TERRORIZER, 2/96
----------------

THE MISFITS LOOK BACK IN ANGER?

The Misfits, that classic American band, are back with a brand new 
compilation album and plenty of plans for the future. An awe-struck 
Ian Galsper seizes this rare opportunity to get in touch with the 
outfit and talks here to guitarist Jerry Only.

Well, if you've not heard of these guys by now, what the f**k are you 
doing reading this magazine?! (To paraphrase the title of one of 
their live albums!) What with Caroline having released a new compilation 
chocka with such classics as 'Attitude' and 'We Are 138', and a 
coffin shaped 4CD box set due soon, and virtually everyone citing 
'em as a major influence, I thought an appearance in these hallowed 
pages was long overdue! I linked up with chatty guitarist Jerry Only 
to find out what was happening...

"We were in litigation for many years, and we weren't able to use our 
name, but now we have our name back, and we've come up with a new 
lineup. It's me and Doyle (bass) as always, and we have a new 
drummer, name of Dr. Chud, and a new singer, Michael Graves. He's a 
young guy, only 20 years old, but we really think he'll grow into the 
job. He's got the tools, and he works hard, so we're excited about 
it!!"

What were the legal problems you were having? "The situation was 
that things were being used that shouldn't have, and we had to come 
in and put a stop to it. We wanted to continue the band, and it 
wasn't something that should just be left undone. We really missed 
playing and we're happy to be back!"

Why is the time right now for a MISFITS comeback? "Well, the thing 
is," reckons the enthusiastic guitarist. "We're not looking to hop on 
this 'second wave', or whateveer you want to call it, that's coming 
into shore...the whole reason we weren't able to play was because we 
were being kept from it and we're  happy we've been able to come back 
and do it. It's just taken a real long time, a lot of red tape, but 
we overcame it, and we're back. We're gonna use the same energy 
levels we had before, and hopefully write a liitle more technical 
stuff besides the simplistic '50's type material. We're gonna grow 
with the band. We're really not looking to jump into the punk 
revival...it's just a twist of fate that the market is right for punk 
again...we'd actually prefer to avoid being tagged with that, if you 
know what I mean? We've waited too long to play again to be swept 
out when punk goes back out of fashion, y'know?"

So, what've you been doing in the meantime? "Well, we've developed 
some resin model kits that we're selling, and a new T-shirt line that 
we've developed. And we shot a couple of movie pilots...we're trying 
to bring back 'Chiller Theatre', which was a Saturday night horror 
show that was aired here once a week. It's more or less a midnight 
witching hour on TV, where we'd show old horror films, and we just 
got done shooting the first of the pilots of it this last weekend. 
So, we're working on out own TV show, which we're trying to sell to 
one of the networks."

Bassist Doyle takes the phone when I ask, have they had any contact 
with Glenn Danzig recently? "He won't get on the phone with us, he 
won't let us in his hotel rooms!  We asked him to sing, y'know...But 
getting in touch with him is like pulling teeth from a Rhinocerus!! 
He's too big to talk to us, or something! I dunno...we've got no beef 
with him, but he seems to have a problem with us...But we like him, 
y'know?"

Did he ever want to hold the reins on everything in the MISFITS like 
he does in DANZIG? "Well, when he got like that, that was when we 
broke up. He was never like that to start with but he got a little 
crazy and it wasn't fun anymore!"

Jerry take over again when I ask them are they ever uncomfortable 
with how collectable their material is? "Nah, I just feel sorry for 
our loyal fans, because there have been a lot of people who've pumped 
out a lot of garbage just to make money off the loyalty of our 
people. One of the good things about our band is how collectable we 
are, which is why all those different versions of our stuff winds up 
being so appealling to people, but at the same time, I try to tell 
them not to spend more money than they think is fair for a particular 
bootleg...I don't like bootlegging, 'cos it's pirating, and you have 
no artistic control, and a lot of these pirates are just taking 
advantage of our fans, and I find that very sad!!"

I bought the 'Beware' 12" over ten years ago for 50p, and I've since 
been offered 3100 pounds for it! "I've heard of them going for one thousand 
dollars in mint condition," replies Jerry incredulously. "And that's 
definitely going overboard!! The best way to beat the bootleggers is 
to put out the same product, only better quality, for less money, and 
that's we're doing with this boxed set, and these releases by 
Caroline."

Why do you think the MISFITS music is so timeless? "Because it was 
honest," he says, without hesitation. "And that honesty shows through 
in the music! I think the music is memorable because it's simplistic, 
with good melodies and hooks, and the band puts out a lot of energy. 
We're not trying to be trendy...we don't cater to anyone's whims. 
We're just gonna do what comes natural, and hopefully that'll work 
for us. Our loyalty is to our people and to our music!!"

____________________________________________________________

Also included were 2 large color photos of the new lineup 
beside an electric chair, taken at the Chiller Theatre
Horror Convention in October of 1995.