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Like many other folks who spent a significant portion of their teen years listening to ‘80s punk and hardcore, I consider THE CRO-MAGS 1986 debut album The Age of Quarrel to be among the genre’s finest offerings and perhaps the greatest hardcore/speed metal crossover record ever. Starting out in 1981 as a project of HARLEY FLANAGAN (the pre-teen drummer of THE STIMULATORS) and featuring Big Takeover co-founder DAVE STEIN as their original guitarist, the band evolved through a series of lineup changes that eventually featured vocalist JOHN JOSEPH, ex-KRAUT guitarist DOUG HOLLAND, guitarist PARRIS MITHCELL MAYHEW, Flanagan and drummer MACKIE JAYSON during their mid ‘80s heyday.
Sure the lyrics can sometimes be a bit much, as their juxtaposition of Hare Krishna spirituality (John Joseph was the first hardcore kid to introduce the Hare Krishna faith to the scene, predating SHELTER and many others by almost a decade in that respect) and tough-as-nails New York street attitude was a little counter-intuitive. Still, reading lyrics to songs like “World Peace” in this day and age, it should be understood that they were reacting to being products of a burned-out, blackened, broke and crime-ridden Lower East Side landscape far from the tourist-friendly LES of today, hence lines like “if AIDS don’t get you, then the warheads will” mixing the above with Cold War era nuclear dread to boot.
All of this brings me to their show here a few weeks back. When I first heard that they were playing, I was a bit skeptical. I did have a friend tell me that they were great at the Fun Fun Fun festival in Austin back in November, though, so that coupled with curiosity made me check them out. It had been 14 years since the last and only other time I’d seen them. I remember that show at Middlesex County College being a blast and furthermore, lots of material from The Age of Quarrel being played along with one or two later offerings from much lesser records like 1989’s Best Wishes.
This current incarnation of The Cro-Mags (sometimes billed as CRO-MAGS JAM to add further confusion) features John Joseph on vocals, AJ NOVELLO (formerly of LEEWAY and BOTH WORLDS, a band also featuring Joseph) on guitar, CRAIG SETARI (SICK OF IT ALL and formerly of STRAIGHT AHEAD, AGNOSTIC FRONT, YOUTH OF TODAY) on bass and MACKIE JAYSON. In other words, that’s two-fifths of the lineup that recorded The Age of Quarrel with the guitar and bass slots filled up by New York hardcore legends. And sure enough, given that pedigree, the show didn’t disappoint. The setlist? Virtually nothing but The Age of Quarrel (in fact I can’t think of a single song from that record that they didn’t play and that even includes the little-played “Seekers of the Truth”) with the crowd going crazy. It was one of those shows where you knew from the very first note that it was just gonna be completely off-the-hook and sure enough from the first note it was like a bulldozer had run over the venue! Although I’m not a fan of moshing, slam dancing, et al. and stayed towards the side and the back after a while (it was also as hot as an inferno in there), it must be said that it was entertaining watching the crowd go off.
The only misstep was an ill-advised cover of THE WHO’s “Baba O’Riley” (?) which seemingly broke down after the first verse and a chorus. After that, one of the mics seemed to malfunction and thus there was a small delay but when they reconvened, they launched into the amazing intro of “We Gotta Know” (_The Age of Quarrel_’s opening track) and the show was back on track. We also got a great cover of the immortal BAD BRAINS classic “Banned in DC”, appropriate since Joseph got his start as a Bad Brains roadie, where he also acquired the nickname BLOODCLOT (also the name of one of his early bands). Joseph also used the time between songs to talk about politics, specifically BARACK OBAMA being elected President, Joseph’s own questionable assertions about 9/11 and how hardcore and punk rock were ultimately tools to challenge misconceptions about society and to question everything. On that last point, I couldn’t agree more.
Still, despite the show being less than an hour, it was completely draining, but you knew you walked out of there seeing something special that doesn’t happen all that often.
