat Records, it added thrash metal influences, creating a new genre known as crossover. Many of Agnostic Front's supporters considered the album a travesty and a sell-out, but it was hailed in other corners, and vastly expanded their audience.
With yet another new lineup, the band soon released Liberty and Justice for... in 1987. The hardcore scene had collapsed by this time, and the album featured stripped down punk with a lack of thrash influences, yet it contained many metal-style guitar solos. It was a failure compared to previous records. Sometime later, Miret was arrested on drug charges after releasing a live album, and spent his time in prison writing new songs while Stigma and the band toured Europe for the first time. The lyrics written by Miret formed most of 1992's One Voice, which featured members of Madball and Sick of It All. Not long after its release, the band decided to call it quits. Their last concert was at CBGB's in 1993; Last Warning, which was also released with United Blood E.P on the end of the record. Vinnie Stigma apparently remarked that he hated Last Warning.
Stigma and Miret reformed Agnostic Front in 1997, signing to Epitaph Records and recruiting Jim Colletti on drums and Rob Kabula on bass. Their latest venture was titled Something's Gotta Give, although Miret announced in the UK the original title would be Today, Tomorrow, Forever. In 1999, they followed up with Riot, Riot, Upstart which was also hailed by critics. Their comeback albums have sold well and been mostly acclaimed by music critics for their pure hardcore punk/oi! sound. In 2001 they released the album Dead Yuppies. Songs from this album were rarely played live, as the band considered it more a product of Loved and Hated, Jim Colletti's side-project bands. In 2002, Miret worked on a side project band, Roger Miret and the Disasters, looking for a sound akin to old school punk rock and Oi!.
Agnostic Front came out in 2005 with their latest album, Another Voice. The album was regarded mainly as a follow up to One Voice. The album, however, did receive some criticism from fans and the press for apparently changing their music to fit the current wave of 'tough guy' bands. Musically, the album bears resemblance to bands that were heavily influenced by Agnostic Front, such as Hatebreed. Miret's vocals on the album particularly seemed to turn off many less hardcore punk oriented fans.
On March 7th 2006, Agnostic Front released their long-awaited DVD "Live at CBGB's". This follows the efforts of many bands to try and save CBGBs from shutting down.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums/EPs
- United Blood EP (1983) Last Warning Records
- Victim in Pain (1984) Rat Cage Records
- Cause for Alarm (1986) Relativity/Combat Records
- Liberty and Justice for... (1987) Relativity/Combat Records
- Live at CBGB (1989) Relativity Records
- One Voice (1992) Relativity/Roadrunner Records
- Last Warning (1993) Relativity/Roadrunner Records
- Raw Unleashed (1995) Grand Theft Audio
- Something's Gotta Give (1998) Epitaph Records
- Riot, Riot, Upstart (1999) Epitaph Records
- Dead Yuppies (2001) Epitaph Records
- Working Class Heroes (2002) Scream/Knock Out – split with Discipline
- Another Voice (2004) Nuclear Blast Records
- Live at CBGB - 25 Years of Blood, Honor and Truth (2006) Nuclear Blast Records
[edit] DVD/VHS
- Live at CBGB's DVD 2006
- CBGB's Punk From the Bowery
[edit] Members
[edit] Current members
- Roger Miret – Vocals
- Vinnie Stigma – Guitar
- Joe James – Guitar
- Mike Gallo – Bass
- Steve Gallo – Drums
[edit] Former members
- Robbie Krekus - Drums
- Louie Beatto – Drums
- Ray Beez – Drums
- Jim Colletti – Drums
- Lenny Di Sclafani – Guitar
- Matt Henderson – Guitar
- Dave Jones – Drums
- Rob Kabula – Bass
- Alex Kinon – Guitar
- Steve Martin – Guitar
- Diego - Bass
- Adam Moochie – Bass
- Alan Peters – Bass
- Craig Setari – Bass
- Will Shepler – Drums
- Jimmy the Russian - Vocals
- John Watson - Vocals
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Agnostic Front at MySpace
- Agnostic Front Music Videos
- Agnostic Front Biography
- Interview with AGNOSTIC FRONT
- Agnostic Front at Oivision.de (german)de:Agnostic Front
fr:Agnostic Front it:Agnostic Front ja:アグノスティック・フロント nl:Agnostic Front pl:Agnostic Front pt:Agnostic Front

