A Conversation With Rex Miller (HARLEY FLANAGAN: WIRED FOR CHAOS)

Rex Miller’s Harley Flanagan: Wired for Chaos, which premiered at last year’s DOC NYC, centers on the titular frontman of the NYC hardcore band Cro-Mags, who began his punk rock career at the unlikely (very unhealthy) age of 11, beating drums for the Stimulators (founder and guitarist Denise Mercedes is Flanagan’s aunt). Indeed, to say that Flanagan grew up too fast is a vast understatement. Not so much raised as allowed to run wild on the gritty Lower East Side of the 70s and 80s – the pioneering musician’s free-spirited “Warhol Factory “it” girl” mom believed children were better off sans parental guidance – Flanagan was surrounded by sex, drugs and rock and roll pretty much from infancy; and also by a who’s who of downtown artists, musicians and writers. (His mother’s close friends included Allen Ginsberg and Lucy Sante – who appears throughout the doc.) It’s a heck of a life, made all the more palpable by Miller’s deft use of archival footage from the era, along with more recent interviews with the bassist-vocalist’s eclectic array of notable friends and fans – everyone from Flea, to Ice-T, to Michael Imperioli and the late Anthony Bourdain. Surprisingly, Flanagan, now in his late 50s, still performs – and still practices the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for which he earned a black belt. He’s also the happily married father of two sons – perhaps the forged-by-fire survivor’s most remarkable accomplishment of all. The week of the film’s streaming debut Hammer to Nail caught up with Miller, who’s also a veteran DP and producer, to learn all about capturing such a tumultuous life – and making sense of the chaos.

To read my interview visit Hammer to Nail.