Photo Credit: Mick Rock
It isn’t everyday that Radio UTD interviews a band with such a long-spanning career as the Misfits, so when the iconic horror-punk crew stopped by Dallas, we were delighted to sit down with the band’s bassist, Jerry Only. Read on for his thoughts on vocal lessons, Australia, and how punk went mainstream.
The legend of the Misfits as a band is everlasting: 35 years, countless fans, seven albums, countless tours, and you pretty much created your own genre of rock. You managed to do what a lot of bands in your time haven’t: keep the fire going and introduce yourself to younger generations. Do you ever look back on any of this and find it hard to believe?
I didn’t expect to take as long as it did! I grew up listening to 50s rock and roll; my mom was nineteen when she had me and she used to listen to Little Richard and Buddy Holly and she had 45 collections. For me to transform into this kind of band, it was very simple—I started when I was in high school as a senior playing, and did my first show before I graduate high school. I started to learn other people’s stuff and found that very unsatisfying. I wound up bumping into Glenn and we started the band and started doing our own stuff. To me, that was much more gratifying than learning to play [other people’s material.] The first songs that we did were like “Bullet” and “Sheath”—stuff that was like three chords and basic rock n’ roll. It seemed to be the right avenue for me. I think that over the years we influenced a lot of things and I think the fact that we keep it simple is what really makes it effective.
I would definitely agree with that! I think for me personally it definitely helps your legend because punk has changed so much…
Well, it became mainstream. Punk got ruined in the beginning by bands like Billy Idol…The Clash started doing reggae. The Clash is a great punk band but at the same time their hit songs were like “Rock the Casbar.” People morphed into what worked for them from a business standpoint and punk became new wave. What happened was that record companies watered everything down and flocks of seagulls took the place of the Sex Pistols. So what happened was you got stuck with all that new wave crap…I think the original punk is still the best.
You guys just released “The Devil’s Rain” last month. I know that it’s your first band effort in about eight years and the first that this lineup has released. It put me back into being in my room—running all over my room and jumping on my bed. It has that energy…
You have some energy too! [laughs] It was a group effort. I’ve known Dez for as long as I’ve been in the band and Goat, the guy that’s doing the drums for us, as well—he’s been hardcore bands in and out since as far as I can remember. I’ve working with these guys for over ten years, so it was just a matter of us getting to the point where we realized we just needed to step up to the plate, and we did! We really focused on writing the material, and we did about a year of demos. My son does our sound engineering, so he does all our demo stuff. We just stayed on it, so it just wound up being a situation where our time had come. We’d come to the point where the material was there, the band was gelling, and everybody had the same focus. We just took it and did it, and just left a wake of destruction behind us!
How was the recording process different for this album?
It was like a machine. [With the drums], we’d done sixteen songs in eight days. At [produce Ed Statsium’s house], we would start in the morning, but wouldn’t work until ten. It was a pain for me cause Dez works at the crack of dawn, and me too! I’d wake up at six and we’d go to the studio at Ed’s house at ten. We’d cut the bass in the twenty minutes to an hour—that’s like a whole song. Dez would play guitar, I’d do my vocal lesson, and then we’d do vocals until I’d start drawing out garbage. When I’d start singing like crap, then Dez would finish the guitar and that’s how we’d end the day. We’d average a song a day. I’d say about a day and half per song which, for me, is pretty crankin’.
I wanted to ask specifically about your vocals. You have a melodic quality to it; do you do any warm-ups?
My vocal teacher is Don Lawrence and he’s from Manhattan. He did all the opera people and Mick Jagger, Bono, Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga—she started with him when he was thirteen. I took vocal lessons because when we got Graves? in the band, we had to fill up big shoes cause Glenn was no longer in the band. Michael was young, he was nineteen, and didn’t really know much. So what happened was we went for vocal lessons and I continued to keep up with it. A vocal lesson is a warm-up that starts an hour before you sing. You do your vocal lesson for half an hour, then you have to sit down and be quiet for half an hour, which is very hard for me! After that, you’re ready to sing. Vocals are technique, persistence, and patience; you have to really understand that when you can’t hear yourself, you can’t yell. You have to understand that people can hear what you’re doing, even though you can’t. You have to be relaxed and not push yourself into the bad spots.
You guys are headed to Australia soon, and I know America loves the Misfits, but internationally you guys have the crazy fans and the bigger shows. So what is about going across the pond that you love? Is there anything you’re looking forward to?
Well, kids are kids everywhere you go! The further we get into South America, the crazier things get! Europe is good for us too; [they] have a very good perspective—they’re don’t judge you. They’re here to enjoy themselves. That’s why when we first got a new singer in the band I went to Europe before I went to the US. I thought, “Let me get everybody broken in, then take it back to the US.” People overseas really come out for it, and I think they have a lot of respect for American music. They have a lot of respect for what we’ve done, and we do very well overseas—sometimes better than the States!
I feel like things are a lot more restricting in America sometimes, cause they’re always like, “I want to be like it was in the day!” but Europe is just into enjoying themselves…
They’re very liberal there, and they live in the now! It’s very refreshing.
It’s a shame we can’t get that here…
Well [Europe has] big festivals too…each country has a big time, a big show. Usually we’ll play with Pantera or Slayer or Ozzy; we’ve played with Iron Maiden, which was really cool. The thing is, we hold our own. We have good songs, we have a good catalogue, and we have a lot of songs that everybody knows. We go out and deliver, and it comes off well.
Tell me about Juicehead!
They’re hardworking guys; they’re label mates with us. They tour with us quite a bit. I really like the guys, there’s nothing bad to say. They’re a great band, and we’re lucky to have them.
For the last question: I’m a huge comic nerd, and I noticed that you guys invaded Marvel Comics recently! In full costume!
Yeah, that was great! That went really well. They’ve been thinking of doing something for us. I’ve been trying to get a comic book together for years and just haven’t found the right avenue, and obviously Marvel is top of the line. It was really cool to go there.
Did you guys scare a couple of people?
Yeah, but these big corporate empires are kind of scary in themselves.
Yeah, I think I’d be more afraid of them than if I saw you guys!
It’s weird because you go in there and everybody’s got their own little cubicle, and you can’t believe the amount of stuff they put out from a four by four space. It’s kind of interesting that way.
