The Most Interesting Man in the World

© 2024 by Vinnie Stigma with Howie Abrams

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-63758-465-1

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-63758-466-8

Cover art by Donna McLeer / Tunnel Vizion Media, LLC

Interior design and composition, Greg Johnson, Textbook Perfect

Front cover image by Heather McGrath

Back cover image by Maurice Del-Ciotto

This is a work of nonfiction. All people, locations, events, and situations are portrayed to the best of the author’s memory.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Permuted Press, LLC

New York • Nashville

permutedpress.com

Published in the United States of America

Dedicated to my family, friends,

Agnostic Front members past and present,

and all those we’ve lost along the way.

Howie dedicates this book to Julie and Nia

for everything you are and do.

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.

—Muhammad Ali

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Prologue

1. Stigma

2. Son

3. New Yorker

4. Music Fan

5. Musician (Part I)

6. Musician (Part II—The Beginning of Agnostic Front)

7. Recording Artist (Part I, 1983–1984)

8. Recording Artist (Part II, 1986)

9. Recording Artist (Part III, 1987–Present)

10. Scapegoat

11. Elder (Madball)

12. Touring Musician (Part I)

13. Touring Musician (Part II)

14. Touring Musician (Part III—Europe)

15. Superhero

16. Stealer of Sleep

17. Guardian (of the Youth)

18. Hotel

19. Solo Artist (Stigma, the Band)

20. Dad

21. Cancer Survivor

22. Culinary School Dropout

23. Cook

24. Friend to Vegans

25. Dancer

26. Wrestler

27. Actor

28. Canvas

29. Subject

30. Drinking Buddy

31. Man of the People

32. Sports Fan

33. Entertainment Fan

34. Social Media Holdout

35. Poet

36. Fitness Enthusiast

37. The Nose (A Children’s Story)

38. Brother (Ode to Roger)

39. Contemplator/Reflector

Stigma Crossword Puzzle

Image Credits

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Foreword

By Roger Miret

Vinnie is going to outlive everybody. He’s going to be the last person standing. If a nuclear bomb goes off, only roaches and Stigma will live. That’s it.

Vinnie Stigma and I connected pretty much right away. He says he was dancing beside me at a show—I believe it was at the Peppermint Lounge—and liked my style in the pit. That’s where I had my first sort of encounter with him. I’d been watching him on the dance floor, and he would go against the grain, or just stand in the middle of everyone. You could tell he was a character right away just from watching him. We hadn’t spoken a word to one another yet; that was at some random CBGB show soon afterward. And I don’t think our conversation had anything to do with music or punk rock. I’m pretty sure he was in the midst of a conversation with someone, comparing who made the best meatballs or something ridiculous like that. He’s Italian, so…you know, a natural mamaluke.

Vinnie was really easy to approach, especially for that time, when everyone was kinda crazy. You didn’t feel intimidated to speak to him or anything like that. He was friendly to everyone, as opposed to some other people on the scene who seemed like they had to get a little bit more comfortable with you first. He’s never been arrogant either, even though he probably had the right to be. Vinnie has never been like that, and he’s still not. He’s a very easy creature, a creature of habit. When he is hungry, he eats, when he is tired, he sleeps, but in the end, playing the show is always the biggest thing in the world to him. It doesn’t matter how you’re feeling, or what mood you’re in; for Vinnie, you have to forget about that, play your show, and entertain those who’ve paid to see you. We’ve both played shows while sick as dogs. He’s always like, We have to play. The show must go on. That time at CBGB when he split his head open, I was at the hospital with him while the show was still going on, and he told me, No, you have to go back and play. We can’t disappoint anyone. Early on, I recognized that attitude in him, and I know that’s what he believes when it comes to Agnostic Front. We share that attitude and so many other things.

As far as winding up in a band together, things didn’t start to happen until one night at Great Gildersleeves, where I think the Angry Samoans were playing. I was in the pit doing my thing; stage diving, and just being a regular New York hardcore dancer or whatever. Vinnie and I had become friends by then, and that day, he had Adam (Mucci) and Raybeez approach me to join their band. I was a little bit confused, because, first of all, I wasn’t a straight-up vocalist. I always played bass and did a little bit of vocals in The Psychos. Are you looking for a bass player? Adam was already the bass player, so it was weird. They told me they wanted me to sing. I guess Stigma saw me going crazy on the dance floor and figured that’s what he needed me to do. Back then, as long as you looked good going crazy, that was enough. That’s how it used to be—no experience necessary. I don’t even think he asked me to try out, he just told me, I really want you to be in the band. He knew I was already with The Psychos, but at that time, people were always in multiple bands. It didn’t matter because we were all in it for the scene, so it wasn’t like, Oh, you’re stealing somebody from my band. Nobody thought about touring, nobody ever thought about anything more than just having fun and playing some songs, that’s it.

We eventually got together and started to rehearse at this little dungeon down by Vinnie, somewhere in NoHo. We would close the door and it would be steaming hot. Raybeez would be wearing seven layers of clothes. By the time we were done, he was down to just his underwear. We were doing songs that we each already had and brought to the group.

We’d all gravitated toward this American skinhead thing. That was our style. That’s what Negative Approach was doing and what SSD was doing and what Minor Threat was doing. It wasn’t like the UK skinhead look; it was more our own thing. We didn’t have Dr. Martens. You had to mail order those from England back then. Who had the money to do that? I still have my zipper combat boots; that’s what we wore. But then, being that we were in New York, it became edgier. At the time, we were more punk rock. We still had mohawks and spiked hair and stuff like that, but the scene was changing over to the American hardcore vibe those bands were doing. The whole skinhead thing was about trying to disassociate ourselves from the traditional punks that were like, Fuck the world, fuck everything, live fast, die young…. We—not just Agnostic Front, but SSD, Minor Threat, Negative Approach—were all moving to disassociate from that and create our own thing. We were definitely, Fuck this, fuck that, but it was not about destroying everything. It was more like, Let’s make a difference. Let’s make a change. We were the younger generation. Later on, we even disassociated ourselves from what we became. The UK skinhead thing became really heavy, and we needed to separate ourselves from that also. You know the lyrics: "United and strong, blacks and white, punks and skins." That’s where we were coming from.

Vinnie played guitar. He actually used to be the bass player with The Eliminators, and then he switched to guitar. He had all the gear too: everything for everybody. Nobody else owned anything. He had bass gear, then he decided to get his guitar and an amp. He bought the drums…. We would just take it all to CBGB to play, then back again. Vinnie’s drum kit was the house drum kit at CBs for the longest, A7 too.

As far as Vinnie’s playing style as a guitarist, it was great. There wasn’t, and still isn’t, anyone like him. He had this unique way of playing. I mean, if you notice, a lot of songs on United Blood and Victim in Pain are completely out of tune. If you were to ask Don Fury, he’d tell you that he had the hardest time trying to keep Vinnie’s guitar in tune. It wasn’t the guitar, it was the way Vinnie plays. He grabs those strings and bends the shit out of them! His pinkie is always floating behind the fretboard. He’s also pressing his thumb through the fretboard on the backside, and all the other fingers, minus his pinkie, are counterpressuring from the other side. It’s wild. But back then, people didn’t really care about how great a musician anyone was. Agnostic Front was not a great band musically. We were like watching a controlled train wreck. It was about the show, and we got that from Stigma. You had to watch what was going on. It was theatrical more than anything. We were a laughingstock as far as musicianship, but in the end, we prevailed over all of the other early NYHC bands because we were genuine. We were real people doing real things. It wasn’t about the best technical playing, or politics, or any of this other bullshit. It was just about, Hey, you want to see a real fucking band? This is real hardcore. These guys are nuts. They’re jumping on you, they’re doing all this stuff, and they’re barely playing the fucking song.

A funny story about our song Power from Victim in Pain: It was introduced to us by Vinnie right before we recorded that album. It had originally been an Eliminators song, and we loved it. It was a bit odd for us because we were more classic American hardcore punk, and Power was our version of an Oi! kind of thing. I don’t know what possessed me to yell "Stigma just before the lead Vinnie plays. I created a fucking monster with that. I created my own Eddie from Iron Maiden just by yelling Stigma during that song. Seriously, it was just me having fun and being a jerk, just like, Stigma, my guitar hero!" It kinda turned him into one.

Around the time of Victim in Pain, I can remember the day I felt like Vinnie and I were finally making an impact with the band. It was a show we played at the Jane Street Rock Hotel with Kraut. We went on before them, and the place went nuts! Then Kraut went on and it seemed like nobody cared. It was really weird too because I always loved Kraut, but this time, it was about us. Then, the next time we played a show at CBGB—the first time with Victim in Pain out—I’d never seen CBs so full. People came from all over. We were already kind of a local favorite in New York City, but then, all of a sudden, people showed up from beyond our friend group at A7. People had really come to see us from places like Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania…. I remember thinking, Maybe we’re doing something good here. Maybe we’re on to something.

Fast-forward all these years, and I think the bond between me and Vinnie has lasted for good reason. Other guys who’ve been in Agnostic Front always wound up having different things going on in their lives. Some started having kids, or they just moved on. I did the same thing, but I had my first kid and never moved on. Vinnie and I have always been passionate about this thing. Our friendship is very passionate, and we love our band. It means a lot to us, and we still enjoy what we do. It’s genuine love and true sincerity. That’s what has kept us together as friends all these years, and also as a band. We simply love what we do and want to keep doing it.

For a long time, I was living in abandoned buildings or in a van and often in Vinnie’s apartment during the harsh, cold winters. That’s where I had my showers, where I escaped the more difficult times. Vinnie had the headquarters. He had 285 Mott Street, and he had the