Harley Flanagan Says Record Store Day Reissue of Age of Quarrel is an Unauthorized Release

Cro-Mags’ Harley Flanagan has come forward with a statement saying the upcoming reissue of the band’s 1986 debut album, The Age Of Quarrel, which will be released on the July 17 drop of this year’s Record Store Day, is not authorized. The Record Store Day will see a limited 3,600 copies of the album.

Flanagan currently holds the rights to Cro-Mags’ name, with former members John Joseph and Mackie Jayson performing under the name Cro-Mags JM. The Age Of Quarrel featured John Joseph on vocals, Parris Mitchell Mayhew on rhythm guitar, Dough Holland as lead guitarist, Flanagan on bass and Mackie Jayson on drums.

“The band members who played on Age Of Quarrel will not be paid and have not been consulted about this release and have never been paid a dime since its original release in September 1986 or its re-release by Another Planet in 1994,” Flanagan said in a statement on Instagram. The rights are contested and the players will not see anything from this.”

see anything from this.”

“We have been working for months to try to officially re-release Age Of Quarrel and Best Wishes and to have each person who played on the two albums paid equally for their contribution; something that has never happened before. Nobody has ever been paid equally for their contribution; something that has never happened before. Nobody has ever been paid, been given any accounting, or even given a copy of the contract, we were not even represented by counsel when we signed.”

The band has had a series of breakups throughout their run, with Joseph and Jayson performing shows under the Cro-Mags name in 2008. Flanagan had filed a federal trademark infringement suit against Joseph and Jayson in 2018, with Flanagan being granted the name. The current members of Cro-Mags include Flanagan, Rocky George, Garry “G-Man” Sullivan and Gabby Abularach, while Cro-Mags JM includes Joseph, Jayson, A.J. Novello and Graig Setari.

Cro-Mags released an EP, From the Grave, back in 2019, with the band sharing another album, In The Beginning, last June and self-titled EP in December 2020. A music video for the single “Life on Earth” was released this past March.