Freddy Cricien

Last updated

Freddy Cricien
Freddy Cricien - Madball - Reload Festival 2018 (cropped).jpg
Cricien performing with Madball in 2018
Background information
Also known asFreddy Madball
Born (1975-11-04) November 4, 1975 (age 47)
Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
Origin New York City, U.S.
Genres New York hardcore, hardcore punk, hip hop
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, producer
Years active1989present
Member of Madball, Hazen Street

Freddy Cricien (born November 4, 1975), also known as Freddy Madball, is an American vocalist, primarily known as the lead singer of the New York hardcore band Madball. [1] He is also the lead singer of Hazen Street [2] and has a hip hop career from which debut album was November 2009's Catholic Guilt. He also moonlights as an MC with DJ Stress as the hip hop duo Freddy Madball & DJ Stress. [3]

Contents

Biography

Early life

Cricien was born in Passaic, New Jersey on November 4, 1975. [4] His mother is from Havana, Cuba and his father is from Barranquilla, Colombia. He has three older siblings from the same mother. The eldest is Roger Miret of Agnostic Front. At five years old, Freddy and his family relocated to Miramar, Florida. Roger stayed behind and soon after became immersed in the New York hardcore music scene.

Career

When Cricien was about seven years old, he visited with his brother in New York City and began to perform on stage with Agnostic Front. Shortly after, he began to join the band on tour. At 12 years old, Cricien recorded Madball's first 7-inch, Ball of Destruction. It consisted of used and unused Agnostic Front material. The original lineup featured Roger Miret on bass, Vinnie Stigma on guitar, Will Shepler on drums, and Cricien on vocals.

When Cricien was 16 years old, he moved permanently to New York City and moved in with Miret. In 1992, Madball recorded and released the Droppin Many Suckas EP. This recording featured original music and the addition of Matt Henderson on guitar. In the years to follow, Madball continued to release new albums (Set It Off-1994, Demonstrating My Style-1996, Look My Way-1998, Been There, Done That-1998, Hold It Down-2000, N.Y.H.C-2004, Legacy-2005, Infiltrate the System-2007, Empire-2010, Rebellion EP-2012, Hardcore Lives-2014, and most recently For the Cause-2018)

Cricien has made guest appearances on tracks by bands such as Fear Factory (vocals on the bonus track Agnostic Front song "Your Mistake"), Deviate (vocals on "Last Judgement"), Sick of It All (vocals on "Forked Tongue" on the Death to Tyrants album), H2O (guest vocals on the song "Guilty By Association" on the F.T.T.W. album), 25 ta Life (guest vocals on "Loyal to da Grave" on the Strength Through Unity album), Shutdown (guest vocals on "Few and Far Between" on the album of the same name), Skarhead (guest vocals on "I Won't Change" on the album Kings at Crime). [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnostic Front</span> American hardcore punk band

Agnostic Front is an American hardcore punk band from New York City. Founded in 1980, the band is considered an important influence on the New York hardcore scene, as well as a pioneer of the crossover thrash genre.

Hazen Street (also typeset Hazen St.) is an American supergroup that formed in early 2004. The band features Freddy Cricien and Hoya Roc (Madball); Toby Morse (H2O), David Kennedy (Box Car Racer, Over My Dead Body, later Angels & Airwaves), and Mackie (Cro-Mags & Bad Brains). Chad Gilbert (Shai Hulud and later New Found Glory) co-wrote and helped record every song on the album, but he was soon dismissed from Hazen Street by New Found Glory's record label due to a contract dispute. He was replaced by Brian "Mitts" Daniels of Madball.

<i>Hazen Street</i> (album) 2004 studio album by Hazen Street

Hazen Street is the eponymous debut by the band of the same name. Borne out of an original collaboration between Morse and Kennedy and named for the address of the N.Y.C. prison in which ex-Madball vocalist Cricien did a stint, the band mixed hard-hitting contemporary hardcore with metal, rap-rock, and pop overtones. Hazen Street signed with Benji and Joel Madden's Epic-distributed DC Flag imprint in 2003 and set to work on their debut with producer Howard Benson. Guitarist Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory also performed on the record, but commitments to NFG kept him from touring in support with Hazen Street. The self-titled effort was then issued in July 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madball</span> New York hardcore band

Madball is an American New York hardcore band formed in New York City, that originated in the late 1980s as a side project of Agnostic Front. The band developed after Agnostic Front's front man Roger Miret would let his younger half-brother Freddy Cricien take the microphone and perform lead vocals during Agnostic Front shows.

<i>Hold It Down</i> (Madball album) 2000 studio album by Madball

Hold It Down is an album by the American band Madball, released in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toby Morse</span> American vocalist

Toby Morse (born April 8, 1970) is an American vocalist who is best known as the lead singer for punk rock band H2O. He is also one of the vocalists for hardcore punk group Hazen Street.

<i>Last Warning</i> 1993 compilation album by Agnostic Front

Last Warning is a compilation album by hardcore punk band Agnostic Front. It was released in 1993 on Relativity Records, marketed by Roadrunner Records, and follows 1992's studio album, One Voice.

<i>Somethings Gotta Give</i> (album) 1998 studio album by Agnostic Front

Something's Gotta Give is the fifth full-length studio album by New York hardcore band Agnostic Front. It was released in June 1998 on Epitaph Records and follows 1995's Raw Unleashed compilation album. It is actually the first studio album since 1992's One Voice. The album was co-produced by Billy Milano, the frontman of crossover thrash bands S.O.D. and M.O.D.

<i>Victim in Pain</i> 1984 studio album by Agnostic Front

Victim in Pain is the debut full-length studio album by New York hardcore punk band Agnostic Front. It was released in 1984 on Rat Cage Records and follows the United Blood EP. The album features Rob Kabula and Dave Jones, who replaced Adam Mucci and Raybeez on bass and drums respectively. It is still available as a split album with their subsequent album, 1986's Cause for Alarm.

<i>Cause for Alarm</i> (album) 1986 studio album by Agnostic Front

Cause for Alarm is the second full-length studio album by New York hardcore band Agnostic Front. It was released in 1986 on Relativity/Combat Records and follows 1984's Victim in Pain. The album is still available on a split release with Victim in Pain on the same disc.

<i>Another Voice</i> 2004 studio album by Agnostic Front

Another Voice is the eighth full-length studio album from New York hardcore band Agnostic Front. It was released in November 2004 on Nuclear Blast Records and follows 2002's split album with Discipline, Working Class Heroes. It was the first recording on the label and was co-produced by Jamey Jasta of the band Hatebreed. It features many guest vocal spots. 2006 saw the release of another live album, Live at CBGB – 25 Years of Blood, Honor and Truth.

25 ta Life is an American New York hardcore band that originally formed in mid-1991.

N.Y.H.C. is a documentary film directed by Frank Pavich about the mid-1990s New York hardcore scene. Filmed in mid-1995, it was completed and self-released on VHS by Pavich in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icepick (band)</span> American metalcore band

Icepick is an American metalcore band formed in 1996. It serves as a side project to Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed, Danny Diablo, and other musicians of the hardcore punk and hip hop scenes. Although founded in 1996, Icepick remained virtually stagnant until the song "Born to Crush You" appeared on UFC: Ultimate Beat Downs, Vol. 1 in August 2004. Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski frequently uses their song "Onward to Victory" as his entrance music for fights.

<i>Warriors</i> (Agnostic Front album) 2007 studio album by Agnostic Front

Warriors is the ninth full-length studio album from New York hardcore band Agnostic Front released on November 6, 2007. The album is produced by Madball frontman Freddy Cricien, who is the half-brother of Agnostic Front frontman Roger Miret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Miret</span> American singer and musician

Rogelio de Jesus Miret is a Cuban American musician. He is the vocalist for New York hardcore band Agnostic Front, street punk group Roger Miret and the Disasters, and hardcore band The Alligators.

<i>Hardcore Lives</i> 2014 studio album by Madball

Hardcore Lives is the eighth studio album by New York hardcore band Madball. It was released on June 27, 2014. This was the last album to feature guitarist Brian "Mitts" Daniels before his departure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Daniels (musician)</span> American musician

Brian "Mitts" Daniels is an American musician, songwriter, and producer. He was the guitarist of Madball from 2001–2017.

Hardcore 4 The Coldhearted is the double CD album by American hardcore punk and hip hop artist Danny Diablo. It was released on August 29, 2008 via Countdown Records.

Beatdown hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk with prominent elements of heavy metal. Beatdown hardcore features aggressive vocals, gang vocals, heavy guitar riffs and breakdowns and lyrics discussing unity, brotherhood, volatile interpersonal relationships and machismo. The genre has its origins in late 1980s New York hardcore bands such as Breakdown, Killing Time and Madball, and was pioneered in the mid-1990s by bands like Bulldoze, Terror Zone and Neglect. The definition of the genre has expanded over time to incorporate artists increasingly indebted to metal, notably Xibalba, Sunami and Knocked Loose.

References

  1. Prato, Greg. "Biography: Madball". AMG . Retrieved May 10, 2010.
  2. Loftus, Johnny. "Biography: Hazen Street". AMG . Retrieved May 10, 2010.
  3. Freddy Madball / DJ Stress Occicial MySpace page
  4. "Interview - Freddy (Madball) & Roger (Agnostic Front)". Spiritribe. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
  5. Freddy Cricien Discography at Discogs