Misery Obscura
Those with their ear inclined to the Spirits of Darkness have heard tell of much activity in Danzig's shadowy realm recently.
First was the release of Eerie Von's photo-documentary of The Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig called Misery Obscura. The book is a really nice hardcover published by Dark Horse publishing, better known for their comic book titles. It stretches from Lodi High School and the earliest days of The Misfits, where Eerie was a sort of official photographer, all the way through he and Glenn beginning their collaboration in Samhain, on through the world tours and eventual collapse of Danzig at the height of its fame. Peppered throughout the book are captions and even whole pages of Eerie's storytelling that really takes one back through the years and the evil-lution of Glenn and Eerie's projects.
Unfortunately, much remains unsaid. Those of us who were baffled at the mass desertion of the band following the Danzig 4 tour walk away from this book as dissatisfied as ever. Eerie hints heavily at his dissatisfaction with the direction of the band, but one has to infer from the vaguest of allusions that this dissatisfaction was a consequence of Glenn Danzig's personality changing. John Christ, at least, has gone so far as to say that "Glenn turned on everyone who ever tried to help him." Eerie, on the other hand, merely says that because all of his friends quit the band -- that is John and Chuck -- he decided it was time for him to quit, too. He then says he was bummed that when he called Glenn to quit, that Glenn didn't thank him for all the years of loyalty. The irony is that Eerie also says in the book that it was only because of Glenn's loyalty to Eerie that Eerie was ever in Danzig.
Painting Rick Rubin as Glenn's tempting Devil, Eerie asserts that Rick wanted Glenn to dump his whole band, and he did, in fact, get Eerie and Glenn to fire Damien and London May. But Glenn wouldn't get rid of Eerie. It seems a little inconsistent then, for Eerie to complain that Glenn didn't praise his loyalty when, after Glenn went to bat for him in the face of resistance from Def American, Eerie deserted Glenn along with everybody else. Far be it from me to defend Glenn too much -- he is, after all, a past master of unconvincing spin -- but Eerie's own insinuating version of events casts Eerie in a rather poor light. At least Glenn and Eerie agree that Rick Rubin was a Machiavelian figure, and Eerie's dislike of Rick drips from every page where he is mentioned.
Despite these considerations, the book is an absolute treasure for a serious fan of any of these three bands. Amazing intimate stories and revelations about the members of these bands jostle rare photos, on-stage and off, color and black & white, of Eerie Von and by Eerie Von. I interviewed Eerie in 1994, mere months before the band flew into pieces. At that time, I asked when we should expect the Eerie Von Coffeetable Book of Photography. It took fifteen more years for it to finally arrive, and it was well worth the wait.
Get the book at:
http://tinyurl.com/yfcfxww
By the way, Eerie Von also has a new album coming out this year called Kinda Country. You may want to check that out, too: http://tinyurl.com/yzoorfu
First was the release of Eerie Von's photo-documentary of The Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig called Misery Obscura. The book is a really nice hardcover published by Dark Horse publishing, better known for their comic book titles. It stretches from Lodi High School and the earliest days of The Misfits, where Eerie was a sort of official photographer, all the way through he and Glenn beginning their collaboration in Samhain, on through the world tours and eventual collapse of Danzig at the height of its fame. Peppered throughout the book are captions and even whole pages of Eerie's storytelling that really takes one back through the years and the evil-lution of Glenn and Eerie's projects.
Unfortunately, much remains unsaid. Those of us who were baffled at the mass desertion of the band following the Danzig 4 tour walk away from this book as dissatisfied as ever. Eerie hints heavily at his dissatisfaction with the direction of the band, but one has to infer from the vaguest of allusions that this dissatisfaction was a consequence of Glenn Danzig's personality changing. John Christ, at least, has gone so far as to say that "Glenn turned on everyone who ever tried to help him." Eerie, on the other hand, merely says that because all of his friends quit the band -- that is John and Chuck -- he decided it was time for him to quit, too. He then says he was bummed that when he called Glenn to quit, that Glenn didn't thank him for all the years of loyalty. The irony is that Eerie also says in the book that it was only because of Glenn's loyalty to Eerie that Eerie was ever in Danzig.
Painting Rick Rubin as Glenn's tempting Devil, Eerie asserts that Rick wanted Glenn to dump his whole band, and he did, in fact, get Eerie and Glenn to fire Damien and London May. But Glenn wouldn't get rid of Eerie. It seems a little inconsistent then, for Eerie to complain that Glenn didn't praise his loyalty when, after Glenn went to bat for him in the face of resistance from Def American, Eerie deserted Glenn along with everybody else. Far be it from me to defend Glenn too much -- he is, after all, a past master of unconvincing spin -- but Eerie's own insinuating version of events casts Eerie in a rather poor light. At least Glenn and Eerie agree that Rick Rubin was a Machiavelian figure, and Eerie's dislike of Rick drips from every page where he is mentioned.
Despite these considerations, the book is an absolute treasure for a serious fan of any of these three bands. Amazing intimate stories and revelations about the members of these bands jostle rare photos, on-stage and off, color and black & white, of Eerie Von and by Eerie Von. I interviewed Eerie in 1994, mere months before the band flew into pieces. At that time, I asked when we should expect the Eerie Von Coffeetable Book of Photography. It took fifteen more years for it to finally arrive, and it was well worth the wait.
Get the book at:
http://tinyurl.com/yfcfxww
By the way, Eerie Von also has a new album coming out this year called Kinda Country. You may want to check that out, too: http://tinyurl.com/yzoorfu