 |
| The Misfits is one of my favorite bands, with danzig that is. with graves they are alright, but not close. the misfits was a punk band from lodi, new jersey. they were formed in 1977, they took that band name from marilyn monroe's last movie. The founding member were: glenn danzig on vocals and electric piano, jerry caiafa on bass, and manny on drums. The 1st album they made didnt have the guitar, but gleen on the electic piano through a fuzz box. In 1978, the "punk rock" influence reared its head with the addition of Frank Licata (a.k.a. Franche Coma) on guitar and Jim Catania (a.k.a. Mr. Jim) on drums. At this time is was fairly common to see Jerry (now calling himself Jerry Only) around town with his electirc blue hair and leather jacket that proudly proclaimed "The Misfts" on the back. Everyone in Lodi had heard of the Misfits (if they cared to lesten) and how they wrote their own songs, put out their own records and booked their own gigs. Why let some big record company tell you how to look, how to sounds, or what to do for that matter? They would make it happen on their own terms, all the way down to cutting and gluing the seven inch sleeves together themselves. Im the summer of '79 some major changes had happened: enter Bobby Steele on guitar and Joey Image on the drums. Another addition, although not to the actual line-up itself, a logo apeared, the Crimson Ghost was adopted as the symbol of ht eband in the spring of that year on the poster for the bands show at Max's Kansas City. This would be the image that would forever be linked to the band. When you bought one of their albums back then, you would find an application for the "Fiend Club". If you filled it out and sent it in they would send ou whtever they had (buttons, stickers, or photos) for free. This would continue throughout the band's career. A different look was going on with the ever-evolving sound. All that horror business was starting to branch out. The trade mark "devilock" hair style was becoming more promisnent. Jerry's eye makeup, Glenn's bone shirt and gloves, and of course the black clothers. They were turning into what people used to call a "ghoul rock" band. Some said "monster rock", "horror rock", and others even said "death rock". It was their own niche, one that would last, one that would always separate the Misfits from all the others. In Novermber of 1979, the band went to England to support the Damned with a psossible opening tour with the Clash being talked about, with the releavse of the record "Night of the Living Dead." But Glenn got into a bar fight and was thrown into jail and upon leaving the Damned tour, Joey Image quit the band and flew home and there would be no Clash tour. The "Night of the Living Dead" record was sort of a dissappointment in that something went wrong druing the mastering and all of the leverls were way too low. Only 200 copies were pressed and the plaste were destroyed. Despite the bad mastering, Glenn had told people a few times that this was his favorite time in he Misfits. Fortunately now you can hear this album, the way it was suposed to be heard back in 79. All along, Jerry's smaller brother, P.C. Doyle had been hanging around rehearsals, going to concerts, learning how to play the guitar, and being made to look like a Misfit by Jerry. Practice was always held at their parents' hoouses on Grove Street in Lodi where P.C. Doyle would be waiting in the wings. Halloween was coming up and the time was right. Jerry decided that Doyle was in and Bobby was gone. It was an obvious choice to have Doyle take Bobby's place. Doyle was 15 when he did his 1st show. It was at Irving Plaze, sometimes called Club 57 or the Moster Movie Club. It was Halloween. It had become a tradition for them to play here in New York City. They shoued horror movies trailers before and in-between bands. There were lamb's heads hanging for the chandeliers and cobwebs all over the place. man i dont want to type out all of the history of the misfits so i will just say find somewhere else to get the info. |
| Updated Last: June 17th, 2002 |
 |
 |
 |
| E-mail Me |
 |
 |
|