CHILLER #3 THEATRE, P.64-75, October 1995
-----------------------------------------

I AM MISFIT
  by Al Ryan

  AN INTERVIEW WITH JERRY ONLY

Interview conducted with Jerry Only on 1/23/95 by Al (A.J.) Ryan

     Borrowing the title from Marilyn Monroe's last film, they named
themselves and set off to create their first record.  Armed with an early
Casio keyboard, a bass, drums, and a formidable voice, Glenn Danzig, Jerry
Only and Manny composed their first single.  At that time, neither one could
have guessed what legacy they would launch with that primitive record, and
were soon to slam an enormous dent into the world of music like no other
band in history ever had.  Yes, I ain't talking Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra, or
Da Boss, I'm talking about those coffin-hoppin' fiends, The Misfits-- a
baneful pack of rebels that put New Jersey on the map with a bloody smear,
and made us damn proud.
     I once wrote that The Misfits were The Ramones from green hell: having
the same poppish, but still raw and progressive rock sound, with catchy
lyrics, and rarely did they ever surpass the thunder of 3 or 4 chords.  But
The Misfits possessed an additional ingredient that was stirred into their
ominous brew: on the whole, they sang about horror and horror movies.  What
set them apart from others in the past who had tried anf failed, was that
they didnt' sound corny or stupid.  And not only were they more effective
than their predecessors, but song after song, they maintained a consistency
that never leuded them.  In general, they weren't considered "juvenile" with
their slick, dyed-black hair and deviocks, black greasepaint under the eyes,
and skull  motifed clothes and guitars.  Maybe it's because there was such an
abundance of demonstrative passion set behind what they were doing-- or maybe
it's simply because they were so damn serious about having fun, and singing
about the subject they enjoyed most.
     The difficulty with others who have written articles on The Misfits in
the past were that, for the most part, what they wrote was simply wrong, but
not at the fault of the writers: they had no better sources than the rumors
and lies to work with.  What has worsened this situation is the man who
created and fueled the genius behind The Misfits; Glenn Danzig.  With the
success of his third band, Danzig, for whatever the reason, he refuses to
speak about The Misfits-- the band that, whether he likes it or not, assisted
to get him where he is now.  One reason for his silence could have quite a
bit to do with, when together The Misfits, by and large, were ignored and/or
spat on by record companies and music publications.  For years now, it
appears that Glenn has been content to watch the disbanded Misfits grow
stronger from a distnace, leave them dead, but still, I believe, quietly
proud of what he accomplished way back when.  Well, that time has ended.
Don't turn around, Glenn or even you may feel a hint of dread.  The Misfits
have not only returned, but they've returned, and ... without you.
     For this article and interview I went to a different source, a man that
was there from the very beginning when The Misfits were named, and became an
established band.  What you'll be reading is the truth as told by the
friendly, intelligent, and most excited and energetic person that I could
ever recall meeting, Jerry Only.  He's sworn to tell us the way it was and
is, and clear up any untruths that have been floating around for a long time.
Also, Jerry allowed me to go through and pick what I wanted from his personal
scrap book.  What you'll see are some of the earliest and rarest photos of
The Misfits that were never published before.

Al: Let's start from the very beginning.  How did you and Glenn meet?
Jerry: Glenn and I met through a mutual friend who lived in Lodi, Manny.
Manny was the first Misfits drummer.  He told me that Glenn was looking to
put a band together.  Once I hooked up with Glenn, we decided we wanted to
work together.

Al: What year was that?  And who were the original members?
Jerry: It was March, 1977.  At the time, the only members in the band were
Glenn, Manny, and myself.

Al: How old were you and Glenn at the time?
Jerry: I was 17, and Glenn was 21, or 22.

Al: What kind of families did you both come from?  Is it true that you,
Doyle, and Glenn were demented children?
Jerry: (A hardly laugh) A lot of people think that, but no, no, not really.
There were never any real problems.  Glenn, Doyle and I came from your
average middle class, suburban New Jersey families.  My dad's a machinist,
and Glenn's Dad's a television repairman.  I did get locked up a few times
with The Misfits, but it was more like good clean fun.

Al: What was the first official Misfits release?
Jerry: The first Misfits single was Cough/Cool.  We released it in the late
spring, early summer of 1977.

Al: How many were pressed, and on what label?
Jerry: We put out only 500 copies, and it was on our record label called,
Blank Records.  The single had "Cough/Cool" on one side, and "She" on the
other.  That was a pre-guitar recording.  Both songs had Glenn playing
keyboard, and I, of course, played bass.  Looking back at it now, it was all
right for the time, but it was a rush job.  I suggested that we should wait,
and do something else, but Glenn felt that it was worth our time.  He wanted
to show the gigs that we were booking that we had something substantial to
offer to press that point that we weren't just another band from around town
trying to get a gig to pay our rent.  That we were a band that was taking
things very seriously, and wanted to move up the chain to bigger and better
things.

Al: Who came up with the art (The Crimson Ghost) as a symbole for the band?
Jerry: At the time, Glenn and I started a tee-shirt company.  It was called,
"Horror House."  What we wanted to do was go into Manhattan, and sell
different monster shirts that we thought were cool... just to make some extra
money.  One day, Glenn and I were thumbing through a bunch of monster
magazines looking for new tee-shirt ideas, and we stumbled across The Crimson
Ghost.  We placed the Misfits log over him, and it just worked.

Al: Do you have any original Misfits singles?  They're worth a fortune.
Jerry: Nah, all my stuff's gone.  I gave it all away.  Kids would hear the
band practicing, and they would bang on my front door, and say, 'Hey, we
heard your band!  You guys sounded great!'  So I"d pull out a "Horror
Business" sign it, and give it away.  Personally, we didn't get to keep much.
It wasn't like we got 100 copies apiece for each guy in the band... it was
more like three or four, and after a period of time, the stuff disappears.
But it all went into good hands.

Al: What was Glenn like offstage?  As a friend?
Jerry: I'll be totally honest with you, Glenn was like an older brother to
me.  I watched his back, and he'd watch mine.  If anybody fought with one of
us, they fought us both.  And many times, you know, it came down to that.

Al: How was he to work with as a performer?
Jerry: Glenn was very opinionated.  And he wasn't easily swayed.  If he felt
strong about something, it was hard to make him bend.  So, in some ways, he
was hard to work with.  But he wasn't lazy, and he was very progressive.  In
the band, he held up his corner, and sometimes even more than that.  And I
was the same way.

Al: Who came up with the Devilock which became one of the stand-out looks of
the band?
Jerry: I did.  At the time, as far as the look of the band, we looked like,
well, I wouldn't say British punk.  But we did have the standard leather
jackets... we all wore the pointed shoes or motorcycle boots that came from
England.  As far as the hair, Glenn wore his straight down over his face.  My
hair was dyed blue, I had it choppy, but standing up.  Now, as my hair
started to get longer, I began combing it into this tidal wave.  Back then,
we used to call it a tyra-(tyrannosaurus Rex) do.  What wound up happening
was, it kept growing and growing, and eventually, it got down to my nose.
And I thought, wow, this really looks great.  And after that, the rest of the
guys just followed.  So as far as the image or look of the band, Doyle and I
pretty much had that locked down.  The guitars, the devilocks, all that
stuff.

Al: More so than Glenn.
Jerry: Yes, but Glenn, being the superb vocalist and song writer that he is,
was able to hold his own with these two pillars of horror; Doyle and myself,
on each side of him.

Al: It was a totally different look.
Jerry: Exactly!  It's like a DA (duck's ass) with this huge wave that goes
down to a point.  It wound up being a cool look because it had the elements
of a slick 50's look that separated us from the whole British punk scene.  We
didn't want to be tied to them in any way.

Al: Why?
Jerry: The reason was because British Punk were kids with an attitude
problem.  American punk was, or is, kids without an attitude problem... it's
just kids that are really into great music.  It's kind of a different world
because in England, it was a social statement.  Over here, it had nothing to
do with society.

Al: In your opinion, what country had more of an impact on the music
industry?
Jerry: I think the American punk was more devastating to the music industry
than the English and it's still progressing.  The British punk just came and
went because, right from the very beginning, it was on a road to ruin.  And
the reason for that was simple--it was an unstable element.  And it was only
a matter of time before that unstable element self-destructed.  Billy Idol
fluffed out.  And Johnny Rotten, well, I said before and I'll say it again,
he was and still always be an asshole.

Al: What's the true story about Bobby Steele?  Why was he ejected from The
Misfits?  If you don't want to answer, that's...
Jerry: ... no, I do.  It's just that now, I've got nothing, bad to say about
Bobby.

Al: One rumor is that you wanted Doyle, your brother, up there on stage
instead of him?
Jerry: There's no truth to that at all.  I'll admit, I was grooming Doyle
from day one.  That's a fact.  He was always going to be my guitar player
somewhere down the line.  He used to come on road for me when he was only 13
years old.  He was with The Misfits, pretty much, from the day we started.
What happened with Bobby was, at that time, he was supposed to track The
Misfits Three Hits from Hell.  Back then, we liked to record our songs all in
one take.  We'd all stand in the same room, and do it live.  That's how we
were gauged to record.  The problem was, if one person didn't show up on
time, you're limited to what you could get done.  So we'd be there, doing
what we could, stuck without a guitar player, and Bobby would roll in hours
late saying that the trains were late, or that he had to wait for this guy
to show up, or he head to go do this, or had to do that.  Now because he was
late, we'd have to wait around for him to warm up, to loosen up and get his
amp sourding right.  The the time he got his amp sounding right, he just
wasn't loose playing at all.  He would stop halfway through a take because he
couldn't keep up witht he rest of us, and we would have to start all over
again.  So since he was falling behind the rest of us, I told Doyle that he
might as well start practicing.  And what would up happening was, Doyle's
tracks were coming through a lot cleaner and a lot better than Bobby's tracks
were.  So it finally came to the point where I had to say, "Hey, I'm paying
for the studio time, let's go with what sounds better, and that was Doyle.
It's true that I used the excuse that he couldn't jump out of a coffin to
throw him out of a band only becuase I didn't have the heart to tell him that
the real reason was because he was constantly screwing up.  Looking back now,
yeah, it was a lame excuse, but I was trying to spare his feelings.  But see,
Al, my poit is now, I don't want to argue with Bobby.  And I really hope that
he does well for himself.  Hey, Bobby can even open a show for us, I don't
care.  He thought that after he left the band, that we (The Misfits) were
telling club owners not to book him, not to deal with him, and to be 100%
honest with you, that's just... not... true.  People might have told him
that, for what reasons?  I don't know.  I have no idea.  But believe me, it's
just not true.

Al: What do you think of The Undead?
Jerry: I'll tell you what I think--he stole the name from me!  Check this
out.  One night, while he was still in the band, Bobby and I were hanging by
my house, and I told him that I was thinking about starting a side project
with Dave Vanian from, The Damned.  Not to leave The Misfits, but to do
something different.  You see, at the time, the guys in The Damned were
screwing Dave around big time, playing gigs behind his back and keeping the
money.  So I wanted to put out this album, or mabye a four song EP, release
it on Plan 9 Records and call it, The 1980 Undead.  Becuase it was 1980 then,
and when Bobby was asked to leave The Misfits, he used the name Undead.  I
can even show you on my leather jacket.  I have The Misfits on the top, and
I had The Undead on the bottom.  So after he did that to me I said I better
scrap this Undead s**ty off.  But if you look close, you can still see it.
But that's old now, and I truly hope Bobby does well for himself because I
know he enjoys his music.

Al: That Undead 1980 project.  Is that when, or the reason why, Glenn wrote
the song "Archangel?"  I read that he wrote it for Dave Vanian, but I wasn't
sure why.
Jerry: Yes, Glenn wrote the song for him, and we (The Misfits) did it great.
Dave came over my house, and Glenn sang it for him.  Then Dave sang it, and
its ounded great.  So I told him that when he gets back to The States, we'll
record it, but he never came back.

Al: Dave's a great performer.  What about the rumor that you want him as the
new lead singer of The Misfits?
Jerry: That's no rumor.  I'm trying to get him right now.  He was my first
choice.  Why?  Because I think he can get the job done.  Does he want to do
it?  Well, Dave wants to do more of that gothic stuff.  So I told him, Dave,
why don't you run with us, get The Misfits off the ground, and if you want to
do your own side projects, I don't care.  Do whatever you want.  Join The
Misfits... even if it's just for our come back tour.  So that's what we're
discussing right now.  We'll have to wait and see what happens with that.

Al: So until Dave or somebody joins the band, you're just really noisy
without a singer?

Jerry: You got it.
Al: People used to say you guys never practiced.  Is that true?
Jerry: Al, I've heard that so many f***ing times and I"ve got to say, that's
bulls**t!  The Misfits used to practice all the God damn time.  In the
Winter, in my cellar freezing with smoke coming out of our mouths--in the
summer baking in 90 degree heat until we almost died.  We were really taking
ourselves serious, but at the same time, we didn't take the business end of
it seriously at all.  The attitude of the music and the whole scene was--
who gives a s**t about the business.

Al: Where did you get your influences from?  Or what are some of your
favorite bands, and why?
Jerry: I liked The Sex Pistols and people like that, but my favorite band was
Generation X.  They had it all, and I'll tell you this, I'd like to punch
Billy Idol right in the face for breaking up that band.  Because without
them, he s**ks.  He's all leather and buls**t now.  His music is all this
slow, throbbing S&M theme--f**k that s**t.  Billy lost touch with what was
really going on.  He was too busy believing his own hype when he should have
been paying attention to what was really important, and that was the great
sound that they had.  I still love that band, "Ready Steady Go", "Kiss Me
Deadly," and all that great music.  Hey, I know you love them, too, so let's
not talk about this anymore.  Why break our hearts anymore than they've
already been broken.

Al: Let's talk about when The Misfits went to England and were supposed to
open for The Damned, but it didn't happen.  Why?
Jerry: Okay, this is when we ran into problems with Dave Vanian.  You're
right, we were supposed to open for The Damned.  It would have been one of
our biggest shows.  It would have put us in a class that would have helped
us headline other places because we were getting opening gigs with big acts.
One day, Dave and I got together, and he and I agree that since The Damned
were planning to tour England, it would be great if The Misfits opened for
them.  Later, I get a telegram about three weeks before they needed us over
there.  So we ran around like a bunch of jerks, got our passports done, and I
have to come up with the money for the plane tickets to get us there.  When
we got there, their manager, Doug Smith, screwed us, and he wouldn't give us
the money that we were promised.  What happened was, Rat Scabies was
producing a band from Ireland, and he put them in our spot.  And Dave or
nobody went to bat for us, so we wound up walking off the tour.

Al: How about the lock-up in England?  Did that come next?
Jerry: You got it.  What happened was, we set up with this guy Derek.  He saw
us walking down the street, and wanted to be our manager.  He was doing some
artsy, fartsy, color mag at the time, but he was real interested in us.
Since we had no money, and no place to stay, luckily, he owned a bed and
breakfast and put us up.  It was in the basement... they had three or four
bunk-beds in one big room... we had a kitchen, and a bathroom.

Al: The Misfits in bunk-beds?
Jerry: Scary, I'll tell you that.  Now when he put us up, things got kind of
boring.  We had no money, and nothing to do.  When Sid Vicious's mom was here
in the States, I had helped her our when she ran into a tragedy.  So I called
her, and I told her that I was in London, and there's nothing going on.  She
said she was going to visit a friend, and she's like to take me along, and
show mthe sights.  Now I told the guys, look, I'm going to Southern England
to look at a few things, and all you guys have to do is lay low.  I'll be
back in a few days and everything should be cool.  Now when I left, I didn't
think that I had to call and check up on them because they had no money, and
no place to go.  But what happened was, they got free tickets or something
and went to see The Jam over at the Rainbow Theater.  Glenn told me that him
and Bobby were walking down the street, and he turned around, and told Bobby,
he, there's a bunch of skinheads following us, and it looks like they want to
start something.  The guys came over, and they wanted to start some shit with
Glenn.  Glenn said he looked for Bobby, for some help, and he was gone.
Bobby was like walking the other way down the street.  So since there were
six or seven skinheads, Glenn grabbed a piece of broken glass from a broken
window and the Bobbies grabbed him.  Derek wound up getting Glenn out by the
time I got back, but he was in an uproar.  Glenn said all these British guys
in jail were busting on him... saying that they hated Yanks, and all that
kind of s**t.

Al: Let me guess.  That's when and where Glenn wrote "London Dungeon"?
Jerry: You got it, pal.  And to make it worse, Glenn said that in England,
they don't use bars in their cells.  They hav this gully, or a trench in the
land, and they let badgers and wolverines roam around free.  So if you tried
to escape, there was a very good chance you'd get eaten.  But I know that
Glenn and Bobby didn't go out looking for trouble, they just wanted to look
around, and see the Jam.  We, The Misfits, weren't like that.  It was just
something that happened.

Al: Let's talk about when the Misfits broke up.  Your last live show was
Halloween of 1983, and shortly thereafter, the band was history.  Why didn't
you just roll right over into Samhain?
Jerry: It kind of wound up the way it was meant to be.  When we broke up,
Glenn went ahead, and started his own band that he wanted to be the boss of,
Samhain.  See, The Misfits didn't have a boss... we worked like wild animals.
We could not have been governed... we had no sets of rules... we all worked
like a pack of wolves... that's how we operated.  Each guy was a part of the
pack, and each guy had a say.  Now with Glenn's newest band, Danzig, a lot of
that subsided because of the concept that he's trying to portray.  The
Misfits only tried to govern our image, where we were going, and we let the
music do what it did.  And what The Misfits were selling was pure honestly.
Now when Glenn and I split, I didn't take care of the business end of it all
like I should have which caused this great drought... not being able to go
out and perform as The Misfits.  So we kinda screwed ourselves instead of
saying, look, if Glen''s going out on his own, maybe we should line up the
name Misfits.  But we figured we'd just pick it up later.  And when we went
to do that, it was gone, Caroline Records had it.  Now, Glenn has cut us
loose--he let us have the name back, and we're moving forward.  But it took
us many years of wasted time to come to this conclusion.

Al: Is it true that you were erased off Legacy Of Brutality?  IF true, why
was this done?

To be continued....

In the second half of this interview, Jerry Only discusses the problems that
he's had over the years with Glenn Danzig, what the lawsuits were all about,
why the Misfits were never paid for their work, what he thinks about Glenn
Danzig, and Glenn's band, Ddanzig.  Also, he talks about the return of the
Misfits, all the new Misfits products, model kits, comic books, new but
previously unreleased original Misfits CDs, and much more.

( All photos courtesy of Jerry Only, Doyle, & Al Ryan)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MISFIT MODELS
  by Al Ryan

The Jerry Only Model kit, Earth A.D. and Pushead Wall Plaques.

From tee-shirts to singles to stickers to albums and posters, there has
always been a fine line as to what Misfits merchandise is authentic or
bootlegged.  Now with the recent re-establishment of the band, that problem
has been solved.
     From the early designs, sculpting, packaging, and final creation, The
Misfits are possibly the only band who have their hands directly into the
production of their many new projects.  When discussing them with Jerry Only,
he said that The Misfits are completely committed to marketing nothing but
the very best for their fiends, and believe me, he means it.
     The Jerry Only model kis is their first release and it's incredible.
Slightly larger than 1/5-scale, this beast of a model is composed of solid,
cold cast porcelain and white epoxy resin.  Teh body stands 14 inches tall
and is 5 pieces, including the devilock and the skull for his back collar.
They also provide you with the most famous ghost of them all, the Crimson
Ghost's face, as teh flat base.  The bass guitar is 14 inches in length, and
is an exact replica of the monster Jerry's been banging at for years, right
up to the famous skull found at the head stock.  If that wasn't enough, you
get three sizes of real metal spikes (99 small, 18 large, 44 medium, with
plenty of extras), a real leather guitar strap, real guitar strings, and
krimp beads to hold the strings in place.  For those sticklers for detail to
the original crature (Jerry), it's 100% from the boots, to the leather jacket
painting (scribed on the back), and I can't help but say this, don't fret,
the bats and skulls are carved in there, too.  The instructions are easy to
follow, with clear and informative photographs that take  you from the
beginning to the final placement of the figure.  Painting suggestions and an
easy-to-cut guitar strap are also included.  The steel studs are easy to glue
in place since the holes have been perfectly drilled and/or sculpted to each
size.  My only suggestion is that since this kis is large and relatively
heavy, you might want to drill holes in the feet and into the base, and
attach the body with dowels, or use clearn A & B epoxy putty.  The kit calls
for 1/16 of an inch pin striping tape (not included) for the horn of the
guitar, and where it attaches to the guitar strap.  This tape can be found
at car supply stores like R&S.  Get 3M's Scotchcal 1/16IN X 40 FT black.
It'll cost you less than three bucks a roll and one roll should do it.  If
you have to order, it's # 70102 CPII NSA 4/black.  Even though the tape
details has been sculpted into the horn, and you could easily affix the
strap without it, I'd still go out and get the tape, it's inexpensive and
adds an overall nice touch of realism.
     Depending on your model building skills, I would rate this model easy to
moderate.  The only problem that I came across was the placement of the
guitar in conjunction with the arms if you epoxy the arms the way they should
go.  The left amr needs to be moved up, so play around with the placement
like I should have, and you won't have to pull the arms off.
     The body was sculpted by the skullful hands of Bill Paquet who did the
sensational "Scanners" kit, and the Crimson Ghost by Jerry and Doyle's older
brother and manager, Rock.  The bass guitar was crafted by Jerry Only
himself.  Each kit comes with a certificate of authenticity, signed,
numbered, and officially stamped.
     I tried every possible reason to cut a skull or at least half a skull
off of the rating (one out of four) but I have to give this kit four
screaming skulls.  The kit doesn't really have any down sides, and they went
to too much trouble to satisfy model builders and Misfits fans, which is
something that some (really most) companies don't bother with these days.  I
recently found out that, for future kits that will probably be rady to ship
by the time this article finds print, they've already fixed the problems with
the arms that I mentioned above.  What more could you ask for?  Shawn
McLaughlin of Death, Inc., shoul dbe commended for a fine job on the casting-
not much flash, and the seams are almost nonexistent.  The major down side to
the kit is only 200 are being produced.  That's just not enough to go around.
So if you'r ejust a model collector, or a true, fiend, you better act fast.
The kit retails for $150.00 and it's worth it.  Order now, because this
kit will cost you a fortune down the line.  One last minute 'safety tip.'
The spikes that come with the Jerry kit are as sharp as needles.  So take
care.  If my fingers could talk they'd be cursing!  When you have all the
spikes on the model, it's like handling a porcupine.
     The art the Misfits chose in the past was always B movie-ish, and quite
non-offensive, but the same can't be said for the infamous Earth A.D.
painting by the not-as-famous-as-he-should-be, Mad Marc Rude.  With that,
older brother Rock returns, but this time instead of a simple flat base,
he's sckupted the ultra detailed Earth A.D. wall plaque.  This 18"x18" three
dimensional resin piece is about as 100% faithful replica of the Misfits last
album as you can get.  And for you demented types, all guts, kulls, Misfits,
headless angels, as well as our friend the Crimson Ghost, are there.
     The Earth A.D. plaque is indeed magnificent.  If any of you have seen
the art, you know how much time and work went into this sculpture.  Again,
four screaming skulls.  It's priced at a very low $50.00.  If you can't
paint, I'd suggest you have them (The Misfits) '60 year old brass or copper'
it for an extra $15.00.  I've seen the brass version at the last Chiller
Theatre Expo, and that would be my pick.
     Yet again older brother Rock returns, but this time instead of the ultra
detailed Earth A.D. wall plaques he's sculpted The Misfits Pushead wall
plaque, which will be available as soon as this cult-hero artist okay's its
production.  You've probably seen this one on the back cover of the infamous
Die, Die My Darling EP: it's the skull guy who has popped out his eye, and
would like you to see it.  Scheduled to retail at 75 bucks, it measures at
14"x17" and is one inch thick.  This plaque is a more in-your-face shock-
style sculpture.  Though it isn't as detailed as Earth A.D., it's an
important relic of Misfits history, and is worth picking up.  Rock did a
great job, three and a half skulls.
     The new kits coming soon are Doyle (that should be frightening) and
'Misfits Skeleton in Robe' (aka The Crimson Ghost).  It's about time this
guy is finally being created, and the fnial touches are being sculpted as I
write by the gifted Phil Bracco, whose other work includes Boris Karloff from
"The Raven," and the monsters "It Came From Beneath The Sea."  I got a chance
to see the clay version and it is stunning.

Call or write to:
Saber Models, P.O. Box 310, Vernon, NJ 07462
201-764-3700 or fax your order to 201-764-6718.