Cro Mags

Harley Flanagan - bass Parris Mayhew - guitar John Joseph McGeown - singer Mackie Jayzon - drums Doug Holland - guitar
The story of the Cro-Mags is worthy of the best soap soap series on Brazilian television. She started in New York in the early 1980s in the middle of a hardcore wave where the fury of Black Flag, Bad Brains, Beastie Boys and other Negative Approach already resonated. Harley Frances Flanagan is only ten years old when with his band, The Stimulators , he starts to make a name for himself on stage around the corner. Early on the idea of music more in keeping with the aggressiveness and anger that transpired into him was born into his mind. He surrounds himself with Dave Hahn, John Berry (Beastie Boys) and Dave Stein ( Even Worse) to form what turns out to be the first Cro-Mags ever. Very quickly Hahn was replaced by Léo, drummer of Crucial Truth, and the band joined forces with a second guitarist, Parris Mitchell Mayhew. After Eric Casanova's flash passage, the Cro-Mags recruited John Joseph "Bloodclot" McGeown (ex- Antidote, ex- Mode of Ignorance). The New York combo is composed of Harley Flanagan (bass), John Joseph (sing), Mackie Jayzon (battery) and Parris Mayhew (guitar). Under this formation is recorded a first demo of 13 tracks which, although never officially released, achieves a resounding success in the form of a bootleg (the work will have a second life in 2000 under the title Before the Quarrel). In addition, it allows the Cro-Mags , which turns into a quintet with the arrival of Doug Holland on guitar, to conclude a deal with Profile Records which gives him the opportunity to release his first album, Age of Quarrel , in 1986. Success is immediate. The Cro-Mags continued the tours with Megadeth, Venom and Nuclear Assault, but internal problems caused John Joseph to leave, followed by Mackie Jayzon who left to join the Bad Brains. From then on, the band found itself without a singer or drummer. Not for long. Wishing to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, Harley Flanagan supports the song and appeals to Pete Hynes, Murphy's Law drummer. It is not until 1989 to see the Cro-Mags giving birth to their second album. Strongly metal oriented, Best Wishes disconcertes fans of the first hour but overall gets a very good welcome. However, tensions remain. The band tried to change by replacing Hynes and Holland with Dave DiSenso and Rob Buckley. But the evil is very deep. Problems of labels and people lead to the dissolution of Cro-Mags.
In 1991 Robert Kampf, owner of Century Media and a fan of New Yorkers, took over Big Apple with the firm intention of convincing Flanagan to revive the Cro-Mags. Ready to invest as much money in the project, he obtained from him the return of Joseph and Holland, as well as that of DiSenso and Gabby on guitar. Although Alpha Omega , the band's third album, is a success, the experience nullifies the little friendship Joseph and Flanagan felt for each other. The latter leaves the band. The failure of Near Death Experience , released in 1996, precipitates the second separation of the Cro-Mags. Century Media has for a time the hope of a reformation by releasing a double live album entitled Hard Times in an Age of Quarrel , a hope that is permanently diminished when historical members turn to parallel projects. Joseph resumed service with Both Worlds, while Flanagan and Mayhew, who were reconciled, found themselves in the White Devil project. The two acolytes exit an ep and leave on the roads with Bobby Hambell (ex-Biohazard) for a tour whose climax is a show at Eindhoven Dynamo Open Air.
While Joseph was trying to revive the myth of Cro-Mags during a charity operation called Hardcore for Hunger in New York in 1998, an operation involving Sick Of It All , Madball and Vision of Disorder , Mayhew and Flanagan surrounded Rocky George (formerly Suicidal Tendencies ) and Dave DiSenso to record an album for the DefJam label. The latter with problems to get out, the band, which now bears the name of Samsara, embarks on a tour of the States with Hatebreed, Candiria and Earth Crisis. Upon his return, Mayhew obtained the skeud rights to release him on an indie label. Impressed by its quality, the duo decides to use the name Cro-Mags . Revenge came out in 2000 and turned out to be a success. Flanagan and Mayhew recruit Rob Buckley and Gary Sullivan and embark on a world tour. Regretful of having been kept out of the way, Joseph climbed Age Of Quarrel, Cro-Mag project with Holland, Jayzon, Setari (Sick of It All) and Scott (Spudmonsters) but, apart from a big show in New York, the experience did not last. Flanagan and Mayhew broke the association in 2001. The Cro-Mags split up for the third time. Barely a month after this decision, rumours of a possible reformation began to circulate around Flanagan, Joseph, Holland, George and Sullivan. Having heard of these, Mayhew immediately cut the grass under the foot of the protagonists, threatening them with legal action in case of use of the surname Cro-Mags. The service is performed under Street Justice . Flanagan is definitely convinced by this last blow to draw a line on the past. Surrounded by prominent characters from the hardcore New York scene such as George, Vento (Warzone), Stigma (Agnostic Front), he launched himself to a lost heart in the Harley's War project under whose name is recorded the first album entitled ... Cro Mag .
Even though today the group is officially dissolved, the spectre of the Cro-Mags still haunts the middle of hardcore, if only by the vocations aroused and the number of formations that cite them as influences (Blacklisted , Guns Up!, Sick of It All , Maximum Penalty ...). In addition, the performances of Bloodclot and Harley's War still make a big difference to their songs and, occasionally, the Cro-Mags' name reappears during special operations or commemorations as it was in 2006 when Mayhew and Joseph organized a tour to celebrate the twenty years of the release of Age of Quarrel.