My Riot

Gangs of New York meets Mean Streets in this gripping memoir about surviving the treacherous 1980s Lower East Side and finding refuge and a life in music. My Riot is the definitive insider account of the birth of the volatile New York Hardcore scene. With Roger Miret as front man, legendary band Agnostic Front’s focused fury and aggression defined the times. Born in Cuba, Miret fled with his family to the US to escape the Castro regime. Through vivid language and graphic details, he recounts growing up in a strange new land with a tyrannical stepfather and the roles that poverty and violence played in shaping the grit that became critical to his survival. In his teen years, he finds himself squatting in abandoned buildings with unforgettably eccentric runaways and victims of similar childhood trauma. With like-minded misfits he helps pioneer a new musical genre, but with money scarce and commercial success impossible, he turns to running drugs to support his family and winds up in prison. It’s the ultimate test of his toughness and perseverance that eventually sets him on a path towards redemption. My Riot is both an unflinching portrait of downtown New York in the 1980s and a testament to the perils of growing up too fast.