Glenn Danzig has been an icon of dark
rock since he fronted the Misfits. Many years, albums and
projects later, he is still at it and still pushing the limits
of the music and entertainment industry with his music, comics
and his upcoming movie. Touring now to support his new album
‘Circle of Snakes’…I found him more than eager to discuss his
album, touring, his yet to be released DVD, Mistfits and so
much more…
Crave: So you are on your ‘Circle of
Snakes’ tour now…who is sharing the bill with you? Danzig: Kataclysm, Tribium and Eyes of
Fire?
Crave: Will we hear
any Misfit’s or Samhain tunes on this tour? Danzig: Actually this is a surprise but
Doyle is going to be on tonight’s show in Boston, tomorrow’s show in
New York and the show in Philly.
Crave: That will be great! Danzig: Of course there will be about
seven Misfits songs tonight…on those surprise shows.
Crave: What is your favorite song that
you play live? Danzig: It
varies…let me think a second…I love ‘Skin Carver’ because everyone
screams the skin carver parts. It’s a pretty new song and didn’t
expect that. We started doing it with these shows with Doyle which
were advertised actually back in California and Vegas you know. And
when we came out with ‘Skin Carver’ people were screaming the skin
carver parts, I mean at the top of their lungs and their faces are
distorting and going out of their minds. So it’s very very cool
because lyrically it’s a very heavy song but I guess a lot of people
connected with it you know. And so when I come out and people are
just screaming at the top of their lungs that’s pretty incredible.
Crave: Speaking of
shows…do you ever see anything really bizarre out there? Danzig: Of course, it’s a Danzig show.
We get the weirdest mail, we got the weirdest fans but we got the
most dedicated and die-hard fans too you know.
Crave: Definitely. Danzig: You know, it’s a good trade off.
We have a good time out there…we try to make sure everybody else has
a great time no matter what you’re into. You know what I mean?
Crave: sure. Danzig: You know I don’t care what your
beliefs are. When you come to a show you leave them at the door,
have a great time and pick them up when you leave. That’s the way I
am. Yeah…we have the most bizarre, crazy, wild fans…it’s great.
Crave: What is the most
bizarre thing you have ever seen in the crowd at your shows?
Danzig: What’s Bizarre you
know? To me the most bizarre thing is seeing some guy in a suit and
tie just going crazy to your stuff...you know he has glasses on he
digs my shit, wow…that’s pretty bizarre. Then again it’s not. But of
course if you’re talking about like you’ve got people who come and
self mutilate themselves. You know the weirdest shit.
Crave: I understand that JOHNNY KELLY
has returned…how did this come about? Danzig: Of course we stay in touch. You
know Johnny is a really nice guy and we had Type O out a long time
ago in ’94 and I wasn’t really happy with the guy who played on the
‘Circle if Snakes’ record live, he just didn’t have the legs and
stuff. He’s a nice guy but Johnny was available. His commitment to
Type O for that period was over and was like "I’m available" and I
said "well let me give this guy another try." And it just didn’t
work so I called him and said "look, if you want to do this…come do
it." Because I wasn’t happy and I was pretty vocal about when we did
this with ‘The Blackest’ you know Johnny was in it, and this was my
favorite lineup so far.
Crave: Back to ‘Circle of Snakes’…what
is your favorite track? Danzig: Well in the beginning my
favorite track was ‘Skin Carver’, then I really really started
liking ‘Skull Forest’ a lot. Now I’m really starting to like ‘Black
Angel, White Angel’.
Crave: So over the course of your
career…you have, between all of your projects, influenced so many
artists and musicians…who have been some of your influences?
Danzig: There have been so
many. Of course Black Sabbath…the first band I ever saw live…you
know pro band. So Black Sabbath, Elvis, you know old blues stuff…I
mean really old blues. You know I got to actually write songs for
two of my influences, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. Stuff like that
you know. Of course when I was growing up, all that glam stuff.
That’s where I got most of my oy choruses is from Gary Glitter.
There’s a lot of stuff going on in my crazy brain, but those were
all my influences when I was a kid you know.
Crave: And you have a new DVD coming out
soon ‘Il Demonio Nera’. Danzig: ‘Il Demonio Nera’ (he corrects
my pronunciation with a laugh) It means ‘A Black Demon’.
Crave: What will we see?
Danzig: You will see videos
that people just thought were too extreme to get released, alternate
versions of a video like Dean Karr did the ‘I Don’t Mind the Pain’
video for us. He did that in like ’94 and I’m wearing the white
contact lenses which later on Manson adopted. So a lot of just early
stuff that I guess went on to influence a lot of people like Dean
Karr, nobody really knew who he was…I don’t even know if he did a
Tool video at the time. But there is the ‘Cantspeak’ video by Fred
Stuhr who did a lot of the Tool videos and he did our video, he’s
dead now. The ‘Serpentia’ video that Hollywood would not release
which is directed by the guy who went on to direct ‘The Shadow of
the Vampire’ (E. Elias Mehrige). And Tommy’s on that…and ‘Sacrifice’
is on it, just a lot of cool stuff.
Crave: I understand that you involved in
some other projects as well…you are working on a film ‘Gerouge’…what
can you tell me about that? Danzig: Well it’s an adaptation of one
of my comic mini-series from ’96 or ’97 right around there. It’s
turn of the century New Orleans voodoo. So it will be pretty crazy.
Crave: What about Verotik?
Danzig: We’re still going. You
know they’ve tried to put us out of business many times you know the
big companies. They were not successful. We’re still around to spit
in their face.
Crave: I’ve
heard you do the artwork on your albums? Danzig: I don’t do the artwork, I do the
layout design. I went to art school when I was a kid so I do a lot
of that stuff. I hire the artist.
Crave: Do you usually use the same
artist? Danzig: Over the years
I have used a variety of artist. I like using Biz. He’s actually
going to do Doyle’s next record. Doyle has a solo record coming out
that I’m going to produce. He’s going to do the cover for that. I
like using Dorian now. The other guy I used to like using Marty, he
killed himself so I can’t use him anymore. But there’s always great
artists out there. You find them in the weirdest places too.
Crave: When did you
realize that you wanted to get into the business and be a
musician/rockstar? Danzig:
When I was a little kid of course. I wanted to be a lot of different
things. I wanted to be a comic artist, I wanted to be a brain
surgeon you know what I mean? I wanted to be all this weird shit.
And of course I wanted to be a musician. So I think this the thing
that happened first. I mean I went to photography school and
shit…this is just what happened first.
Crave: When did you get into your first
band? Danzig: When I was a
little kid I was a road manager.
Crave: Really? Danzig: Well you would call it a drum
tech now, but then everyone called it a roadie back then…a drum
roadie.
Crave: Everything
is a tech or an engineer now. Danzig: Their roadies to me.
Crave: Do you foresee any
reunion shows or tours for either the Misfits or Samhain? Danzig: No not really.
Crave: That’s a little disappointing to
hear. Danzig: The thing with
Doyle is probably about the close as it’s going to get.
Crave: That is cool…I
think people will be excited to see that. Danzig: I hope so.
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