As we were saying, original Cro-Mags member Harley Flanagan told website NYNatives that he was acting in self defense when two members of his old band were injured by him at Webster Hall on July 6th. NYNatives since posted Harley's entire statement...

"According to Harley, he was invited to the dressing room back stage and instead of being welcomed as he expected he was jumped by a group of men. "When I saw that door get pulled shut I was literally fighting for my life. I was afraid these guys were going to kick me half to death, roll me down the back steps and that no one would see it... and there would be no witnesses and that would be that....and all I could think about was getting home safe to my kids...I wanted to save my life, to protect myself and these guys were trying to do me in."

Current Cro-Mags frontman John Joseph, who was also in that dressing room, has since issued another statement that starts with the line, "[Harley's] been watching too many sci-fi movies." The rest below...

Continue reading "Harley Flanagan says he was invited to Webster Hall & jumped; John Joseph issues statement, says he's a liar"

photos by Kurt Christensen

John Joseph addresses the crowd @ Webster Hall Friday night - 7/6/12 (video below)

Before things took a turn for the worse and got all stabby, Webster Hall hosted performances from Vision of Disorder, Sai-Nam and Absolution as part of a five band bill that would have also included Sick of It All and Cro-Mags if the CBGB Festival Friday show didn't end early. Pictures from the relatively peaceful opening to the show are in this post.

As discussed, things got ugly when ex-Cro-Mags bassist Harley Flanagan, who is known for not being happy that Cro-Mags continue without him, allegedly assaulted current Cro-Mags members with a hunting knife before the Cro-Mags set. Harley has been charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

John Joseph and his version of Cro-Mags (that was scheduled to play Webster Hall but instead got cut) issued the following statement:

WE... as a band are truly sorry for the way it all turned out in every regard even the ex-member who's family is now effected by his choices. Our prayers go out to them as well as Mike C., and the others who were hurt, but it was 'his' choice to come to our concert with a hunting knife, standing by our dressing door. Who knows what his actual intent was, obviously he wasn't there with it to cut bread for a peace offering as he was heard saying outside he was putting an end to us playing without him. Let's move on now & stop the trash-talking. Keep that PMA - that's what we are all about.

PMA indeed.

That's a picture of John telling the Webster Hall crowd that the show is over on Friday. You can watch video of it below.

The NY Times talked to John too:

John Joseph, the band's lead singer, said that Mr. Flanagan had been at odds with other members of the Cro-Mags since he left the band in 2000 and had not been permitted to rejoin.

"This dude has been a negative thorn in the side of this band forever," Mr. Joseph said. "I hope he gets what's coming to him."

Few bands were as energetic as the Cro-Mags during the heyday of the Lower East Side hard-core scene in the mid- to late 1980s. Their first record, "The Age of Quarrel," featured an illustration of a mushroom cloud on the cover and driving songs with shouted lyrics about existential fear and the limits of anarchism.

In many ways the songs were a reflection of the world as seen by Mr. Flanagan, who left school at an early age and began hanging out on the decaying streets of the Lower East Side, where rent was cheap, abandoned buildings proliferated and the drug trade flourished.

The hard-core scene gradually become less visible, said Clayton Patterson, a photographer on the Lower East Side who has documented many of the bands, but it has experienced a revival in recent years.

The crowd was waiting for the Cro-Mags on Friday night when Mr. Flanagan darted from the dressing room while yelling something that onlookers could not make out, according to a spectator, Elie Perler, 30.

The NY Post points out:

Joseph warned CBGB Festival organizers that Flanagan wasn't wanted, but he wound up obtaining a press pass.
"Get somebody on the door who knows what he looks like," Joseph said he warned. "They didn't take that threat seriously."

For those people that "don't believe the hype", somehow have faith that this is one big government conspiracy, or that it actually wasn't Harley Flanagan that attacked two in the VIP area at "Weber Hall", you can contribute to the Free Harley Flanagan fund. 119 days to go on this crowdsourcing effort and they are currently at 0.988% towards their $50k goal. Good luck with that one.

If you missed Vision of Disorder, you can catch them in NYC again at Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 24th, tickets go on AMEX presale at noon on Wednesday (7/11) and regular sale on Friday.

More pictures of a peaceful Webster Hall before the storm, and video of John Joseph addressing the crowd, below.

Continue reading "pics from the Cro-Mags show (before it shut down), a statement from John Joseph, a new VOD show & a... fundraiser for Harley"

by Fred Pessaro / BBG

Harley Flanagan is wheeled out of Webster Hall (via NYC Hammers)

To follow up our vague tweet last night, the NY Post has the full story:

A former member of the hard-core punk band the Cro-Mags attacked two of the group's current members with a hunting knife in a dressing room before a show at Webster Hall yesterday -- biting one and slashing both.
The band was about to take the stage about 8:15 p.m. when tattooed rocker Harley Flanagan, 42, barreled through the East Village venue's VIP section toward the Cro-Mags' dressing room, sending nearly 30 guests on the balcony into a frenzy, law enforcement sources and witnesses said.

"Someone was yelling, 'Get his hands, get his hands, he's got a knife!' " witness Dave Gustav said. "Everything went nuts."

Several beefy security guards rushed to contain Flanagan, who seemed about to boil over before he entered the East Village venue.

...Flanagan, the band's former bassist and founder, suffered a broken leg by the time security finally pinned him down, witnesses said. Cops handcuffed him to a chair and took him out.

"People started booing him and throwing stuff at him," eyewitness Justin Brannan said. "His hands were handcuffed but he still gave everyone the finger."

William Berario, 45, was slashed above the eye and bitten on his cheek. Michael Couls, 33, -- the band's current bassist, who is known in the hardcore world as "The Gook" -- was cut on his arm and stomach. -
[NY Post]

The show, part of the CBGB Festival, was shut down before either Sick of it All or Cro-Mags took the stage. Its a sad day for New York Hardcore. This unity that everyone speaks about? PMA? The time for that is now.

Harley, who did the stabbing, is an original member of the band that formed in 1981. John Joseph, also an original member, leads the current version of "Cro-Mags" that Harley is not in, and which John was calling "Cro-Mags (jam)" for a bit in 2008 to avoid confusion with a version of the band Harley was leading (or for legal reasons or something like that). John's version, which didn't keep the "(jam)" on their name for long, has been having much success the past few years, this CBGB Festival booking included. Harley's version hasn't been active in a while

UPDATE: Here are pictures from the show and a statement from Cro-Mags too..

As if this show needed to get any better, Blabbermouth reports that Madball will play with Harley's War, Murphy's Law, Sick of It All, and Agnostic Front at CBGB on October 8th.

Previously
Avail, Underdog & Bouncing Souls opening for Bad Brains
Gorilla Biscuits @ CBGB (Sept 06), NYC | pics
Leeway & Madball | 2006 Tour Dates, CBGB

J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. plays a CBGB benefit show on September 11th. (guests & ticket info. TBA)

Old Skull is reuniting at the Exploited show on September 8th.

September 3rd is listed like this..."HARLEY'S WAR Featuring Harley Flanagan and Hard core Allstars and special cromag guests!!! Playing ALL "ORIGINAL CRO-MAGS AND HARLEY'S WAR SONGS!!!!"

We're all Broken and BlackoutPack are are opening for Thursday on August 25th.

All benefit shows below...

Continue reading "J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr, Cro-Mags & other CBGB Benefit Updates"