Agnostic Front are back and set to release their 11th studio album during the first week of April on Nuclear Blast Records. We caught up with a familiar face... bassist Mike Gallo and got into how he initially landed the AF bass player spot, the new album..."The American Dream Died", the status of his side band Stigma, where he would go if he had a time machine and if he prefers Coke over Pepsi... Check it out!

AGNOSTIC FRONT @ REVOLUTION, AMITYVILLE, NY DECEMBER 20, 2014

PHOTO BY: JOSEPH CAREY/JC PHOTO MEDIA

IE: Hey Mike, thanks for taking the time to do this. Everyone obviously knows Roger and Vinnie Stigma as being the OG Agnostic Front members who have been there from the band's earliest days. Having joined in 2001 you have now become a 3rd very familiar face and the longest running member outside of Roger and Vinnie. Can you take us back to the time when you joined on with AF and tell us how you landed the bass players spot in Agnostic Front? Was it a situation where they already knew you and your style from your other bands and they wanted you in AF or were there tryouts or auditions with other people trying to get the spot?

Mike: What's up Chris. Let me just start off with the fact that I collected and I believe I have most of the zines you put out before the days of the Internet. So I'm excited and feel privileged to be interviewed by you. Another thing is I combined the first two questions cause it all ties together. Hope you don't mind. I met the guys... Vinnie, Roger, Jimmy and Rob at the time back in the late 90's at a studio called Big Blue Meennie in Jersey City, NJ. We always got along and would hang out at shows. I remember in 2000, we were at L’amours in Brooklyn. Rob Kabula asked me if I was interested in taking his place. I almost shit myself. He was telling me how he wants to stay home with his family, and that he has a great job. Rob said go see the world. I think you will be a good fit for them. So we had a try out practice with one other guy. Not sure if he wants me to mention his name, so I won't. Long story short, we both played a few songs and Jimmy Colletti… the drummer at the time said. Hey Mike, “Let's take a walk and grab a few beers”. I said to myself right away. Here's it goes…you’re a nice guy but I think we are gonna go with the other guy. Wrong! We walk out the door and he said “You’re in!” I was like, you know that kids better than I am right? Jimmy said “Yeah you’re horrible. Don't worry you'll learn its punk rock!” Him and Vinnie believed I fit the best and I guess they were right.14 years later, here I am. 

IE: What other bands were you in prior to joining AF?

Mike: I was in 2 other bands. On The Rise and I sang for Quibron after their old singer Dave left. Both actually similar style hardcore bands. The guitar player Brian Will played in both bands. Fast, melodic NY style hardcore in the vain of Burn, AF, and Sick Of It All. My brother Steve and Lenny D who were in OTR used to both play in AF as well. Quibron only released a demo. OTR had two demos, a 3 song EP and one full length called "Burning Inside" on Bridge 9 Records and I-Scream Records in Europe. On The Rise was a pretty unique band. We definitely had our own sound that I think most hardcore bands lack these days. 

"THE AMERICAN DREAM DIED" TRAILER #1- "HARDCORE ROOTS"

CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH

IE: What are the best tracks off of it to look out for and have you been testing them out live yet?

Mike: We have not played these songs live yet. Only played 4 shows since we recorded it. Too many cameras these days. We didn't want to give it away before our release. We're doing 5 videos and have been filming footage since we started recording. The intro really sets the tone for the record. A lot of sound bites and clips about political corruption and issues concerning what's going wrong in America today. Then breaks into one of the hardest intros I have heard in a long time. “Police Violence” is a minute and eleven seconds of intense old school blast beats, “Victim In Pain” style song about the cops abusing their power. “Never Walk Alone” has a perfect mix of hardcore, punk and Oi. Great sing along, breakdown and an all around really catchy song. “A Wise Man” takes us back to the “One Voice” era. We collaborated with Ricky Singh from the band Backtrack who wrote the music. I wrote the lyrics. We had Matt Henderson record guitars on it cause it was his style of a song. Made perfect sense. I love how this song matured and turned out to be one of my favorites. “Old New York” was the last song on the record I wrote. I think it's the catchiest song on the record. It's an instant classic. This one sticks in my head for days! 

"THE AMERICAN DREAM DIED" TRAILER #2- "STIGMA BEING STIGMA"

CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH

IE: Many times when bands play new tracks that aren't released yet or are brand new the crowd reaction is not as up to par with the classics that everyone knows and goes crazy for. As a musician do you like playing new tracks to break them in even though the crowd response may level off some during them?

Mike: When releasing a new record we always try to push our new music on the crowd. Put them in with our classics  that we play throughout our set. We can normally judge what's working in the set as far as new songs. It usually will take a year or so to figure this out. Then we start weeding out the ones that just don't seem to work or get a good enough response from the crowd. But I love playing our new songs. It gets redundant playing the same songs all the time. I believe that we have consistently been putting out good music and there are always a few good songs off each record that have become favorites in our set. Songs like “Peace”, “For My Family”, “Addiction”, “My Life My Way”. In Europe they get the best reactions. In the states things are different. They just want to hear the classics, but I think with this new record that will change. We honestly believe this is our best effort in a long time so I’m interested to see what the kids’ reaction will be. 

AF 2015: FROM LEFT: CRAIG, ROGER, POKEY, MIKE, & STIGMA

IE: Is this going to be a straight up live video or will there be a storyline behind it?

Mike: I'm not actually sure exactly the concept behind the video yet. I just know that our special guests were filmed individually. We're gonna get some shots of us playing live. But I'm not exactly sure what else the video will have to offer. I know Roger is talking to the guy who's filming the video and they are putting together a concept for it. This is an amazing song. It is definitely gonna be an AF classic! 

IE: I saw you already have Europe dates set up shortly after the new albums release. What else can you tell us about AF's schedule for the next couple of months?

Mike: We will be very busy. 3 shows in Florida and one in Puerto Rico at the end of March. One show in California with Meshuggah and High On Fire in early April. A record release show in NYC, late April. 3 weeks in May in Europe. Another 3 week tour in Europe for the month of July and we're talking about doing a month in Europe with The Old Firm Casuals in October. I'm sure we will be doing stuff in between those dates in America. 

IE: You also play bass in the band Stigma... obviously with Vinnie Stigma in it but with him on vocals instead of on guitar where everyone is used to seeing him. You guys have put out 2 albums over the past few years and 2013's "For Love & Glory" to me was a solid album that may have gotten overlooked by some. What’s the latest with the band Stigma and can we expect anything new anytime soon?

Mike: It's hard these days to do 2 bands. We play shows when we can, but that's about it. I can't go on tour and lose money. It's not that I'm only in it for the money but at this age and living in this city that sucks everything out of you. Makes it impossible to do. That's the reality of it. I love this band and have so much fun with these guys. So unfortunately we were not able to tour and promote that record. Made it to Europe for one tour, but that was all we could do. I think it's a great punk rock album. Here is a link to the video we did called "Don't Lose Faith". 

CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH THE "DON'T LOSE FAITH" VIDEO BY STIGMA

IE: Ok, you obviously have to be a road warrior being in this band so I want to finish up with some quick hit questions. Give ‘em your best shot Mike!

IE: Favorite country to play outside of the US?

Mike: Czech has always been my favorite place to play. The city of Prague is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Our fans there are really intense and it always seems to be my favorite show of the tour.

IE: Country you have not personally played in yet that your dying to get to?

Mike: India is one place I would love to play in. It just seems to be so different and I would love to embrace that culture to see how people live there.