Featuring Years’ Worth of Never-Before Seen, Up Close
and Personal Footage
Support the Project via Kickstarter – godfathersofhardcore.com
Earn Unique Prizes:
ESP Viper-100FM STBLK Guitar, backplate signed by AGNOSTIC FRONT
One-of-a-Kind AGNOSTIC FRONT Boots Etched Brass Pins
Custom Vinnie Stigma Ringtones
Limited Edition Agnostic Front Skate Deck
Personal Lower East Side tour with Vinnie Stigma
"Kickstarter Executive Producer" Credit
& More
A Film by Ian McFarland of McFarland & Pecci
Miret and Stigma have remained close friends through great adversity that often threatened their very existence. Today, Roger and Vinnie are primed and reaching into 50's and 60's, balancing jobs and families, in addition to an upcoming touring schedule that will take them all over the world. The Godfathers of Hardcore will serve as an up-close-and-personal look into the lives of these different yet inseparable musical icons, and in the process will illustrate the tenacity, optimism and enthusiasm with which they both approach their band to this day. Since the beginning, Miret and Stigma took on the system with fists clenched, and throughout the decades, they’ve maintained the powerful and youthful (if not as destructive) mindset that started it all.
The Godfathers of Hardcore is already in the midst of production and features intimate footage captured by McFarland over the past several years, but to do the story the greatest justice possible, director Ian McFarland is reaching out to the band’s diehard fans, offering them a chance to join in supporting the film via a new Kickstarter campaign: godfathersofhardcore.com (redirects to Kickstarter)
The Kickstarter campaign will take place over the course of the next few weeks (ending on May 17th) and features unique incentives such as an ESP Viper-100FM STBLK Guitar with backplate signed by AGNOSTIC FRONT, custom Vinnie Stigma ringtones, a limited edition AGNOSTIC FRONT skate deck, a personal Lower East Side tour with Vinnie Stigma, and even a "Kickstarter Executive Producer" credit on the film. The goal is to raise $15,000, and afterwards, some amazing stretch goals will be added (details coming soon).
Over the next three weeks, McFarland will be adding more one-of-a-kind incentives, in addition to giving updates on the project and filming. McFarland adds, “Unlike a large number of Kickstarter projects, our production team has already begun filming the movie and have shot a good amount of footage. We need this Kickstarter to help us with getting our film team over to Europe to travel with AGNOSTIC FRONT at the end of May.”
AGNOSTIC FRONT exists on a level all their own – a level of their own creation. Join director Ian McFarland in supporting his creation, his vision, and his story of one of the most influential bands of all time, The Godfathers of Hardcore, and watch the story live on in film! godfathersofhardcore.com
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| Vinnie Stigma - AGNOSTIC FRONT (still from "The Godfathers of Hardcore") Check out more BTS photos via @Ian_McFarland on Twitter and Instagram |
AGNOSTIC FRONT’s past legacy is perhaps even more praiseworthy than their present accomplishments. The movement the band pioneered has had a profound effect on millions of fans and musicians, as well as skateboarders, bikers and other individualists who refuse to accept the status quo. In a landscape of increasing apathy and complacency, the messages AGNOSTIC FRONT presents are as relevant today as they were in the ‘80s when the band members were impoverished, scrappy and ambitious, often fighting for their very survival as well as the perseverance of their volatile but highly inspirational band.
Back in the ‘80s, Miret and Stigma roamed the dangerous streets of NYC’s Lower East Side, fighting those who got in their way and laying down the gauntlet for the music they believed in and were willing to defend with their lives. At the time, they had no idea that the band that meant the world to them and the culture populated by runaways, street kids, punks, skinheads and other social misfits would also resonate with a generation of other music fans and musicians including Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Pantera’s Phil Anselmo, not to mention Cremaster’s Mathew Barney and electronic guru Moby. Roger Miret, 50 (vocalist), a Cuban-refugee from an abusive home and Vinnie Stigma, 59 (guitarist), a second-generation true-blue New York Italian, found each other on the rough streets of NYC in the early 1980s, becoming fast friends and developing an unbreakable bond. Together, over the next three decades, they became the “Godfathers of New York City Hardcore” - creating a vehicle through which three generations of fans could grow, scream and band together as one in the face of diversity, violence and discrimination. Through the strength and bonds of brotherhood, Roger and Vinnie birthed something larger than themselves – they birthed a revolution.
Along the way, they experienced some of the most harrowing blows a band can endure, including various line-up changes, Roger’s incarceration and the subsequent collapse of the band. After Roger was released in the late 1990’s from New York’s Wallkill Correctional Facility, Roger and Vinnie reunited, picking up right where they left off. Still touring and recording today, AGNOSTIC FRONT is the very embodiment of hardcore: endurance, perseverance, brotherhood, strength against oppression and the will to keep going, obstacles be damned.
ABOUT DIRECTOR IAN MCFARLAND:
Ian McFarland is a documentarian as well as a music video and commercial director. He was born from a background as a musician and editor. Ian brings a particular understanding of structure and pacing to his fascination with human stories. He has created Emmy nominated and award winning documentaries that have screened in film festivals and have been picked up for major distribution worldwide and aired on major networks like ESPN, PBS, NESN, MTV, VICE, and Logo. Ian has directed national campaigns and developed corporate projects for brands such as The Boston Celtics, The International Trademarking Association, Aquent, Gymnasium, Merrill Lynch, Care.com, Lifestyles Condoms, Titleist, TIAA CREF, Fidelity, Currensee, WGBH, Atlantic Records, Century Media, Roadrunner Records, Nuclear Blast Records and many more. He has also produced and directed over forty seven music videos for multiple Grammy Nominated International acts and his work was voted in the Top 25 Hard Rock music videos of 2006, 2008 2009 and 2010 on MTV. Most recently, the Killswitch Engage track "In Due Time" which McFarland and Pecci directed a music video for, was nominated for a 2014 Grammy alongside Black Sabbath and Anthrax. In addition, McFarland has been the bassist of Boston hardcore band Blood For Blood for the last 18 years.
Follow producers McFarland & Pecci at:
twitter & instagram @Ian_McFarland
