Hardcore G.A.S. (Gear And Style) is back. The brainchild of my old friend Andrew Monserrate from the NYHC band Stand Proud. A few years back he pitched the idea of doing “guitar magazine style interviews… but for hardcore musicians”. I love working together on these with Andrew every few months as he gets really excited about doing them… and to be honest I love the change of pace with the types of questions we collaborate on. This time around we got Chuck Lenihan for you. Best known for his work with the Crumbsuckers who came out of Long Island in the early-1980’s. The band were one of the earliest NYHC bands to be called crossover and their debut album “Life Of Dreams” is considered by many to be an all-time classic. Chuck is well respected for his playing and in more recent years has played with Parris Mayhew and Aggros as well as with Carnivore A.D. who recently put out their first studio EP. Chuck stays busy musically in other ways as well as you will find out towards the end of this interview. Lead photo collage graphic by: Jeff Marsala. Chuck photo within the collage was taken by: Steven J. Messina.
IE: Let’s start from the beginning When did you start playing guitar? How old were you? What and who influenced you to play guitar?
Chuck: When I was seven, I saw the Jackson 5 at the Westbury Music Fair in 1972, and the drummer completely blew me away. That was the first time I remember wanting to be a musician. I thought I was going to play drums. My parents even got me a kit, but I didn’t have any direction, and it was too loud for the house, so that didn’t last. I also asked about playing drums in the band at school, but the teacher put me on trumpet… that lasted two weeks. A few years later, when we were living in California, my older cousin came to live with us while working with my father, and he had a black Strat and Pignose amp… that was the first time I heard distortion in the same room, and it sent me into a fever pitch. I had to learn, but also in some strange way felt like I already knew how to play and was determined to get started. My cousin would show me different chords; he would say three chords a day. Oddly, he was a lefty player with a righty guitar… strung righty, so whatever he played was upside down, whether that influenced me in some unorthodox way or not, I’m not sure, but coming out of the gate, I was able to visualize chords being reversed. It was the summer of ‘78, and I went bonkers on the Stones’ “Some Girls” album, Ted Nugent, Boston, and lots of Lynyrd Skynyrd soon after.
IE: Did you take lessons early on or were you self-taught in the early stages?
Chuck: Other than learning chords from my cousin, no. I didn’t take lessons early on. I was basically self-taught for those initial years, and like most kids at that time, I would sit in my room and play along to records, trying to figure everything out. That was my school.
IE: I’ve read you took lessons from Al Pitrelli, a New Yorker who is known from bands like Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Megadeth and more. What was that like? Are you still in touch with Al? I am assuming this happened before “Life Of Dreams” but maybe I am wrong?
Chuck: Yes, I did, and it was after recording “Life Of Dreams”. He taught at a local music store in Bellmore, Long Island. We would sit in a small room in a cloud of cigarette smoke with his four-track and record all the lessons. I’ve got a crate full of those tapes somewhere. Very cool player and cool dude. I asked him once how to play with more excitement, like Angus Young, and he said drink more. Maybe a kernel of wisdom in there… who knows. There were lots of modal concepts, but I think the best thing I took away was adopting more feel into my playing. We did run into each other at the old Sam Ash in Tampa a little over 10 years ago, and we exchanged numbers, but I haven’t talked to him since. It’s great to see him doing so well. I only have fond memories. When Crumbsuckers were opening for Megadeth at Webster Hall, earlier that day, I had a lesson with him, and he thought that was very cool and joked about being stuck having to give lessons while I was going to open for Megadeth, not knowing he would eventually play with them.
IE: In the late 80’s, you gave guitar lessons. Where were you working out of while doing this and what kind of clients did you have? Is this something that you still do?
Chuck: I wasn’t pursuing it but was asked by the owner of a rock-based school, the name escapes me. He convinced me to do it on Saturdays. I worked with a handful of players for a while, which gave me a different perspective and was rewarding. I don’t currently teach but was talking with a well-known guitarist friend from Germany who does lessons online with his fans, and I thought that was a cool idea.
IE: Back in the 80’s, it was hard enough to find other kids from any area that were actually into heavy music and hardcore punk, let alone finding like-minded people who could also play that kind of music. What was going on in your home area of Baldwin out on Long Island, where you were able to find the other components of what would become the Crumbsuckers?
Chuck: I went to Baldwin High School in the 10th grade and then moved to Huntington, but while in Baldwin, I became friendly with Dave Wynn, who had a reputation for being a great guitar player with this great Hendrix vibe, and was in a popular local band called the Chosen Ones. After graduating in Huntington and coming back from Florida, I moved back to Baldwin and hadn’t seen or spoken with Dave since leaving but was waiting outside my house to meet a local guitar teacher I found in an ad in the local paper… Rob Koebler. Rob ended up playing on the “Beast On My Back” record. So as I was waiting out front of my house to meet Rob for the first time, Dave Wynn happened to be driving by, saw me, and stopped. The stars must’ve been oddly aligned. So, he came over to say hey, and then came in for a few minutes to check out my rig and catch up. We passed the guitar around and did a little playing, at which point he said to me that his new band was looking for a second guitarist and that I should come down and check it out. I did, and the rest is history. Crumbsuckers at that point had a lot going on. They had songs and sort of a built-in crew of friends called The Colony Boys that were all a part of it in one way or another; it was a scene within itself… maybe a satellite scene of CB’s in a way. Things moved quickly, and we were delivering on stage as well as rehearsing all the time, even if some of the guys couldn’t make it, a couple of us would get together and practice. It was a great and fun time for music. Gary Meskil and Dave Brady were the fellas I then knew who were ahead of the curve on the hardcore/punk world. Richie Krakdown and Chris Notaro, who I went to high school with in Huntington, were the other two guys who got me into hardcore and took me to my first matinee show at CB’s in 1982 to see Reagan Youth.
IE: What was the Crumbsuckers song writing process like? The songs on “Life Of Dreams” morphed over time between the ’83 demo and the release of “Life Of Dreams” in ’86 but when you get down to the basics of the majority of the songs on that first album do you feel like you all worked well together? Were the earliest versions of the “Life Of Dreams” songs completely different from the album versions?
Chuck: There was a lot of writing on all fronts all the time. Things developed from playing so much together, and it was a natural process. Somebody would bring in a song or a riff, and we would build from there or cut the fat where it was needed. The band was good at orchestrating that kind of thing quickly. As an example, I brought in “Trapped” as a complete song musically, but it had two extra chords in the verse section and it made it too much. Gary suggested we should cut them out, and when we did, the song flowed better. Dave Brady, the singer, at the time, would come up with lyrics what felt like overnight; he had his lyric book with him, so lots of ideas were flowing all the time. Definitely, without the exact individuals involved, it would never have come out the way it did, which is why I think “Beast On My Back”, even though the songwriting had progressed, the sound was different because we were missing the complete instrumental “Life Of Dreams” lineup. When you compare the ‘83 demo to the record, it was now two guitars, and the band had developed with plenty of practice and stage time to help shape the overall sound.
IE: Your style of playing is/was more metal leaning contrasting Dave Wynn’s style that has been called more bluesy. Were you already into a lot of hardcore punk stuff before joining the band or was it something you picked up more on once you were in the band? Was your more metal style immediately embraced by the band… maybe that was even the reason they asked you to join?
Chuck: As mentioned earlier, Chris Notaro and Richie Krakdown brought me to my first CB’s Matinee show in ‘82. Although I didn’t know a lot about the music I identified with it and related to the aggression… plus I never heard a sound as clear and powerful before, like at CBGB’s. It sort of threw me in that same fever pitch. Those two guys were the only people I knew who were into hardcore at that early time. When I first played with the band, it was like a party with all the Colony Boys there. I came in prepared, knowing the songs they had like “The Crumbsucker” and “Bud Blues” with solos and other parts written for the most part, and we just tore into it. It was probably more like a jam than an audition, but afterwards, Gary extended his hand and said welcome to the band. Dave Wynn and I were into a lot of the same guitar players. He had a mature approach with his knowledge of theory and comprehension of great cover songs. My approach at the time was still trying to prove my ability and to play as fast as possible and play odd patterns I would come up with.
IE: “Life Of Dreams along with Agnostic Front’s “Cause For Alarm” album and Ludichrist’s “Immaculate Deception” are considered three extremely roots/ground breaking crossover albums, especially within the NYHC scene. Before “Life Of Dreams” came along many of the bands on the scene did everything possible to distance themselves from sounding anything metal related but “Life Of Dreams” and those other albums/bands we mentioned went full in on it. Was there a conscious effort within the band to help create what would become one of the earliest crossover albums and how does it feel to be considered one of the pioneers to the crossover style/sound?
Chuck: Everything just unfolded. We came in with our ideas and built on them as a band. Nobody was overly confident, but we were determined, and there was an innocence underscored by drive. I think the two-guitar blitz was something that you didn’t see in the New York Hardcore scene at that time.
CLICK BELOW TO STREAM “BEAST ON MY BACK” ON YOU TUBE
IE: The follow up to “Life Of Dreams”; “Beast On My Back” was a bit of a change from the first Crumbsuckers album. What were some contributing factors into the band’s direction changing after that first album which was received so well? If you could go back and do it all over would you make changes?
Chuck: We spent about a full year writing that record with a couple of different members in and out along the way, all contributing in one way or another. Some of the innocence wore off at that point, and we were more influenced by the big four thrash guys. We were becoming more musical as individuals, incorporating theory and ideas behind recording. A lot of those songs were also developed with Dave Wynn, and initially, there was a cohesion with the “Life Of Dreams” songs on stage. I probably would not change anything in one way, but if I had to, and this is in no way against Rob Koebler, because he’s a fantastic guy and player, and recorded beautiful solos on that record as well as added to some of the writing, but I would be interested to know the sound with Dave Wynn back in the equation. Dave’s solo on “Charge” was always the greatest.
IE: What was your main guitar during the early days of the Crumbsuckers? Amp? Strings, effects? What has changed in your arsenal since?
Chuck: I played a White Aria Pro II V Special with a maple neck that I purchased for $125 at Aces Music in Miami. Eventually, I armed it with an 81 EMG pickup and a Floyd Rose. It was a good guitar made in Japan, that had a real bite to the sound. For an amp, my main amp was a JMP 50 Watt 212 combo and then I bought a JCM 800 combo both in order to run my boss delay in true stereo… that only lasted for a little bit though eventually, I went back to using just the JMP and Dave Wynn would play the JCM 50 Watt combo. We would stack them on 412’s if they were available. We also recorded “Life Of Dreams” with those two amps. As far as strings, I was using GHS boomers 9-42 at the time, and for effects, I had a decent arsenal of Boss pedals housed in the old BCB-6 pedal board. Today, with Carnivore A.D. I use my Fractal FM3 and run direct to house as well as a second out to the back line amp. It’s easy to fly with and pretty much covers all the parameters between tone and effect, although I am thinking about running it a little differently down the line.
CHUCK WITH CARNIVORE A.D. AT THE 2025 BRUTAL ASSAULT FESTIVAL IN CZECHIA. PHOTO BY: JAROSLAW BILSKI
IE: Do you like playing larger venues more or smaller ones? Are there many differences you have learned from sounding the way you want to sound in various settings? Can you share any advice or experiences on playing in bigger and smaller settings?
Chuck: The stage is a revealing place, and I’ve always meant to be all-in with every and any show. Two years ago, when Carnivore A.D. played a festival with Raven in Denmark, I was reminded of what it’s all about while watching the Gallagher brothers play… completely unforgiving in their delivery, the spirit of their show was incredible and inspiring, and I hope I never lose sight of that.
IE: Is playing the guitar something you do on most days, even as a means to relax or get in a chill vibe?
Chuck: I have a lot of projects I’m involved with, and constantly involved with the task at hand. Guitar playing is usually the last thing I get to but it’s an extension of my life in every way. These days, usually, there is a purpose for me to pick it up.
IE: Playing acoustic… are you pro or con on this and has your opinion changed as you have gotten older?
Chuck: Pro all the way, and I’ve always felt that way; it’s a beautiful instrument… especially the 12-string. What would “Stairway To Heaven” sound like if Paige weren’t pro-acoustic… and so many others… “Moment Of Silence” too!
CLICK BELOW TO STREAM THE NEW CARNIVORE A.D. EP “TRANSMUTATION”
IE: You are currently playing with Carnivore A.D. who have some new music coming out this spring. When did you join this band, and what can you tell us about the new EP?
Chuck: Mark Piovanetti, the guitar player from Carnivore’s legendary “Retaliation” record, was also in the Crumbsuckers in the late 80’s. He asked me to be a part of his band Circus Of Steele in 2017… they were doing originals that Marc wrote, and songs from the “Retaliation” album, and had gigs lined up, and we’re gonna make a record at the time, so I was in for my old friend at the time, and we did a few shows together around NYC. Oddly enough, Baron Misuraca, who was in Sheer Terror (85-86), and who I knew from the early CBGB’s matinee days, was doing a tribute to Carnivore at that time called Sex And Violence. I told Mark then that he should join up with Baron, but at the time, he wanted to stay focused on Circus Of Steele. Mark then booked a show for us with Sacred Reich, and then his drummer couldn’t make it, so to save the show, Mark joined up with Baron, and that was their first show together in 2018 (I believe). After some time, I got a call from my old friend Baron in early 2019 asking if I would be available for some shows overseas in June, as Mark was probably not going to stay, and the rest is history. Aside from the pandemic slowing the entire world down, we’ve been steady at work building the band and representing that era from Peter Steele, Louie Beatreux, Keith Alexander, and Marc. We have an EP coming out on March 27, 2026, with Apostasy Records out of Germany. We spent a few days at Soundlodge Studios in Northern Germany with some of Baron’s songs as well as mine, but put it all together pretty quickly. I think we captured that special old-school feel, which is just a part of who we are. We hope people will dig it, and so far, the first video has been very well-received. Click HERE to check out “Social Decomposition”.
PARRIS MAYHEW (LEFT) & CHUCK LENIHAN (RIGHT) FROM 2023 
IE: We saw you perform at the very first Aggros show at St. Vitus in Brooklyn in July of 2023. Seeing Parris Mayhew who is best known for his work with Cro-Mags and yourself representing the Crumbsuckers was sort of a crossover fans dream come true as that band built up a lot of expectations within this camp. What was it like getting together with Parris and working with him with Aggros?
Chuck: It’s great to work with Parris. I’ve known him since 1985, when we would play shows together, and I would always be available to help him in any way I could. He is a friend and somebody who is not hard to recognize as a real creator for our generation, very focused on his vision, and unafraid to explore and execute. It’s a big puzzle of moving pieces, but he is very capable of putting it all together. It is an honor for me to be on the record and be a part of the videos, as well as the tour and everything else that came with it. When it comes to art, I view him as our generation’s Voice Of Quality. Seeing the Cro-Mags record release show at CB’s in ’86 was and still is one of the greatest and most insane shows I have ever seen.
IE: Are there any other bands or projects that you are currently involved with that you would like to mention?
Chuck: Recently, I was asked to be a part of the Lockdown Inc record with some old friends from Long Island, Jeff Lombardi and Eric Ronin. It sounds great with some heavy hitters on it. Hopefully, they can get that released. Here in Maine, where I live with my wife and kids, I have a local band called I Want My MTV Retro Band that keeps us busy working most weekends when I’m home, and she and I also tour a Live Depeche Mode Tribute Show in Europe twice a year. Fun!
IE: We thank you for taking the time to do this and want to finish this off by asking if you can give any advice to young musicians who are just starting out?
Chuck: I appreciate you taking the time to ask me questions. If I could give any advice to young musicians just starting, if you’re truly serious, then to be to be all-in with the process, and at some point, you will be excited to watch the outcome. Never give up and learn how to listen to the room, not just your amp, for the overall presentation. There is nothing greater than a real band and make no excuses for the love of your art.
CRUMBSUCKERS 2006 REUNION AT BB KINGS NYC. PHOTO BY: STEVEN J. MESSINA