Hollywood Book & Poster, 4/89
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We Met With Glenn Danzig While He Was In L.A. Finishing Up The Video 
For "Mother." Since Then Danzig Has Played 3 Sold-Out Shows In Los 
Angeles, Appeared On MTV And Generally Won Over The Mainstream Rock 
Audience. At The Time Of It's Release, The Rick Rubin Produced Danzig 
Album Was The Most Talked About Record And Danzig Promo CD's Were Much 
Sought After Items. We Talked Before Watching A Bad Horror Flick.

ALC: What's the deal with the new band?
GD: Well you've got E.V., Eerie Von on bass. On drums you've got drum god 
    Chuck Biscuits. On guitar, John Christ from baltimore. He's like this 
    guitar virtuoso. We did auditions for 6 months for a guitar player. 
    He came in and we had 10 minutes left. He was waiting all night so we
    said you got 10 minutes. He came on like blazes. He beat out all the 
    competition so he got it. Rick really liked him. I liked his leads 
    better than anyone elses. We wanted to be able to put them in
    where we need them.

ALC: Were any of the songs on Danzig from the Samhain days?
GD: None that we did live. They were from the aborted Samhain album. We 
    re-worked some of them. "Twist of Cain," "Possession," "Am I Demon"...

ALC: Why didn't Samhain come out to California for a November-Coming-Fire 
   tour?
GD: They dicked us for the money. So I said, "fuck you!" We were gonna 
    fly out and do a whole west coast thing. Then we started talking to 
    Rick and a few other labels. We decided to get rid of our guitar 
    player, then later our drummer. So we said fuck touring. We were 
    thinking about just coming out and doing a show, but we changed the 
    name to Danzig and were working with Rick and the rest is gonna be 
    history...

ALC: Are you happy with the way the album came out?
GD: Yeah. After an album you always say this could have been done and 
    this could have been done. This album I really like. I always like 
    the records we do whether people like it or not. It doesn't matter 
    to me, I do it because of what I like. If other people like it 
    that's cool.

ALC: Having always produced yourself, how did you like working with 
    Rick Rubin?
GD: The thing with Rick was that we needed to see if we could work 
    together before we decided if he was gonna produce us. We said this 
    needs this and he added stuff. When I was first approached by him I 
    didn't really know who he was. Then I heard of what he had done. I 
    knew the band he was working with at the time, The Beastie Boys. 
    They used to play shows with The Misfits. I went down and talked to 
    him. He played me some stuff. It was a street level operation then. 
    It was great. He likes bands for the reasons that I like bands. Music 
    that's aggresive and violent. Not that he looks for violence. It's 
    usually accompanied by aggresiveness.

ALC: How is it that you and Eerie have been able to work together for 
    so long?
GD: We've never really had a big blow up. He's easy to work with and 
    Eerie's a great personality onstage. When kids pay to get in they 
    wanna see a band that puts out and sweats. I think we do that.

ALC: What about Biscuits?
GD: When we decided to dump our other drummer, Rick asked me who were 
    my two favorite drummers. I said Philthy Phil and Chuck Biscuits. 
    Philthy we decided, might be kind of old and set in his ways. He 
    might not listen if you said play that this way. I'm real picky and 
    so is Rick. And Chuck Biscuits was available. We tried him out and he 
    worked out good. The chemistry was right.

ALC: Who are your favorite wrestlers?
GD: Freddie Blassie is my all time favorite.

ALC: Did you ever see him?
GD: When I was a little kid. He was Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champ. 
    Which was affiliated with the WWF. At the time Vince Mcmahon Jr. let 
    the NWA and AWA crossover into each other's leagues. Even up until 
    McMahon Sr. died, McMahon Jr. let George "The Animal" Steele wrestle 
    down south on WTBS's NWA show. I like Randy "Macho Man" Savage, also 
    Rick Flair.

ALC: Did you see wrestling when you were over in Japan?
GD: Yeah, I got to see Tiger Mask live. He's one of my all time favorites. 
    You can't get front row seats there because of Yakuza.

ALC: What about your toy collection?
GD: I don't get anything anymore because I've got everything I want. 
    Except I still look for Astro Boy and Batman stuff. They're hard 
    to find. I like Munsters and Addams Family stuff.

ALC: What's the coolest japanese thing you have?
GD: A Devilman soft doll. The soft doll is made out of soft vinyl. It's 
    a character figure. Devilman is cool. I'm a big Go Nagai fan.

ALC: What about porno actresses?
GD: I'm a big Seka fan. She was probably the first really nice looking 
    porno star. Her and Marilyn Chambers. Ginger Lynn and Amber Lynn. I 
    like Rachel Ryan a lot.

ALC: The new one's aren't as colorful as the older ones. There's no real 
    star material.
GD: Exactly. A lot of the new ones I don't like that much. I haven't seen 
    any star material.

ALC: What are some of the cool horror flicks?
GD: Brain Damage was great. Other than that nothing really. I didn't see 
    Monkey Shines. I used to be a Romero fan until Day Of The Dead.