Jerry Only - Misfits (05/01/2013)
Touring Australia this January, we chat with Jerry Only, bassist and vocalist of iconic punk group, Misfits.
Hi Jerry, how are you doing?
I’m pretty good, how about yourself?
I’m not so bad, I’m just going to ask a few questions.
Go for it man!
Awesome! First up, what are your thoughts on the upcoming Australian tour?
Yeah man, we haven’t been there in about three years, so we’re really looking forward to it!
It’s been something like 36 years since the Misfits started, and nearly from the beginning you guys were seen as iconic. What’s it been like to watch that legacy grow larger and larger over the years?
Well, it’s a little bit astounding; it’s kind of a Cinderella story. The band started out really strong, doing a lot of innovative stuff which then exploded when we did the Earth A.D. album. It was just too much energy to actually contain everybody and things went in all different directions. It took a long time to get it all back together, but during that time bands like Metallica and Guns and Roses kind of kept things alive for us and gave us a real legendary status.
Now coming back, I think we’ve really shined well. I think the first of the records we did in the late nineties turned out really well. I think the first one we got out was the 1950’s record in which we had the line-up we’ve kind of got now, and it was my first shot really singin’. In 2011 we put out Devil’s Rain, and Devil’s Rain to me was a real triumph because we had a real solid line-up and we were able to experiment a little bit and bring things to a different level. I think that the direction of the band has really found itself.
With all of that, we’ve put out a live album, and this year we recorded some tracks for out 50’s project to be re-released. We recorded a real high production 45’ for Halloween, with Descending Angel with a classical piano piece as its ending and we did a cover of Rocky Horror Picture Show’s title track “Science Fiction/Double Feature”. It’s all very high end and well produced. Then we did a Christmas record, so we’re very diversified at the moment, we’re doing so many different things. Right now we’re just doing anything that pops into our heads, and we think it’s working well.
And what are your thoughts on the artists now on the scene citing Misfits as their main influence?
Well, it kind of funny because I know most of them now. I bring my kids and my nieces and nephews around to meet the guys, and they’re excited to meet those guys and those guys are excited to meet me, so it’s kind of funny like that. But the more you’re in the business the more you realise that it’s down to Earth people that make it work.
In general I don’t really get starstruck. Like, we were invited to play with Iggy Pop, and Iggy didn’t want to go on at two in the morning, so we had the one o’clock spot right before him and right before the show he asked us if he could take our spot and we could take his. And Iggy is my hero, so I just said “Sure man, whatever’s going to work for you. Whatever you need we’ll do it”.
So then after that Iggy says “So I heard you’ve got one of the guys from Black Flag in your band. Can I meet them?” So Iggy was so excited to meet Robo back when he was in the band at the time, it was very exciting. But generally I don’t really get star struck, I try to keep things as blue collar as possible. I try to keep things sociable with the fans, and I’ve never really been a big believer in that whole rock star mentality. I’ve always just thought we were just a really hard working garage band, and for us to inspire all those other bands, to me that’s an honour. And they’re always respectful, and if they’re not I’ll beat them up, it’s cool.
So, what brought you guys to the idea of making a Christmas Record?
One of the main reasons we did it was because of Blue Christmas. Blue Christmas is an elder song, and we put what I think is a really good spin on it. I think that the song has character; I think the song has spunk. It touches on being a tribute to Elvis without being corny or obnoxious about it, I think it came out really really well. The other one is The Grinch, and the Grinch is something that I grew up with as my favourite Christmas show. It had Lawrence Carloft narrating as the voice of the Grinch for Dr Seuss, and to me it was always the coolest one of all the Christmas shows. When we put it together, it took us a good solid two months to figure out just how to do it and what kind of style to do it in to make it work. Not only give it the Misfits feel, but give it the original Grinch feel as well. I think we nailed that one too.
So we weren’t just a bunch of people doing some cover songs, we wrote a song called the Island of Misfit Toys, which is very Ramonesy sounding. I kind of did it for my little girl. It’s done for Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, they had a section of that little cartoon that the kids watch every Christmas where the toys that were all must up and unfuntioning and did all of the weird things were called the misfits and they were put on the island of misfit toys. So that song was basically reflective of that kiddie show we all watched growing up here in the States.
What do you see in the future of the Misfits?
I’m very excited for the future of the Misfits. My goal is to keep the band together so that we reach 50 years together. Our current line-up has been together for 13 years, so as far as I’m concerned we’re halfway there.
The way I look at it, if we can record 10 new songs every year, we’ll have about 100 new songs for our catalogue, so I’m real excited about writing. We had some tracks at the start of the year, but this year didn’t start so good. We had those songs cut right away, we played in Russia, and we played in South America with Anthrax, we played all over the place, and things were going really well, and then we had a lot of people die on us. The year has just been riddled with us losing people. It’s like every time we turn around we were burying somebody.
But you can take those life experiences one way or the other. One way you can let it drag you down and make you less than you can be, or two you can use it as fuel to turn it around and make something really great. So I think I owe it to the spirit of those people and the ongoing pursuit of the greatness of the band to really sit down. I want to write the best album we’ve ever done.
I’d like to work with the guys from Green Day, I’d like to work with the guys from Volbeat, I’d like to work with my guys and get things tighter. So, I think the Misfits future has been brighter than it has ever been.
I’m so sorry about having to deal with all of that at the start of the year, I know how hard a death can effect someone…
Thanks man. Yeah, but the way I see it is it’s just fuel for the fire, now we have to step up to the plate. Instead of being depressed and just sitting there drinking, or letting it all go down the shitter, we’re going to hit the music a little harder, and we’re going to become better because of our loss.
In your massive amount of time touring, is there a particular moment that you now you will never forget?
Yeah, every one. [Laughing] They’re all good. There are a million stories, but the bottom line is that I’ve always felt blessed that we’ve gained the recognition that we have, and any time that we get to go out there and perform for anybody, for me that’s just a dream come true. I think that the value of life is found in the struggle, not in the success, and we’ve been struggling the whole ways. We people look at are band, they’re going to know that we came to play, and we didn’t cut corners, we kept it as straight up as we could. So, hopefully we’ve done something that people will cherish for the rest of their life. So for me, every moment was a good one.
Fri, Jan 10 – Bodega – Wellington NZ
Sat, Jan 11 – Kings Arms – Auckland NZ
Thurs, Jan 16 – The Zoo – Brisbane
Fri, Jan 17 – Corner Hotel – Melbourne
Sat, Jan 18 – The Factory Theatre – Sydney
Sun, Jan 19 – Amplifier - Perth
Ben Spencer
Hi Jerry, how are you doing?
I’m pretty good, how about yourself?
I’m not so bad, I’m just going to ask a few questions.
Go for it man!
Awesome! First up, what are your thoughts on the upcoming Australian tour?
Yeah man, we haven’t been there in about three years, so we’re really looking forward to it!
It’s been something like 36 years since the Misfits started, and nearly from the beginning you guys were seen as iconic. What’s it been like to watch that legacy grow larger and larger over the years?
Well, it’s a little bit astounding; it’s kind of a Cinderella story. The band started out really strong, doing a lot of innovative stuff which then exploded when we did the Earth A.D. album. It was just too much energy to actually contain everybody and things went in all different directions. It took a long time to get it all back together, but during that time bands like Metallica and Guns and Roses kind of kept things alive for us and gave us a real legendary status.
Now coming back, I think we’ve really shined well. I think the first of the records we did in the late nineties turned out really well. I think the first one we got out was the 1950’s record in which we had the line-up we’ve kind of got now, and it was my first shot really singin’. In 2011 we put out Devil’s Rain, and Devil’s Rain to me was a real triumph because we had a real solid line-up and we were able to experiment a little bit and bring things to a different level. I think that the direction of the band has really found itself.
With all of that, we’ve put out a live album, and this year we recorded some tracks for out 50’s project to be re-released. We recorded a real high production 45’ for Halloween, with Descending Angel with a classical piano piece as its ending and we did a cover of Rocky Horror Picture Show’s title track “Science Fiction/Double Feature”. It’s all very high end and well produced. Then we did a Christmas record, so we’re very diversified at the moment, we’re doing so many different things. Right now we’re just doing anything that pops into our heads, and we think it’s working well.
And what are your thoughts on the artists now on the scene citing Misfits as their main influence?
Well, it kind of funny because I know most of them now. I bring my kids and my nieces and nephews around to meet the guys, and they’re excited to meet those guys and those guys are excited to meet me, so it’s kind of funny like that. But the more you’re in the business the more you realise that it’s down to Earth people that make it work.
In general I don’t really get starstruck. Like, we were invited to play with Iggy Pop, and Iggy didn’t want to go on at two in the morning, so we had the one o’clock spot right before him and right before the show he asked us if he could take our spot and we could take his. And Iggy is my hero, so I just said “Sure man, whatever’s going to work for you. Whatever you need we’ll do it”.
So then after that Iggy says “So I heard you’ve got one of the guys from Black Flag in your band. Can I meet them?” So Iggy was so excited to meet Robo back when he was in the band at the time, it was very exciting. But generally I don’t really get star struck, I try to keep things as blue collar as possible. I try to keep things sociable with the fans, and I’ve never really been a big believer in that whole rock star mentality. I’ve always just thought we were just a really hard working garage band, and for us to inspire all those other bands, to me that’s an honour. And they’re always respectful, and if they’re not I’ll beat them up, it’s cool.
So, what brought you guys to the idea of making a Christmas Record?
One of the main reasons we did it was because of Blue Christmas. Blue Christmas is an elder song, and we put what I think is a really good spin on it. I think that the song has character; I think the song has spunk. It touches on being a tribute to Elvis without being corny or obnoxious about it, I think it came out really really well. The other one is The Grinch, and the Grinch is something that I grew up with as my favourite Christmas show. It had Lawrence Carloft narrating as the voice of the Grinch for Dr Seuss, and to me it was always the coolest one of all the Christmas shows. When we put it together, it took us a good solid two months to figure out just how to do it and what kind of style to do it in to make it work. Not only give it the Misfits feel, but give it the original Grinch feel as well. I think we nailed that one too.
So we weren’t just a bunch of people doing some cover songs, we wrote a song called the Island of Misfit Toys, which is very Ramonesy sounding. I kind of did it for my little girl. It’s done for Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, they had a section of that little cartoon that the kids watch every Christmas where the toys that were all must up and unfuntioning and did all of the weird things were called the misfits and they were put on the island of misfit toys. So that song was basically reflective of that kiddie show we all watched growing up here in the States.
What do you see in the future of the Misfits?
I’m very excited for the future of the Misfits. My goal is to keep the band together so that we reach 50 years together. Our current line-up has been together for 13 years, so as far as I’m concerned we’re halfway there.
The way I look at it, if we can record 10 new songs every year, we’ll have about 100 new songs for our catalogue, so I’m real excited about writing. We had some tracks at the start of the year, but this year didn’t start so good. We had those songs cut right away, we played in Russia, and we played in South America with Anthrax, we played all over the place, and things were going really well, and then we had a lot of people die on us. The year has just been riddled with us losing people. It’s like every time we turn around we were burying somebody.
But you can take those life experiences one way or the other. One way you can let it drag you down and make you less than you can be, or two you can use it as fuel to turn it around and make something really great. So I think I owe it to the spirit of those people and the ongoing pursuit of the greatness of the band to really sit down. I want to write the best album we’ve ever done.
I’d like to work with the guys from Green Day, I’d like to work with the guys from Volbeat, I’d like to work with my guys and get things tighter. So, I think the Misfits future has been brighter than it has ever been.
I’m so sorry about having to deal with all of that at the start of the year, I know how hard a death can effect someone…
Thanks man. Yeah, but the way I see it is it’s just fuel for the fire, now we have to step up to the plate. Instead of being depressed and just sitting there drinking, or letting it all go down the shitter, we’re going to hit the music a little harder, and we’re going to become better because of our loss.
In your massive amount of time touring, is there a particular moment that you now you will never forget?
Yeah, every one. [Laughing] They’re all good. There are a million stories, but the bottom line is that I’ve always felt blessed that we’ve gained the recognition that we have, and any time that we get to go out there and perform for anybody, for me that’s just a dream come true. I think that the value of life is found in the struggle, not in the success, and we’ve been struggling the whole ways. We people look at are band, they’re going to know that we came to play, and we didn’t cut corners, we kept it as straight up as we could. So, hopefully we’ve done something that people will cherish for the rest of their life. So for me, every moment was a good one.
Fri, Jan 10 – Bodega – Wellington NZ
Sat, Jan 11 – Kings Arms – Auckland NZ
Thurs, Jan 16 – The Zoo – Brisbane
Fri, Jan 17 – Corner Hotel – Melbourne
Sat, Jan 18 – The Factory Theatre – Sydney
Sun, Jan 19 – Amplifier - Perth
Ben Spencer