Ex-CRO-MAGS Frontman JOHN JOSEPH: Why I Moved From New York To Florida

Former CRO-MAGS frontman John Joseph, a pioneer of the punk rock and New York hardcore (NYHC) music genre, spoke to the "Tea & F**kery" podcast about his recent decision to move to Florida after living in New York City his entire life. The 59-year-old, who is also an author, Ironman triathlete and proponent of a vegan, clean-living lifestyle, said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I compete in Ironman and I wanted to be somewhere where it's warm year-round, where I can train. New York, once you get November, December, January, February, March, the training outside is whatever. But the quality of life has gone down in [New York] City, man, and it's the politicians' fault. If people do fucked up shit, you don't let 'em out of jail. Dude, I'm sorry. I did time when I was a kid.

"The thing that really got me was, like I said, the quality of life was going down," he continued. "The whole shit they pulled over COVID — shutting the fucking city down and then all these [vaccine] passports for shit that don't even work. Motherfuckers are talking about [needing] five shots now. So if it don't stop the spread and don't stop you from getting it or anything else, why the fuck are they mandating it? And it just got real stupid. I go back a lot — I'm working on the BLOODCLOT record now, so I was up there mixing and doing other stuff. And I still do the walking tours and everything.

"[Florida] is home base for me, and I love it, 'cause the cost of living in New York is ridiculous," John explained. "I'm paying 600 dollars less a month here for a fucking three-bedroom house, and I had a one-bedroom apartment [in New York]. It's just lost its mystique, and that's coming from somebody who's a fucking lifelong New Yorker. I grew up in the '70s on the streets, the '80s, the fucking '90s, when New York was New York. Now it's just a bunch of these fucking trust-fund kids that moved into the city. They've got attitudes with everybody.

"I love New York," Joseph clarified. "And I wanna preserve those memories that I have of New York, the way it was. And I had shit go down — some stupid shit on the street. Motherfuckers tryin' to violate, and you've gotta handle business. And I did, and I almost caught a [criminal] case for it.

"We had honor. Back in the day, it was, like, if some shit went down… I got shot, I got stabbed, I got beat with fuckin' baseball bats, pipes. I never went to the cops and snitched on anybody. So it's a different mentality now.

"I had this kid — a 20-something-year-old fuckin' Spanish kid — try to rob my friend's bike wheels and shit, and I was, like, 'Yo, come on, man.' And the motherfucker pulled a box razor on me and tried to slice my face, and I did what I do. I've been a street fighter my whole life. So it didn't end well for him. And then he went and got the cops against me. And if there wasn't a witness, I would have went to fucking jail.

"I don't know, man," John added. "It's been going downhill for a while. And I just wasn't feeling it anymore. Now I get to live vicariously through the old times and what we went through. And I'm writing about it. There's a TV show — another TV show — coming about the Lower East Side, which I'm on staff to write. And I still keep a little bit of my finger in the water of that energy. I was just there — so I'm there once a month or whatever the fuck."

Last December, Joseph said that he beat COVID-19 by "investing" in his immune system. He explained at the time: "I take care of myself. I fasted, [ate] a lot of fruit, a lot of teas, a lot of organic vitamic C and different drinks. And you know what? I still ain't takin' that motherfuckin' shot. I ain't takin' none of them. That's just me. I don't tell anybody else what the fuck to do.

"The problem now is the overreach, like these motherfuckers in the government saying, 'Oh, yeah, there's gonna be a lot of illness and death visiting the unvaccinated.' Really? Fuckin' tell me about it, dude.

"Fuck this shit show. This government now signing shit to lock motherfuckers up that don't take the vaccine. The unvaccinated ain't the problem. If you got three fucking shots in and you're still getting coronavirus, you need to ask yourself what the fuck is going on. That's the real fucking deal.

"Anyway, the voice of fuckin' reason. You're entrusting your health with the ones who are profiting off of your illness," Joseph added. "Think about that for a fuckin' second. Think about the disconnect that it takes for you to entrust your health to these motherfuckers. All of them — Pfizer, J&J [Johnson & Johnson], Moderna, fuckin' AstraZeneca — fuckin' corrupt companies. Do some fuckin' research. Before they were all safe and effective; now the J&J, yeah, it causes blood clots.

"Wake up, people. You're being fuckin' played, and that's the reality of the situation."

In 2019, Joseph and drummer Mackie Jayson reached a settlement with CRO-MAGS founder Harley Flanagan regarding ownership of the CRO-MAGS name. Flanagan is now performing under the name CRO-MAGS while Joseph and Jayson are performing as CRO-MAGS "JM".