Interview with Cro-Mags Founder Harley Flanagan

Roxy Cinema is thrilled to be premiering the documentary Harley Flanagan: Wired For Chaos about legendary punk musician who founded the Cro-Mags, Harley Flanagan. Harley got his start on the lower east side drumming for his Aunt’s band The Stimulators when he was only 11 years old and played all over New York in spots like Max’s Kansas City when he was so young! Harley Flanagan and director Rex Miller will be joining every screening for special Q&A’s. Roxy Cinema had the chance to ask Harley a few questions ahead of the screening.

If Punk isn’t dead, where is it hiding?

It doesn’t seem dead to me. I did several shows with the Misfits over the past few years in front of thousands of people.  The No Values Festival was the biggest punk rock event to ever happen and that was this year, nevermind the countless other “punk” and Hardcore festivals like Punk Rock Bowling etc.  Now the old punk bands from back in the day are finally making money and getting the respect they deserve and new bands that are coming up seem to be doing pretty well. You have bands like Turnstile and many others who are taking it in a new direction and introducing this genre to a whole world of new kids. I think it’s far from dead and if it’s hiding, it’s in plain sight!

I know everyone romanticizes NY in the 70s and 80s and you said living it was a very gritty harrowing experience, but in comparison how do you feel about the New York we have now?

 I think it’s soft as baby shit. It’s Overrun by non-New Yorkers who now think they are New Yorkers and tourists. I personally don’t have a problem with gentrification because my neighborhood was really fucked up when I was a kid. It was a scary place to live. I would rather go to the corner and get a Starbucks, then go to the corner and see lines of junkies wrapped around the block, waiting to cop heroin. But that’s just me. I think if you’ve really been through the shit and if you really have suffered you don’t romanticize it as much as people who want to pretend that they have lived that way. I don’t have that problem.

How did it feel to have a documentary made about you? What was the process like?

It’s crazy.

I was just the subject. I know they had almost 200 hour’s worth of interviews as well as tons of archival footage to work with. I didn’t actually get to see it till it was finished which was quite nerve-racking.

What was it like being a very young kid in the NY punk scene of the early 80s and how did that shape your life?

All I can say is watch the movie. You will see for yourself. I don’t want to rob you of that or give it away.

Is there something you’re really excited for the audience to take away from this new documentary about you?

I don’t really think of it like that. I’m just telling my story.  If anything, I hope people will understand me a little better and maybe understand why I made the mistakes in life that I made.  I hope that it gives courage to people who are struggling, that it gives them some kind of hope, that you can make it through whatever hardships you face if you don’t give up.

Wired For Chaos Tickets & Dates:

Sunday June 15 9 PM

Tuesday June 17^th 7 PM

Thursday June 19^th 7 PM

Friday June 20^th 9:35 PM