Only and Doyle immediately set about reforming the Misfits, bringing in drummer David Calabrese, also known as Dr. Chud, who had worked with them in Kryst the Conqueror. Glenn Danzig rejected their offer to return as the band’s lead singer. Dave Vanian of The Damned was also approached but declined. The band, now reformed with one original founding member, Jerry Only, held open auditions for a new vocalist. Nineteen-year-old singer Michael Emanuel had recently recorded a demo tape in hopes of starting a music career, and the owner of the recording studio suggested that he audition for the Misfits. Being unfamiliar with the band, Emanuel listened to Collection I on a walkman to learn the lyrics and melodies while working his job as a greenskeeper. He impressed the band with his audition and was accepted as the new lead singer under the pseudonym Michale Graves, while Doyle adopted the new stage full name Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. The new lineup made an appearance in the 1995 film Animal Room.

The new incarnation of the Misfits released their debut album American Psycho in 1997. They filmed music videos for the songs American Psycho and Dig Up Her Bones. The band toured Europe and North America in support of the album and appeared as characters in World Championship Wrestling. Graves took a hiatus from the band in 1998, during which Myke Itzazone of Empire Hideous filled in as singer during tours of South America and Europe. After Graves’ return the band signed to Roadrunner Records, releasing Famous Monsters in October 1999 and filming a music video for the single Scream! They made additional film appearances in Big Money Hustlas (2000), Bruiser (2000), and Campfire Stories (2001) and continued to tour, but tensions between the band members began to grow. During a performance at the House of Blues in Orlando, Florida on October 25, 2000, Graves and Chud both quit the band and walked off stage. The two later released an album under the name Graves before splitting up; Graves went on to sing for Gotham Road and then launched a solo career, while Chud formed Dr. Chud’s X-Ward. Meanwhile, Doyle took an indefinite hiatus from performing as he divorced, remarried, had a fourth child, and dealt with tendonitis in his elbow.

 

Walk among us was released in March 1982 through Ruby and Slash Records. It was the first full-length Misfits album to be properly released, and the only album to be released while the early incarnation of the band was still active. A national tour in support of the album followed, and the band’s performances began to grow more intense and violent. Danzig and Googy clashed frequently during the tour, and after a heated argument at a McDonald’s restaurant Danzig kicked Googy out of the band, delaying their plans to record their next EP. They offered the vacant drummer position to their friend Eerie Von, who had served as their occasional roadie and photographer, but he had already committed to drumming for Rosemary’s Babies. Henry Rollins recommended former Black Flag drummer Robo, who flew to New Jersey to join the Misfits in July 1982. Doyle graduated from high school and he and Only began working full-time at their father’s machine shop, earning money to purchase new instruments, fund the band’s tours, and press records, while Danzig ran the Fiend Club and continued writing new songs.

In September 1982 the Misfits embarked on a national tour, with the Necros as their opening act. During the tour they stopped at a studio to record the instrumental tracks for their next EP. They were arrested in New Orleans on charges of grave robbing while attempting to locate the grave of voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau, but bailed themselves out of jail and skipped their court date in order to drive to their next performance in Florida. Following the tour they released seven songs from the November 1981 performance in San Francisco in limited numbers only to members of the Fiend Club as the Evilive EP.

By this time Danzig was growing increasingly dissatisfied with the Misfits and had begun writings songs for a new band project. In June 1983 he confided to Henry Rollins that he planned to quit the group.^[3] In July 1983 the Misfits finished recording their EP, and Danzig decided to record two more songs that he had intended for his new project, turning it into a full album. Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood demonstrated the increased influence of hardcore punk and heavy metal on the band, though they would break up just two months before it was released. After a series of arguments with Danzig, Robo left the band in August and Danzig became further disenchanted, beginning to audition musicians for his next project.

On October 29, 1983, the Misfits played their annual Halloween performance at Greystone Hall in Detroit with the Necros. Danzig had selected Brian Damage (real name Brian Keats), formerly of Genocide and Verbal Abuse, as the band’s new drummer. However, Damage became drunk before the show and could not play properly. After several songs Doyle escorted him off the stage and Todd Swalla of The Necros filled in for the remainder of the performance. Tensions came to a head and Danzig announced to the audience that it would be the band’s final show. Upon returning to Lodi the band members went their separate ways.

Following the Static Age sessions, the Misfits began a shift in songwriting and appearance, with Danzig writing more songs inspired by B horror and science fiction films. He painted skeletal patterns on his performance clothing, while Only began applying dark makeup around his eyes and styling his hair in a long point hanging from his forehead between his eyes and down to his chin, a style that became known as a «devilock» and which both Danzig and Only’s brother Doyle would eventually adopt. This new style and musical direction would later be described as the subgenre «horror punk«.

The band performed more frequently and went on short tours in support of the Bullet single. While in Canada in October 1978 Coma quit the band because he did not enjoy touring, and guitarist Rick Riley filled in temporarily to finish the tour. Mr. Jim also quit following the tour, citing a distaste for the horror direction in which the band was heading. Within two months the pair were replaced by drummer Joey Poole, under the pseudonym Joey Image, and guitarist Bobby Kaufhold, also known as Bobby Steele. The new lineup of Danzig, Only, Image, and Steele began performing in December 1978 and continued to evolve the horror elements of the band. They released the Horror Business single in June 1979, the cover of which featured a skeletal figure inspired by a poster for the 1946 film serial The Crimson Ghost.

The figure became a mascot for the band, and its skull image would serve as the Misfits’ logo for the rest of their career. The band also launched a fan club named the «Fiend Club» which Danzig operated in a do-it-yourself fashion from his mother’s basement in Lodi, silkscreening T-shirts, assembling records, mailing merchandise catalogs, booking shows for the band, and answering fan mail.

In June 1979, the Misfits performed as openers for The Damned in New York City. Only spoke with singer Dave Vanian about the possibility of the Misfits touring the United Kingdom with The Damned. That November the band released the Night of the Living Dead single and flew to England to tour with The Damned. Upon arriving there, however, they learned that Vanian had not taken his conversation with Only seriously and had not planned on having the Misfits on the tour. Vanian attempted to arrange for the Misfits to take part in the tour, but the band members were unhappy with the situation and left the tour after only two shows. Image then quit the band and flew back to the United States. With their return flight not scheduled until late December, the remaining band members stayed in London. Only spent time with Sid Vicious‘ mother, Anne Ritchie, whom he had befriended after Vicious’ death in February 1979. Danzig and Steele got into a fight with skinheads while waiting to see The Jam, were arrested, and spent two nights in jail in Brixton. This experience inspired the later song London Dungeon. Although in an interview on podcast San Clemente Punk, Bobby Steele tells a completely different version of the events.

 

Misfits were formed in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey, by Glenn Danzig, who had previous experience performing in local bands. He named the band after actress Marilyn Monroe‘s final film, The Misfits (1961). Danzig recruited drummer Manny Martínez. Martínez later saw a bass guitar in the back of a car that was parked at his neighbors, the bass and the car was owned by Jerry Caiafa. Martínez asked Caiafa if he would play bass in his band. Caiafa had recently received a bass guitar as a Christmas gift. Caiafa was accepted despite having only practiced his instrument for two months. He and Danzig remained the only consistent members of the Misfits until the group disbanded in 1983.

The trio of Danzig, Martínez, and Caiafa rehearsed for three months without a guitarist, using Danzig’s electric piano to provide the songs’ rhythm. They recorded the band’s first single, Cough/Cool, which they released through their own label Blank Records in August 1977. Caiafa’s surname was misspelled on the record’s sleeve, prompting him to insist that in the future he be credited as «Jerry, only Jerry». «Jerry Only» became his pseudonym for the rest of his career. The band played their first two performances at CBGB in New York City, followed by other local performances over the following two months.

In August 1977, guitarist Frank Licata joined the band under the pseudonym Franché Coma. The addition of a permanent guitar player allowed Danzig to phase out the electric piano and focus on singing, and pushed the band’s sound in a punk rock direction. Danzig and Only judged Martínez unreliable and replaced him with Mr. Jim (surname Catania). The band found a recording opportunity when Mercury Records wished to use the name Blank Records for one of its subdivisions and offered Danzig thirty hours of studio time in exchange for the trademark to the name. Danzig accepted, and in January 1978 the Misfits entered a New York recording studio to record their first album. The band recorded seventeen songs, fourteen of which were mixed for the proposed Static Age album. The band were unable to find a record label interested in releasing it, so they released four of the songs in June 1978 as the Bullet single on their own label Plan 9 Records, named after the 1959 science fiction horror film Plan 9 From Outer Space. Static Age was not released in its entirety until 1996.

The Misfits are an American punk rock band often recognized as the progenitors of the horror punk subgenre, blending punk and other musical influences with horror film themes and imagery. Founded in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey, the original lineup consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Glenn Danzig, bassist Jerry Only, and drummer Manny Martínez. Danzig and Only were the only consistent members throughout the next six years, during which they released several EPs and singles, and with Only’s brother Doyle as guitarist, the albums Walk Among Us (1982) and Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983), both considered touchstones of the early-1980s hardcore punk movement. The band has had several lineup changes over the years, with bassist Jerry Only being the only constant member in the group.

The Misfits disbanded in 1983, and Glenn Danzig went on to form Samhain and then Danzig. Several albums of reissued and previously unreleased material were issued after the group’s dissolution, and their music later became influential to punk rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock. After a series of legal battles with Danzig, Only and Doyle regained the rights to record and perform as the Misfits. They formed a new version of the band in 1995 with singer Michale Graves and drummer Dr. Chud. This incarnation of Misfits had a more heavy metal sound, and released the albums American Psycho (1997) and Famous Monsters(1999) before dissolving in 2000. Jerry Only then took over lead vocals and recruited former Black Flag guitarist Dez Cadena and former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone for a Misfits 25th anniversary tour.

This lineup released an album of cover songs titled Project 1950 and toured for several years. In 2005, Marky was replaced by Robo, who had played with Black Flag in the early 1980s and had also previously been Misfits’ drummer from 1982 to 1983. This lineup released a single titled Land of the Dead in 2009. The Misfits’ lineup of Only, Cadena, and drummer Eric «Chupacabra» Arce released a new album titled The Devil’s Rain in October 2011. In 2015, it was announced that Cadena would be taking a break from music after receiving a cancer diagnosis, and was replaced by Only’s son Jerry Caiafa II, presented as Jerry Other. That same year Soulfly‘s Marc Rizzo joined the band, also playing guitar. He filled in for Cadena, before Caiafa would move on to become the sole guitarist for the band.

On September 2016, for the first time in 33 years, Danzig, Only, and Doyle reunited for two headlining shows at the Riot Fest, along with drummer Dave Lombardo and second guitarist Acey Slade. They also reunited for two New Year’s Eve shows in Las Vegas and Los Angeles in December 2017, and later performed again at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 19, 2018.^[1][2] On April 27th, 2019 The Original Misfits will play a show at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.