Matt Connarton Unleashed 6-7-25 hour 1

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0:34 Speaker 2: Long means young names this a been no boy sing race.

0:44 Speaker 3: Than by Mason name Joe gone on you.

0:54 Speaker 2: And have a real good time.

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0:57 Speaker 2: You crazy.

1:01 Speaker 3: You're not cutting.

1:04 Speaker 1: You're crazy. I'm not You're not cut.

1:24 Speaker 4: Black Dad song. You even brought your friend contos what I've been stuff all over the night, the friend I got strapped shopping my shot the sound of human times, you got tuning me out.

1:47 Speaker 2: We have a bad hu time.

1:49 Speaker 3: Wall.

1:50 Speaker 1: You're crazy.

1:52 Speaker 3: I'm not here.

1:54 Speaker 1: You're not count able.

1:57 Speaker 2: You're crazy.

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2:42 Speaker 3: Wha.

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2:53 Speaker 3: You not cutting?

2:56 Speaker 1: You're crazy.

2:57 Speaker 4: Aby not here, You're not contible.

3:03 Speaker 1: You're crazy.

3:06 Speaker 3: You're not cutting. Animal back fly back.

3:44 Speaker 5: Back for un Me, clip back clip back with the Vengeance one three three, flip back fi back back for you.

3:52 Speaker 1: And Me clip back like back with a Vengeance? Wont you three?

3:56 Speaker 3: Yeah?

3:56 Speaker 6: People thought we.

3:57 Speaker 7: Would a five, But when they said that's that, I don't.

4:00 Speaker 1: Think if they really care.

4:01 Speaker 3: I hate it. Yeah.

4:03 Speaker 7: People thought we wouldn't last rolling up.

4:05 Speaker 5: To it in the dress, and I don't say if they really care. I hate my back, my back back for you and me like back. It's like back with a Vengeance under three.

4:17 Speaker 3: It's like that. It's like back that bring you with me like that, it's like.

4:21 Speaker 4: That Avendan Wader three.

4:23 Speaker 1: Yeah, people thought we would inside. That's not what they said last time.

4:27 Speaker 6: I don't think they really care.

4:29 Speaker 3: I hate hate it, hate it. Yeah.

4:31 Speaker 5: The people thought we wouldn't last roll it up doing in the dress, and I don't think they really can't.

4:36 Speaker 1: I hate, Yes, my back.

4:44 Speaker 7: Like that like that, like that's for you and me like that, like that the Vengeance looking three right back like that, it's like that for you and me like that like that, the Vengeance Waking three.

4:58 Speaker 3: Yeah, people thought.

4:59 Speaker 5: We won't e That's not what they said last time.

5:02 Speaker 6: I don't think they really care.

5:05 Speaker 3: Well, we wouldn't.

5:06 Speaker 1: Laughing in the tracks.

5:08 Speaker 6: And I don't think they really kid.

5:10 Speaker 4: I'm back.

5:13 Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, welcome, a little uh little problem here loading up our theme music this morning. Welcome. This is Matt Connorton Unleashed and we are live from the studios of w m n H ninety five point three FM, Inglorious, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Jenny is here as well, of course. At the news table, and we opened with a couple of great new tracks, My Kind of Animal, that's the world radio premiere from Down Boys, and of course uh oh, and of course we just played a fight back from our friend Dave Strong from Boston, and I just heard something click here, so I'm gonna see if okay, so he's waiting.

5:54 Speaker 2: I think we have. So we've got a great show planned for you today. I'm just trying to figure out why. Let's see, I can't seem to do anything in virtual DJ. That's why you have not heard my theme music this morning. This is really weird. So we're having a mild software issue. But I say mild because it does not prevent us from being on the air. We are on the air, We are live, Welcome everybody. Today is Saturday, June seven, twenty twenty five. So what we're gonna do right now is we're gonna play a track from the Crowmags and this is called hard Times.

6:26 Speaker 2: And then and then our new friend Harley Flanagan is going to be joining us via not Skype. I'm so used to saying Skype, but Skype has been taken away from us by Microsoft. But so we're using a different service now. But I did hear a tone, so I believe he has already joined us and really excited to talk to Harley Flanagan of the Crowmags, and of course before that the Stimulators. I've learned a lot about Harley Flanagan in the last couple of days. But let's give this a spin. This is called hard Times, and then we're going to talk with Harley.

7:00 Speaker 3: It's a lot of times coming to you on the rock of Bobs for die, O can nothing. I can figure it out. Why don't know? Dind down.

7:19 Speaker 4: By time by time?

7:21 Speaker 6: Same, I'm lame, bossy, room back tie a time bo saying made.

7:26 Speaker 2: I'm going town A lot of times coming drowns.

7:32 Speaker 3: What if you're hot and long, you're the hill.

7:37 Speaker 6: If they're gonna trying to drop you into the world,

7:41 Speaker 6: that's run up, not gonna go down. I'm di b die Sames, I'm being pot into the road, wade. Let I'll die by saying made, I'm going town.

7:58 Speaker 2: A right, God, hard times. Indeed, if that doesn't get the adrenaline, go and check your pulse, you might be dead. As I like to say, let's see so I see him. He is on the line with us. Let's see if we can hear him. Harley Flanagin, Are you there, sir?

8:41 Speaker 8: Can you hear me? I?

8:43 Speaker 2: Can can you hear me? Okay?

8:45 Speaker 8: I can hear you?

8:46 Speaker 2: Oh awesome, Welcome to the program. I am very excited to speak with you because so I've always been aware of you and certainly aware of the Cromaggs. I did not know much about your backstory. So I've kind of taken a crash course in the line couple of days on Harley Flanagan and you have had had quite a life. And by the way, I did check out the trailer too for Wired for Chaos. I am dying to see that. That looks that looks fascinating. But that's not out yet. Correct? Is it coming out soon?

9:17 Speaker 8: Actually, it's going to be airing about airing. It's going to be in theaters starting June fifteenth. They are having four They're showing it four times here in New York at the Roxy Cinema. I'm going to be there, Q and A. And it's also going to be showing in La San Francisco, Chicago, Philly, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Austin, and there's a bunch of other places getting lined up and over between now and July, I'm going to be flying all over the place doing like Q and as at these showings.

10:00 Speaker 2: Oh fantastic.

10:02 Speaker 8: Yeah. And then I think i've heard that in August it's going to be doing a pay per view type of event following the release on DVD and stuff like that. So it's pretty cool.

10:14 Speaker 2: Oh that is really cool. What is that like? I mean, I mean, obviously, have you sat down and actually watched it? Have you watched it from beginning to end? That might sound like a strange question, but I've heard other people say, particularly people who are the subjects of documentary films. They'll tell you, Oh, no, I haven't watched it. I can't bring myself to watch it. I mean, have you sat down and watched the whole thing?

10:35 Speaker 8: I actually did not see it until they were done, so I have seen it. But it was definitely a nerve wracking process because I didn't get to see anything until it was finished, and I was not privy or part of the editing process, so you know, I was a little nervous. But I think they I think they did a pretty good job. I mean, it's really hard to tell, you know, an entire life in you know, an hour and change, but they managed to do a pretty good job.

11:15 Speaker 2: I think, yeah, oh that's fantastic. Yeah, I look forward to seeing it. I assume after you know, after the run in theaters, it'll be on do you know where it's going to be. I assume it'll be on a streaming service like Netflix or something like that. I don't know.

11:28 Speaker 8: I really don't know, you know, because I'm actually not so involved with this. I mean, I'm the subject of it, but you know, my thing is still music and I'm you know, I'm I'm going on tour Monday, I'm flying to Europe, so I mean, wow, I am you know, I'm concentrating on my job, you know, I let them handle that.

11:50 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.

11:52 Speaker 8: Yeah.

11:53 Speaker 2: Your story is fascinating to me because you're an example of someone who really overcame a lot your childhood. From what I've heard you describe in some interviews that I that I listened to and watched and read, pretty uh, pretty hellish existence compared to what most people are used to growing up in New York City in a time where you know, sort of a pre gentrification or however you want to talk about it. But you're you're a real New Yorker. That's where you grew up, and and and and what you went through growing up was was pretty rough, which I assume shapes a lot of your your music, right, sort of that aggression, And it's a subject that comes out a lot on the show, you know, creating art from trauma.

12:37 Speaker 8: Yeah, well, I think that's one of the one of the few good things that can come from it. Yeah, but yeah, you know it, I definitely have had an interesting journey obviously, or they would not have made a film. But yeah, man, you know, I'm actually I'm living my best life now. Man. You know, I'm just lucky I made it through all of that and that I came out the other side more or less in one piece. And you know, I mean, things are going great for me. You know. Like I said, I'm leaving on Monday when I get back from this tour.

13:17 Speaker 8: I literally I land at the airport and I go to the first showing of the film this day. Like I'm putting down the eggs and I'm going to A Q and A and I'm going to be pretty much hitting the ground running from now from Monday until the end of the summer at least.

13:35 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's incredible. One of the things that I think is really interesting about your story is and this is something that casual fans of you or of the chromags or anything that you've done might not even know this, but obviously people who pay attention now and I've been learning about it jiu jitsu and the role that that has played in your life. And I was particularly interested in that too, because I don't do it anymore, but I used to do gcundo and and I've seen up close, you know, I mean, I've for I've been lucky in life.

14:04 Speaker 2: I've had a pretty normal existence overall, and I certainly didn't have the kind of upbringing that you did, but so I didn't necessarily have any any particular thing that I was trying to overcome or work through. But I've I've certainly met my share of people who have and I'd love to get your thoughts on how on how you feel that that has helped you and really shaped you. That experience of getting into jiu jitsu, which you got into at a pretty young age, right, you were still a teenager, I think.

14:33 Speaker 8: Well, actually that got into it kind of late. I was almost I was like around thirty I started training. Yeah. No, I started training jiu jitsu in ninety six, okay, which is you know, so in one way, I was definitely the first generation of Americans that was training under any of the Brazilian Black belts.

14:54 Speaker 2: Yeah.

14:54 Speaker 8: You know, Master hands up. He is my master and my mentor and close friend and more like a brother to me than anything else. And you know, I was just really lucky. You know, I saw UFC one and two. I actually got them at Blockbusters on VHS whether they were first available. This was like in you know, early nineties ninety three, and I pretty much made up my mind then that if I ever had the opportunity to train with any of the gracers, that I was going to take advantage of it.

15:28 Speaker 2: Yeah.

15:29 Speaker 8: And you know, I mean I have you know, I've had my share of excuse me, I've had my share of fights in my life. And I had never seen anything like like an arm bar or any of these techniques. I was just like, what is he doing? You know all these you know, different joint locks and so on and so forth, and I was just like, I got to learn this stuff, man, this is really fascinating, and that you know, that was a long time ago. I still trained pretty uh religiously. Man. I'm at the academy like at least a couple of times a week, sometimes three four times a week when I'm not on tour.

16:07 Speaker 2: Wow.

16:08 Speaker 8: I you know, I exercised every day, and you know, jiu jitsu really keeps me together, keeps my head on straight, gives me a place to, you know, let the steam off and get normal.

16:22 Speaker 2: Sure. Sure, when you first got into it, did you know? I mean, obviously you had an interest, you know, and you talked about, you know, watching UFC on I remember those days, of course Blockbuster VHS, renting a Blockbuster.

16:36 Speaker 8: But I know it's like it said, young people are gonna be like, what are they talking about?

16:41 Speaker 2: I know it seems like another lifetime, doesn't it.

16:43 Speaker 8: But I know it doesn't. It doesn't feel like that long ago. But at the same time, it's like when the hell was that?

16:50 Speaker 2: I know it's wild, But when you first got into it, when you first started training, were you surprised at how it helped you? Obviously, at what helpful physically and you learn how to defend yourself and all this. There's those immediate practical applications that are obvious, But were you surprised at how it also helped you mentally? And really kind of, you know, this is kind of the way I think of it. You're kind of organizing your brain in a way that that's positive and helpful and obviously too, you know, you get those endorphins going and everything, and that helps you emotionally.

17:27 Speaker 2: And were you surprised by those other ways that it helped you aside from just the obvious, or did you kind of think that might happen.

17:35 Speaker 8: I can't say I was surprised, but it was not the reason I started training. Yeah, I mean, I started training because I was always you know, I've been a fighter my whole life. You know, I've been fighting, you know, on the streets and you know since I was a kid, and I just wanted to learn something new, and I fell in love with it. And you know, honestly, I started because of the fighting aspects of it, but I stayed with it all these years because of the love. You know, I fell in love not just with the art, but the community.

18:14 Speaker 8: You know, I've made some of the best friends of my life through jiu jitsu. I think it attracts, you know, intelligent people you know, people you think that combat athletes are just you know, fighters are like knuckleheads and you know, not too smart. They just know how to smash each other or whatever. But I'll tell you, man, jiu jitsu is really technical, and it's really it's like playing chess, like physical chess. Sure who stick with it and gravitate towards it or you know, really really sharp man.

18:53 Speaker 8: And it changed my life for the better in so many ways. Like I literally know, if it was only about fighting or only about the combat or the violence or whatever, there's no way I'd still be doing it this many years later, you know, I mean started in ninety six. Man, it's you know, yeah, five, I'm still rolling, still loving it, and it's my community. It's where I that's where I go, you know, I really don't do much else when I'm not on tour. Yeah, you know, that's that's my social life, that's my that's where my friends are.

19:35 Speaker 2: Yeah.

19:36 Speaker 8: And I'm just really lucky that that this came to.

19:41 Speaker 2: Me, you know, absolutely, thank God for you. Yeah, no kidding, huh. And I'm glad you said what you said too about you know, intelligent people. This is something that they do because You're right, there is a misconception, and I'm sure you run into it. I'm sure you run into it constantly. Still, you know that that people who do this are just you know, muscle heads who want to smash each other, and they don't understand that. No, it is much deeper than that, and it is complicated.

20:07 Speaker 1: To be fair.

20:08 Speaker 8: In the old days, you know, it was a little different. You know, when I first started training, it wasn't really as family friendly, and there were not many women involved in the sport, you know, those early days. The people who got into it were pretty much people who either you know, we were bouncers, or people who were pursuing mma as a career, or people who just liked to fight. So it did initially attract a lot of knuckleheads, sure, but they get weeded out pretty quick because you really can't be in that world too long because sooner or later you're going to meet somebody that's going to submit you, and you're gonna learn some humility, gonna leave, you know, if you can't, if you can't handle defeat with grace, you're not gonna last.

21:10 Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, because people people who can't handle losing, and and and and still respecting your opponent, shaking their hand, giving them a hug. If you can't handle that, you're never gonna last in this sport, because you know you have to. I mean, you do need a certain amount of pride. You do need to have a certain amount of you know, belief in yourself, and you have to you know, any combat situation you have to go in like, yeah, I'm gonna you up. But at the same time, you know.

21:41 Speaker 2: Harley hardly not not to interrupt, but I just have to remind you we are on FM radio.

21:46 Speaker 8: So I'm sorry. I totally you know, I've been doing some podcasts and videos the last few days. I'm lost. I forget no, I hope you can bleed out.

22:00 Speaker 2: No worries, my friend, We're we're, we're. That's okay. We're on an eight second delay so I was able to catch it, so no big deal. Don't don't even swid it. Don't even switer.

22:12 Speaker 8: That's my natural New York just slips out. I mean, it's one of the Yeah, it was not easy. When I was teaching the kids class.

22:23 Speaker 2: I can imagine no, no, no, that's cold. And the parents did too, so excellent. Well that's what counts. That's what counts. Absolutely, that must be possible.

22:34 Speaker 8: Little parents how to be you know, tough. So I think your parents appreciated it.

22:38 Speaker 2: Well, that must be so rewarding too, to be able to teach young people who are getting into it. Yeah, that must be so constructor.

22:47 Speaker 8: And I was running that program for like ten years, but I had to stop working at the Academy because I started touring so much again. Yeah, you know, when my kids were young, younger, I took a break from touring for a while and I was really just focusing on being dad. And you know, I it was awesome. It was some of the best some of the best experiences and times of my life were just being dad.

23:14 Speaker 2: Yeah.

23:14 Speaker 8: But you know, once they got a little older, and you know, it's time for me to get back to work. I mean, I I music is my life. It always has been. Martial arts is part of my life. But you know, I make a living playing music, and you know, it pays me better than you know, teaching jiu jitsu. And if I had to pick one or the other, I don't know if I really could, because I you know, it's they're both really a part of who I am.

23:45 Speaker 2: Absolutely, so speak of music. So you got into I mean you were you were a teenager right when you started playing playing bass. I'm a bass player, by the way, so I'm I'm particularly uh interested in this, But I mean, how old were you when you started playing? And you're pretty young, right.

24:02 Speaker 8: Well I was. I did my first tour in a punk rock band ten Oh my god.

24:08 Speaker 2: Wow.

24:09 Speaker 8: I put out on my first record when I was twelve, and that was a pretty legendary forty five called loud Fast Rules. My old band, the Stimulators, and we were, you know, we were a punk band, but we were kind of the forerunners of what would become the New York hardcore scene. Yeah, like all the basically we you know, we were more of a punk band, like I say, but all of our fans, the kids that were at our shows were pretty much the first generation of New York hardcore bands. Okay, you know, an Agnostic Front was in our audience cause for Alarm, the Mob, Urban Waste, Like pretty much the entire first generation of New York hardcore bands came out of our audience.

25:01 Speaker 2: Yeah.

25:02 Speaker 8: So although we were not a hardcore band, we were definitely very influential. You know, we really kind of created a space for those kids because well, I think also a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was so young, so you know, that attracted younger kids as opposed to like all the throwback punk rockers that had been hanging out at Max's and CBS, who for the most part were all, you know, messed up on drugs. A lot of them were junkies, and you know, it was a pretty it was a pretty grimy scene, you know.

25:45 Speaker 8: I mean, the majority of the people that I knew when I was a kid, you know, they were in their early twenties and stuff. And many of the punk rockers back then, we're you know, working in the sex shows, you know, in Times Square, you know, screwing on stage and stuff for their drug money. And a lot of the chicks were prostitutes and you know or you know, strippers that stripping was nothing. You know, most of them literally were prostitutes and doing live sex shows to support their drug habits. And these were the people I hung out with when I was twelve, you know.

26:22 Speaker 8: So you know, really there's it's no wonder that by the time I was, you know, fifteen, I was already living on the streets and you know, shooting meth and smoking PCP and wow, you name it. Yeah, I definitely didn't have a normal upbringing. And you know when when everybody around you is that when all the adults are pretty much well not all, but like ninety eight percent of them are a mess.

26:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, learn you know exactly exactly. I'm curious to being so young in the punk scene. Were were you easily accepted or was there any resistance to that? Did some people look at you like, you know, who's this kid?

27:08 Speaker 8: He's because everybody who's this kid? But he was always I mean, look, my aunt was in the Stimulators that band formed before I came to New York. I was in Europe at the time. I was actually in England when they were playing. I was going to shows in England. I was going to punk shows there. I meant to like the one hundred Club and all those legendary places back then. Yeah, when I was ten, you know, so,

27:40 Speaker 8: but you know, I mean, I get yeah, I definitely was a standout character on the scene because everybody else was an adult more or less. I mean, you had your you know, eighteen nineteen twenty year old you know, mostly young chicks, but you know, I was definitely uh,

28:05 Speaker 8: but they accepted me. I mean, how do you not accept it? Was at the show. I mean, you know I was just walking around bumming quarters and playing timball.

28:14 Speaker 2: Well also too, I mean having a family member and that was it your aunt who was in the band with you?

28:20 Speaker 1: Yeah?

28:21 Speaker 2: And yeah, no, go ahead, no, So is is that? How is that how you became a member of the band, Because I just wonder, like, if you didn't have a family member in the band, would people have been more would the other members have been more resistant to bringing you in because you were so young?

28:37 Speaker 8: Yeah? Possibly, But you know what it was, it was really uh circumstantial like they had they were gigging band. Yeah, they had their drummer, Bob Weier. They replaced him with Johnny Blitz from the Dead Boys. Okay, so he was playing right before me. And you know, I had been going to their show. I'd seen them live a bunch of times, and I used to I actually would get up on stage with them once in a while and play a song or two. And you know, I used to go to their practices. I knew their material. And so what happened was Johnny Blitz bailed out on them.

29:15 Speaker 8: One time, the day of a show that I don't know if he was like, you know, he might have been dope, sick or something, I don't know, but he did not show up and they couldn't find them, and they went to his house looking for him, and he was not answering his door and this and so andis was like, guess what, Harley, You're playing drum tonight. And I was like, all right, you know, And I remember the show actually was in Philadelphia, the first show I did with them, and I remember literally sitting in the back of the band with a phone book and drumsticks, like playing the whole way up, just trying to, you know, remember all the parts to the songs.

29:56 Speaker 8: And that was it, man, that first show. The the audience was so receptive and excited, and you know they I think it was really we were probably one of the first New York punk bands to ever make it to you know, North Carolina and South Carolina and stuff like that, so they were super pumped and and people were blown away. I mean, we had two chicks in the band and a little kid in this crazy little day dude on vocals. We were definitely you definitely interesting, you know, there was nothing else like hers, that's for damn sure.

30:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's kind of how it.

30:34 Speaker 8: Started for me. And I mean I had already, I had been in a band already, I was already out doing stuff. I'd been on a tour already, and yeah, I mean this has been my whole life, dude. I've been literally playing music and going to show since before I can remember. I mean my mom was a hippie and used to bring me to concerts and clubs and you know, before I remember. Yeah, you know, if you see photos of like Jefferson Airplane and there's like all, you know, naked children running around in front of State, I was one of them.

31:10 Speaker 8: Yeah. Yeah, there was no time before music in my life.

31:18 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. And then so so then was there anything between the Stimulators and the Cromags or was the Chromags the next band for you?

31:28 Speaker 8: I was in a band called Mode of Ignorance, Okay, and I was also a founding member of the band Murphy's Law. I actually came up with the name of that band. But you know, I think the most significant thing that I've done musically has been the Chromags. You know, We've we've been going now strong since our first record came out in eighty six. The first recordings that we did came out, we put them out in like eighty four on cassette, I believe it or not. Yeah, and we've been you know, I've been active ever since, you know, so yeah, pretty long run.

32:05 Speaker 8: Yeah, things are going well. I mean we're still out playing out playing festivals and you know, life is good.

32:13 Speaker 7: Man.

32:13 Speaker 8: You know, most bands don't last you know, five minutes forget about plus years.

32:22 Speaker 2: No, it is remarkable. I mean do you feel the weight of that legacy? I mean, it's it's because you you were at the forefront of so much. Uh, especially you know, the way the way you started out in New York and everything and the scene. I mean do you feel like, like, like, do people talk to you and they tell you, oh man, You're like, like, obviously you get a lot of credit for what you've done. I mean, is that ever overwhelming to you? Do you feel like a certain level of responsibility that that like you have to continue to to carry that flag, carry that banner and and and really represent or or are you just are you comfortable with it all?

33:01 Speaker 8: Uh? That's a good question. You know, it's a little bit of both. I guess. Yeah, I mean, I I I'm comfortable with it because I have never known anything else. Yeah, you know, I've been on stage since I was, you know, a kid, So you know, I mean people have been taking pictures of me since I was a kid. You know, people I've always uh treated me a little different, you know. Sure,

33:33 Speaker 8: but then again, you know, I this is the weird part. Okay. Like, so I grew up in music and playing and everything, but I also lived in like a really bad neighborhood. You know, Lower East Side was dangerous. It was pretty scary back then, a lot of gangs, a lot of drugs, and so I like my day life was like I was getting pretty much picked on, you know, beat up or jumped or whatever, you know, messed with and life kind of sucked. Yeah, and then you know, the sun goes down and I'm at the clubs and I'm like a happening almost celebrity type.

34:10 Speaker 8: So it was like definitely a weird you know mix of you know, elements in my life. But I'm just lucky I had the music because you know, I fell into drugs pretty hard early. I go into a lot of crime. I you know, I was homeless for a lot of years. I moved out of my moms when I was like fifteen, fourteen fifteen, and yeah, I want hiking out to the West Coast, and I was, you know, living in a lot of squats. I lived in, you know, abandoned I lived in an abandoned brewery. I was actually living in like in an air vent for a while in it.

34:47 Speaker 8: And you know, you would just find someplace that you could be safe, you know, someplace where you weren't going to get you know, accosted or you know violated, you know, right in the night. You know, you'd find someplace where you can sleep. You have groups of friends that you know, you kind of where each other's support system. You know. Yeah, I really was, you know, shoplifting to eat. And you know, I went through a period where I was, you know a bit of a criminal, you know, I mean I was robbing people.

35:18 Speaker 8: You know, I've done some things that are quite regrettable. But you know, when you're on the street and you're a kid, and you know, you you sometimes forced into situations that are not just awkward, but you know, sometimes you have to do things that you might not normally do if you were living a different life.

35:39 Speaker 2: You know, right right. One of the interviews that I watched, I'd like to give credit to whoever it was you were talking to, but now I can't remember because I watched several of them, but you were talking about this about how no matter how bad things get, you know, sometimes all it takes is one good thing to just kind of turn everything around for you, and then it makes everything that happened up to that point suddenly is not a big deal because you have that triumph of overcoming it all. And I've just found that really inspiring because it is true.

36:11 Speaker 2: You know, we've we've all been through those times where we're at our absolute lowest point and then, uh, you know, and then sometimes all it takes is one good thing, whether it's luck or whatever it is that they can really turn everything around for you. And that's why I find your story very inspiring.

36:31 Speaker 8: You know what I tell people all the time, You know, there was a period well, I mean there's been many times in my life where I actually probably should have given up or you know, but I just you know, many times I've felt that way. But you you know, your lungs are still going to fill with air. You're you know, you're still going to be sitting there. You know, you can mentally want to give up, but your body's still sitting there. And then okay, I give up. Okay, now what Okay? Now I need to eat, Now I need to sleep.

37:10 Speaker 8: Okay. So actually I don't really have the opera the choice of giving up. I'm just you know, emotionally, I feel like I'm giving up, but I'm still alive and I still have to exist and fight through this, you know, and yeah, you know I I And what I tell people is, you know, like when my my life absolutely took a dive, like I, you know, I in twenty twelve, I was really I hit a wall. I like the mother and my kids split on me and took my kids. I got assaulted going through a promags show that I wasn't playing.

37:48 Speaker 8: It was like a fraudulent promags and like I got assaulted by like a bunch of gang members and wow up in the hospital and rikers. Yeah, I put three dudes. I got jumped by like about six seven dudes. I got stabbed. I got like forty something stitches, but I put three of them in the hospital. They all walked away knowing that I'm definitely not someone to play with, right, you know, part of my reputation, Like, you know, my reputation increased that night because all these guys thought they were tough, and they realized you don't corner a wild animal.

38:23 Speaker 8: You just don't. Yeah, and you know, so my life really took a turn for the worst. I was sitting in Riker's ould, like, oh my god, my you know, the mother and my kids. I've been with her fourteen years. She just like gripped my heart out and threw it in the gutter, and she took my kids from me. The only good thing that I feel like I had ever really achieved was being you know, father to them. The music and all that other stuff didn't matter to me as much as you know, fixing my own childhood through being their father.

38:56 Speaker 8: You know, I was doing all the things that I didn't get to do. I was, you know, going to playgrounds and going to museums and doing all the things that I should have been doing when I was a kid but wasn't right. You know, I was finally lived that and then all of a sudden everything just got crushed and I really could have given up. You know, I was in the newspapers not on the news. I was you know, I was in cab TV. You know, punk rockers, stabs, bl blah lah lah. You know, it was like this big, big drama.

39:27 Speaker 2: Yeah, and.

39:29 Speaker 8: You know, fast forward and uh, I'm in the best place I've ever been in in my life. You know, if you would have told me that, then I would have said, you know, if if you would have told me I was going to go through the next however many years, you know, ten years before I would really feel, you know, like I was back on top of my game, I would have given up. I probably would have said, you know what for me now, because I don't think I can last that long feeling this way. Yeah, but you know now that I am on the other side that you know, it's it's in my rear view mirror.

40:04 Speaker 8: Man, it's another It's just another. Yeah. It was rough. Yeah, it was tough, but you know what, I'm still here and I'm doing great. And that's why I say to people all the time, it doesn't matter how bad things are or what you're going through, something could change all of that and you just you don't have the strength or the will to get to that point. You know, you're not gonna know you know, if you just if you your life or give up or whatever, you know, like you don't, you'll never know what could have happened, what good could have came to you.

40:40 Speaker 8: I mean, death is inevitable. It's like the one thing we don't have to work for. It's coming, right, So why run to it? Why run that direction? You're gonna get there? And if you just slow down your pace a little bit and try to enjoy the ride a little bit and like look around as you're moving, you know, life is actually pretty amazing, you know. I mean, yeah, it's full of trauma, full of drama, full of pain, suffering and everything else. But that's not all there is, right right, well very well said yeah.

41:17 Speaker 8: You know.

41:19 Speaker 2: By the way, so when you when you went on through all that in twenty twelve, like, what what did you what did you do to help help yourself get through it? I mean, did you did you just kind of lean more on the jiu jitsu or I mean what, uh is there anything specific that you did to really help yourself pull through that?

41:36 Speaker 8: You know what it was just a string of good fortune, you know.

41:41 Speaker 2: Yeah.

41:41 Speaker 8: I had been working on a book for a while and around that time I met the person that I eventually wound up marrying, and uh oh, she became my She was you know, she had a PhD. And you know she, I'm sorry, has a PhD. She's you know, super smart, she's a lawyer, she's a CEO of her own company. She's really got her she's she's one of the most you know, inspiring and as kicking humans I've known. And you know, she had started working on editing my book with me right before all this happened, So she knew that what she was seeing in the news and everything was not true.

42:32 Speaker 8: Yeah, and she believed in me. She had she knew I wasn't this psycho who went on like a stabbing spree at a nightclub. She was like, I see him with his kids all the time. He's like a good guy. He's a good person, he's a great father, he's he does have a heart. He's not this crazy madman. So yeah, you know, we just got closer and closer. And I got to say that between her, between her and Henzo Gracie and having that the academy and you know, that really gave me what I needed, just the support system to keep going.

43:14 Speaker 8: And and again, you know, one thing people need to know too, is like, you know, you can have your heart broken, you can have your spirit broken, but you know, the heart heals. Man, It's like one of the most resilient muscles in the body, you know. I mean, I'm I never thought I'd be able to love someone again, and I'm again. I'm I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm in the best relationship I've ever been in. And so I mean, I guess the moral of this is, no matter how bleak things seem, you really just can't give up.

43:53 Speaker 8: You know, you actually can't. You know, life is too beautiful to just throw in the towel.

43:59 Speaker 1: Man.

43:59 Speaker 8: You got to fight for what you want, man.

44:01 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And also too, I mean, you're you know, you're you've kept yourself an incredible physical shape. The most most men your age I don't are not in the kind of physical shape that you're in. And you know, obviously, how we take care of ourselves physically affects how we feel mentally and emotionally and all of that. So that's that's an important piece of this too, I think.

44:23 Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, I exercise every day. I do like an hour of cardio almost like I do between forty minutes to an hour of cardio every day. And you know, I changed jiu jitsu and box. You know, at least a couple of times a week. I do at least thirty minutes of shadow boxing every day. I'm I'm, I'm border I obsessed, you know. And but there's you know reasons it starts it. I'm in great shape because of it. Yeah, it helps my It helps my mind, you know, it relieves stress. It keeps me a little bit, you know, more grounded, and and you know, I take my job very serious.

45:05 Speaker 8: Man. I want to go out on stage and kill it. So I do more cardio every day than I know I'm going to be on stage. Right, If I know I have an hour that I have to do, I make sure that I do an hour of cardio every day leading up to that tour. You know, last tour we did, we only had a half hour set because we were opening up for Danzig, and I had so much energy. I was like, you know, my my show would be over and I'd be like doing you know, a couple hundred push ups right as soon as I walk off the stage.

45:38 Speaker 8: It's like, yeah, man, let's go I'll go another forty minutes. Man, let's do this, you know. So, yeah, I feel great, man, Yeah, I feel great. My wife said the other day. You know, I'm like, honey, I feel you know, I lost a little weight, you know, because I've been exercising differently. I'm not working for strength as much as as as endurance right now. It's because I have to prioritize this tour coming up, so I'm really working on just being able to go all out for an hour. That's my mission, right So, and she's like, she told me, you know, yeah, you got you lost a little bit of weight, but you look great.

46:14 Speaker 8: You look like you did when you were in your twenties. And she's met me in my twenties, so, you know what, I'm almost I'm sorry, I think I almost said a bad word. I'm almost sixty, bro, I'm fifty eight years old. And the fact that my wife, who knew me in my twenties says I still look the same like physically, you know, that says a lot. Man.

46:40 Speaker 2: It doest.

46:43 Speaker 8: I go between a six to an eight pack, depending on how many leglifts I'd do it. I'm in shape, I got veins in my arms, I'm still cut, you know. Yeah, And it's important, man. You know, I see people half my age who like struggle walking upstairs, you know. I see people who having like a hard time getting up off the couch. And I'm like, I see parents in the playground who are like so out of shape that they can't even keep up with their kids or play with them, right right, Like, I don't even see your point in breeding if you're going to be so out of shape that you're just going to raise more out of shape people like you know, do you know if you're gonna have kids, get your life together, be healthy, set an example for them, you know.

47:27 Speaker 8: Yeah, people, I always let the idea of the dad bod. You know what, when I had my kids, I started working out twice as hard. Yeah, you know, because I'm like, I want to. I want to set an example for them. I want them to know that health is wealth.

47:42 Speaker 7: Man.

47:42 Speaker 8: You know, you've got to work. You got to take care of yourself. You got to get in there and grind. Man. I used to bring their strollers to the gym with me, you know, and they'd sit there in their strollers while I was working out. You know, I started bringing them to the academy when they were like six months old. I wanted them to see, this is what men are supposed to do. This supposed to be in shape, They're supposed to be active. You know.

48:05 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know I've always said, well, I've always said too, there's a there's a weird thing culturally in the United States, and maybe this exists other places too. But you know, we, uh, we feed our I don't have any children on my own, but you know, we feed our kids like almost right out of the shoot, all kinds of sugar and and you know it's like, uh, you know, right right out of the gate. We teach our kids, you know, this is what this is what you should enjoy the most is cake and and candy and all this stuff.

48:34 Speaker 2: And then we raise generations of diabetics, you know, and and and and gee, I wonder why, you know bad.

48:44 Speaker 8: It's you know, all part of a bigger picture. I mean, the you know, they want to I say, they I hate to turn into one of those people. But it's like basically, if they you know, they want you as long as long as you could be part of the workforce, and then and then they just want you to pay medical bills. You know, it's just like, how can the system get the most out of you and give you the least and just keep you, you know, another little meaningless screw in the machine, right, you know, it's like work hard, get sick, and keep giving them money till you die, you know.

49:24 Speaker 8: And you know, and I do think it's I hate using the word conspiracy, but I do think that there is a little bit of a you know, throughout the history of this country, they've done a lot of you know, they really have polluted us. You know, there's a lot of foods in this country that are not even legal in other countries, like food colorings and different artificials, sweeteners, and various ingredients and chemicals that they use in our foods that are literally banned in other countries. What did all tell you that?

49:57 Speaker 8: That tells you that somebody's making money off of keeping us unhealthy. You know, I've been a vegetarian since nineteen eighty two.

50:07 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and you know I was you know, I was surprised by that too. You mentioned that in one of the interviews that I watched, and that was interesting to me because I would imagine a lot of people you tell that too, are surprised because you know, you've got a lot of muscle on you. And I think there's a obviously it's a misconception because you're a proof of this this idea that you can't you know that if you're a vegetarian, you can't build muscle. But you obviously have built muscle as a vegetarian, and as you said, you've been a vegetarian for a very long time.

50:39 Speaker 8: Yeah. Well, you know what, there's a lot of myths in the health industry, you know, I mean, they do most of their research on rats, you know, I mean, and rats require a lot more protein than people. Yeah, but you know, and also people don't realize that there is actually protein and vegetables, you know. I mean, for you know, like all those fake burgers that they make now, like what they call impossible, that stuffs made from like pea protein. You know, peas have protein, Broccoli has protein. You know.

51:19 Speaker 8: So and unless you're like trying to you don't be like a bodybuilder. You don't really as much protein as people think. Yeah, you know, and so unless unless you're like literally trying to you know, bulk up and you know, be like you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger or something you don't need. You know, people are always talking about you need one grand of protein for every you know, I don't. I don't know if all that's true, man. I mean, yeah, I know I'm in good shape.

51:54 Speaker 1: You know.

51:54 Speaker 8: My wife just put out a book book too, So I mean it's are interested in what I eat for for, you know, to maintain she put just Laura Leaf Flanagan. She just put out a book called Hardcore Vegetarian. And it's not it's not a book that like dashes meat eating or anything like that, you know, it's it's actually just a lot of recipes to try to bring more vegetables into your diet. Yeah, you know, it's not so much about it's just about, you know, learning more about food and adding new things to your diet that you didn't know about and stuff.

52:30 Speaker 8: And so for people who want to know what I do to stay in shape, obviously I exercise a lot, but you know, what you put into your body is critical too.

52:38 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Harley, we're approaching.

52:44 Speaker 8: I know meat eaters who are in great shape too. Everybody is different, so I also I also I'm not one of these like militant vegetarians who is like you know I kind of used to be. But the fact is is, you know what, vegetables at plants are also alive, you know, so I can't judge people for eating meat. You know, my vegetables were alive, and if any if anything, I'm more against the you know, industrial industry of the meat industry and like the way it like if people were still you know, hunter gatherers like we were.

53:32 Speaker 8: You know, factory farming is really what is destroying not just our health but the planet. You know, like the meat industry is really toxic, like all the pollution that comes out of the waste and you know how I mean, it goes on and on. I'm not going to sit here and like preach. Anybody can do the research. But you know, if you're gonna eat me, I think you should eat you know, it should be healthy. It should be like you know, grass fed, you should or you should be hunting it yourself, or you know, there has to be some sort of respect for for nature, right, you know, right, you don't respect don't yourself.

54:18 Speaker 8: It's gonna go bad. It's just you know, we see the results.

54:23 Speaker 2: Oh no, well said uh well Harley, we are The time goes quickly. We are approaching the top of the hour, but this has been incredible. I'm really glad you joined us today.

54:33 Speaker 8: Thank you for having me.

54:34 Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely we should remind people before we go. And by the way, in a moment we're going to I'm gonna close out the segment with Life of my Own, another great track, but uh, we should remind people Wired for Chaos is coming out. It's gonna be in theaters middle of the month. I think you said, yeah, what's the date on that?

54:53 Speaker 8: Again, I think it's gonna be uh see, yeah, June fifteenth, that hits the theaters. And I was doing like a theater tour with the film with Q and A's and and all that stuff. So it'll uh, you know, and and then it will be available streaming and so on and so forth. So and you know, I think it's a it's a it's a it's a good story. It's a good film, even if you are not interested in you know, punk rock or hardcore music. Everybody who's seen this thing told me that they were able to really identify with the story, you know, because although I've had a unique experience, you know, my life has been I don't know if anybody else has lived a life exactly like mine.

55:49 Speaker 8: But we've all experienced trauma. We've all experienced you know, different types of you know, pain, stress. You know, everybody has suffered. Everybody's gone through things that were difficult. So I mean, I you know, whether it was you know, you're a broken family, your parents separating, whether it was you know, divorced, losing your kids, whether it was you know, getting arrested, whether it was struggling with drugs or this or that. There's a lot of things in this film that I think most humans can identify with because nobody has an easy ride, and I think it gives a little bit of hope maybe, you know, I mean, because if I made it through the things I made it through, I think I think most people, I think just about anybody, can you know what I mean?

56:43 Speaker 8: A lot of people out there have suffered harder than me. But you know a lot of people have suffered harder than me and done well right, right, So that who said, I just don't believe in giving up. And if I can give anybody just a little bit of hope or strength to believe in yourself, then you know, then my time on this earth was not a waste.

57:05 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well said, well said. I agree. And by the way too, I'll remind people you've got a great website, Harley Flanagan dot com for people who want to learn more about you and about the film. And and you've got a tour coming up and coming up really fast. Right, you're you're that Monday, all right, very good, very good.

57:26 Speaker 8: Germany somewhere on Tuesday or Wednesday. And the day I get home, I'm doing a Q and A. So yeah, let's do it.

57:33 Speaker 2: You gotta you got a full schedule. Well listen, so we'll we'll close with this track Life of my Own, but we'll let you go. Harley flan again, thank you so much. Let's let's do this again in the future. I could, uh, I could talk to you forever. Man. This has been fascinating. So I'm really glad you joined us this morning.

57:49 Speaker 8: This fun and you can have me on anytime. It would be a pleasure to talk to you again.

57:54 Speaker 2: Awesome, awesome, all right, Harley flanagain, thank you so much, my friend.

57:57 Speaker 8: Take care my pleasure.

58:00 Speaker 2: Alright, you got it, Bye bye, all right, Harley Flanagan of the Crowmaggs And I'm really looking forward to seeing the documentary Wired for Chaos, and we're gonna end with this track. This is another great song. This is called a Life of My Own. And if you are listening live on Saturday, make sure you stick around. Our number two is coming up.

58:56 Speaker 8: What is the.

59:01 Speaker 2: You'll fight by your lives, You'll fight us the Wow,

59:10 Speaker 2: you'll come and tell us?

59:13 Speaker 3: Whoa when mothering?

59:17 Speaker 2: The accept yourself?

59:21 Speaker 1: Yeah yeahs wol.

59:26 Speaker 3: With nothing.

59:27 Speaker 1: Accept yourself, so what you want.

59:32 Speaker 3: And how you don't want it?

59:36 Speaker 2: Sounds like poll do it praying yourself, preople, the.

59:42 Speaker 3: Press were all the town. You let rest.

59:50 Speaker 2: Your time, jell us, whoa with mother except yourself