N.Y.H.C. (1999)

Director:

Frank Pavich

Release Date:

25 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

A documentary about New York's rawest underground music scene

Plot Keywords:

Punk | Singing | Singer | Hardcore Music | Musician

Cast

Freddy Cricien	...	Lead Singer, Madball
Vic Di Cara	...	Lead Guitarist, 108
Mike Dijan	...	Guitarist, Crown of Thornz
Mike Dixon	...	Lead Singer, No Redeeming Social Value
James Drescher	...	Lead Singer, Murphy's Law
Ezec	...	Lead Singer, Crown of Thornz
Rob Fish	...	Lead Singer, 108
Kevin Gill	...	President, SFT Records
Rick Healey	...	Lead Singer, 25 ta Life
Matt Henderson	...	Guitar, Madball
John Joseph	...	Lead Singer, Cro-Mags
Mike Kennedy	...	Guitarist, Vision of Disorder
Warren Lee	...	Bassist, 25 ta Life
Dean Miller	...	Lead Singer, No Redeeming Social Value
Roger Miret	...	Lead Singer, Agnostic Front
Cesar Ramirez	...	Guitarist, District 9
Tommy Rat	...	Lead Singer, Rejuvenate
Myke Rivera	...	Lead Singer, District 9
Will Schepler	...	Drummer, Madball
Vinnie Stigma	...	Guitarist, Madball
Vinnie Value	...	Drummer, No Redeeming Social Value
Tim Williams	...	Lead Singer, Vision of Disorder
Christopher Wynne	...	Publisher, In Effect Magazine (as Chris Wynne)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Aviator Films

Quotes:

Lead Singer, Murphy's Law: The whole MTV generation. It makes me sick.

good look at some semi-obscure and well-known Hardcore-punk acts, but not the definitive one

Frank Pavich has directed a fairly absorbing document on what is, in small part, the New York Hardcore scene. It was around and in NYC, as well as parts of New Jersey, that Hardcore (as we learn here a mix of Metal and Hip-Hop) is a "way of life" that also by nature includes punk to a certain extended extent. While I would probably recommend pictures that include more 'true' music and wider perspective like American Hardcore, or just plain better craftsmanship like Decline of Western Civilization, it's certainly not a waste for the people looking for something new (or rather semi-new, it just got released on 10th anniversary DVD) and a couple of acts that might seem either obscure or just strange.

Bands like Madball are not unknown to me, and I might have even watched or listened to them in the past (I'm not a huge hardcore fan so most bands in this film are new to me - sometimes, frankly, perhaps for the better). It's a fascinating mix of ridiculously tattooed lead singers, black guitarists who have real 'street cred' that has probably left them scarred, and even a Hare Krishna who thinks Hardcore will soon open up more doors for Christian ideology (!) The actual musical performances range depending on your taste in hardcore: we got one vocal out of a bear cave, another that is quick and energetic, another remorse and more in line with a Staind group, or with just plain attitude to burn.

More often than not the interviews give more to offer than the actual bits of music on stage, which is probably a disappointment, but for all its minor faults its still a small time-capsule type of window into what was remaining of that dedicated Hardcore scene in NYC following its big explosion in the early 80s (we mostly hear from Roger Merit's little brother as opposed to actual Agnostic Front themselves).