There are few artists that can claim to have achieved
success fronting three completely different groups within three distinctly
different musical genres, but then Glenn Danzig is like no other.
Having first announced himself onto the New Jersey punk
rock scene with The Misfits (which Danzig fronted from 1977, before
disbanding the horror punk act in October 1983), Danzig soon shifted
his creative talents towards his new act Samhain, which saw his advance
beyond the thrash based punk mould more towards a far darker and more
experimental sound that was far more gothic/metal influenced. Although
having only managed to produce two albums and one EP throughout their
four-year existence, Danzig managed to develop a larger cult following
with the underground Samhain than what he had achieved with The Misfits,
which still remains to this day.
But it was Danzig's move to Rick Rubin's newly founded
Def Jam Records (later re-named American Recordings), a change of name
(to simply Danzig) and a new line-up in 1987 that saw Danzig make one
final genre transition - this time towards a straight heavy metal sound,
and one that would propel him from out of the underground and onto worldwide
success.
Over the course of nineteen years, Danzig has weathered
numerous line-up changes and label moves to produce eight full-length
studio albums, one EP and a live album, with his last release being
2004's acclaimed 'Circle Of Snakes'.
But for all extensive touring Danzig has undertaken throughout
his career as front man for all three groups, he's only managed to make
it to Australia once (which was back in 1993 when his group featured
the classic line-up of guitarist John Christ, bassist Eerie Von and
drummer Chuck Biscuits) while in support of 'Thrall - Demonsweatlive'.
However, all that is set to change, with Danzig making
his almighty return after a thirteen-year absence this month on what
will undoubtedly be his second and last visit ever here.
Speaking from his office base in Los Angeles, I caught
up with the quietly spoken man in black about his upcoming plans to
release two new albums, his return to Australia, his involvement in
former The Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein's new project
Gorgeous Frankenstein and his various other works in progress outside
his own band Danzig.
"I'm always busy! (Laughs) I don't even sleep anymore. Outside
of Danzig, I just finished working with Simon 'Biz' Bisley (renowned
British artist) on a graphic artwork adaptation of John Milton's 'Paradise
Lost' for my comic company Verotik. That was amazing. Since then it's
just been movies, which includes 'Ge Rouge' (the voodoo zombie Verotik
comic book feature film that Danzig plans to direct). I think that's
enough for me at the moment. It's crazy. We (Verotik) have so much shit
going on - I don't even know where to start."
In amongst Verotik's busy release schedule, Danzig has
managed to finally schedule the release of his two long in the works
projects, with the first being his follow up to 1992's 'Black Aria'
(namely 'Black Aria II', which is conceptually based around Lilith,
the first wife of Adam) due sometime in September.
"Yes, that's true. It was supposed to come out last
year but I was switching distributors at the time and I didn't want
to give it to the old distributor. So basically I waited. Now that my
distribution deal is done here in the US, it's finally on a release
schedule. The album itself has already been recorded for some time.
I started recording it at the end of 2004, and into the beginning of
2005. But I've had the album written since 2000 or early 2001! (Laughs)
Finishing it was really a matter of finding the time in-between tours,
making other albums and all the other crazy shit that I do. I actually
had to sit down and actually force myself to do it! (Laughs) That's
really what I had to do. Once the album was finished, it was more the
question as to whether or not I wanted to turn it in to my old distributors.
I simply decided not to. But what I've since then was to spend a little
more time refining it a bit more. I went back into the recording studio
and recorded another track for it, which I would have to say is very
creepy. It's all vocals. There's no music on it. There are so many layered
vocals on it that it almost sounds like there's keyboards in there.
It's just the way the vocals are layering and working with and against
each other. It's a very creepy effect."
With fourteen years between the release of the original
'Black Aria' and the upcoming sequel, it's not surprising to expect
a few changes in style and sound, and Danzig couldn't agree more.
"I would have to say that this album is even creepier than the
other one. It's a little more Eastern flavoured because there's a lot
of drums on this one. That's because it's all based around the time
and place of Lilith. I tried to inject that flavour in there. But there
are also some similarities to the original. You'll hear it. I'm pretty
happy with it."
When asked as to whether people will understand the premise
of 'Black Aria II' compared to his other work in solo band, Danzig remains
confident that history will to some extend repeat itself.
"I think those who enjoyed and understood the original
'Black Aria' will like this one just as much. I mean, 'Black Aria' did
really well here in the US! (Laughs) I wasn't expecting that. It seemed
to be very well received by the fans and there were a lot of people
who wouldn't otherwise normally buy Danzig albums who went out and bought
it. So I was pleasantly surprised. I think we've passed Gold status
and approaching close to Platinum. That's still a huge shock for me."
The second planned release this year from Danzig is the
long talked about compilation album 'Lost Tracks Of Danzig', which compiles
a host of previously unreleased material from Danzig's early beginnings,
through to the present day.
"'Lost Tracks Of Danzig' is old stuff that dates
right back to the first Danzig album (1988's 'Danzig') right through
to now. I was only able to start work on this album when the court case
was finally sorted out. When I left American Recordings in 1994, Rick
Rubin (label founder and renowned producer) sued me and I sued him.
I ended up winning all my unreleased material back. Anything he never
released, including any live shows we recorded that he never put out,
I won back and own. There was some stuff that he has yet to turn over
because he can't find them, well he says that he can't find them, but
I have most of the recordings. He still has the rights to the albums
that were released through his label but we're trying to get them back
now because he hasn't been accounting back to us properly. So we're
trying to get those back from him. But that's a whole other story. We
actually just shot a video for one of the songs on this new album just
last week. That's called 'Crawl Across Your Killing Floor'. That was
a song that didn't make it onto 'Danzig 6:66 Satans Child' (1999). This
album wasn't planned as a way of clearing out the vaults just for the
sake of getting new material out there. It's something that fans have
been asking me for. I always get questions from fans as to how they
can get a hold of this track or that one. There are a lot of old second-rate
demo cassettes of songs that were half finished floating around out
there. So I just sat down and sifted through the songs and just seeing
which ones were good enough to be on an album, and which ones weren't.
So far there's about twenty-six or so songs."
While a lot of the songs to feature on 'Lost Tracks Of
Danzig' have rarely been heard outside the recording studio (namely
the covers of David Bowie's 'Cat People' and Marc Bolan's 'Buick Mackane'),
the tracks that have been in the hands of fans for some time are generally
the unfinished versions that have managed to mysteriously find their
way into the hands of bootleggers.
"God knows how they got a hold of those. Sometimes
I would leave the studio with a cassette and you would loan it to a
friend, and they would borrow it and copy it. And then they would give
it to their friend, and so on. So all the fans have tenth generation
copies of the songs that weren't even complete. Some of those songs
didn't even have the right lyrics. Those songs were all at different
stages of completion. Some needed guitar tracks, some need bass tracks
or some even needed lyrics/vocals. A lot of the stuff that I did with
the original line-up was primarily just Christ and I going in and doing
the bass and guitar tracks ourselves. So some needed proper bass tracks."
The compiling of 'Lost Tracks Of Danzig' hasn't been without
its dramas with time and engineering mistakes making the putting together
of the album a challenge from the word go.
"Some of this stuff was so old that I had to have
the tapes baked. What happens is that when tapes get really old, it
will no longer play on the machine. It slides all over the place and
all the actual sound recordings on there start falling off. So you have
to take it to a special company who will then bake those tapes in a
special oven. It's then that you have one play to transfer it to another
twenty-four track, or in this case, all onto the hard drive. We've had
to go through some thirty-two tapes in the baking process so far, and
I think we'll have to start doing some more next week in order to finish
the album. The other problem we've had is engineering problems. We found
this out when we were trying to put together the acoustic version of
'Come To Silver from the recording sessions for 'Danzig 5 - Blackacidevil'
(1996). The vocals on the original were sung through an old '40's/'50's
microphone to get that creepy/weird sound. We were experimenting a little
with the song at the time and I ended up recording an acoustic version
that had this nice straight vocal on it. So when I went in to remix
it with my current engineer for this compilation, we found out that
the old engineer that worked on that album didn't think that we were
going to be using it, and went and wiped the track. So I had to sing
the whole song again. You just never find out about this stuff until
you put the tape up on the machine! (Laughs)"
Looking more towards Danzig's future, he admits that there
are no definitive plans for a follow up to 'Circle Of Snakes' any time
soon.
"We'll see. I mean eventually there will be another
album, but not right now. I've really been concentrating on releasing
'Black Aria II' and finishing up this 'Lost Tracks Of Danzig' compilation.
I have to have this done by the end of August if I want it to come out
in late November. That's what's really been taking up my time of late.
I've also been writing scripts for movies and a few other things as
well. So my life is a little crazy at the moment. I know that eventually
I want to do this blues album that I've been talking about doing for
a while too. I'm hoping to work with Alice In Chains' guitarist Jerry
Cantrell (who in the past guested on 'Danzig 5 - Blackacidevil') on
that album when he gets back from tour. If that doesn't work out, then
I'll talk to Hank Williams III about doing it with him. I just did a
show with him and we recorded the rehearsal at my friends recording
studio live and it came out really good. We were both kind of really
happy. Perhaps that's the way I'll end up going. We'll just have to
see what happens."
Of course, the whole point of this conversation is Danzig's
impending return to Australia after thirteen years, which is something
both the man in black and fans both agree is long overdue.
"I think the reason for me being away so long was a combination
of timing and promoters. I had a management company back in 1996 that
received an offer for us to come back over there, but I didn't know
that until I fired them and got all the files back from them. That offer
they turned down was for a tour of seven cities. That did piss me off
a little. It would have been nice for us to have gone back down there
after three years away, and especially with the prospect of playing
seven different cities. I mean last time I was there I had a good time.
I mean I don't have any bad memories of the place! (Laughs) There were
a lot of old bookshops there and I managed to find a couple to add to
my collection (for those who don't know, Danzig is a keen book collector).
But besides that, since then, I don't know that we've actually had any
real offers that made sense in the timing, or at least not that I'm
aware of. I'm pretty much the one who OK's the touring side of things
for the band."
Although having been rumoured for some time, Danzig confirms
that following his visit to Australia, Danzig plans to retire from life
on the tour road and focus solely on his creative output.
"That's true. I'm not touring anymore. This Australian
tour means that I'll be able to do these three shows and be back home
in five days. That way I don't have to bounce around on the bus. The
only other plans I have at this stage is one more show in London, where
I'll be playing on my own festival Blackest Of The Black. So that's
it. I'll stop touring after the Blackest Of The Black show. If I can
hop on a plane and be somewhere and be home that night, or the next
morning, then sure, I'll do that. I'm just not going to do the long
endless tours of the US or Europe anymore. I've been doing that my whole
life and I'm just tired of doing it. It's just the travelling. It's
not the shows on stage, because that's what I love. But that's only
two hours of every night. The problem is the other twenty-two hours
of the day when you're not at home but on some bus somewhere. It's f**ked.
I just don't enjoy it anymore. There was a time when I was a kid and
I enjoyed it but I have always said that when I stop enjoying it, that's
when I'll stop doing it. I stopped enjoying being on the bus. I enjoy
being on stage but I just don't enjoy being on the bus."
Prior to his touring retirement, Danzig will be doing
three shows here in Australia, which he promises will make up for his
absence.
"I guess last time we were there you only saw songs
being performed up to 'Danzig III - How The Gods Kill' (1992) and 'Thrall
- Demonsweatlive' (1993). So we really only had three and a half albums
worth of material to showcase from. Fans haven't seen anything from
'4P' (1994), 'Danzig 5 - Blackacidevil' (1996), 'Danzig 6:66 Satans
Child' (1999), 'Danzig 7 - I Luciferi' and 'Circle Of Snakes'. I mean
that's a lot of albums to choose from. We'll put together a set list
that's a combination of everything from the first Danzig album right
up until now. We'll try to add a bit of everything so that way people
get to hear all sides of Danzig."
Apart from himself, Danzig is also bringing down former
The Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, which Danzig
claims will be the closest fans will get to a reformation of his old
band.
"Well I know that the original Misfits never played
down in Australia. F**k, Danzig has only played down there once! (Laughs)
So fans will get to see Doyle come out, and the pair of us will do around
seven or eight Misfits tracks together. We generally split the show
into quarters, and Doyle will find in around the three quarter mark.
The set builds up to that, and then when he comes out, everybody just
goes crazy. I've always had a good relationship with Doyle. Even during
that weird period where it was just himself and his brother (where the
pair formed Kryst The Conqueror), we talked every now and then. I guess
he doesn't even speak to his brother now. It's weird, from the other
end if you know what I mean. But we get along."
Taking their association beyond some live performances,
Danzig is slated to help Doyle out on his own project Gorgeous Frankenstein
in the future.
"I'm going to be producing his upcoming solo album.
He's got a band called Gorgeous Frankenstein with his wife Gorgeous
George (whose real name is Stephanie Bellers), who's an ex-pro wrestler!
(Laughs) They also have a bassist named Argyle Goolsby, who is also
in Blitzkid. So I'm producing their album. We've already hired Steve
Bisley to do the cover artwork. So right now, he has his band together,
but they're just trying to find a vocalist, and he's really picky. The
sound is kind of a cross between Danzig and Marilyn Manson for the lack
of a better description. It's really heavy. But it does have its own
style. There's no other way I can explain it. It's pretty cool. I think
people will be shocked at just how musical it is. When the album is
finally finished, it'll be released through my own label (Evilive).
That is if he ever finds a vocalist of course! (Laughs)
I would personally like to thank Glenn Danzig for his
generous time and Chris O'Brien at Solitaire Music for making the interview
possible.
For more information on Danzig, check out - http://www.danzig-verotik.com
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
