It's a parody, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma

It's possible some of you saw the "TapedLive" image and didn't get the reference. (I got into one argument with a reader on Facebook about whether or not "TapedLive" was spelled correctly.) It's also likely some of you got the reference, but didn't know there was more to it than a parody of a 1987 punk album. So here's a primer: Evilive was an impossibly short (13 minutes!) live album released by the Misfits in 1987.  (The album was actually an expanded version of an EP released by the band five years earlier.) The second release featured cover art, most likely created by the band's frontman Glenn Danzig, that was a riff on the 1957 Roger Corman movie The Undead.

I love the Misfits. I love Dark Shadows. I ... um, respect Roger Corman. So this felt like a natural fit. You can see a reverse evolution of the concept below. If you like it, head on over to my Redbubble store and browse my other works. Warning: There be monsters on the other side! LINK.

Dark Shadows is metal as f*k

If you follow the social media accounts of the CHS, you'll be subjected to some occasional weirdness. This website is, more or less, the official "face" of the CHS, but our Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram accounts have taken on lives of their own. Some of this is out of desire to make these accounts uniquely interesting. Instagram gets a lot of weird images, for example, while Twitter is where I come out of my spider hole to occasionally interact with the outside world. Meanwhile, the more detailed commentary appears here, where we can explore things in more than 128 characters.

If you're not following those other accounts, you're missing out. Maybe. It depends on your tolerance for the kind of stuff I find amusing ... such as these DARK SHADOWS/heavy metal mashups that appeared on Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr back in March.

The whole thing started on a whim. A few years ago I noted a similarity between the Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell" cover and the composition of a promotional image of DARK SHADOWS the cast. It wasn't until March of this year that it occurred to me to merge the two, creating a faux CD of mashup. I chased this rabbit down the hole for about a week or so, adding Humbert Allen Astredo/Nicholas Blair to the cover for Blue Oyster Cult's "Agents of Fortune," Jonathan Frid/Barnabas Collins to the first, self-titled Sabbath album, and Frid again (this time from HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS) to Sabbath's "Vol. 4." After that, it was time to go all INCEPTION and dunk these images into secondary environments because I don't know when to quit.

Here's the weird thing: While doing this, I learned that the cover art for both "Agents of Fortune" and "Heaven and Hell" were created by artist Lynn Curlee. And his art was, in a sense, already a kind of mashup using vintage photos. Curlee's art for "Heaven and Hell" was inspired by a photo from the 1920s of women dressed as angels, taking a smoke break backstage during a college pageant. The cover of "Agents" was a riff on a vintage promotional image of Boston illusionist W. D. Leroy. At the time, I didn't know any of this. (The connection was probably Sandy Pearlman, who was managing BOC and Sabbath by 1980.)

These were fun to build, but probably had limited appeal to DARK SHADOWS fans beyond their short lifespans on social media. Sure, Blue Oyster Cult has a lot of weird connections to DARK SHADOWS (actor Chris Pennock and the band's vocalist, Eric Bloom, went to college together, for example) but the Collinsport crew never struck me as especially receptive to classic metal. And then I realized this is my website and I can do what I want.

So, for archival purposes, here's the full collection of "Metal Shadows" album covers. There's also a bonus punk visual, which I only mention so that nobody sends me an e-mail informing me the Misfits weren't/aren't metal.

- Wallace

Son of Sam's INTO THE NIGHT is a bloody huge success

By REID BRITT

Hot on the heels of 1999 reunion tour of Glenn Danzig’s first post-Misfits band from the ‘80s, then-Danzig/Samhain guitarist Todd Youth was so bloody inspired by the NOVEMBER COMING FIRE-ness of tour that he cobbled together an album’s worth of songs inspired the band’s sinister sounds. He then enlisted former Samhain members London May (drums) and Steve Zing (bass).  AFI’s Davey Havok contributed lyrics and vocals. Thus, Son of Sam (see what they did there?) was born. In 2001, SONGS FROM THE EARTH (on AFI’s label Nitro Records) was unleashed, complete with the blessing and a guest appearance from Danzig his-damn-self.

But that’s another album for another column.

By 2008, Youth was out of Danzig. Davey Havok and AFI had moved on to major label/Hot Topic success.

And Son of Sam was back.

Joining Youth and the returning Steve Zing was then-current Danzig drummer Karl Rosqvist. Havok was too busy with alt stardom, so Youth brought in Chelsea Smiles bandmate Skye Vaughan-Jayne (billed on the disc as the more ominous “Ian Thorne”) on vocals.

Released on horror rock indie Horror High Records, INTO THE NIGHT is a dark gem of an album.

What’s surprising about INTO THE NIGHT is just how un-Samhain-y it is at times.  Oh sure, “Suffer” and “Death Baby” could sit comfortably on a Danzig album.  But the lead track, “The Bleeding”?  If you want precedent for that sound, that vibe, that churn, you have to look to a different source...

The Damned. The Damned were one of the UK’s original punk bands. In their nearly four decades, they’ve dabbled in three-chord punk, psychedelia, metal, goth and dreamy pop.  What they’ve never really been — in spite of the name and singer David Vanian’s vampiric stage persona — are a horror band. (There is a “however” here, but I’ll address it in another column.)

“The Bleeding” and the titular “Into the Night” both take pages from the Damned songbook, circa MACHINE GUN ETIQUETTE (see “Love Song”) and the “Nasty” single.  “Twisted Soul” could have oozed very comfortably onto any number of Damned ‘80s albums (THE BLACK ALBUM might’ve been the best fit, but I could hear it on PHANTASMAGORIA, as well).

The Damned, however, aren’t the only non-Danziggy influence to be found on the album.  Witness “Dark Life”, which channels the diabolical stylings of...

The Cult?

More specifically, Death Cult, the band that served as the immediate precursor to the “She Sells Sanctuary”/”Love Removal Machine” Cult as we know them.  In spite of the same, Death Cult weren’t horror in the least; they were “positive punk”, more spiritual in nature, and sorta goth without the trappings. “Dark Life” mixes Ian Astbury’s vocal stylings, Billy Duffy’s guitar style, and the “tribal” percussive patterns of Death Cult’s “Horse Nation” with a peppering of the ol’ darkity dark dark and cooks up a true death rock anthem.

Son of Sam.

But lest we get too far off course, “Sons of New” and “Darkness Calls” bring the album back to the source with slices of Samhain-soaked sounds reminiscent of SONGS FROM THE EARTH.

So what to make of INTO THE NIGHT?  As a strict Samhain tribute, it fails from being overly ambitious and not sticking to script.  However, as a sophomore album from a project band that probably didn’t even NEED a second album, it’s a bloody huge success.  By bringing in influences from less obvious sources, INTO THE NIGHT succeeds.  By recruiting a singer that plays the Vocal Chameleon role enough to honor the influences while still pulling the songs together as the work of one band, Son of Sam succeeds.

INTO THE NIGHT has been the “road trip” soundtrack to many nocturnal journeys. Through the sheer force of being “dark” and accessible, INTO THE NIGHT compels repeated listens. Son of Sam has never released a follow-up — doubtless never shall — leaving INTO THE NIGHT as an unheralded epitaph to a legendary band’s unholy offspring.

The album is still available for download from Amazon, and presumably iTunes. Horror High still maintains a Facebook page, but the website link leads back to the FB page, so I’m not sure if physical CDs are still around. I encourage my horror rock loving readers to seek it out, enjoy, embrace the Dark Life.

REID BRITT lives in Scenic Western North Carolina with his wife Alison and his daughter Lily.  He has been a Monster Kid from a young age ("There ARE Sasquatches down in the woods, Mom!") and still believes in the Power of Rock n' Roll.  When he's not watching horror movies, he likes to paint, and you can check out his paint slinging at spookywolffe.tumblr.com, Instagram as Reiddrorings,  Facebook as Spookywolffe. and Twitter as @spookywolffe.

I come not to bury Jerry Only, but to praise FAMOUS MONSTERS

By REID BRITT 

There are several schools of thought when it comes to the Misfits:

1. Everything post-Danzig is complete shite.

2. The Danzig era is classic, but hey, this ‘90s stuff is pretty cool.

3. Wait, WHO’S singing now? 

I’m actually in the 4th category: I like it all. Yes, even DEVIL’S RAIN.

Don’t judge me.

But today, we have not come to bury Jerry Only, but to praise the ‘90s Misfits. In this particular case, the second of the “New ‘Fits” albums, 1999’s FAMOUS MONSTERS.

Of course, Jerry’s pre-millennial kids (also including his brother Doyle on pummeling guitar, drummer Dr. Chud, and Michale Graves on vocals) were Misfits in the “band influenced by the Misfits” sense, as the songs were clearly far-removed and more metal than the earlier incarnation of the band. Graves certainly channels the stylings of Glenn Danzig at times, but he’s very much his own vocalist. Graves is the main reason this whole reunion worked, in my opinion. The Misfits aura lives and dies on the charisma of the vocalist, and Graves was definitely the fiend for the job.

The involvement of Daniel Rey, whose production similarly de-punked the Ramones (on HALFWAY TO SANITY, BRAIN DRAIN and ADIOS AMIGOS —  awesome platters, all!), makes for a smoother, more melodic experience than the rawer WALK AMONG US or the foookin’ brooootal EARTH A.D/WOLF’S BLOOD.

Which isn’t to say that the songs don’t kick arse, because they most assuredly kick arse. After the “Kong at the Gates” intro, the album barely lets up, with only the ‘50s-esque ballad “Saturday Night” breaking up the momentum.

Now, if you are any sort of horror punk fan, you’ve probably figured out the E-Z Horror Punk Songwriting method, which consists of naming a song for a movie and then singing the plot. And of course the original Misfits, being the horror punk template, had their share of such songs (“Return of the Fly,” “Teenagers from Mars,” “Astro Zombies,” “Night of the Living Dead,” etc).

The New Misfits, even more so. Five of the FM tracks are direct movie riffs, title included: “Them,” “Pumpkin Head,” “Crawling Eye,” “Die Monster Die” and “Lost In Space” (which is an ode to the ‘98 Matt LeBlanc remake, not the campy ‘60s TV series; I’m guessing it was written for potential soundtrack inclusion).

Indirectly, the intro and outro reference KING KONG, “Forbidden Zone” is an homage to PLANET OF THE APES, and “Helena” (“If I cut off your arms, and cut off your legs, would you still love me?”) references BOXING HELENA. “Dust to Dust” —  a fine, fine tune — tackles FRANKENSTEIN more from the self-reflective perspective of the novel’s monster than Karloff’s film monster.

Of the non-movie tunes, “Scream” is one of the Misfits’ catchiest songs — did I mention how damn catchy so many of these songs are? — and spawned a very cool George Romero-directed video. “Saturday Night” is a great chance for Michale Graves to shine on vocals, as is “Descending Angel”. “Living Hell” is just vicious. The only dud on the album is “Fiend Club,” a paean to the Misfits’ fan club, which is pretty silly (sing along: “WEEEEEE ARE THE FIEEEEEEND CLUB ... NOT YOU!!!”).

It’s frankly hard for me to believe it has been more than a decade and a half since this album lurched into my life in 1999. I’ve probably listened to it more than any other album in that time frame, and FAMOUS MONSTERS never gets old. From the Basil Gogos portrait of the band on the cover to the end of “Kong Unleashed”, this is a pretty damn perfect horror punk album.

That is, of course, depending on your Misfits school of thought. If you’re stuck on “1,” you’re missing out.

The author and ex-MISFITS guitarist, Doyle.

REID BRITT lives in Scenic Western North Carolina with his wife Alison and his daughter Lily.  He has been a Monster Kid from a young age ("There ARE Sasquatches down in the woods, Mom!") and still believes in the Power of Rock n' Roll.  When he's not watching horror movies, he likes to paint, and you can check out his paint slinging at spookywolffe.tumblr.com, Instagram as Reiddrorings,  Facebook as Spookywolffe. and Twitter as @spookywolffe.

The Misfits go looking for Marie Laveau, 1982

(Note: We launched a new feature called LEGACY OF BRUTALITY today. So it felt like a good time for a voodoo, horror-punk themed installment of THE MORGUE!)

By WALLACE McBRIDE

Death hasn’t stopped Marie Laveau from entertaining guests.

Her tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is among one of New Orleans' most popular tourist attractions. If you sign up for a walking tour of the city, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself at the door to her final resting place, leaving coins or some other trinket as an offering.

The Queen of Voodoo was born a “Free Woman of Color” in 1794 and lived to almost see the turn of the next century. Her death in the summer of 1881 was a celebrated event, with The Times Picayune praising her as a “Woman with a Wonderful History.” 

Marie Laveau

Those who have (passed) by the quaint old house on St. Ann, between Rampart and Burgundy streets, with the high, frail looking fence in front over which a tree or two is visible, have, till within the last few years, noticed through the open gateway a (decrepit) old lady, and a smile of peace an contentment lighting up her golden features. For a few years past she has been missed from her accustomed place. The feeble old lady lay upon her bed with her daughter and grandchildren around her ministering to her wants.

On Wednesday, the invalid sank into the sleep which knows no waking. Those who she has befriended crowded into the little room where she was exposed, in order to obtain a last look at the features, smiling even in death, of her who had been so kind to them.

The Times Picayune, June 17, 1881

“Marie Laveau’s name will not be forgotten in New Orleans,” the story concludes, setting the stage for decades of misadventures in local cemeteries. Among those events was the arrest of horror-punk band The Misfits slightly more than 100 years after Laveau’s death. Following a concert at the long-defunct Tupelo’s Tavern on Oct. 17, 1982, The Misfits — accompanied by the kind of spiky haired kids you'd expect to see hanging out with a punk band  — decided to go looking for Laveau’s resting place. It was either an amazing night or a terrible one, depending on your point of view.

"Punk-rock musicians arrested in cemetery"

 From The Times-Picayune/States-Item: 

Four members of a punk-rock group and 14 of their fans who claimed to be looking for the tomb of a voodoo queen were arrested early Monday morning at a downtown cemetery, police said.

At the time of their arrest at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, the members of the band called the Misfits were still wearing makeup, including dramatic facial painting, and one woman wore a black dress, fishnet hose and chains, said Carlos Diaz of Metairie, who was one of those arrested.

Diaz said the musicians, who are based in New Jersey, were looking for above-ground graves, including the tomb of voodoo queen Marie Laveau.

But according to tradition, she is buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

Fifteen of those arrested, including members of the Misfits, were adults and were booked with criminal trespass. They are free on $75 bond until their arraignment at noon Tuesday before Municipal Judge Joseph R. Bossetta.

Yes, The Misfits were exploring the wrong graveyard in search of Marie Laveau's crypt. According to James Greene Jr.’s book, “The Music Leaves Stains,” the visitors were ratted out by residents of a housing project near the cemetery. In all, 18 people were arrested at the site. The Necros, an Ohio-based hardcore band touring with the Misfits, managed to evade arrest after convincing the cops that they weren’t part of the night’s scavenger hunt.

The Misfits at the Ritz in Texas, 1983. Photo by Bill Daniel.

The Misfits, though, spent the night in jail.

“Of course, (the police) started their assumptions immediately: We were robbing graves, we were Satan worshipers and all of the above,” remembers Mike IX Williams, one of the people arrested that night at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2:

"They lined us up along the street and interrogated (us) in the most fucked-up way that only New Orleans policemen can pull off (believe me, this is the South, they’re very original in their brutality). Me and two of my friends were singled out after they found out that we were juveniles and were way under the age of eighteen. One of us, a female, had a mohawk haircut, so they picked on her more than the rest, asking her “What are you? You a boy?” Obviously, she was not. She remained silent, so the prick in the blue uniform smashes her face and nose with his department-issued flashlight, right next to me, about six inches to my right side.”

The Misfits had a show in Florida the next day and opted to forfeit their $75 bonds and skip their day in court. The charges against them were dropped, but that was not the end of the story. More than a week later, The Times-Picayun reported that seven of the people arrested that night had filed false arrest and/or battery charges. I have a feeling their complaints didn't get far, even though the assault was witnessed by enough people to staff a baseball team.

The first full-length MISFITS album crawls into the light, 1982

By REID BRITT 

Methinks it’s appropriate — looking through 21st century eyes at what the band hath become  — that my first exposure to the Misfits in the early ‘80s was as a logo on a t-shirt.  Precisely, a t-shirt oft-worn in band photos by one Cliff Burton.

My actual exposure to the band’s music was a bit later as a friend came into possession of a stack of used records from a local college radio station.  He kept most of the stack, but I was able to grab one slab of vinyl.  Its cover — Sharpie-d up with call letters and programming notes — bore the bat-spider creature from the ‘50s sci-fi flick ANGRY RED PLANET, a fierce/goofy looking band photo, a band logo in “Famous Monsters” magazine lettering, and a title nicked from the third of Universal’s “Gillman” movies.

WALK AMONG US.

It’s a bit cliche to say that a song/album/group is “life-altering”.

But WALK AMONG US was life-altering.  I was a kid raised on ‘70s radio pop and rock and early ‘80s metal, and although I’d heard some punk, this wasn’t anti-Reagan nihilism and off-key screeching.  WALK AMONG US was a distillation of all those black-and-white horror and sci-fi flicks that had filled my Saturday afternoons into couple-minute bursts of crooning and aggression.  Twenty-five minutes, thirteen songs: thirteen horror punk classics. Songs about ‘50s horror host Vampira, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (“Ripped up like shredded wheat!”), the wacked-out ‘60s flick Astro Zombies, 20-eyed monsters, and Martians slam-dance with statements of nefarious intent like "All Hell Breaks Loose," "Violent World," and "Mommy Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight." I want your skull ... and brains for dinner.  Glenn Danzig’s “Evil Elvis” vocals (I hate that term, but it’s widely used and weirdly appropriate) and B-film-borne lyrics transform songs that are musically pedestrian into gore-soaked anthems.

While WALK AMONG US was the first full-length Misfits album to crawl into the light (in 1982; Static Age and 12 Hits from Hell were recorded before Walk, but very posthumously released), the band would only manage one more full-length — the more hardcore/thrash-influenced EARTH A.D./WOLF'S BLOOD — before Danzig dissolved the group to follow his own darker muse.  WALK AMONG US isn’t necessarily the best assembly of the band’s songs (for example, it doesn’t include my favorite Misfits songs: "Halloween," "Die Die My Darling," "London Dungeon" or "Hybrid Moments"), but it was the first and most easily accessible Misfits record until Danzig’s Plan 9 Records partnered with Caroline Records in the late ‘80s to release LEGACY OF BRUTALITY, EVILIVE (an expanded version of the earlier EP) and the Misfits Collection.

Ultimately, what Danzig, bassist Jerry Only, guitarist/Jerry’s brother Doyle and drummer Arthur Googy spawned is THE seminal horror punk album.  The subsequent decades would see legions of bands trying to recreate Misfits’ alchemy with decidedly mixed results.  But WALK AMONG US is Patient Zero, and, like the horror genre itself, is an uncompromising burst of brutality, gore, cheesiness and monsters.

REID BRITT lives in Scenic Western North Carolina with his wife Alison and his daughter Lily.  He has been a Monster Kid from a young age ("There ARE Sasquatches down in the woods, Mom!") and still believes in the Power of Rock n' Roll.  When he's not watching horror movies, he likes to paint, and you can check out his paint slinging at spookywolffe.tumblr.com, Instagram as Reiddrorings,  Facebook as Spookywolffe. and Twitter as @spookywolffe.

The Misfits Vs Dark Shadows

OK ... I don't think this isn't a terrible song. I just thought I'd get that sentiment out front before I get much deeper into this post, because longtime Misfits fans like myself can get a bit emotional and hyperbolic when discussing the Jerry Only-led Misfits.

As a refresher: the Misfits were a NJ-based punk band that operated with a fluctuating line-up between 1977 and 1983. After experimenting with Kenny Anger/Hollywood Babylon-style imagery in their early days, they quickly became a full-fledged horror punk band and gained a rabid following after they disbanded.  Singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig went on to bigger things and was later sued by the band's former bass player, Jerry Only, who won the right to use the name Misfits in a new line-up. Fans bitched and moaned and continue to rival Star Wars groupies in their vitriol. I own a Jedi costume and several Danzig t-shirts, which makes me an asshole authority on both subjects.

Jerry Only recently put out the "Mifits" first new album in 13 years. Titled The Devil's Rain, the album features a song called Dark Shadows (which you can listen to above) which is kinda sorta based on a TV show you might be familiar with. Given that the Misfits's songs have touched on everything from Night of the Living Dead to Plan 9 from Outer Space, it was only a matter of time before the Collins family put in an appearance on one of  their albums.

Only revealed in Rue Morgue #116 that the song's origins are a little more cynical, though. The bassist/singer has been patiently stalking director Tim Burton for year and tried to get their songs inspired by Planet of the Apes and Mars Attacks in his earlier films (without success.) He's trying, again, with Dark Shadows. Sigh.

As a fan of the Misfits I felt compelled to give the album a listen. Dark Shadows is one of the better songs on the album, but it's lyrically ... vague. It's got the catchy sing-along vibe that a Misfits song needs, but it could be about almost any character from Dark Shadows. At first I thought it was actually about Quentin Collins (which would have been a pleasant change) but no ... it appears to be about a vampire.