Misfits Interview from 1983
Tour Dates Live Recordings Media Appearances Recording Sessions Time Line Song and Name Information Merchandise Fan Club Sources
CRETIN BULL, 2/83
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[This interview took place on 1/29/83 and features several photos
by Bill Daniels.]
MISFITS AT THE RITZ!
Like a tidal wave of white noise, the Misfits overwhelmed the throngs
of anti-punk humanity Saturday night (January 29th) at the Ritz.
The evening started out with the Droogs doing an unusually hot set.
They left the stage, however, on a seemingly angry note. The
Offenders took over next with JJ in prime form. His uncontrollable
animalism and maniacal mongoose energy reminded me of Henry Rollins.
Les Big Boys did their Big Boy stuff next. By this time the hall was
packed literally to the rafters, so the crowd got really jumpy when
the brass section made their first appearance in months.
And then, after all that, the aforementioned Misfits came on and took
over. Robo, ex-Black Flagger, pounded away with Roman Centurion
peacock pride. The Only brothers (Doyle and Jerry) thundered away at
their guitars, churning out the horror rock stuff that they're so
proud of.
At first, the terrible rhythms and anti-melodies were totally
indiscernable from one perpetual blast of droning thunder. But later,
as the ear became used to the onslaught of musical TNT, everything
fell into place, making for an excellent show.
The Misfits performed an extra long set with enough energy for seven
bands. It was the first time we've seen the Ritz in operation for a
while; I hope we get to see more of it soon. I hope we again see the
Misfits soon too.
Talked to the bassist Doyle Only after the show. Check it out:
Bull: How do you like playing in places like Texas?
Doyle: Tonight was great.
Bull: I heard that ya'll met in a gymnasium: is that true?
Doyle: Well, uh...
Bull: We want to know how much you can bench press. Do you bench?
Doyle: No.
Bull: I thought for sure...
Doyle: No. The last time we went on tour, the police down in New
Orleans stole all our weights. We had weights in our truck. They
stole that and our cameras.
Bull: Tell us what happened in the cemetary in New Orleans. Are you
planning to go to the graveyard here?
Doyle: No, we're not doing that anymore. (general laughter) It cost
us 300 bucks. We made 300 bucks playing in New Orleans and we had to
give it to the cops. We got good publicity out of it, but fuck that,
you know...
Bull: How did ya'll run in with Robo?
Doyle: Well, we were just in the market for a drummer. We were on
tour two years ago and our other drummer, Googy, he said that we was
going to split the band. He didn't get along with Glenn so well. They
didn't hit it off, so he said that after this tour he was gonna
leave. We just put out an APB for somebody and Robo called and said
"hey, it's Robo..."
Bull: When did ya'll meet the Big Boys?
Doyle: The first time I met them was when we played the Island last
time in Houston...
Bull: Ya'll seem to hit it off pretty well...
Doyle: Oh yeah, they're all great. Pretty much everybody that, you
know, is in the scene...uh, Black Flag, everybody...we're friends
with everybody. Except the Dead Kennedys; we hate them.
Bull: Why?
Doyle: They're a bunch of assholes; Jello's a jerk.
Bull: What do you say to people who say you're imitating Kiss and
stuff like that?
Doyle: Well, that just show the state of their knowledge of music.
Bull: How do you find Slash?
Doyle: Slash does nothing; they're a useless record company. Anybody
who deals with Slash is out of their fucking mind. We came to them
with a tape, the album cover; we gave them the whole thing in a
package deal. We just brought it right down, put it on their desk;
and all they had to do was have it made. They didn't kave to do
fucking nothing. And, you know, how they come up and tell us "hey,
you guys owe us money..." We owe you money? What the fuck are you
talking about? We almost tore up their office on them and stuff...
Bull: I noticed you got some bad press in California for a little
mishap or something; care to comment? (Notice the skillfull manner in
which Jake 2000 avoided actually naming any of the unpleasant
details...)
Doyle: Well, we don;t take shit like a lot of people take shit...
Bull: What happened?
Doyle: We were up there, busting our butts for the crowd, you know;
and then they start target practice with beer cans...People throwing
full cans of beer at you; eventually it came to the point where we
said "yeah, fuck you..." And...we handled it.
(Bull note: The tape ran out strategicall, but Doyle apologised for
what happened.)
by Jake 2000.
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The Misfits have managed to assemble almost everything I dislike or
avoid -- their shells are huge and muscular, the result of much
he-man efforts, their rude leather and spikes lavishly expensive,
their live shows deafen the ears for about 30 hours, their daddy
flies them home after every weekend, they even beat up a kid in his
feable attempt to empathize with the band.
However, despite all these bad points against bad eggs, the Misfits
are still fun to watch; they transmit so much energy that you can't
help but enjoy their shows, (assuming you weren't part of the mass
exodus who fled with pained ear drums).
This is no horror rock as everyone claims it to be. This is just
loud, fast metal played with subtle danceable rhythms. Their music is
barely even disguised to conceal it's true nature -- heavy metal in
used leather drag. But it's good metal nonetheless.
But what they do conceal beneath their devilish appearance is the
fact that they're really nice guys with regular jobs during the week
who probably wouldn't ghoulishly rape you on the first date,
(assuming you would ever date a Misfit). This image I am
extrapolating from Doyle, the bass player, who was eager to talk,
friendly, articulate, a good egg.
We bombarded him after the show with questions, all asked at random,
hardly allowing him to answer. So it's a little jumbled and not much
is elaborated upon. Cretin Bull again exceeds the limits of
journalism.
by the Sister.
