Interview: Glenn Danzig talks ‘Skeletons,’ Vinyl Re-Issues, Twitter and Portlandia

As his career enters its fourth decade, no one would fault Glenn Danzig for slowing down the pace, secure with his well-earned legacy as frontman for the legendary Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. Instead, he is currently prepping the release of three separate records, while out headlining his curated Blackest of the Black tour, which also includes Superjoint Ritual, Prong, Veil of Maya and Witch Mountain.

First up on the release docket is Danzig’s upcoming Skeletons LP, a covers compilation whose origin dates back to 1979. Featuring Danzig’s take on an eclectic mix of tracks including Black Sabbath, ZZ Top and the Everly Brothers, the album will be released on November 27 via Evilive / Nuclear Blast, and will be followed by an Elvis covers record, and Danzig’s tenth solo LP.

We caught up with Danzig by phone just ahead of the Montreal stop of the Blackest of the Black tour, which rolls into Metropolis on October 18. Tickets are available here. Read on for the scoop on his upcoming releases, the inspiration behind the Blackest of the Black tour, his thoughts on Twitter and Facebook (spoiler: he hates them), and his much buzzed-about Portlandia appearance.

Bad Feeling: What do you look for when you’re picking bands for the Blackest of the Black tour?

Glenn Danzig: I try to pick bands that people want to see, but maybe don’t get a chance to see. And maybe, you know, that are heavy – especially for Blackest of the Black, they should be heavy and extreme in some way or another, you know what I mean? Not your typical pop radio crap, you’re not gonna get any of that.

BF: This is probably the best lineup you’ve had for this tour yet; were you happy when everything fell into place?

Danzig: Yeah, it’s great that I was able to do it with Phil from Superjoint because they were on the very first Blackest of the Black; we did two markets, L.A. and Phoneix, so it was great.

BF: What inspired the tour initially? Was it a reaction to what was going on in popular music at the time?

Danzig: Yeah, because we’d always go over to Europe and they have such great festivals over there with tons of bands, especially heavier bands that you don’t get to see in the States. And at the time nu-metal was just everywhere, and I hate nu-metal. And so on the first poster it said, “No rap-metal, no nu-metal,” [laughs]. It was our thing, and we’ve stuck to that.

BF: What inspired you to put out this Skeletons covers record? This is something you’ve been planning for a very long time.

Danzig: Yeah, I’ve wanted to do it for a really, really long time and I just finally made time to do it. And so that’s what you have here.

BF: What links these songs together? Is it songs that hit you at an early age, is it songs that inspired you?

Danzig: It’s songs I like, songs that I also thought I could do something really cool with—not just that I liked, but songs I could give a new life and new dimension to. And ultimately, maybe I could expose people to some stuff that they might not have heard of, or maybe discounted. You know, lots of different reasons.

BF: You’ve also been working on an Elvis covers EP, what’s the status of that record?

Danzig: Actually, it turned into a full album. I was also working on the new Danzig record, so every time I had downtime, I would just go, “Let’s do another Elvis track.” It’s done. The new Danzig proper record of all-original stuff is 80% done.

BF: What’s the new record sounding like? How would you place it in the Danzig discography?

Danzig: Hmm, gee, that’s a good question, but I think Danzig fans will dig it a lot. It’s heavy, sometimes it’s bluesy and swampy, dark. And then other times I’m doing a couple of different things here and there that they might not have heard me do before, all within the whole Danzig context. So, I think they’ll like it.

BF: You’re also preparing some Danzig vinyl re-issues, what are your plans for that?

Danzig: Yeah, they’re at the pressing plant, it’s just that vinyl is backed up because it’s popular nowadays and there are not that many pressing plants in the United States anymore. And so it is backed up beyond belief. But we have the Devil’s Angel’s 45 in Europe, and it sold out in like 7 days. So we’re doing another press for everybody, I don’t even have a copy of it.

BF: I’m sure you can get one!

Danzig: No, I tried! My label is sold out. I’ve seen a couple of them on the road, I’ve signed a few for fans, but I don’t personally have one yet.

BF: For these re-issues, are you putting out the first four Danzig albums?

Danzig: No, no, it’s the old Who Killed Marilyn? 45, Blackaciddevil, Circle of Snakes, which has never been released on vinyl in the States, Satan’s Child, which was never on vinyl in the United States, and I think it was only a picture-disc in Europe, so a lot of stuff like that.

BF: I read that you were trying to get Rick Rubin’s label to work on the first few records, is that something you think will happen as well?

Danzig: I don’t know, it would be great if we could do that, but I think Rick doesn’t really care so much about his label anymore. You know, he’s a nice guy, but I think he’s more into producing these days. It’s his life, he can do what he wants, but unfortunately, our stuff is just sitting there.

BF: I saw you tweeting some photos from your Portlandia appearance, is there anything you can let people know about that?

Danzig: Yeah, I don’t know, I think Fred [Armisen, Portlandia co-creator] tweeted them, I don’t do Twitter. I put them on the Danzig website and on the official Danzig Facebook. Any tweeting is not done by me, I hate that crap.

BF: Are there people who try to get you to use it?

Danzig: Um yeah, but I just tell them to go fuck themselves. I’m not on Twitter and I’m not on Facebook, so if you think that you’re talking to me on Twitter or Facebook you’re sadly mistaken.

BF: What was it like working on that show?

Danzig: I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag because it was a lot of fun. It was a really cool experience and Fred and Carrie [Brownstein, Portlandia co-creator] and the whole crew were just really cool.

BF: What’s coming up next for you?

Danzig: Hopefully I’m going to get to direct my first film. I might do a little more acting, and Verotik will be publishing a lot more stuff, and my next couple of Danzig releases I guess.

Danzig headlines the Blackest of the Black tour at Metropolis this Sunday, October 18, alongside Superjoint Ritual, Prong, Veil of Maya and Witch Mountain. Tickets are $40/$45, available here.