If there was ever someone from the hardcore community that I thought should pen an autobiography, it was Agnostic Front founding guitarist Vinnie Stigma. That's why when the word was out that the legendary NYHC musician was releasing The Most Interesting Man in the World, I was genuinely excited.
Co-written with Howie Abrams (a music industry veteran who has history with Stigma), and featuring a foreward by Agnostic Front's very own Roger Miret, The Most Interesting Man in the World traces Stigma's upbringing in Little Italy, New York through his truly colorful journey inside and outside of music. Seriously, the 69-year-old guitarist has lived the kind of life that begs for the autobiography treatment.
If you're in New York City, there will be an event at Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park on Thursday September 12th at 7pm (reserve a seat), to celebrate The Most Interesting Man in the World with a screening of Ian McFarland’s superb The Godfathers of Hardcore, followed by a Q&A with Vinnie, book signing, and acoustic performance (yes - an acoustic performance by Stigma)! Books will be on sale at the event at a discounted price courtesy of Generation Records.
Co-author Howie Abrams was nice enough to hook No Echo up with an exclusive chapter excerpt from The Most Interesting Man in the World for our readers to check out in advance of the book's September 10th release.
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Excerpt from The Most Interesting Man in the World
Musician Part II - The Beginning of Agnostic Front
I had already seen Roger (Miret) play bass in The Psychos, and I really wanted him to be in the band. He danced all crazy at the shows, too, which made me want him more. I had (then AF bassist) Adam (Mucci) go over and tell him I wanted him to join, so Roger came over to talk to me. He was a little confused because he was the bass player in The Psychos, and Adam was already our bass player. But I loved watching Rog on the dance floor. We chatted, and at the end of the talk, Roger said he would do it; he would be our singer. Thank God, because otherwise, I wouldn’t still be talking about this band this many years later.
So now, we are in 1982, and Agnostic Front is me, Roger, Adam, and Raybeez. It was a lot of fun. We rehearsed in this basement boiler room over on Grand Street, and we started playing a bunch with bands like Urban Waste, The Psychos, Ultra Violence, Virus, and others. When we first started touring, we went as far south as DC, as far north as Boston, and as far west as Ohio. We all packed in a van together.
When we went to Ohio that first time, I think we played with The Dark and Negative Approach. At those out-of-state shows, people would bring their friends. We were the out-of-state band/guests, and you gotta make friends with the people that are around. Ask them questions, see if they need anything. I was always helpful like that.
I remember at one show, a guy in another band needed an amp, so I told him he could use my amp. People acted surprised that I lent the guy my amp. I looked at it like, this guy has to get up there and play the show. I’m gonna get up there after him, so what’s the difference? We’re playing the same show, and I want it to be good for everybody.
Early on we adopted a skinhead look, but it was a New York hardcore version of it, kinda like the way the Fordham Baldies were, that kind of attitude. It wasn’t the traditional English skinhead kind of thing. It wasn’t about Fred Perry, because, you know, we didn’t play tennis. It was a different take. It was just: Everyone shave your head; whoever you are, whatever you are. Come join our gang. But when I say “our gang,” I don’t mean it to be a gang of violence.
Our skinhead people from the Lower East Side, we had our share of fights and everything, but it wasn’t a thing where we were going out and fighting people for no reason. It was a fun thing, that’s all. It was our little culture. We all shaved our heads and were really the first skinhead band, at least in New York.
Even our roadies had shaved heads. We wound up introducing it to a lot of people around the country once we toured. We did get shit for how we looked, though, and what people assumed skinhead meant to us, but we had a Cuban, a Russian, and an Italian guy in the band.
Sure, there was some influence from the English skinheads, but we didn’t completely adopt their style. It was New York style. We did our own thing. Like, out west, punks were into dyed hair and mohawks. Here, we had no hair. They did the circle pit, we did the mosh.
But there was no such thing as prejudice to us. We wore boots, had our chain wallets, and rolled up our jeans. When we got out of the New York area and saw what people’s perception of us was, I was surprised.
I don’t judge people. I come in peace and am here for a good time. I just wanted to entertain people, drink beer, and pick up girls. We weren’t pushing any political ideology whatsoever. For me and the band, our music was more about social stuff and unity within our scene: Black, white, punk, skin. It was always meant to be inclusive. I wasn’t interested in offending anyone. The idea was for us to come together for a common cause.
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The Most Interesting Man in the World is out on September 10th via Permuted Press. Pre-orders are up @ Amazon, B&N, Rev HQ, and CoreTex Records in Germany. The folks at Premiere Collectibles have signed copies of the book.
The book celebration event with the Agnostic Front movie screening, Stigma acoustic performance, and signing will go down at Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park on Thursday September 12th at 7pm (tickets available here).
Tagged: agnostic front, book
