Freddy Cricien

Madball

Cricien performing with Madball in 2015

Cricien has been involved in the hardcore scene for almost his entire life, it all started when he was about seven years old, when he visited with his brother in New York City and he began to perform on stage with Agnostic Front, singing a few songs which would become a staple of their shows during this period.^[8] Shortly after, he began to join the band on tour. During this time he became the group's unofficial mascot and was given the name “Agnostic Fred”.^[8] The group would have to sneak Cricien into a drum case to smuggle him into early shows during the 1980s.^[9] In his brother Roger Miret's 2017 memoir he wrote “Freddy loved the hardcore scene from the start,” “and took to it like a pyromaniac to a blowtorch.”^[9] The members of Agnostic Front then decided to start a group Madball with Cricien as the vocalist so in 1988 Madball was formed featuring most of Agnostic Front's members.^[8] Madball's name comes from a nickname Cricien was given by Vinnie Stigma when he was around 11–12.^[10] Madball consisted of Miret on bass, Vinnie Stigma on guitar, Will Shepler on drums, and then 12-year-old Cricien, as the vocalist. The group originally played unused Agnostic Front songs which they released on their debut 1989 EP Ball of Destruction.^[11]

When Cricien was 16 years old, he moved permanently to New York City and moved in with Miret.^[6] In 1992, Madball recorded and released the Droppin Many Suckas EP. This recording featured original music and the addition of Matt Henderson on guitar. In 1994 Madball released their debut album Set It Off which has been described as an influential album in the hardcore genre.^[12] In the years to follow, Madball continued to release new albums (Demonstrating My Style-1996, Look My Way-1998, Been There, Done That-1998, and Hold It Down-2000). In 2000, Cricien was charged with attempted criminal possession of a weapon and was sentenced to six months in prison.^[13] The following year in 2001 the band announced their dissolution and went on a farewell European tour.^[14] However Cricien and the band ultimately decided to reform in late 2002 with a new line-up featuring Brian "Mitts" Daniels and Rigg Ross.

Cricien later reflected on the bands brief dissolution stating:^[15]

We thought we were done, like Madball was gonna be done at this point and it was never gonna happen again. And sure enough, it did. I think that also helped our longevity, because we cleared our heads of a lot of things [and] kind of came out swinging a little bit harder on the second round. I think that might have helped us, actually. After that period, I decided to sort of take control of the band business-wise and so on. Before that, I didn't really care about that part of it. I was just like, "Yeah, all right, let's go play, let's have fun, whatever." This was an outlet for us; it was therapeutic for us. Like, "Let's just go do whatever we do. We make a couple bucks? Cool. If we don't? Well, we traveled around, we got to see some cool stuff."

They began touring and recording at the end of 2002 and have since released another 7 albums (N.Y.H.C-2004, Legacy-2005, Infiltrate the System-2007, Empire-2010, Rebellion EP-2012, Hardcore Lives-2014, and most recently For the Cause-2018).^[11] He has been through multiple global tours and over three decades of activity and has kept the band going throughout multiple lineup changes.^[6]

Cricien and Madball also run their own yearly Rebellion tour, which is a yearly European tour featuring hardcore bands.^[16]

Other projects and collaborations

In 1992 Cricien's brother Roger Miret underwent surgery to treat an inguinal hernia. This led to Cricien temporarily stepping in as the lead singer of Agonistic Front for a string of shows in July of that year.^[17]

In 2004 Cricien helped form the supergroup Hazen Street alongside fellow Madball member Hoya Roc, Toby Morse (H₂O), David Kennedy (Box Car Racer, Over My Dead Body, later Angels & Airwaves), and Mackie (Cro-Mags & Bad Brains). Chad Gilbert (Shai Hulud and later New Found Glory) co-wrote and helped record every song on their debut and only self titled album. The group soon broke up in 2006 but has played a couple of one-off shows in 2009, 2011, 2012 and in 2023 together with Madball and H2O, they took part in the Rebellion Tour 2023, playing shows all over Europe.^[18]

In 2009 Cricien started a hip-hop group alongside DJ Stress, known as Freddy Madball & DJ Stress, culminating in the 2009 debut album Catholic Guilt. The record infused hardcore's raw energy and streetwise themes into rap verses, addressing personal and cultural struggles.^[19]

Cricien has made guest appearances on tracks by bands such as Fear Factory (vocals on the bonus track Agnostic Front song "Your Mistake"), Deviate (vocals on "Last Judgement"), Sick of It All (vocals on "Forked Tongue" on the Death to Tyrants album), H₂O (guest vocals on the song "Guilty By Association" on the F.T.T.W. album), 25 ta Life (guest vocals on "Loyal to da Grave" on the Strength Through Unity album), Shutdown (guest vocals on "Few and Far Between" on the album of the same name), Skarhead (guest vocals on "I Won't Change" on the album Kings at Crime).^[20] He also appeared on Agnostic Fronts The American Dream Died. More recently, in 2023, he collaborated with rising NYHC band Pain of Truth on their single "You and Me," In 2025, Cricien appeared on Necro's track "You Already Know," alongside Danny Diablo of Crown of Thornz.^[21]

He also co founded Black N' Blue Productions which was a New York-based company behind live events, like the Superbowl of Hardcore shows.^[6]

Cricien has also worked as a record producer, mostly working with his brother's band Agnostic Front. With his first work coming on their 2007 album Warriors. He also produced Wisdom In Chains 2012 album The Missing Links, along with Madballs two most recent albums.^[22]