No one laughs like Jerry Only. He's got a hearty laugh that booms over the phone receiver.
A lot of criticism has been thrown at The Misfits since their latest incarnation of Jerry Only, Marky Ramone and Dez Cardena. But why does it matter if they fucking rock your socks off. I've seen them live a number of times both on TV and at a concert venue. They kick ass.
Their latest album, Project 1950, is something I don't think anyone expected. It's an album of cover songs from the 1950's like "This Magic Moment" by Jay & the Americans, Paul Anka's frothy "Diana," and Conway Twitty's "Only Make Believe."
I got a chance to talk with smooth chested Misfits frontman and original member Jerry Only. We talked about giving the neighborhood kids switchblades, Spongebob Squarepants and bobbleheads.
Check out the website for The Misfits.
Daniel Robert Epstein: I heard you've wanted to do this album for 15 years.
Jerry Only: 15? More like 35 [laughs]. When I was a kid my mom used to put oldies records on in a stack on the turntable. She would go away to watch TV and leave me there listening while I played with my toys. So I grew up listening to these bands. Me and my brothers used to play pots and pans to my dad's Four Seasons records.
DRE: So things haven't changed that much.
JO: No they haven't. What happened was after that once I started to get into music on my own probably about 7 or 8 years old. I started my own collection of oldies. I took what was left of my mom's collection and I would get reissues at Sam Goody's every Friday. My 8th grade teacher was my dad's teacher when he was in school. He used to do Sock Hops and spin them for the class. Once I hit high school I evolved into total metal and rock & roll.
DRE: Why didn't you turn into Harry Connick Jr or something like that?
JO: I don't know [laughs]. The thing was when I was a freshman we would go down to the Jersey Shore and they would have these wheel games. You were able to win an album if it landed on your number. It was a 20 to 1 shot. I remember winning Kiss' first album, Queen's first album, Aerosmith's album then I started going to these guy's tours. It was spawned by the cultural experience of going on vacation with my parents. I bounced into the record company's exploitation of new music on the Boardwalk. Nobody like that was on the radio.
DRE: What was it like working with Ronnie Spector [of '60s group The Ronettes]?
JO: I had Me and My Baby 45. I had a bunch of her stuff. It was cool to work with her. She was a good friend of Joey Ramone's so when we called her up she was receptive. I never thought I'd be singing on a record with Ronnie Spector. This is total lunacy.
DRE: Have you been playing these songs in concert?
JO: Yeah we put them in the middle of the set before I got to do some of the newer Misfits stuff. I try to build from a vocal standpoint. We'll do them right after the American psycho block. We've done This Magic Moment, Donna, and Dream Lovers. We end the set with Runaway which goes over very well. Everyone knows this stuff, you see little kids mouthing it. Then I get to watch them mosh to Dream Lover. Can you imagine that? I sit there and laugh with a big stupid grin on my face. It's like we're playing one of our songs.
We have mothers who are taking their kids CDs for this stuff. So be very cautious.
DRE: Is the Misfits your vision now or is it up spilt up between you guys?
JO: The thing is that in the end the Ramones are gone and they're not going to be coming back. They lost their guy. Dez is singing with Black Flag and we do a couple of Black Flag songs. But our audience is not so much the Oy kind of kids. We've had kids who say we need some more Misfits Earth AD kind of stuff. So we'll adjust. I want to start on working on a new album. But this 50's album idea came along and it was a chance to work with some good people. Marky and Dez were psyched about it. Some of the other guys didn't want to do it. I wanted them to give me a good reason not to.
DRE: Do people give you shit for not having any other Misfits members being there?
JO: Well they ask for Doyle. I miss Doyle but he needed some time off for personal stuff. Right now he's got a bad elbow and I hope he doesn't have to have it operated on. That would really suck. He hurt it at work he says. The thing is my job is to keep the band alive. I've gone though a lot of different criticisms for a lot of different things. A lot of stuff came at us when we started back up without Glenn and that's almost ten years ago. I can't sit back and let people tell me what to do and not do. I think I should do it and if I fail at least I tried. If I succeed then they were wrong. You got one shot at things and it's important to do what you want.
DRE: Did you and Danzig make up?
JO: Yeah we're friends. We're talking about maybe doing something. There's a lot of business stuff to be worked out for it to happen. The thing is at least its under discussion now. A few years ago it was out of the question. Regardless of whether we get Glenn or not I still want to write new music. Its time to start writing a new Misfits album. I want to finish up this year and maybe some more touring next spring because this album is also the launch of our label. It gives me the opportunity to work on my vocals and try my best to be a frontman. My game has gone through the roof. I may never be the greatest singer of all time but I'm going to be the best number two guy in the business. The hell with it.
DRE: Are you guys still causing hell at all?
JO: I just got arrested in Holland with seven switchblades. I was bringing them back for the kids. They popped me. They put my bag through the x-ray and found two then looked at me, put the bag through again and kept pulling them out. Finally they just arrested me and I had to pay a big fine. They knew I wasn't a terrorist. They were just aggravated because I said I was bringing them home for kids. I said I had good kids. They're not hurting anybody and I thought it would be cool for them to have a switchblade. I bought them for the whole neighborhood.
DRE: What's the craziest thing anyone threw onstage at you?
JO: I think the head of a lamb. We went down to the butcher shop and got a bunch of heads and hung them up during a Halloween show. We put them in nylon stockings and hung them over the doors. They were dripping and stinking so somebody sent one up onstage.
DRE: What's the craziest thing you threw back?
JO: People [laughs]. They get on the stage and if I can get underneath them then they will go flying.
DRE: I saw picture of the Jerry Only bobblehead. That's really funny.
JO: I know it is. A guy who does the Batman: The Animated Series designed them Butch Lukic.
DRE: How's it been touring with The Damned?
JO: Very good. It got a little complicated as things went on. It's tough when you have two headliners. For me we didn't get our tour manager inline until two weeks before the show so a lot of things weren't done in advance. The same thing happened with them. It was a scramble. I actually had to pull my bed out of the bus and build a drum riser out of it. We wanted to launch a festival to give ourselves a format to launch new bands to seek out new worlds and new civilizations [laughs]. We don't fit into the Warped Tour. It's a nice thing. It's for new bands and it's a showcase for them. But when we're on there I feel really guilty that I'm taking someone's spot. There's some band out there that needs some break. One less kid or one more kid ain't going to come because we're there.
DRE: Are the Misfits ever going to break out and have a hit?
JO: I don't know. Maybe with this record even though we didn't write the songs. Hit songs are hit songs forever so we filled a whole album with them.
DRE: I've always wondered, do you shave your chest?
JO: No. its natural. Over the years I've gotten older and a little hairier but I got blond hair on my body so it's kind of weird.
DRE: When did you first hang that hair lock down in front of your face?
JO: 1978. it was blue and it was getting really long so I did this Superman curl but my hair wouldn't curl. As it got longer I dyed it black and away we went. It's gotten pretty famous. The funny thing is that its recognizable I always draw the makeup and the hair on everybody.
DRE: Do you have any archenemies right now?
JO: Spongbob Squarepants. Some PowerPuff things. In the old days it used to be Godzilla and Rodan guys with a lot of character but now it's Pokemon. These are our enemies.
DRE: What's your favorite pornography?
JO: I would probably say like the sci-fi stuff I see. It's more along the lines of stuff like Witchblade.
DRE: You're married?
JO: Well I'm going through a divorce. Things have gotten little crazy.
DRE: Have you ever slept with a Goth girl?
JO: No. it scares me.
DRE: Scares you?
JO: Naw not really.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
A lot of criticism has been thrown at The Misfits since their latest incarnation of Jerry Only, Marky Ramone and Dez Cardena. But why does it matter if they fucking rock your socks off. I've seen them live a number of times both on TV and at a concert venue. They kick ass.
Their latest album, Project 1950, is something I don't think anyone expected. It's an album of cover songs from the 1950's like "This Magic Moment" by Jay & the Americans, Paul Anka's frothy "Diana," and Conway Twitty's "Only Make Believe."
I got a chance to talk with smooth chested Misfits frontman and original member Jerry Only. We talked about giving the neighborhood kids switchblades, Spongebob Squarepants and bobbleheads.
Check out the website for The Misfits.
Daniel Robert Epstein: I heard you've wanted to do this album for 15 years.
Jerry Only: 15? More like 35 [laughs]. When I was a kid my mom used to put oldies records on in a stack on the turntable. She would go away to watch TV and leave me there listening while I played with my toys. So I grew up listening to these bands. Me and my brothers used to play pots and pans to my dad's Four Seasons records.
DRE: So things haven't changed that much.
JO: No they haven't. What happened was after that once I started to get into music on my own probably about 7 or 8 years old. I started my own collection of oldies. I took what was left of my mom's collection and I would get reissues at Sam Goody's every Friday. My 8th grade teacher was my dad's teacher when he was in school. He used to do Sock Hops and spin them for the class. Once I hit high school I evolved into total metal and rock & roll.
DRE: Why didn't you turn into Harry Connick Jr or something like that?
JO: I don't know [laughs]. The thing was when I was a freshman we would go down to the Jersey Shore and they would have these wheel games. You were able to win an album if it landed on your number. It was a 20 to 1 shot. I remember winning Kiss' first album, Queen's first album, Aerosmith's album then I started going to these guy's tours. It was spawned by the cultural experience of going on vacation with my parents. I bounced into the record company's exploitation of new music on the Boardwalk. Nobody like that was on the radio.
DRE: What was it like working with Ronnie Spector [of '60s group The Ronettes]?
JO: I had Me and My Baby 45. I had a bunch of her stuff. It was cool to work with her. She was a good friend of Joey Ramone's so when we called her up she was receptive. I never thought I'd be singing on a record with Ronnie Spector. This is total lunacy.
DRE: Have you been playing these songs in concert?
JO: Yeah we put them in the middle of the set before I got to do some of the newer Misfits stuff. I try to build from a vocal standpoint. We'll do them right after the American psycho block. We've done This Magic Moment, Donna, and Dream Lovers. We end the set with Runaway which goes over very well. Everyone knows this stuff, you see little kids mouthing it. Then I get to watch them mosh to Dream Lover. Can you imagine that? I sit there and laugh with a big stupid grin on my face. It's like we're playing one of our songs.
We have mothers who are taking their kids CDs for this stuff. So be very cautious.
DRE: Is the Misfits your vision now or is it up spilt up between you guys?
JO: The thing is that in the end the Ramones are gone and they're not going to be coming back. They lost their guy. Dez is singing with Black Flag and we do a couple of Black Flag songs. But our audience is not so much the Oy kind of kids. We've had kids who say we need some more Misfits Earth AD kind of stuff. So we'll adjust. I want to start on working on a new album. But this 50's album idea came along and it was a chance to work with some good people. Marky and Dez were psyched about it. Some of the other guys didn't want to do it. I wanted them to give me a good reason not to.
DRE: Do people give you shit for not having any other Misfits members being there?
JO: Well they ask for Doyle. I miss Doyle but he needed some time off for personal stuff. Right now he's got a bad elbow and I hope he doesn't have to have it operated on. That would really suck. He hurt it at work he says. The thing is my job is to keep the band alive. I've gone though a lot of different criticisms for a lot of different things. A lot of stuff came at us when we started back up without Glenn and that's almost ten years ago. I can't sit back and let people tell me what to do and not do. I think I should do it and if I fail at least I tried. If I succeed then they were wrong. You got one shot at things and it's important to do what you want.
DRE: Did you and Danzig make up?
JO: Yeah we're friends. We're talking about maybe doing something. There's a lot of business stuff to be worked out for it to happen. The thing is at least its under discussion now. A few years ago it was out of the question. Regardless of whether we get Glenn or not I still want to write new music. Its time to start writing a new Misfits album. I want to finish up this year and maybe some more touring next spring because this album is also the launch of our label. It gives me the opportunity to work on my vocals and try my best to be a frontman. My game has gone through the roof. I may never be the greatest singer of all time but I'm going to be the best number two guy in the business. The hell with it.
DRE: Are you guys still causing hell at all?
JO: I just got arrested in Holland with seven switchblades. I was bringing them back for the kids. They popped me. They put my bag through the x-ray and found two then looked at me, put the bag through again and kept pulling them out. Finally they just arrested me and I had to pay a big fine. They knew I wasn't a terrorist. They were just aggravated because I said I was bringing them home for kids. I said I had good kids. They're not hurting anybody and I thought it would be cool for them to have a switchblade. I bought them for the whole neighborhood.
DRE: What's the craziest thing anyone threw onstage at you?
JO: I think the head of a lamb. We went down to the butcher shop and got a bunch of heads and hung them up during a Halloween show. We put them in nylon stockings and hung them over the doors. They were dripping and stinking so somebody sent one up onstage.
DRE: What's the craziest thing you threw back?
JO: People [laughs]. They get on the stage and if I can get underneath them then they will go flying.
DRE: I saw picture of the Jerry Only bobblehead. That's really funny.
JO: I know it is. A guy who does the Batman: The Animated Series designed them Butch Lukic.
DRE: How's it been touring with The Damned?
JO: Very good. It got a little complicated as things went on. It's tough when you have two headliners. For me we didn't get our tour manager inline until two weeks before the show so a lot of things weren't done in advance. The same thing happened with them. It was a scramble. I actually had to pull my bed out of the bus and build a drum riser out of it. We wanted to launch a festival to give ourselves a format to launch new bands to seek out new worlds and new civilizations [laughs]. We don't fit into the Warped Tour. It's a nice thing. It's for new bands and it's a showcase for them. But when we're on there I feel really guilty that I'm taking someone's spot. There's some band out there that needs some break. One less kid or one more kid ain't going to come because we're there.
DRE: Are the Misfits ever going to break out and have a hit?
JO: I don't know. Maybe with this record even though we didn't write the songs. Hit songs are hit songs forever so we filled a whole album with them.
DRE: I've always wondered, do you shave your chest?
JO: No. its natural. Over the years I've gotten older and a little hairier but I got blond hair on my body so it's kind of weird.
DRE: When did you first hang that hair lock down in front of your face?
JO: 1978. it was blue and it was getting really long so I did this Superman curl but my hair wouldn't curl. As it got longer I dyed it black and away we went. It's gotten pretty famous. The funny thing is that its recognizable I always draw the makeup and the hair on everybody.
DRE: Do you have any archenemies right now?
JO: Spongbob Squarepants. Some PowerPuff things. In the old days it used to be Godzilla and Rodan guys with a lot of character but now it's Pokemon. These are our enemies.
DRE: What's your favorite pornography?
JO: I would probably say like the sci-fi stuff I see. It's more along the lines of stuff like Witchblade.
DRE: You're married?
JO: Well I'm going through a divorce. Things have gotten little crazy.
DRE: Have you ever slept with a Goth girl?
JO: No. it scares me.
DRE: Scares you?
JO: Naw not really.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
VIEW 25 of 40 COMMENTS
....and there isn't a chance in hell danzig would tour with them. it's his ego. if there was ever a reunion i would give my left nut for this is THEE reunion. i just don't think our generation will see it.