MADBALL Frontman To Release Solo Album

Freddy Cricien, frontman for the legendary New York hardcore band MADBALL, will release a solo album on November 4 via his own Familia Entertainment label. Entitled "Catholic Guilt", the CD will feature Freddy's "tough-as-nails vocals but with different muscles flexed," according to a press release. "I'm doing everything on this album — singing, rhyming and yelling, rhyming being the focal point," he says.

While MADBALL has always had an urban beat to its sound, "Catholic Guilt" contains all-out boom bap beats and rock breaks. DJ Stress The White Boy provides the bulk of the production (having previously produced/remixed FALL OUT BOY, GYM CLASS HEROES, TYGA, REEF THE LOST CAUZE and more) along with LD (LDEEZLE Productions, Pitchfork Hardwear).

Commented Freddy: "A friend of mine knew I was working on my hip hop stuff. He mentioned his friend Stress was a talented producer etc. He also grew up in the hardcore scene, he knew my backround in that world, but was big into hip hop culture. Sort of just made sense for us to meet and talk. We did and the rest is history. The only other producer on this is my man LD; we've been friends for a long time. We were actually going to do a record some years back, but that took a back seat when I was side tracked by HAZEN ST."

Guest appearances on "Catholic Guilt" include members of RANCID, who are featured on the re-imagining of "London Calling" (currently up on); Vinnie Paz of JEDI MIND TRICKS on the track "Dark Of The Night"; Slaine (LA COKA NOSTRA, SPECIAL TEAMZ),Jaysaun (SPECIAL TEAMZ) and KO, who appear on the track "Gunshots"; Reef The Lost Cauze on "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me" and Travis McCoy of GYM CLASS HEROES on "The New Black".

Regarding the album's lyrical content, Freddy said, "'Catholic Guilt' is the title and it is a significant part of the themes of the songs. I grew up being a not-so-great example for Christians. But then again, who is right? There's a lot of hypocrisy with organized religion in general. In this record, I question a lot of things about it, I question its very existence, faith, etc. I question my place in all of it as well. The other part is that constant struggle within me/people, between good and bad, heaven and hell. A lot of the songs show different sides of me, through real experiences... Good ones and bad ones. The struggle continues."

Freddy's "re-imagining" of "London Calling" is available for streaming on his MySpace page.