Danzig is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey.
The band is the musical outlet for singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig, preceded by the horror punk
bands the Misfits and Samhain.
They play in a bluesy doom-driven heavy metal style influenced by the early sound of Black
Sabbath.
History Beginnings
On July 14, 1986, Samhain performed at The Ritz in New York in what was to be their final
show.
In attendance was Rick Rubin, who was scouting for potential bands to sign to his record
label, Def American.
Rubin at first wished only to sign Danzig, with the intent of making him the vocalist
for a hard rock supergroup that Rubin envisioned.
However, Danzig refused to sign to Rubin's label without Samhain's bassist Eerie Von.
In 1987, he added John Christ on guitar and Chuck Biscuits on drums.
To reflect the change in musical direction and avoid having to start anew after future
lineup changes, Glenn, on Rubin's advice, changed the name of Samhain to his surname,
Danzig.
"Classic" original lineup-era In 1988, the band released its first album
on Def American.
In 1990, Danzig released its second album, Danzig II: Lucifuge.
By 1992, Rubin's involvement with the band had waned.
Danzig himself took credit for co-producing the third album, Danzig III: How the Gods
Kill.
The following year the band released the Thrall: Demonsweatlive EP, which contained several
live tracks from the band's 1992 Halloween show as well as three new studio tracks.
The live version of "Mother," a song from the first album, became popular on hard rock
radio stations.
A new version of the "Mother" music video was created using live footage, and the video
became a hit on MTV as well.
On October 4, 1994, Danzig 4 was released.
The album sold well, but did not contain a hit on par with the "Mother" single.
The album's second single, "Cantspeak", was also a staple in MTV's rotation, but unlike
"Mother" failed to appear on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Cantspeak" is the band's only single other than "Mother" to chart on Billboard.
Amid accusations of unpaid royalties and broken promises, Danzig's relationship with Rubin
deteriorated, and the band left the record label.
Around this time, the band's lineup began to dissolve as well.
First, Chuck Biscuits left the band in the summer of 1994 due to royalty disagreements.
According to a special issue of Kerrang!, former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl turned down
an approach by the band.
Biscuits was replaced by Joey Castillo, who made his first public appearance as a member
of Danzig at an in-store signing the day of the fourth album's release.
Coincidentally, Castillo would later replace Grohl in Queens of the Stone Age.
Though the band had toured successfully with its new drummer during the fall and winter
of 1994-95, by the spring of 1995 Danzig was actively seeking a new guitarist, with Pepper
Keenan and Dez Cadena considered possible replacements.
John Christ and Eerie Von resigned on July 5, 1995.
Post-original lineup-era In October 1996, Danzig 5: Blackacidevil was
released.
The album was mostly a solo effort by Danzig, although Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains
played lead guitar on three of the album's tracks.
Joey Castillo played drums, the sole member still in the band from the 4p Tour.
Castillo would record on two more Danzig albums, making him the longest-standing member outside
of the original lineup.
For the next few years, Danzig was tied up in a legal battle with Rubin over the rights
to unreleased material the band recorded for American Recordings.
In November 1999, Danzig 6:66 Satan's Child was released.
A long-planned Samhain box set was also released, followed by a Samhain reunion tour.
Samhain opened for Danzig for six weeks during the tour and consisted of Steve Zing and London
May switching between bass and drums.
Later years By 2000, Danzig's line up had stabilized with
the addition of guitarist Todd Youth and bassist Howie Pyro, both veterans of the New York
City punk scene.
In 2002, this line up released the album Danzig 777: I Luciferi.
In 2004, Danzig released their eighth studio album, Circle of Snakes, with the line up
featuring Tommy Victor of Prong on guitar, who had toured as a member of Danzig years
earlier.
Soon after the album's release, Danzig undertook the Blackest of the Black tour across the
United States, replacing Circle of Snakes drummer Bevan Davies with Johnny Kelly.
Recent activity Throughout 2006, Glenn Danzig stated in several
interviews that he had grown tired of the touring cycle, and did not expect to partake
in any more large scale tours.
Instead, Danzig would go on small, localized tours, such as the ten west coast dates they
played for the 2006 Blackest of the Black tour.
This tour debuted Kenny Hickey as the band's new guitarist, while the East Coast dates
saw the addition of former Samhain member, Steve Zing on bass.
In October 2006, Glenn Danzig released Black Aria II, the follow-up to his solo classical
album, Black Aria.
Black Aria was re-released by Evilive in May 2007.
He spent the rest of the year completing the production and packaging of The Lost Tracks
of Danzig, a double CD containing twenty-six unreleased songs that span the entire Danzig
catalog, which was released on July 10, 2007.
Danzig has also stated that he plans to record a dark blues album with either Jerry Cantrell
or Hank Williams III.
In August 2008, Glenn Danzig announced that Danzig would do a 20th anniversary tour, celebrating
the release of their self-titled debut album.
This was the band's first full US tour in three years, which also included stops in
Canada and Mexico.
Also asked in August 2008 if the ninth Danzig album was planned, Glenn Danzig replied:
On December 26, 2009, Danzig performed at the Starland Ballroom in New Jersey.
The show was notable for featuring a special appearance by Michale Graves who, along with
Doyle and Dr. Chud, performed several songs by the reformed version of the Misfits.
On March 10, 2010, a Danzig lyric book was released, titled Hidden Lyrics of the Left
Hand.
The book contains unreleased song lyrics combined with illustrations by Simon Bisley.
Danzig released Deth Red Sabaoth, their ninth studio album, on June 22, 2010.
It is the band's first proper studio album in six years, since 2004's Circle of Snakes.
Both Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly appeared on the record.
In 2009, movie director Todd Phillips chose Danzig's song "Thirteen" to open his film
The Hangover.
Danzig later recorded a new song, "Black Hell", to appear in the 2011 sequel, The Hangover:
Part II.
In January 2011, Danzig were announced for the 2011 Download Festival at Donington Park,
England, alongside bands including Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, and System of a Down.
On the first day of the festival, Danzig headlined the Pepsi Max stage.
On June 12, 2011, Danzig played at the Nova Rock Festival.
On October 25, 2011, a greatest hits album entitled The Essential Danzig was to be released
through Sony BMG.
However, as of December 2011, this has yet to happen, nor have details of the release
been given.
October 2011 also saw a rare string of reunion shows called the "Danzig Legacy" tour.
The shows consisted of a Danzig mini set, followed by a Samhain mini set, a set of Danzig
and Doyle performing Misfits songs, and then ending with three Danzig songs and the performance
of "Skulls".
In May 2012, Danzig released the song "Devil's Angels", the theme from the 1967 film of the
same name, from his as yet untitled covers album: “I've wanted to record this song
since 1979 and this is exactly the same arrangement I had for it back then, so it pretty much
sounds like that late 70s style of mine.
I'm really happy with the way it turned out, it actually came out much better than I had
hoped it would.
We're going to be playing it live on these upcoming shows.”
In April 2013, Glenn Danzig told Full Metal Jackie that he would begin work on new Danzig
material with Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly after the 25th anniversary tour.
In February 2014, the band began recording three new songs for their tenth studio album.
Members
Current Glenn Danzig – lead vocals, rhythm guitar,
keyboards, songwriter Tommy Victor – lead guitar
Johnny Kelly – drums, percussion Steve Zing – bass guitar, backing vocals
Discography
Danzig Danzig II: Lucifuge
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill Danzig 4
Danzig 5: Blackacidevil Danzig 6:66: Satan's Child
Danzig 777: I Luciferi Circle of Snakes
Deth Red Sabaoth References
External links Official website
Danzig discography at MusicBrainz