Glenn Danzig is best known for his tenure as frontman of The Misfits, but in 1983,
he’d put a new project together called Samhain. Samhain would have three albums
to their name and several lineup changes, and although they wouldn’t gain as much recognition
as Danzig’s previous band, they’d represent an important change that combined the distinctive
horrorpunk style The Misfits were known for with the metal influence of his eventual solo career.
That’s what we’ll talk about in today’s video. Danzig originally formed Samhain as a side project
with Misfits photographer Eerie Von (pronounce it as is). The idea for the project would
became more ambitious, involving a supergroup featuring members of the hardcore punk scene.
While the two were still in involved in the world of the Misfits, Danzig would reveal vague details
of the new project to Flesh & Bones Magazine, "I'm going to work on something new in a few
months and this time I'll have a hand in producing, which I didn't have last time...
The new record will actually have a band on it,” he’d say.
By 1983 the MIsfits were done. Infighting and tensions led to danzig disbanding the group
Danzig was always committed to playing wherever he needed to get the misfits name
out there. It would be his drive that he saw lacking in his bandmates telling loudersound
“It was difficult for me to work with these guys, because they weren’t prepared to put in the hours
practising. I wanted move things forward, and they didn’t seem to have the same outlook.
So it was time for me to move on.” He would go on to say I know what I wanted,
and that was to bring in people who cared about their musicianship and would improve as we went
along. I did think about calling this band Danzig, but I just felt it was a little too egotistical.”
As the year progressed, several of the scene’s veterans, including Al Pike of
Reagan Youth (president), Brian Baker and Lyle Preslar of Minor Threat, and Graham McCulloch of
Negative Approach, contributed tracks toward what would become Samhain’s debut album, Initium. But
Danzig abandoned the supergroup concept once Pike chose to work on his fanzine full-time,
and the three remaining musicians went with singer Tesco Vee to form The Meatmen. Later in the year,
Preslar regrouped with Samhain, and Eerie Von would become the group’s bassist with Steve Zing
of Mourning Noise becoming the band’s drummer.and lyle preslar would be the guitarist. Zing
would speak of his integration into Samhain, telling Vinyl Writer Music,
“I had become friendly with Glenn while The Misfits were still together. Glenn had
wanted to go in a different direction and he was getting frustrated and the band had some internal
differences, so when he decided to disband The Misfits, he called me and asked if I’d be
interested in starting a band. Zing also commented on the impact of the band’s approach, adding,
“I think all the Samhain releases were different from anything that was going on at the time.
Some didn’t get it. It had all the elements of true-to-life horror stories,” he’d say.
Samhain was named after the ancient Gaelic festival that predated Halloween,
and although they’d maintain the horror feel of the Misfits, Samhain’s approach was darker,
incorporating pagan themes in the context of a relatable modern-day struggle.
In 1984, Samhain continued making progress on the Initium album, and were eventually
interviewed by New York’s WNYU station 89.1 FM. Danzig explained the recording process, saying,
“We’re just exploring a lot of different directions. We’re trying to keep a basic sound,
a real drive, and also, just not get tied down to one form of music.” When asked
whether Samhain’s music would be would be more accessible than the Misfits, Danzig responded,
“Maybe not so much that it’s more accessible. It’s just that right now, big labels are looking to
indie bands, because they’re selling a lot more records than the band’s they’re putting
money into that aren’t doing anything, so we’ll see what happens with that.”
Samhain would premiere a rough cut of their track, “Black Dream,” on one of the station’s shows,
The Hell Hole, which played original music from local independent punk and metal acts.
When prompted to describe the song, Danzig would be more tongue-in-cheek with his answer, saying,
“The song is about a succubus…The thing is, every time she makes it with a guy, she drains more and
more of his lifeforce until he eventually dies, and I guess it’s about life, too, in that way.”
A week after their appearance on the show, the band made their live debut at the Rock Hotel in
New York City, with an extreme routine involving covering themselves in blood. By June, Pete
Marshall from Mourning Noise had replaced Lyle Preslar, and the band would appear on The Hell
Hole again to discuss their first show and the lineup change, while Initium was being mastered.
“For as much rehearsal as we got with Lyle, it was pretty good. He was just coming up here
and then flying right home,” Danzig would say. “Originally, it wasn’t supposed to be like that,
but as the show got closer and closer [to being over], he wanted to act like a rock star.”
“I got along with him kind of alright, but…I had to keep these guys from killing him…”
“After the Rock Hotel show, we just didn’t call him anymore…so we got this new guy, Pete.”
In spite of the setback, Danzig would have a more positive outlook
about the impact of the show itself. “At first, I wanted to bum everybody
out by doing something new. I wanted a more negative reaction, but it turned out pretty
positive, so maybe people were a little more intelligent than I’d give them credit for.”
In August, Samhain would release Initium on Danzig’s indie label, Plan 9 Records.
The album experimented with post-punk sounds at the time, while incorporating an innovative
metal-based foundation. Just before the album’s release, the band developed their logo,
based on the skull from the Marvel comic, Crystar (Chris-star) Crystal Warrior #8, which would also
inspire the logo for Danzig’s solo effort. The band also began playing live more frequently,
embarking on a mini tour of mostly southern and Midwestern dates they’d call Season of the Dead.
By 1985, the band would follow up the album with the Unholy Passion EP, which Eerie Von
would classify in his 2009 photography book as “more underground, more tribal,
[and] a step back further into the darkness.” Despite the support Samhain received up to
this point, they were still a tough sell to their hardcore punk peers. Pete Marshall,
when interviewed by Jeff Frumes in 2020, would recall the hostile reaction the band received
when performing one of the EP’s tracks, “Macabre.” (muh-kaab)
“They didn’t like us at all,” he’d say. “There were glass ashtrays around the club that they
were throwing at us. Occasionally, you had people trying to pour beer in your
boots.” He adds, “Girls [understood us] a little better, [but] every skinhead immediately hated
us.” Marshall would emphasize the extent of that hostility in an anecdote of one of their
performances in Columbus, Ohio, when sharing the bill with Louisville punk band Maurice.
“A bunch of guys said they were going to get us…We had one of the kids from Maurice look
out and make sure [it was safe], but this guy slashed all the tires on our Hertz rental van,
and he denied it when we came back outside.” But Samhain wouldn’t be deterred. By 1986,
they released their sophomore album, Samhain III: November-Coming-Fire, and their shows
would be a testament to their success at the time. Danzig would tell Thrasher Magazine, “If somebody
[asked] me, ‘Which record should I get that really portrays Samhain,’ I would say the new one.”
“Already, we’re drawing about the same amount as The Misfits are drawing.” “We
just played up in Boston, and it’s a totally different crowd…It’s a lot of
kids who don’t even know who the Misfits are.” “There’s a lot of people that do come, who are
interested in what goes on after The Misfits and just like the songwriting, and that’s cool. I have
people come up to me and say, ‘God, there will never be another Misfits,” and then walk away,
but there are also people who say, “The Misfits were never this good.” Spin magazine would write
around this time “it became a common sight to see long haired metalheads walking down a street
wearing a t-shirt with the misfits trademarked goofily grinning skull emblazoned on it.”
A month after the interview, Samhain performed at The Ritz, and attracted the attention of
producer Rick Rubin, who would sign Danzig to a solo deal with his label, American Recordings.
It would be metallica bassist cliff burton and frontman james hetfield who encouraged rubin
to sign danzig with him telling loudersound “I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we
became kinda friends. We’d often bump into each other on the road, and then one day Cliff called
me up asking for the lyrics to Last Caress/Green Hell, the old Misfits song. It seemed Metallica
were planning to do this for a covers EP [1987’s The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited, although
by the time they got around to recording this, Cliff had died]. So,
James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them.
Danzig would tell Kerrang how he met Rick Rubin revealing
Rick came to see us at a big New Music Seminar show in New York. We were representing New York,
Celtic Frost were representing Europe and D.O.A. were representing Canada. Rick had signed Slayer
at a similar show the year before, so he was just checking out all the bands I think. I
had other label people there because the band was getting too big for my small label [Plan 9], and
he came in and introduced himself. I didn’t know who the fuck he was, he just looked like he was
in ZZ Top. But we had some friends in common and I took a couple of meetings with him and I
liked what he had to say, so I went with him.” By changing the band’s name to his surname,
Danzing would take full control of both the creative direction and the lineup,
with Eerie Von as the only other permanent member. The third and final Samhain album, Final Descent,
would be released in 1990, featuring a collection of tracks prior to the transition to Danzig,
as well as reworked tracks from Initium. Side note guys i’ve done a whole video
on the danzig single mother and why MTV refused to play it. The link is down below.
Over the years, Samhain would participate in various reunions. In 1999, they’d promote Box Set,
a retrospective compilation featuring nearly all of their releases, which was put out the following
year. Further reunions took place in the 2010s, including the Danzig Legacy series in 2011 and
2012, and a performance at Riot Fest in 2014. Interest in Samhain has steadily grown since
the reunions, and their material continues to receive praise as recently as this year. Despite
their renewed visibility, the band’s catalogue hasn’t been released fully in its original form,
and hasn’t seen an official digital release either, which remains a contentious issue.
On October 18th, Neil Jameson of Decibel Magazine wrote an article titled An Open Letter to Glenn
Danzig. In the article, Jameson promptly calls for a full reissue of Samhain’s catalogue,
while also recounting personal interactions with Danzig, and his dedication as fan of his music.
The remaining section of the article may sound humorous, but conveys a
sincere passion and urgency, as it reads, “Here we are, a couple weeks before Halloween,
and I’ve taken you through nearly 30 years of my life. My Samhain CDs are all in tatters,
my vinyl is in the hands of someone who’ll probably only take pictures of them for Instagram
and never listen to them, and Danzig almost ran me over when he sped out of the Amoeba parking lot.”
“So, this Halloween, please, Glenn, I’ve been good. Please reissue these fucking records.
Pretty please with some skulls on top? I know you want those. Thanks. Your pal, Neil.”
That does it for today’s episode of Rock N’ Roll True Stories, guys; thanks for watching.
Be sure to hit the like button and subscribe, and I’ll see you in the next video. Take care.