Italy

What started at the age of 7 when Freddy Cricien was thrown onto stage by his half brother and legendary hardcore singer Roger Miret of the mighty AGNOSTIC FRONT should turn into one of the most important hardcore bands of all time. The members of MADBALL are icons in the underground and that underground now spills forth into the streets. Since forming in 1988, MADBALL has been responsible for some of the most important releases in the genre, from the seminal “Ball of Destruction” EP (1989) to the landmark albums “Set It Off” (1994), “Demonstrating My Style” (1996), “Look My Way” (1998), “Hold it Down” (2000), and their latest efforts “Legacy” (2005) and “Infiltrate The System” (2007). However, after numerous label shifts MADBALL finally joined forces with Nuclear Blast looking into a bright future with another kick ass record on the way – “Empire”.

Today, October 16, 2010, I find myself in Roncade (Treviso-Italy), in the backstage room of New Age Club, where tonight Madball will share the stage with another great NY HC icon, Sick Of It All. The door opens and I see Freddy (Cricien, the lead singer of Madball) smiling and relaxed, dressed in a t-shirt of DMS-Family, with trousers, and beach-slippers. His quiet and natural look, even shy a little bit, makes me think he’s like “the boy next door” … We say “hello” and we sit on the couch to chat …

Hi Freddy, Welcome to Italy! How do you feel about being here with us?

Hi Tarja, thank-you! We feel good to be here. We always come to Italy very gladly, you know, we like a lot the Italian culture, food and wine. We’ve been here many times, over the years, in many different cities.

Freddy, tell me something … being a HC symbol band in the world, does it fill you with pride?

Well yes it does! To be like a HC symbol makes us feel good and honored, it’s actually very flattering, you know. If “Sick of It All” are the godfathers, we feel to be like ambassadors. It’s cool you know, when the things happen naturally. I feel really proud to represent my band and what we are doing.