Interview with Puerto Rican Myke (Close Call/District 9/Skarhead)

Oral history with Puerto Rican Myke, vocalist for Close Call, District 9, and Skarhead, recorded on April 23, 2025, as part of the "Uptown Rumble: Heavy Music in The Bronx" project at The Bronx County Historical Society. The interviewer is Steven Payne, director of The Bronx County Historical Society. In his oral history, Myke talks about growing up in The Bronx, first on Featherbed Lane and then on Grant Avenue near the Grand Concourse. He shares some of the details about the neighborhood, particularly the devastation that he still remembers from the fires of the 1970s. He remembers playing in abandoned buildings and the street games that he would play with his friends. He also speaks about what public school was like for him and shares his memories of first getting into hip hop in elementary school and then discovering metal in junior high through his older brother, who brought home a cassette of Metallica, Master of Puppets one day. From then on, Myke was hooked and started going to shows at L'Amours. He remembers being one of the only metal heads at his high school, Morris High School, so much so that he eventually dropped out to escape the bullying. When he was 15, he met Frank Villalona, who was hanging out on Elliott Place with Armando and Mark Minguella. From then on, this group started going to shows together and eventually got more and more into hardcore. As more Bronx kids started to listen to this kind of music, they called themselves "The Bronx Tribe," and were a regular fixture at places like Bond Street Cafe. In 1989, Myke got together with Ray and others to start Close Call. Myke remembers some of their first songs and their first show, at a high school battle of the bands, and speaks about the eventual transition from Close Call to District 9. Throughout these years, he was laying the foundation for the emergence of a Bronx hardcore scene, even though he didn't realize it at the time. Myke shares his memories of some of the one-off Bronx shows in the early '90s, like Metal Madness I at the Chippewa Club and the Mullaly Park shows. Myke remembers what it was like to record with both Close Call and District 9 and speaks briefly about Skarhead before reflecting on his pivotal role in the creation of Bronx hardcore and his love for the Boogie Down.