Freddy Alva

Freddy Alva is an aficionado of hardcore music (especially NYHC) and graffiti. He has released the legendary New Breed compilation back in 1989 (and the documentary that followed 27 years later), runs Wardance Records, and is the creative mind between Urban Styles book, NYHC Black Book and American Hardcore Black Book, all presenting the strong relationship that hardcore music and graffiti art have. This is the first interview I’ve done for the 2nd issue of the fanzine and Freddy was the fastest one (among all the interviewees) to reply. Check out what he has to say upon graffiti, hardcore and NY.

Interview conducted in late March 2020. Pics and artwork provided by Freddy Alva.

www.instagram.com/urbanstyles_book wardance.bigcartel.com

Hello Freddy! What’s up in New York? How do you survive the whole Covid-19 crisis?

Hey man, things are getting worse every day here in NYC, as you well know being in Europe, the forecast is pretty grim all around. Doing things like this interview keeps me from looking at the non-stop news channels so thank you for that! In all seriousness; we will all survive this & it will hopefully be, one day, just a ‘remember when’ anecdote...

Give us a brief CV of yours? When did your involvement with the hardcore scene start and when did graffiti draw your attention?

I got into HC during my sophomore year of high school due to 2 reasons: I’d always been heavily into listening to as much music as possible & that led me from new wave stuff like Billy Idol to more punky sounds like The

Clash & The Ramones. The other reason is that around that time I met some kids in my school that had a band called Occupied Territory & they indoctrinated me into what they were into; mainly going to the CBGB’s HC shows as well as really being into the Bad Brains. I first became acquainted with graffiti by moving to NYC in early 1979. I distinctly remember these incredibly multi-colored images on the trains running on the elevated subway tracks, they were like cartoon characters come to life & that instilled a life-long passion for this culture.

Do you play in a band or do you do graffiti yourself?

Yes to both with varying degrees (or none) of success. I played guitar in 2 short-lived bands: Guts & Glory (Oi!) & Last Cause (NYHC). I was terrible at my instrument so never pursued playing in other bands, some of the guys I played with went on to Oxblood, Everybody Gets Hurt, Taste Of Fear so there’s that, kudos to them. I wrote ZR ONE from ‘81-’84 & YOURS 174 from ‘85 to I guess now, had an ok hand style, was never good at piecing & only got up on trains like 3 times so I never consider myself a true writer, more of a vicarious observer.

Your book Urban Styles: Graffiti NYHC was definitely successful but you didn’t stop there. You recently released the NYHC Black Book and you have more on the works. Share with us some more info about your projects!

My book was a way of paying tribute to 2 subcultures that mean the world to me & to show how they synergistically fed off one another with the end result being a unique urban fusion that could only have happened at a certain time & place. It was really rewarding to showcase a good number of old friends whose work I’ve admired musically & visually, the 2nd edition of Urban Styles is 372 pages, with dozens of interviews & hundreds of photos. As of late I’ve been doing what can be considered additions to the book in the form of zines. First

one was the NYHC Black Book where I asked 44 graffiti writers to do tributes of their favorite NYHC bands. The second zine that just came out is themed American HC Black Book with the same format of asking artists to contribute, this time 55 of them. I hope to do a 3rd one after this insanity dies down, this time it’ll be the International HC Black Book.

Your work is very professional. Do you do this for a living or you are just a hardcore / graffiti aficionado?!

Definitely not for a living, ha! I have a career that I love, been an acupuncturist for the past 16 years, luckily enough it helps support side projects of mine. Also, my book was published by a couple of independent publishers that really believed in my work so I’m eternally grateful for that. Thank you for the props on the work being professional level; I always strive for the highest quality as far as presentation, paper / photo quality, graphics etc.

Why does hardcore is so connected to hip hop in your opinion? Is the street credentials or more? Do you follow hip hop? If so, what’s your opinion of today’s hip hop scene and what about the whole trap trend?

I think that the direct sonic approach of both genres are kindred spirits and share visual aspects that reflect a unified aesthetic. The street connection is there but since hip-hop is so mainstream, has been for decades, the point is moot. The last hip hop scene I followed & was into was early 2000’s ‘backpacker’ rap so I am clearly out of touch with what’s happening now. I have heard some trap & dug the more experimental beats but I really dislike the slurred rhyming style, that just might be a reflection of my age as my 18year old niece & all her friends love trap so what do I know?

Both graffiti and hardcore used to be subcultures that remained in the underground for many years. Nowadays, this has changed; you can see hardcore bands joining large scale festival tours, while graffiti has transformed, in a big percentage, into the legal kind of street art that you can see in galleries and museums. Do you think that both movements have been exploited by the mainstream or they just managed to

I have mixed feelings on the varying degrees of mainstream success. On one hand it’s cool to see people in both HC & Graffiti making a living off their passion, definitely beats a regular 9 to 5 job. What I do have issues with is corporations co-opting street graffiti & using it as a “cool” harbinger of soon to be gentrified neighborhoods. Hardcore & punk rock are parts of large festival packages but I still see a healthy parallel underground scene with DIY shows and independent stores / record labels. Street art is a whole different monster with a large portion of its participants seeking commercial success so I would consider that a separate thing than the the traditional graffiti I love & endorse.

From a sociological aspect, graffiti tells the stories of people in certain periods of history. Do you think that in the era of social media its importance is still big?

Graffiti can still tell a story, for example from my own experience, as a generational tool. I’m thinking of a couple of writers I know in their late teens now in NYC; their fathers were writers & yes the whole social media angle changes whatever graf they do but the same problems of coming from limited opportunities & racial / class issues remain. What they write is, as the famous writer STAY HIGH 149 used to say, still the voice of the ghetto. Graffiti can be political in a common sense topical way, without being agitprop, so I still see it as a valuable tool for self-realization.

What are your favorite graffiti artists that were also playing in hardcore bands in the 80s and 90s?

Mackie Jayson is the one that comes immediately to mind. He’s an incredibly gifted artist that is a legend on trains & on paper, not to mention his sick drumming skills with the Cro-Mags / Bad Brains / The Icemen. I would also include Djinji Brown from Absolution, Chris Beee from Everybody Gets Hurt, Lukie Luke from Gorilla Biscuits / Warzone, Rich Derespina from All For One / Hell No. There are so many more, just pick my book up!

Any current NYHC graffiti scenesters that we should check out?

Definitely, look up:

-Mike Gallo, bassist for Agnostic Front, does amazing paintings with a NYHC theme. -Andrew Monserrate does incredibly detailed sketches with a HC / punk theme. -Chris Robots Will Kill, a writer that has crossed over to the street art scene but never forgets his roots in NYHC graffiti. -BAGZ, amazing writer with a fondness for all things Token Entry related. -MQ, what can you say? He was killing it in the 80’s & now. -FCEE, always reppin’ NYHC to the fullest.

Over 30 years ago you released the NEW BREED compilation tape along with Chaka Malik from Burn. A tape comp. featuring the most hot & up and coming names of NYHC at the time. A few years ago you also produced the documentary film for this tape. Can you please delve deep into that period of NYHC? What was so exciting and what motivated you to elaborate on the tape and release a documentary 27 years later?

The New Breed tape holds a special place in my heart as it’s sort of like a high school yearbook for me. I grew up and or went to school with a lot of people that played in bands on it, we worked tons of shitty jobs together, hung out all over the city with them; in short it’s more than just a static piece of music for me. The time period it chronicles, 1987-1989, was, now with the benefit of hindsight, an incredibly fertile time for NYHC and the bands it documents left a lasting influence on the scene, whether though what they did back then or the newer projects

they went on to form in the 1990s. In 2016 I was talking to my good friend John Woods and we were thinking of doing these brief 5 minute interviews with some of the participants as a way of updating whatever became of them. The footage that we filmed was so good that we couldn’t stop at the 5-minute mark so we decided to make a full length documentary. Luckily, John had directing experience & we brought in the talented Orlando Arce as our editing guru. The end result topped all my expectations, we did a bunch of local screenings with positive reaction & we had planned on doing a proper DVD release but life & other projects got in the way. Flash forward to now & with everything going on we’ve decided to put everything up online sometime this week (today is 3/23/20). If it can help anyone take their minds off the horrific situation we’re facing, for at least an hour or so, then it’ll all be worth it. Please keep an eye up for that, coming to Vimeo & YouTube really soon (ed. Check it out online here -> vimeo.com/402534230)

Thanks for the interview! NYHC records top5 to finish it in style!

Kraut “An Adjustment To Society” LP Antidote “Thou Shalt Not Kill” 7” Cro-Mags “Age Of Quarrel” LP Burn 7” Citizens Arrest “A Light In The Darkness” 7”

Yes, I put out out the Citizens Arrest 7” so I’m extremely biased, thanks for the interview & stay safe!