An omelet of disease awaits your noontime meal

Wait, another ineloquent blogger writing a tribute page on THE MISFITS? I'm trying to keep this short: THE MISFITS are probably my favorite punk rock band. From setting new standards artwork and cult wise to the phenomena Glenn Danzig itself, this band was (!) just perfect. Like most of the good bands I'm listening to nowadays I got into the Misfits way too late, like about two years ago. I always loved “Halloween” and its huge amount of cover versions but somehow never put a complete Misfits album on my playlist. That changed however one summer when the only CD around in my girlfriend's kitchen was her “Collection I”. I was hooked. Nearly every song on that compilation is a classic with especially “Hollywood Babylon”, “Where eagles dare”, “London dungeon” and “Mommy, can I go out & kill tonight?” standing out as pure captures of the atmosphere this band has created. 

Their group of themes is just something I can deeply relate to: Aliens, zombies, mummies, vampires, homicide, comics, bloodcurdling places and all other kinds of bestiality. That's what I love in thinking about the 80s, everything just seems to fit together concerning the atmosphere. When listening to the Misfits, impressions of movies like “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Fright Night” or “Pet Sematary” immediately shoot through my brain and create this kind of coloring that could be a mixture of the illustrations for Stephen King's “Werewolf Cycle” and the Creepshow comics.

After checking out the actual albums of the band, “Static Age” is my definite favorite. Listen to “TV casualty” and try not to sing-along to it while wearing sun-glasses...

Regarding Danzig's later band projects, I like SAMHAIN better than DANZIG. I guess this is a natural consequence if you dig the Misfits because Danzig is far more advanced and tries to explore other aspects of music, too. Samhains “Initium” EP has this perfect song “All Murder, all guts, all fun” on it that should and could have been a Misfits song. Last year I was trying to put together a horror themed fanzine with the song title as its name. I wanted to include writings on Danzig's bands as well as THE CRAMPS, THE METEORS or THE NEKROMANTIX plus a lot of jabbering on horror movies. I didn't finish it (actually I only cut & pasted the front cover) but maybe I'll get something done until this year's Halloween (which obviously would be the perfect date to release this kind of a zine...)

Their LP “November coming fire” includes some really strange songs like “Birthright”, “Unbridled” or “Human Pony Girl” that are weirding me out a bit. But then again, you've got bangers like “Mother of mercy” or “Let the day begin” (which is my actual alarm ringtone). If just the cover would be cooler. The font makes it look like the artwork of some high school band... Nevertheless, the handful of promo pictures of them that I've found are some of the most stylistic and raddest.

I once got sent a pretty cool Misfits tribute zine by a girl called Kate Galvin. She also made one about the DESCENDENTS but it was sold out by the time I tried to order it. However, the zine included some historical background on the band as well as lyrics explanations, a trivia of the Danzig/Only beef and even a little Danzig poster (note, this is a A5 zine). Just telling, maybe you should be out to search for a copy...

Listening to: (obviously) Misfits - Collection I & Night Birds - The other side of darkness

Douche Chills #1

A short newsletter/minizine kinda thing that I handed out at the INHERIT show one month ago. Ignore the stupid grammar mistakes, it was done in a hurry (no, it wasn't...).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBelT-Xi1CY

Listening to: Red Fang - Murder the Mountains

No redemption

Somehow this record arrived at my post box on a Sunday night, so I had to get off the couch and walk the few meters to pick it up. On the way back I felt like I'm doing something illegal. I'm sure that in case the cops would have stopped me to ask about the content of the package they'd have thought they're dealing with some White Power B&H bullshit.

However, the 7” is a total rager and has a high atmospherical match when it comes to the band's hometown, Braddock, PA. On the internets this suburb of Pittsburgh is described as a typical Pennsylvanian steel town which means that it has its golden era of wealth and a booming economy until the whole US steel industry crashed down in the 1970s. You just have to check out the demographical statistics to know that this is no Humbleton. In 1920, Braddock had a population of 20,879 (same density as Brooklyn back then) while now there are only about two thousand people living there. The streets full of boarded-up red-brick houses and the shading facades of the rusting factory chimneys in the background fit perfectly with the band's Oi influenced sound. 

I feel quite comfortable listening to this band since it seems to be a product of its environment. Good to know that they're not wasting their time watching dog fights and fisticuffs but form awesome bands (look it up, they seem to have a small but cool scene going on...).

Braddock's mayor John Fetterman who is trying to fight the city's problems like high unemployment and gang-related criminality.

Listening to: Cause for Alarm - tracks from the split 7" with Warzone & Underdog - s/t 7"

Little note: I've not been to the US yet so maybe I don't describe all this in a very convincing way...

Nerd Cruise

This will hopefully be a creative outlet while I'm not writing on a real paper zine. I'm always WORKING on a zine whether it be collecting ideas or sending out mails with interviews but still, there are a lot of things that wouldn't fit in there or would just leave my head before I could publish them in a proper manner. 

Plus, I really would like to have a constant writing flow so that my use of English will finally get better and I don't have to smirk about every back issue's grammar and vocabulary. I'm still not quite sure about the exact content of this blog but I've got some ideas lined up. 

In Damn Good Coffee #3 (I don't blame you if you don't know this zine, haha) I tried to explain how I perceive a lot of things in my life (like music, books or even whole days) in what I see as atmospheres. I also have this habit that, whenever I get a record from somewhere around the globe I put the address in google maps or look up pictures on the internet and see if the atmosphere I get from those sceneries matches with the sound of the band. 

So, the long and the short of it, I will post pictures of the town/city a specific band comes from and bloviate about it. 

This is just one idea how to use this space.

Listening to: The Templars – Clockwork Orange Horrorshow 7”