AGNOSTIC FRONT, PRONG, UGLY BONES

These rarely confronted and always respected leaders of hardcore were established as one of the meanest-sounding bands in the emerging punk genre, helping to initiate the term “hardcore,” and placing an entire uproar on the New York map by association. From the start, AGNOSTIC FRONT released a catalogue of fast and violent punk tunes consisting of distinctive and aggressive drumming, bass work, and a non-stop barrage of chaotic shouting. AGNOSTIC FRONT’s uncontrollable drumming and fuming guitars fill every minute like an onrushing storm of flailing limbs and incinerating transistors. The heavier paced balance between the energy and discipline of their earlier punk roots strikes a taut and vivid rock barrage that moshes in close formation. “It’s social politics,” Roger states. “The day-to-day reality of waking up, reading the newspaper, and walking around the neighborhood. It’s a hard stare on why the world is still one fucked-up place, and we tackle the very real shit that’s going… [read more]

“PRONG was definitely a Lower East Side band” says Tommy Victor. “We weren’t a bunch of kids in the suburbs playing in garages. We were part of that whole art scene, the same scene as street artists like Keith Haring and Basquiat. It was a completely different world back then. A lot of people were willing to live Spartan lifestyles in shitty conditions in this fantasy art world.”
“I grew up in Flushing, Queens, and used to go down to Bleecker Bobs in the east Village to and look for New Wave records. I waited in line for hours at CBGB’s to watch the early Ramones, and New York Dolls shows. Eventually I ended up finding an apartment in the Village Voice on 2nd Ave between 2nd and 3rd St. for $350 a month. It was poor Ukrainian Immigrants, biker gangs and drug addicts. Nobody wanted to live down there. “
“This was all before the existence of digital technology and cell phones,” explains Victor. “We didn’t have much communication with the outside world. The outside world to us was, like,… [read more]