Madball + Devils Grip & Prozpekt

Part of the New York hardcore scene, Madball originated back in 1989 as a side project of the legendary outfit Agnostic Front (Madball vocalist Freddy Cricien’s older brother is none other than AF‘s Roger Miret). After releasing the “Ball of Destruction” single the same year, an early version of the band began playing live. It wasn’t until 1991 when Madball truly hit their stride, though, when the lineup of Freddy Cricien on vocals, guitarists Matt Henderson and Vinnie Stigma, drummer Will Shepler, and bassist Hoya joined forces. The new version of the band quickly recorded and released an EP called Droppin’ Many Suckas, which eventually led to the band signing with Roadrunner in 1994. By releasing a pair of straight-ahead hardcore full-lengths (1994’s Set It Off and 1996’s Demonstrating My Style) and touring steadily, the band built a sizeable fan base outside their hometown. 

Now a quartet consisting of Cricien, Henderson, Hoya, and new drummer John Lafata, the band recorded what many consider their finest album yet, Look My Way, which was released in the spring of 1998. Hold It Down followed two years later. 2001 saw Madball announcing they were breaking up; however, they decided to re-form during the fall of the 2002 with a new line-up, with Brian “Mitts” Daniels replacing Henderson on guitar and Rigg Ross replacing Lafata on drums. That year they returned to the road and started writing new songs. 

The following years saw frequent touring as well as a prolific output of material; a compilation titled Best of Madball arrived in 2003 and was followed with 2004’s N.Y.H.C. EP. A further two albums appeared in 2005’s Legacy and 2007’s Infiltrate the System. The latter was the outfit’s last release for Ferret Records as the label owners moved on in 2010 to set up their own imprint — Good Fight Music — with Madball following; the band also signed a deal with German record company Nuclear Blast. Their debut for both labels was their seventh effort, Empire. By this point, Ross had left the band to join Skarhead and was replaced with Ben Dussault. Igor Wouters — drummer for Dutch punk group Born from Pain — also replaced Weinberg. Following some years of silence in the Madball camp, they returned in June of 2014 with their eighth album, Hardcore Lives. 

After touring to promote the LP, there was another three-year hiatus before they resurfaced in 2018 with their ninth record, For the Cause. It was also announced that Daniels had left the group prior to the album’s recording sessions. For the Cause was co-produced with Tim Armstrong of Rancid and also featured a guest appearance from renowned rapper Ice-T.