One for The Misfits

Schedule conflicts will keep me from interviewing Jerry Only of the Misfits but I want to say publicly, apropos of their November 9th concert in Vancouver, that:

a) (First, as a disclaimer). I like Danzig's solo stuff well enough - the first two albums with the classic lineup are great - but, heresy or no, those early Misfits albums just never got the hook in me very deeply; it wasn't a style of punk I liked much. I didn't bother with the Michale Graves years at all. Until recently, my most cherished moments with the Misfits are simply bits of amusement at the ubiquity of their brand ("why is that 70 year old Chinese man wearing a Misfits t-shirt?").

b) I have no problem at all with the idea of the Misfits bringing in a sort of '50's classic rock'n'roll flavour to their music and becoming a bit more of a pop band; from my point of view, this actually is an improvement, since I never found their original stuff that hooky, and since my own rock consumption has been a bit more backwards-looking these days (there was some GREAT music made in the 1950's and early 1960's). Hell, I might even just buy their album of 50's covers at the show; I like it a lot, and I hope they play some of this stuff live!

c) The Misfits album I have enjoyed the most - and I've owned Walk Among Us and the one with "Where Eagles Dare" on it - is their 2011 release The Devil's Rain, fronted by Jerry Only. It's very catchy, very fun, and I like the way Dez Cadena's guitar sounds - he plays a style of solo, to the point and catchy, that I like a lot. I enjoy some songs more than others, mind you; I'm especially fond of the awesome title track, written about one of the great 1970's cult horror movies, with a bizarrely name-brand (if not exactly all-star) cast, including William Shatner, Ernest Borgnine, Ida Lupino, Tom Skerritt, Keenan Wynn, Eddie Albert, and brief appearances by John Travolta and Anton Szandor LaVey himself. I love that movie - the big melting scene at the end is almost worthy of Bosch - so it may prejudice me a bit in the song's favour. But I also really dig their UFO/ paranormal song  "Unexplained," say, or for something a bit punkier, "Jack the Ripper," and I do like the album as a whole. I realize this is going to scandalize some Misfits fans out there, but this is probably the lineup - Jerry Only, Dez Cadena, and Eric Arce - that I am most excited to see. I'm more excited about this than I was about the Danzig and Doyle show (which I didn't go to). Jerry deserves total respect as a Misfits frontman.

...So there! Oh, and d) I am gaining no favours from anyone from writing this, for the record. I didn't get to talk to Only, so I'm not cadging a guestlisting or such. If I turn up at the show - and as always with gigs these days, there's a good chance I won't - I will be there as a payin' customer. I'm kind of excited.