“Some people come up to me and say, ‘You’re a lot shorter than I thought you would be. I thought you’d be huge, a monster!'” Roger Miret, vocalist for the legendary New York hardcore group Agnostic Front, is a man whose reputation precedes him. And though Agnostic Front’s political hardcore is raw, confrontational, and fierce, offstage Miret is friendly and considerate.
Warriors marks the band’s twenty-fifth anniversary. Produced by Madball/Hazen Street frontman Freddy Cricien, Miret’s little brother whom he affectionately calls “my prodigy,” the album contains fifteen new tracks, including one with guitarist Vinnie Stigma on lead vocals. Miret, who has already had a big year welcoming the birth of his second daughter, eagerly anticipates the album’s release.
The album’s title track, inspired in part by the movie 300, is especially meaningful to Miret. “We’re warriors through and through. We’re warriors for life. Our movement, our life, our commitment to this scene — American hardcore warriors.”
In a quarter century of making protest rock, Miret has noticed that young fans are thinking more about big-picture issues such as the war and the environment. Although he never thought that punk and hardcore would change the world, he acknowledges, “We can make a big difference, and music can be the voice for those who are oppressed. That makes a difference now, and it’ll make a difference a hundred years from now.”
Regardless of the social and political impact of their music, Miret feels even stronger about the way that Agnostic Front has influenced people at a personal level. “Not a tour goes by where I don’t have people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, man, if it wasn’t for these lyrics or that album or this song, I would have probably killed myself. My life is different now.’ It feels good when you’ve reached out and affected people that way.”