THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9504290055
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE SMALLWOOD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
EERIE VON WOULD like to set the record straight. Danzig - both singer Glenn Danzig and his controversial, self-named heavy metal band, which is steeped in dark, often demonic imagery - is not satanic.
``As far as the lyrics go, none of that's satanic, it's definitely not,'' the Danzig bassist explained recently from Detroit. ``(Glenn Danzig) just sometimes puts himself in the role of Evil, and everybody knows that Satan is the ultimate evil guy. That's how people write songs, you think up situations.
``The upside down crosses and all that stuff'' that adorn Danzig albums and T-shirts, ``I've never really agreed with that, that's too much one way or the other. After a while, you get tired of it - that's fun for shock value, but you get tired of it. And now, of course, when you want all that stuff to go away, you can't.''
``I would like people to listen to the music, read the lyrics, come see the show, then go to church afterward,'' Von deadpanned.
Danzig will bring their heavy metal mayhem to a show Tuesday night at the Boathouse in Norfolk.
Von and the rest of Danzig could do without the intense scrutiny these days, thank you very much, because after four albums, their musical prowess is now just as potent as their shock esthetic. Their latest LP, the dynamic ``Danzig 4,'' is ample proof: barrel-throated Glenn Danzig is at his most commanding as he howls, yowls and coos; tracks are rife with evocative sonic textures.
``We used to do that a lot more in other bands we were in before,'' said Von, who has been playing with Glenn Danzig since their days in the seminal horror-punk outfit the Misfits and rococo metal group Samhain. ``After we got done playing with the heavy metal overtones, we wanted to go back to what we used to do, set more of a mood,'' Von said. ``There's a lot of keyboards and backward stuff, added little things here and there.''
The album was produced by Rick Rubin, the music industry impresario who heads up American Recordings, Danzig's record label. Rubin discovered the band nine years ago as Samhain, renamed and signed them to his label, then molded Danzig in his own image for their stark debut, 1988's ``Danzig.''
``On the first album, nobody knew exactly where we were going or what we were going to sound like,'' Von recalled of Rubin's early influence. ``But he had definite ideas about the way the band should sound, so we let him have pretty much free rein on that first record.
``By the time the third record rolled around, he had nothing to do with it. He wasn't even there. But once he saw how that was and how things were going, he wanted to get back into it, so he got back in with the live EP.''
That release, 1993's ``Thrall: Demonsweatlive,'' proved pivotal for the group, mainstreaming Danzig with the surprising radio success of the track ``Mother,'' which last year gained play at album rock, alternative and even Top 40 stations.
The obscure little death metal band instantly found themselves in the limelight, setting the stage for the apparent success of ``Danzig 4,'' which has resided on the Billboard charts for months.
Glenn Danzig, for all his evil-guy posturing, is a prolific and generous songwriter, penning all of his band's material, plus songs for other rather unlikely artists. He gave ``Life Fades Away'' to Roy Orbison for the ``Less Than Zero'' movie soundtrack and contributed ``Thirteen'' for Johnny Cash's ``American Recordings'' album.
Longtime drummer Chuck Biscuits left the group during a Danzig tour with Metallica. Biscuits has been replaced with Joey Castillo of the L.A. group Sugartooth.
``He just wasn't into playing with us anymore,'' Von said of Biscuits, who's also a veteran of influential punk bands Black Flag and the Circle Jerks. ``He wanted a few things changed . . . plus he had other problems we couldn't really help him with.
``We were like, `Well, this is the way it is, you're either going to keep doing it or not, like the rest of us.' We wanted him to sign something that says he won't quit the band in the middle of a tour, and he didn't want to do that.
``There's just too much money at stake now - we're professionals, we have things we have to do. It's not like `I'm in a punk rock band and I can do anything I want.' You've got 35 crew guys, truck drivers, bus drivers, merchandisers, management, all these people that depend on you. And you got all the kids too. It's not just four guys anymore.'' MEMO: CONCERT FACTS
Who: Danzig with Marilyn Manson and Korn
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday
Where: the Boathouse, Norfolk
Tickets: $13.50 advance. 622-6395. To order, call 671-8100. by CNB