Glenn Danzig on Misfits Shows: ‘I Want You to Be Surprised’
The tagline for the upcoming reunion shows by horror-punk pioneers the Misfits reads “They Said It Would Never Happen.” It’s a phrase that makes Glenn Danzig snicker. “I don’t think people should question it too much,” he tells Rolling Stone. “It may have never happened, but it is going to happen for at least two shows. We’ll see how it goes. It may lead to some other work, but who knows how it’s going to turn out?” He pauses. “I mean, I don’t think it’s going to be a disaster; I think it’s going to be incredible.”
Danzig will be playing alongside founding Misfits bassist Jerry Only and his brother, guitarist Doyle, for the first time since 1983 at two Riot Fest appearances this fall. The reunion, billed as “The Original Misfits,” signals a long-in-the-works truce between the singer and bassist, who have quarreled in courtrooms over the rights to the band’s name, songs and merchandising since the late Eighties. Only and Doyle won the right to perform and record using the name in 1995, and a little more than a decade later, Doyle reunited with Danzig for tours. Now, a year ahead of the punks’ 40th anniversary, all three have put aside their differences, at least for the time being.
“You know when something’s going to work,” Only says. “That’s the feeling I got when we agreed to this. I wouldn’t have done it unless I thought Glenn was really about it.”
Danzig and Only formed the Misfits, whose name references Marilyn Monroe’s final film, in Lodi, New Jersey, in 1977, before the bassist had graduated high school. They dressed like zombies, sang songs about B-movie horror flicks and operated a revolving door of drummers and guitarists; Doyle joined in 1980. Although they recorded frequently, they released only a bevy of singles and EPs and one album (1982’s Walk Among Us) before they broke up over musical differences in the fall 1983. Another LP, Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood, came out posthumously that year, and more EPs, singles and compilations soon followed. Meanwhile, Danzig, who went on to form Samhain and his eponymous band, and Only – who, with Doyle, formed a group called Kryst the Conqueror – took brutal swipes at each other in the press, as they fought for various rights related to the Misfits legacy. They reached a rare détente in 2001 when they united to block the release of a compilation, the still-unreleased 12 Hits From Hell, but could not agree on a reunion.