AGNOSTIC FRONT's ROGER MIRET Doesn't Pay Attention To Reviews: 'I Don't Put Out An Album And Expect Everybody To Like It'

In a new interview with Metallerium, AGNOSTIC FRONT frontman Roger Miret was asked if he pays attention to reviews — positive or negative— once he and his bandmates have released a new album. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it's just that — it's just a review, it's just someone's opinion. I don't put out an album and expect everybody to like it. That's just not realistic. I just put out a record, and I'm a hundred percent behind it. I love it. I like it, and I'm hoping other people like it. And if, for some whatever reason, they don't like it, okay. Maybe they didn't like it in the first time. Maybe they'll like it later. Maybe they just don't like it, and I'm okay with it. I'm not gonna sit here and comment on people liking it or not liking it. I'm just gonna present my songs live with a hundred percent behind 'em because I love them and I genuinely am behind them. And then some of those people just prefer other records or other songs, and they could just come and enjoy what we we're doing anyway. Some people just don't like us, and there's nothing you could ever do to make them happy."

Miret also talked about the lyrical inspiration for the songs on AGNOSTIC FRONT's latest album, "Echoes In Eternity", which came out in November via Reigning Phoenix Music. He said: "Well, lyrically wise, I do speak about sociopolitical stuff, which is stuff that goes around me on a day-to-day basis. I speak about overcoming oppression. So during the making of this album, we all experienced that — between [2019's] 'Get Loud!' and this album, we all experienced what you call the pandemic, and everybody lost two years of their life. Those two years of your life, you could just erase 'em. You didn't do anything. You just sat around and got on your computer and you couldn't go anywhere, you couldn't do nothing, you couldn't travel. So that's two years waste of life. I mean, during those two years I was writing little things, of course, and then I got hit with cancer, and I was writing little things, of course."

Roger continued: "I like to write, scribble stuff, and I don't write a whole song until I'm ready to write a whole song. Basically, I hear the music and I hear a line, and then I go from there. It's never deliberately, I have all these lyrics and I have to make all these lyrics fit in this song — it doesn't work that way. It has to really mean something to me.

"My guys, we're very open with each other," Miret explained. "We help each other. I don't mind anybody switching any of my vocals. I don't mind somebody contributing vocals. I mean, we're a band, we're a unit and we have a sixth member, which is our producer, Mike Dijan, who's also contributing in production. A lot of my lyrics [were] changed — [they] put some of my lyrics in this song, and this one in that song, and I was all okay with it, because we're all basically brothers and I'm not gonna stick to something. And I've had situations where people want something one way, but it just didn't feel right or something I wouldn't say or I wouldn't do. And then I have to do the convincing, like, 'Hey, I would never say this or do this. Maybe, could we word it like this?' Something like that. And it always works out. It always works out."

In September 2021, Miret revealed that his cancer was in remission.

After Miret was diagnosed with cancer in early 2021, a long road of tests and diagnoses led to a complex initial surgery and lengthy hospital stay. Even though the original surgery was complicated, the results were extremely positive.

Born in Cuba, Miret fled with his family to the U.S. to escape the Castro regime. He joined AGNOSTIC FRONT in 1983, and the seminal New York hardcore group released classics like "United Blood", "Victim In Pain" and "Cause For Alarm" over the next several years.

In 2017, Miret released a memoir, "My Riot: Agnostic Front, Grit, Guts, And Glory", which documented his struggles to adapt to life in the U.S. after his family fled the Castro regime. According to the Phoenix New Times, the book delved into many facets of Miret's life: the grinding poverty of his childhood; living as a teenager squatter; becoming deeply enmeshed in downtown New York’s hardcore scene; and later turning to drug-running to support his family.

In addition to fronting AGNOSTIC FRONT, Miret has also played with ROGER MIRET AND THE DISASTERS and is a member of THE ALLIGATORS.

For the past several years, Roger has resided in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Photo courtesy of Reigning Phoenix Music / C Squared Music