VsGreg interview Harley de HARLEYS WAR/CRO-MAGS
Copyright V-Solutions.net

1. Hi Harley, to start this interview, could you confirm that the Cro Mags story is definitvly finished ? What is the main reason of this split ?
Well, the "story" is never "finished" ha ha ha but my Relationship with the other former members of the group is,it just has gotten to stupid over the years.I have other priority's.
but, yeah , if there is ever any news or whatever check out www.cromags.com that's where it will be..also theres a lot of cool old photos and shit up there..so check it out...but yeah im pretty much done with those guys bloodclot and parrisite this shit has gotten ridiculous.

2. When you look back in all this years being in Cro Mags, what are your best and worse memories ?
Best ones Well yeah i had a lot of great times good music killer shows tours I have lots of good and humorous memories.. worst ones well..All the different levels of betrayal bullshit lies petty jealousy and backstabbing just the fucking soap opera bullshit that this whole band turned into,But hey you cant live your life bitter over past things cause then you never move on,All in all it was cool those other guys just turned out to be a bunch of faggots in the end that's all. I wish it would have worked out differently cause there was a time when it was great fun..

3. A lot of people were thinking that the last Cro-mags "Revenge" was a new start for the band. Why did this new experience with Perris end so quickly ? Is the title "parasite" a message to him ?
Nothing in life is certain except death, and just like all things that died, parris had a secret agenda from the start when me and him started working together again he was manipulating a lot of the business dealings and ultimately tried to fuck me over and then when i confronted him on it , He had me arrested for harassment and now has an order of protection against me.and yes it was a definite message to him just like fireburn was a message to bloodclot another phoney motherfucker,,but im done with it as far as those clowns go I really don't want to get into all the endless bullshit that has become of a band I was proud of it's just a damn shame..but hey fuck it i'd rather remember the good times of it all and ultimately we did a lot of good songs and good shows together .whatever lineup it was and hey..fuck it..ha ha it really all just kind makes me laugh now days..

4. Do you have any contact with ex-Cro Mags members today ?
Yeah I almost beat johns ass a couple weeks ago at a Henry Rollins show but as usual he was all talk and pussied out, but besides that naah not really ha ha,,no.. i really am just trying to get on with my business do my own thing and stay away from all this crap , it's really time to let it go..

5. You're new band is named "harley's war". Is it a real band or a solo project ? Why didn't you choose the name of WHITE DEVIL like in the past ?
This is more of a solo project , and white devil was a great name, but that was in the past. This is my solo project this is harley's war,im not saying ill never be in a "Band" again, but this a solo thing it's just a fun thing,i just get different friends of mine to play on the recordings and live iv'e had every one from members of cro-mags, suicidal, warzone, AF, Murphys law, skarhead,crown of thorns ,merauder,dog eat dog,and more I was most proud of having Darryl from the Bad Brains playing bass with me for like 10 - 12 shows and i was just singing it was a lot of fun, we just do my originals and some cro-mags and sometimes a few classic HC or punk or oi covers,it's a real good time and it's lot less pressure then trying to keep a band going it's just a good time and i also get to play with a lot of people i like and respect this way, its good.

6. This "Cro-mag" cd contains a lot of rare and unreleased material from the 80s. Can you tell us more about it ?
Well the first 7 tracks i did with rocky george of suicidal tendencies as you know he also jammed with cro-mags for a minute, and jay vento from warzone and my friend ryan krieger who also toured with cro-mags and samsara,I also got vinnie stigma from AF and mickey fitz from the bussines to jam on it and well yeah its some old school type shit you know my usual style of just aggressive type shit,

7. There is only 7 new tracks on this cd, is it more an EP, an introduction to your new musical direction ? Will a full lenghth cd come soon ?
Yes there should be a full lenght some time by the end of the year,even though I consider this one a full length to its just not all recent material but anyway,we did do more tracks,i just didn't have enough loot to mix everything so i just went with some of the songs that for one reason or another I thought would be the best for this perticular CD, but I don't really think this is a new musical direction for me if anything i think ive stayed pretty much in touch with and true to what i grew up on i mean listen to the stuff from the 80' to the stuff from now , and the cro-mags stuff, even when it changes there is always certain underlining aspects of it that stay's sort of the same,but yeah I think there will be a lot more of this type of stuff on the next CD and probably in the future as well i would presume, but of course i always try to introduce some new elements and try shit just for fun and just like on this CD there will be a lot of special guests on the next one each adding their own flavor so..yeah it will be Cool im looking forward to it.

8. Do you think that Cro Mags had infleuences to some actual modern hardcore bands ? If yes, who are the sons of Cro Mags ?
I think we might have influenced more bands then we realize not just Hard-core but metal as well ,a lot of bands where inspired by bands who where playing stuff that was influenced by us , So even indirectly we affected a lot of people even if it was in a ripple effect I think we reached pretty far for a band that was never as big as some of the other bands of our time , I mean a lot of Hard-core Bands where into us and bands like pantera mettalica etc where all into us to so..ha ha i think we where one of the biggest underground bands at one point ha ha we just never made it real big that's all. so what are you gonna do...hey adleast i had a fun and Im still having fun so fuck it. but the only "sons of cro-mags" i know of is My son Harley , you gotta do a lot more then imitate my music to be a cro-mag or to be a son of cro-mag, it was a life style and a time period a long time ago that cannot be relived. you where either there or you weren't.

9. What are you thinking of the hardcore scene of the 2000s ?
I really don't know That much about it,
i see a lot of good bands but i see a lot of total crap as well, so in that aspect it hasn't changed much, but that's about it, i don't think it can compare to back in the day , it was just a different world back then.
back then it was a reaction to things around us, not a reaction to something that existed 10-20 years before us it wasn't an imitation of something that was generations ago , we where doing it for the first time, I was a punk rocker in 77 at age 10 , I was a part of the 1st generation of hard-core kids it was just different,but hey it's still something I enjoy and im just glad that it lasted this long ha ha or i would be playing this kind of music by my self at home instead of at shows with other people, cause this is what I like to do...this for me is the most satisfying music to play even though i play a lot of different kinds of shit but after i play a hardcorre show i feel good, it takes everything out of me i sweat my arms hurt its aggressive it feels good it's a release..it still feels good twenty something years later...I still get a rush from doing it,

10. Will the Cro Mag fans have a final Cro mags recording ... a live album ?
I am putting out a CD of the reunion shows me and john doug and rocky george played on with some extra "old" bonus material, so that should be pretty cool, check for it on loud fast recordings at http://www.cromags.com

11. A last word for our french readers ?
Well first of all id like to thank all the French fans and supporters I have always enjoyed playing over there and I hope to do it again soon and as long as you like the cro-mags it will never be over , now its just Harley's war ! I will keep playing aggressive music for as long as live and for any info updates or news on Harley's war or the cro-mags checkout www.cromags.com there you will also find tons of really cool pictures of the old NY Punk scene and Hardcore scene from the 70's and 80's and 90's as well as tons of old and new cro-mags pictures and Harley's war
so anyway..Once again, thanx to everyone out there who has supported me and my music through all the years and all the up's and downs,you guy's my friends and the fans you kick ass !
Thanx
Harley Flanagan
check out
www.cromags.com
Peace