After years of not seeing one another Freddy and I reconnected through My Space.

One night we decided to get together and have dinner. As we sat and talked about old times over summer rolls and noodles the idea for an interview popped into my head. I asked sheepishly and to my surprise he seemed to be open to the idea.

Freddy Alva may not have sang in any bands but he sure as hell did his part for the New York Hardcore and Punk scene in the 80’s, 90’s and even today. His fanzine New Breed which he started with Chaka Malik (Burn/Orange 9 mm) released the groundbreaking New Breed tape compilation.  He later went on to book shows at ABC-No-Rio. Giving kids a chance to breath new life into a scene that had collapsed due to violence and a whole lot of posturing. In the 90’s he started War Dance records and was part of the cooperative Reconstruction Records housed only doors away from where Some Records once stood. I caught up with him a few weeks after our first encounter in years and talked about his experiences in Hardcore while we chowed down on Burritos on 2nd. Ave. in the village. JD

James: Just for the record tell me the story about how me met.

Freddy: It had to be around the fifth or sixth grade. I was sitting on the bus and I overheard some kid talking about Rod Stewart getting his stomach pumped to remove all the cum he had swallowed. I remember thinking “what the fuck?”

James: I think my first memories of you were walking from that lunch area to the buses.

I must have been seven because I hadn’t been going to Blessed Sacrament yet.

Okay so we lived in the same neighborhood. Went to summer camp together and then went to grammar school together. We also got into Hardcore around the same time.

Can you tell me how you were introduced to the music and did you have any older kids that kind of schooled you?

Freddy: Growing up in Jackson Heights we were more into the Hip Hop scene and break dancing. We were also listening to WLIR that played a New Wave and stuff like the Ramones.

I started hanging out with him and O.T. 

(Occupied Territory) who lived in East New York, which was Bushwick and Bed Stuy.

James: I always remembered you as this shy, reserved guy. What was it like going from the comfort zone of Jackson Heights to the ghettos of East New York?

Freddy: I had been doing graffiti since I was thirteen. I had been going to different parts of the city and different train yards up in the Bronx and all over.

James: What was the first show you went to?

Freddy: The first show I went to was at CBGB’s. I remember going with this new wave, goth, Filipino kid with black nail polish. The bill was Raw Power, The Day-Glo Abortions and Knockout James. I remember being totally blown away by Raw Power. As for that kid he was scared shitless and never came back.

James: Did your friend get any shit because of the way he looked?

Freddy: (Laughs) We pretty much stayed on the side lines.

James: What were some of your inspirations to start doing New Breed? Were there any zines that you looked up to or inspired you?

There were zines like the Village Noize, Bullshit Monthly, Guillotine and the more national Maximum Rock n Roll that influenced me.

James: Who was on the cover of the first issue.

Freddy: Chaka designed the graffiti style logo and Raw Deal got the cover.

James: How did the New Breed compilation come about?

James: I would imagine getting that many bands together would be quite a task. What was the most difficult task in putting things together?

Freddy: We decided to put out a booklet with artwork from the various bands. That was a pain in the ass getting all the work in. Once we got everything together we had t put it on a master tape.  I think we made 300-400 copies and that had to be the most painstaking thing. Recording everything one by one.

James: What tracks really stood out to you at the time?

Freddy: Obviously the Absolution stuff is incredible. It’s kind of a shame their 7 inch didn’t sound as well. Other stuff that really stood out was Life’s Blood, Collapse, Abombanation, Beyond, Fit of Anger, Discipline. Most of the bands were really good.

James: Listening to the comp now almost twenty years later the tracks that really stand out for me are the ones by Collapse and Discipline. It’s funny because I remember Gus from Discipline coming to the house and playing the song for us before he delivered it to you. I remember absolutely hating it. I listen to it now and I absolutely love it.

The New Breed compilation has seen its share of bootlegs. How do you feel about that?

James: A lot of people including myself feel that the New Breed compilation stands up there with some of the great ones of it’s time. Have you had offers to give it a proper re-issue?

Freddy: About five years ago Vinnie from Generation Records who had a label called Eyeball records  asked me if I’d like to do a legit re-issue. I went to Chaka to see how he felt about the idea but he was adamant about it. He said if you wanted to do something like that you would have to get in touch with all the bands to get permission. It was just too much.

James: At the time you were collecting material for the compilation were you getting releases from these bands?

Freddy: We really liked this band the Icemen and wanted them to be on with all the other bands. Their guitarist Marco gave us a five page contract with all these expectations and we decided not to deal with that.

James: What were some of your favorite bands from that time period?

Freddy: Absolution, Raw Deal, Youth Defense League, Altercation. I can’t really think of anything I didn’t like.

You mentioned Altercation. I think Altercation and Collapse were such amazing bands but are often overlooked because they had such short life spans. I think Altercation might have only played three shows.

James: I could be wrong but I always saw you as this shy, quiet guy. I was wondering if there was ever a time when Freddy Alva decided to take the mic and start his own band.

Freddy: I guess the story must be told. We were getting ready to do the New Breed comp. A couple of friends I had met over at CBGB’s said, “Hey, lets get a band together and put a song on the comp.” I had being trying to play the guitar. I had been trying really hard.  Good friend of mine John Patterson got the band together and we called it Last Cause. We wrote a song and went down to Don Fury’s to record it. (Laughing) It was the most horrible piece of crap.

James: When we go back to your place are you going to give me a copy of the Last Cause demo?

Freddy: Absolutely not!!!!

James: Around the same time the comp came out New York Hardcore was going through a shift. There was a lot of violence at clubs like CBGB’s and a few shows at

The Pyramid club stand out. Was there any particular incident that sticks in your mind that made you think about getting away from it all?

Freddy: Unfortunately a lot of people that you and I both know like the people in O.T. (Occupied Territory) which became D.M.S.. People like Sunset Skins. Even though I was friends with a lot of those guys they caused a lot of violence that was happening. It all just kept escalating. I remember Minus from the Sunset Skins in the pit with a chain wrapped around his fist.

There were people who were just going to CBGB’s shows to rob what were considered the new jacks. Take their boots and flight jackets. Just beat them down. The music also became more of that chugga, chugga tough guy mosh core. It just turned into something it never was before. By that time I was already friends with Gavin, Mike Bullshit, Brendan SFA and they had started booking shows at the Lizmar Lounge. They had done a couple of shows there and then moved over to

ABC – No – Rio. I started getting involved with ABC because the atmosphere there was totally different. The environment at ABC was completely different. The people, the bands the music were all very different. I got involved there more directly. I put out a few of the bands like Citizens Arrest and Rorschach. I got involved with Born Against and all those people. There was the infamous debate at WNYU between Sick of it All and Born Against. The debate was blown out of proportion> If I remember correctly Sick of it All got signed to a major label. In Effect was like the subsidiary of some major label. Nathan and Sam from Born Against were very vocal about Hardcore bands signing with majors labels. Sick of it All’s side of the coin was “Why should we have to work in shitty 9-5 jobs when we can make a living making the music we love?” While Born Against side was that the whole idea of Hardcore was anti establishment and against commercial music.

James: The matinees at ABC – NO – RIO started shortly after CBGB’s put their ban on Hardcore matinees. How did you keep the element that destroyed the shows there from walking through the front doors of ABC?

Freddy: In the very beginning we had guys like Brendan (SFA) Gavin and Chaka (Burn) doing security. It’s funny but I actually remember DMIZE playing ABC and all the DMS kids showing up. Gavin and those guys were there and nothing happened in the way of violence. It turned out great. It’s funny but I remember those type of people never came. I remember Supertouch, Krakdown, Moondog played one show. For some reason or another those bands didn’t want to play there anymore or weren’t asked to play and a whole different scene developed. For some reason that element never showed up. I never saw the sunset skins there and with the exception of the DMIZE show I never saw the DMS kids there.

James: Do you remember the first show you booked at the club?

Freddy: Citizens Arrest and Animal Crackers, which featured Ted Leo. I think he’s playing Madison Square Garden this month.

James: How soon was the “No Sexist, Racist, Homophobic bands booked.” Policy implemented?

Freddy: That was Mike Bullshits thing from the very beginning. He was already “out” by then and was very vocal about it.

James: I remember him putting stickers on the Bad Brains “Quickness” album. Deeming them Homophobic.

Freddy: Yes, that’s right. That was over the song “Blowing Bubbles.”

James: Was there ever a time when bands gave you a hard time because of that policy considering Hardcore has always been pretty homophobic?

Freddy: There was one band called In Your Face that had a demo with a song about fags or something. They ended up playing and were confronted about it. It ended up fine because they explained that they weren’t using it in a derogatory manner.

James: I think a lot of revisionists sight these CBGB’s matinees as the beginning and the end of NYHC. I recall seeing so many great shows and talented bands at ABC during that later period. What were some of the bands that passed through the doors of that club that were really special and stand out in your memory?

Freddy: Poison Idea playing the upstairs. I remember that because that week I got chicken pox. Twenty years old and I get chicken pox. I was supposed to be laid up for two weeks. I ended up missing the big Poison Idea show.

Bands like Jawbreaker, Econochrist, Moss Icon, Jawbox and Holy Rollers were all amazing. A lot of the local bands like Born Against were great. They were one of my favorite bands.

James: Some of the bands I remember really making up the ABC – NO – Rio collective were Animal Crackers, Rorschach, Citizens Arrest and Born Against. One of the bands that was so influential but often overlooked would be Citizens Arrest. Can you tell me a little bit about them?

Freddy: I had known their bassist Joe Martin from Some Records. He had always wanted to start a band that sounded like they had come out in 1983/84. That raw sound. The original singer for Citizens Arrest was Ted Leo. He also sang for Animal Crackers which was an ABC – No – Rio house band. There’s a great video on You Tube with Animal Crackers playing ABC with Ted Leo on vocals. Now years later he’s going to be opening for Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden.

James: What was the beginning of the end for you at ABC?

Freddy: Mike Bullshit left after about eight months of booking shows. He went on a cross country biking trip. Snyder and some of the guys from Rorschach got involved. At the time there was this big Squat or Rot thing going on. Ralphie Boy and Neal from Nausea would put on these big shows at Squats and in the Park. I got in touch with Ralphie and Neal about putting up some of those shows at ABC. The good side of it was it brought in a good mixture of Hardcore and Punk. The bad side of it was drunk Punks started showing up.

We had a very laxed alcohol policy where you could drink anywhere. But when you have drunken fifteen year old kids drinking 40 Oz. and sprawled out in the back yard a lot of the original ABC people started taking offense to it.

I took a  lot of blame for that but I just didn’t want to exclude anybody.

Another reason why I got out of the booking shows game was Reconstruction Records. Reconstruction started in 1991. It was me, Dave Stein (Combined Effort Records), Sam McPheeters (Born Against)and Charles (Rorschach).

When we started we wanted to do something based on the Some Records model. Coincidentally we found a place two doors down from the old Some Records. It was like fate. It wasn’t by choice. It was sheer coincidence. We started a corporation. Me and Charles did the physical day to day work while Sam and Dave put up the money for it. We had Reconstruction Records from 1991 - 1993. I was so involved with Reconstruction that I turned the booking over to Snyder and Neil. Along with a few other people they became the ABC collective. From there I became involved with Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a coop, all volunteer run record store. No one there got a dime. It kind of ran along the same policy as ABC. We didn’t sell anything we didn’t agree with. Something that got us into a lot of trouble later on. That whole Agnostic Front episode has been well documented. (The Story goes a little something like this.) Reconstruction had a similar policy to ABC in  its philosophy. Agnostic Front had just released “One Voice”. Someone who worked in the store decided to write a comment on some stickers and put them on their records. I don’t even remember what the comment was. Maybe something about them being on a major label. Some kid who was related to DMS came down to the store and found out about it. He relayed the message to Roger and Roger in turn called up Dave Stein. He and Dave were really good friends. Dave got really pissed off “Why is someone disrespecting my friend Roger. Later some Agnostic Front related crew came down and cornered a few guys in the store looking to know who wrote the sticker.  They really scared the people there. I wasn’t there but someone thought one of them had a gun. I think we shut the place down for a week.  The person who wrote the sticker knew it was a stupid thing to do but it was nothing that someone should get shot over. It was a great time. We had some bands play in the store. Sticks and Stones and Rorschach played. Most of the people just hung out there. It was a lot like Some Records only it was bigger and had a couch. The biggest thing was when Porcell (Youth of Today) decided to become a krishna devotee. he sold his motorcycle and all of his record collection. His entire record collection was sold to us. When we got all these records we had this weird bidding system. I remember we had the Judge “Chung King” record on the wall. To this day I regret not getting a copy of that . I think that record sells online for a couple of grand now.

James: Reconstruction was sort of a precursor to Ebay when you think about it.

Freddy: I guess you’re right. (Laughs)

James: What about Wardance Records?

Freddy: I put out about six records for that label. I did Citizens Arrest 7 inch. Then I did their LP. There was a Rorschach 7 inch. 1.6 Band. That was Kevin's band. He was in Beyond before that. I did a 1.6 Band 7 inch called “Pimpin’ Ain’t easy.” After that I did a couple of records with the band Hell No. Hell No featured two members of Citizens Arrest and a couple from All For One and Our Gang. I was doing Wardance the whole time I was doing Reconstruction. I was also working full time at See/Hear around the corner. (See/Hear was a store dedicated solely to zines and independent music publications.)

James: See/Hear was like my church. I spent a lot of time in there.

So what happened to you after Reconstruction closed its doors?

Freddy: I did a lot of traveling between 1994-1998. i traveled through Europe. I was living in Amsterdam for a while. I had stayed a while in Paris. From there I decided to go to massage school. From 1998-2000 I went to massage school. I worked for five years in massage. I decided to get into acupuncture. That’s what I’m doing today. I still listen to Hardcore and Punk from 1977- 1993.

(Interview James Damion. Images courtesy of Freddy Alva)

http://www.newbreedtapecomp.com/

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