CRO-MAGS ADDRESS PTSD WITH MUSIC VIDEO “BETWEEN WARS” A Conversation with Harley Flanagan and Michael Imperioli

In The Beginning, New Album Out Now

Watch the Music Video and Interview “Between Wars” Now @ Consequence of Sound.

CRO-MAGS kingpin Harley Flanagan is back with “Between Wars,” the gripping new music video from their latest opus In The Beginning, available everywhere now on Mission Two Entertainment. The track lends its name to Between Wars, the independent film starring Flanagan and The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli, due out later this year.

“This song was a lot of fun to work on as it gave me a chance to do something completely different,” says Flanagan about the instrumental track. “I recorded the song with just bass and drums, followed by all the arpeggiated guitar parts, and eventually I added the cellos and did Hungarian-style throat singing. I was inspired to add the cellos when I first heard Carlos “Lamont” Cooper playing in the NYC subway where he plays to make a living. Turns out he’s an ex-gangbanger from NJ who has had a hard life and although we have had very different experiences, we have a lot of things in common; PTSD will do that.”

Imperioli adds, “Harley’s involvement and performance in Between Wars is organic, natural and necessary. He fit into the role like a glove. The life experience he brings to the project is authentic and true and he made us all raise our games.”

Imperioli and Flanagan sat down with the movie’s director Tom Phillips to discuss the music video, the film, and the importance of music scores and soundtracks. Between Wars takes an intimate look at the struggle of re-entering civilian life post-combat. The film follows veteran Marine Franny Malloy (Shaun Paul Costello) as he struggles with integrating himself back home in NYC after returning from the war in Afghanistan. Battling PTSD and self-destructive behaviors, he finds his only hope in fellow Marine turned PTSD psychologist, Sarge, played by Michael Imperioli. Harley Flanagan plays McManus, an old school Bronx Irish gangster and general madman.

It’s been a few productive years for Flanagan lately, who after forming the CRO-MAGS in 1983, legally asserted his original rights to the band name last year in a well-publicized lawsuit. “In many ways, it is a new beginning and also a tribute to where it all began,” reflects the frontman on the band’s first album in 20 years, In The Beginning.

In The Beginning is available now on CD, cassette and limited edition vinyl.

“The founding band of hardcore punk” – ROLLING STONE

“A hybrid of ‘80s and ‘90s anthemic hardcore full of underlying anger” – BLABBERMOUTH

“Fast punk and thrashy breakdowns” – DECIBEL

“Hits like a ton of bricks” – PUNK NEWS

“This one’s gonna snap a few bones and blacken an eye” – NEW NOISE

“An absolutely ripping album” – BLUNT

“Fast-paced, raw, blazing and blistering” – CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND

“A two-stepping salute to four-chord classic hardcore” – METAL HAMMER

CRO-MAGS RELEASE NEW MUSIC VIDEO “FROM THE GRAVE” Featuring PHIL CAMPBELL.

“In The Beginning” New Album Coming June 19th – Pre-Orders Available Now

2019 saw the CRO-MAGS crushing the masses with the release of their first pieces of music in 19 years. Today, the legendary hardcore pioneers have released a music video for the previously released single “From The Grave,” featuring former Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell. The band’s first full length album in 20 years, titled In The Beginning, will be available on June 19th via Mission Two Entertainment.

Watch “From The Grave” @ Revolver.

“The idea for the video is that I’m rising from the grave and going on a mission…like I came back from the dead to become the Grim Reaper himself,” explains CRO-MAGSfounder, bassist and vocalist Harley Flanagan on the clip. “I think anybody who knows the history of this band and of my life will get it. It starts off at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where I will be buried with my family and in-laws. In the opening shot, the grave I’m in front of is actually my mother’s.”

As CRO-MAGS toured with Motorhead in 1986, Flanagan adds, “Phil is one of my favorite guitarists of all time and I still can’t believe I have him playing on one of my songs! I am so honored. The footage of Phil was shot by his son Todd Campbell at his recording studio in Wales, UK.” 

“From The Grave” is the second video following last year’s “No One’s Victim,” which was the CRO-MAGS first music video in 27 years.

In The Beginning will be released on June 19, 2020 on CD, limited edition yellow or red cassettes, and the following vinyl formats:

Yellow/orange/black sunburst

Transparent orange w/ yellow splatter

Orange Crush

Ultra-clear w/ orange and yellow splatter (Indie retail exclusive)

Pre-orders are available here.

Hardcore legend Harley Flanagan talks about his debut solo album “Cro-Mags”

Punk mainstay Harley Flanagan is often recognized as one of the most influential members of the NY hardcore/punk scene of the early 1980’s. His band the Cro-Mags set the early standard for hardcore which is still followed and recognized to this day. Harley recently released his first solo album titled “Cro-Mags” and Media Mikes had the chance to speak with him recently about the album, his trials and tribulations with his former band and also about his upcoming book.

Ryan Albro: At what moment did you decided it was time to release your first solo album?

Harley Flanagan: I had some ideas in my head that I had been working on and at one point I was fortunate enough to have some studio time made available to me so I decided that I was going to use that time to start laying down some demos. From there one thing led to another and it wound up turning into this album.

RA: What was the writing process like working on a solo album versus previous albums?

HF: It was really the same process as I am the guy who came up with riffs. Back in the old days, I would have be recording them on a cassette player or when I was living with Squatch I used to call up Parris’s house and tell him not to pick up the phone so I could hum riffs on his answering machine. He’d learn the riffs and then we’d meet up later and we’d play them together. Now I sit around the house and record them on my phone. Whenever a riff comes I put it down and I work with it. I had a ton of riffs on my phone and when the studio time became available I went in and just waded through everything and picked out a bunch that I thought had an old school type of feel. I wanted to write a bunch of short songs that just come in, punch you in the face and walk right over you. I actually wrote everything believe it or not on an acoustic. I am actually thinking about releasing an acoustic version online just for fun because that’s how this whole album was originally recorded

RA: What made you decide to name the album Cro-Mags, considering the issues you have with the band?

HF: I basically felt like it was time for me to reclaim something that is rightfully mine. All bullshit aside, my hand has always been extended to those guys and even after all the shit went down at Webster Hall and along with everything else, my hand is still extended. The fact of the matter is that so called band is just John and occasionally Matthew. There’s nobody playing in that so-called band that has ever written a Cro-mags song and the Cro-mags have not written a song since I haven’t been involved. They are like a tribute band doing songs and other covers. This new record sounds more like Cro-Mags than anything anybody’s done since. I’m taking back the name. That magic is never going to be recaptured without everyone being involved. I believe that and I know that and that’s why I’m the sentimental fool that’s always fucking extending my hand to these guys, but obviously it doesn’t mean as much to those guys as it does to me. The good that game out of it far outweighs the bad, but unfortunately there has been a lot of bad. For me that whole interruption in 2012 and then putting out this album and really venting my feelings about that moment has been a real positive thing for me because it has helped me exorcise a lot of those demons.

RA: You also have a book coming out can you tell us about that?

HF: As far back as I can remember people have been telling me I should write a book, at least going back to like the 80’s but, I never really wanted to. Despite being told I have some really great stories it’s just never been something I had the desire to do. When I was going through some particularly tough times in my life I started thinking that in case anything happens I do want my side of the story to get out. I already knew that hardcore had made enough of an impact culturally where there would inevitably be books written and bullshit said and bullshit told. I was like I’m going to get my side of this out and I’m going to tell my story, the actual story. If I don’t I’m going to wind up with some asshole telling my life story the way they perceived it or the way they want it told to serve their purpose. I started writing everything down that I could remember going back as far as I could to my early childhood. Over the years of working on it I kept going back and fact checking and, double checking and, confirming facts with my family members. My mom was helpful with that before she passed away. I did a lot or research on everything. I wrote this book with the intention of it being something that people would want to read and them to see what it was like living in that time period through the eyes of a child, through the eyes of someone that was there growing up in it. There has been a lot of books about punk rock but there haven’t been any written by someone who was 10 years old when this happened. It goes through my whole life. It starts off with the day that Webster Hall went down and then right when that started to erupt it goes back to my early childhood and it retraces everything through as much as I could. Obviously I had to cut a lot of shit out or it would have been like a 10,000 page book but I wound up getting an editor and after everything was written and really narrowed down to the most powerful stuff. People can get a taste of what will be in the book if they check out www.harleyflanagan.com

RA: Lastly, What are your plans for touring in support of the new album?

HF: I have looked into doing some shows and some touring but so far the right show hasn’t come up. I work 6 days a week, I love my job, I love the people I work with and I love being home with my wife and spending as much time with my kids as I can. For me to get out there and tour it has to be the right shows. When the book comes out I will definitely be doing a book tour and, the idea is I would like to try and book shows that coincide with that so I can perhaps do a book thing during the day and maybe a show that same evening in the same city. That way you can kill two birds with one stone while having fun.