- The Misfits Mourn The Loss of a Great Contributor Ozzie Cadena
Misfits 30th anniversary – Meet Jerry Only
(Read All Misfits Articles) – The Misfits 30th Anniversay show scheduled for Friday May 16th at Opera 1 in Curitiba, Brazil was delayed due to circumstances far beyond the band or the local promoter’s control. The Misfits and all involved refuse to disappoint the Fiends of Curitiba so the show was immediately rescheduled and took place Monday May 19th, 2008 at Opera 1. The Show started at 10pm!
The Misfits delivered a show that fan did not forget. Wondering who got there early so not to miss it.
THE MISFITS MOURN THE LOSS OF OZZIE CADENA 1924 – 2008
“My father taught me how to walk my own walk and talk my own talk. That amongst many was one of his greatest contributions to me. I love him and thank him for that.”
- Dez Cadena
The morning of April 9, 2008, Oscar “Ozzie” Cadena passed away peacefully at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance with his family at his side.
Music producer, promoter, A&R man and jazz enthusiast, over the years Ozzie Cadena collaborated with some of the best in the business.
Two Different Eras
The history of the Misfits can be split into two main eras. The first era marks the foundation of the group, founded and fronted by Glenn Danzig. The second era led by bassist Jerry Only saw former members of the band with various new vocalists playing a mixture of new and old material.
Genuinely shocking or tasteless, campy fun? It was sometimes hard to tell which way the Misfits wanted to be taken, and the immense cult following that has grown up in the years after their actual existence (1977-1983) seems divided in its own assessment. It certainly wasn’t the Misfits’ musicianship — which was as crude as the recording quality of most of their oeuvre — that endeared them to so many, although Glenn Danzig possessed one of the most distinctive and tuneful bellows in hardcore punk. Rather, it was Danzig’s penchant for catchy, anthemic melodies, often delivered at warp speed, and his lyrical obsession with grade-B horror films and splatter imagery that helped the Misfits build a rabid posthumous following. Name-drops and covers by metal bands like Metallica and Guns N’ Roses kept the Misfits’ songs circulating during the mid- to late ’80s, when their tangled discography remained only sporadically in print — reissues were maddeningly incomplete, and much of the band’s prime material was confined to rare singles and EPs. The mid-’90s saw a spate of CD reissues that, while not quite presenting all of the Misfits’ songs in the most concise, collectible format, at least succeeded in getting them all back into print, allowing those who missed the band the first time around to hear why they’ve enjoyed such enduring cult popularity.
The Misfits were formed in Lodi, NJ, in 1977 by vocalist Glenn Danzig and bassist Jerry Caiafa, who performed under the name Jerry Only. Their name taken from Marilyn Monroe’s final film, the Misfits added drummer Manny and recorded a guitar-less single, “Cough Cool” b/w “She,” on their own Blank Records label (later changed to Plan 9). Manny was soon replaced by “Mr. Jim” Catania, and guitarist Frank “Franché Coma” LiCata joined up for the four-song 1978 EP Bullet, which featured a notoriously graphic image of John F. Kennedy being shot. Although recording sessions had been held for a full-length album, to be titled Static Age, no record company would accept the results, and whatever material was not subsequently issued on EPs languished in the vaults until the 1985 compilation Legacy of Brutality. The Misfits began playing shows at CBGB’s and attempted to obtain some greater musical stability with the addition of Whorelords guitarist Bobby Steele and drummer Joey Image. This lineup recorded the three-song EPs Horror Business and Night of the Living Dead in 1979, the latter being released on Halloween. An aborted tour of the U.K. supporting the Damned followed, and a frustrated Joey Image quit the band after Danzig was arrested in a bar skirmish. Things had not been going well with Steele, either, and upon returning to the States, Steele was ousted in favor of Jerry Only’s younger brother Doyle (born Paul Caiafa; sometimes known as Doyle von Frankenstein). Arthur Googy became the full-time drummer, while Steele went on to form the Undead. England’s Cherry Red label issued the legendary Beware EP in 1980, which contained Bullet, two tracks from Horror Business, and the Static Age outtake “Last Caress”; it became a ludicrously expensive collector’s item in the years that followed.
The original Misfits broke up in 1983, having released several 7” singles and 12” records, all of which were DIY limited-edition and most of which were hand-assembled by the band, that have long been considered prime collectors’ items. Epigones from Lodi, New Jersey, include the bands Mourning Noise and Rosemary’s Babies, both of whom released records.
The band often wore ghoulish makeup when performing, and bassist Jerry Only invented a hairstyle called the devilock which is still worn by fans today.
A “touring” incarnation of the band is presently led by original member and bassist, Jerry Only (born Gerald Caiafa). Members of the touring group have included Marky Ramone (of the Ramones), and both drummer Robo and guitarist Dez Cadena of Black Flag fame. Jerry’s brother Doyle (formerly a guitarist for the Misfits) is currently estranged from the group and is working with a new group named Gorgeous Frankenstein (2005). Doyle recently reunited with Danzig to perform special sets of Misfits songs on Danzig’s 2005 tour.
History
The beginning
In January of 1977, after singing in several garage bands that mostly played Black Sabbath songs, twenty one year old Glenn Danzig decided it was finally time to create something serious and original. As a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, he named his musical project after her final movie, The Misfits.
For weeks, Glenn wrote songs and practiced with friends and old band mates, trying to find a suitable lineup of musicians to bring his vision to life. The first complete Misfits lineup consisted of Jimmy Battle on guitar, his old band mate Manny Martinez on drums, Diane DiPiaza on bass, and Danzig on electric piano and vocals. However, after only about a month of practicing, both Jimmy and Diane left the band. In need of new band mates, Manny suggested that his friend, Jerry Caiafa, should audition for bass. Jerry, a young football jock who had been voted most popular in his senior class at Lodi High School, had just received a bass guitar that Christmas and had only been practicing with it for two months. Despite Jerry’s fledgling bass talents, Glenn accepted him into the band and offered to teach him how to play. After three months of practicing, the trio headed into the studio to record their first single, entitled Cough/Cool. The single contained two keyboard driven art rock songs which were quite different from the music the Misfits would later become known for. The title track was somber and poetic, and very reminiscent of The Doors. The band released the single themselves through their own label, Blank Records.
Over the next several months, Glenn, Manny, and Jerry (who had adopted the stage name Jerry Only) played a handful of gigs (their first two at CBGB in New York City) as they continued to practice and forge their own sound. Their experimental art rock style was met mostly with confusion.
By October 1977, British punk bands such as The Damned and New York punk bands like The Ramones began to have an influence on The Misfits. They decided to take the band in a more punk direction by adding guitarist Franchė Coma to the band and ditching the keyboards, allowing Danzig to engage in antics typical of a punk frontman. Their sound, as evinced on the album Static Age, was perhaps the most crisp, melodic, and powerful sound in punk at that time. They wouldn’t draw on B-movies for lyrical inspiration for at least another year, and at this point their lyrics instead portrayed a futuristic dystopia of television saturation, automation-like submissiveness, and glamorized sex and violence. As 1977 drew to a close, Glenn and Jerry decided that Manny was too unreliable and asked him to leave the band. He was replaced by Jim Catania, or “Mr. Jim”, who had played in a previous band with Glenn.
At this time The Misfits caught their first big break. Mercury Records wanted to use the name Blank Records for a subdivision, but Glenn Danzig had a head for business and had secured a trademark on the name. They contacted Glenn and offered him thirty hours of free time in a professional studio, in exchange for full use of the Blank Records title. Glenn accepted the offer and in January of 1978, The Misfits headed into the New York studio to record their first full length album.
Seventeen songs were recorded, featuring a unique combination of their early art rock material and the hard driving punk direction they had begun to adopt. Once the album was complete, the band shopped it around to various labels but no one was interested in releasing it. The album was shelved, and would remain unreleased in its entirety until 1995, when it was finally released as the Static Age CD. With no one interested in their album, The Misfits decided to take four tracks from it and release it themselves as an EP. In June 1978, the Bullet EP was released on their new label, Plan 9, which Danzig had named after the infamous Ed Wood movie Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Rise to popularity
Around this time, both Glenn and Jerry decided they wanted to take the band in a more horror-themed direction. Glenn began to write more songs inspired by low grade horror and sci-fi movies, and both he and Jerry began to adopt ghoulish appearances, with Jerry applying dark makeup around his eyes and Glenn painting bone designs on his clothes. The band started to play more frequently and began to go on small tours in support of the Bullet EP. In October of 1978, during a small tour through Canada, Franchė Coma decided he couldn’t handle touring and quit the band before the tour was even complete. Guitarist Rick Riley stepped in temporarily to fill out guitar duties for the rest of the tour. Mr. Jim wasn’t fond of the horror direction the band was heading in, and opted to leave the band once the tour was over.
Within two months, Glenn and Jerry had recruited two new band members, drummer Joey Image, and guitarist Bobby Steele. Around this time, Jerry Only began to comb his hair in what would later become The Misfits signature hair style, which would later be dubbed the devilock. In December of 1978, after less than two months, the new Misfits lineup began playing shows together. Over the course of 1979, The Misfits further evolved the horror elements of their music and their imagery, effectively creating a new genre of music that would come to be known as horror punk. Glenn and Jerry adopted a skull mascot for the band from an old poster they’d come across for a 1946 serial called The Crimson Ghost. The Misfits released two more records on their Plan 9 label, the Horror Business EP and the Night of the Living Dead single, respectively. They began to establish a small but loyal fan base and decided to start their own fan club, which they called the Fiend Club. Glenn operated the Fiend Club from his mother’s basement, where he would print out t-shirts, assemble records, mail out merchandise catalogs, book gigs, and respond to fan mail, making the Misfits exemplary practitioners of the DIY ethic.
As their popularity slowly began to increase, many people started to consider The Misfits to be the American equivalent of the British punk rock band, The Damned, whose singer, Dave Vanian, adopted the look of a classic vampire and sang in a brooding baritone. In June 26th, 1979, The Misfits opened for The Damned at a gig in New York City. Before the show, Jerry spoke with Dave Vanian about the possibility of The Misfits doing a tour of the UK in support of The Damned.
In November of 1979, The Misfits flew over to England for their tour with The Damned. However, Dave Vanian had not taken Jerry serious and was surprised when Jerry showed up at his front door. Instead of turning The Misfits away, Dave tried his best to arrange for them to take part in the tour, but The Misfits weren’t happy with the situation. After playing only two gigs, The Misfits dropped off the tour. Their return flight back to America wasn’t until late in December, and so The Misfits were forced to kill time in England. Jerry spent some time with Sid Vicious’ mother, who he had befriended after Sid’s death. On December 2nd, Glenn and Bobby went to see a show in London, where they were harassed by skinheads while standing in line. Glenn broke off a piece of glass and used it to fend off the skinheads while Bobby ran to get help. However, when the cops arrived, they arrested Bobby and Glenn, for what they described as “threatening behavior”. In an interview with Revolver Magazine in the October 2005 issue, Glenn went into greater detail about the event. He said the police found a knife in his possession and accused Glenn of being a “ripper” that had been stalking the area at the time. The police began to beat him, and Glenn fought back. He claims he did considerable damage to the police before they were finally able to subdue him. Glenn and Bobby then spent two nights jailed up in the London district of Brixton, during which time Glenn wrote the lyrics to the future Misfits song, London Dungeon.
After the failed European tour, Joey Image decided to leave the band, and later formed the band The Mary Tyler Whores. Upon their return to America, The Misfits released the Beware EP through Plan 9 records and decided to take a short hiatus from the band in order to recover from their bad experience in England. After a four month break, Arthur Googy was recruited as the new drummer. Around this time, Jerry’s little brother, Doyle, who was a huge fan of the band, started learning to play guitar with help from Glenn and Jerry. The Misfits began working on a full length album, which they planned to release through Plan 9. In August of 1980, they went into the studio and recorded twelve songs. Jerry began to persuade Glenn that Doyle would fit into the band much better than Bobby Steele. Doyle began to practice with the band and even entered the studio to record his own guitar tracks for the twelve songs they had recorded. Bobby has said that during this time period, Jerry would purposely neglect to inform him of practices, in order to make Bobby look bad. Jerry denies these accusations. Regardless, in October of 1980, shortly before the band’s annual Halloween show, Jerry informed Bobby that he was being replaced by Doyle, who was only sixteen at the time. Bobby Steele went on to form his own punk band a few months later, called The Undead. On Halloween of 1980, what many people consider to be the classic Misfits lineup, made its debut.
After only playing a few shows with the new lineup, they took a six month break from the band. During this time, instead of releasing the entire album they had recorded, they selected three songs from it and released it as the 3 Hits From Hell EP (in 2002, Caroline Records had planned to finally releasing the entire album, which they called 12 Hits From Hell, however, the release was canceled at the last second at Jerry and Glenn’s request). Throughout the year of 1981, The Misfits continued to go into the studio to record tracks for a full length release, which they planned on calling Walk Among Us. Although they had planned on releasing the full length themselves through Plan 9, they got an unexpected offer from Slash Records to release the album. They accepted the offer and decided to rework the album before releasing it. On Halloween of 1981, The Misfits released the Halloween single through Plan 9, which consisted of two more tracks from the shelved full length they had recorded the previous summer.
In 1981, Glenn wrote the song Archangel for The Damned vocalist Dave Vanian to sing with The Misfits backing him. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Dave never recorded vocals for the song and it was set aside until 1983, when Glenn decided to re-record it with his next band.
In March of 1982, Ruby/Slash Records released “Walk Among Us”, the first full length Misfits album to be available to the public. “Walk Among Us” would later be considered by most fans to be the quintessential Misfits album, as well as one of the best punk albums of all time. The band began playing shows again after nearly a year. They started to become notorious for their intense stage presence and brutal live performances. Doyle was a sports jock like his brother, and shared his linebacker physique, which, coupled with their ghoulish appearance, made for quite intimidating axemen. Between the brothers, Glenn Danzig would bellow out his morbid lyrics while thrashing around on stage or crawling around on the floor, often throwing and receiving punches from the crowd. Despite Glenn’s smaller stature at 5’5” or 5’6”, he was fond of fighting, and enjoyed taunting the crowd, and instigating violence.
Perhaps the most infamously violent Misfits show took place in San Francisco on April 10th, 1982. During the show some people in the crowd began to throw cans of beer at the stage. After Doyle was nearly hit in the head with a full beer can, he smashed his guitar over a crowd member’s head, instigating a full out riot.
A couple days later, on April 15th, the band stopped at McDonald’s for food. Arthur Googy wanted to get two cheeseburgers, but Glenn told him they were too low on money and that he could only get one. Tensions started to rise, and the two came close to exchanging blows. Arthur quit the band and The Misfits had to cancel their plans to record their next EP, which they had planned on calling “Earth A.D.”.
In need of a drummer, they offered the role to Doyle’s friend and classmate, Eerie Von, who had served as a photographer for The Misfits. Eerie reluctantly turned down the offer because he had already committed to drumming for the local band Rosemarie’s Babies. Black Flag vocalist, Henry Rollins, who had become great friends with The Misfits during their west coast gigs, informed ex-Black Flag drummer, ROBO, that The Misfits were in need of a drummer. In July of 1982, Robo flew to the east coast and joined the band.
Doyle graduated High School and began working full time at his father’s machine shop with Jerry. They used their earnings to purchase new instruments (because they tended to smash theirs on a weekly basis), and to fund The Misfits tours, recording sessions, and album pressings. While they provided funding for the band, Glenn would handle the Fiend Club and work on composing new songs. A common misconception is that Glenn only wrote lyrics and sang for The Misfits. Glenn was actually a multi-talented musician that would write the music and the lyrics himself, and would later teach them to his band mates at practice, where the songs would become totally fleshed out (Practices where usually held in Jerry’s garage, which they referred to as “The Pit”). Glenn was often irritated when people assumed he only sang for the band, and did not credit him as the band’s creative force. In order to remedy the situation in the future, Glenn considered naming his next band project either “Glenn Danzig” or simply “Danzig”.
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