12 Hits From Hell

TVCasualty.com-September 29, 2001
Tom Bejgrowicz: I was put in charge of the campaign we launched starting in 1995 for The Misfits while I worked at Caroline Records in New York. Sometimes the band hates me, sometimes they love me. I represent the enemy (i.e. the record company) so that's to be expected. Therefore I am not great friends with any of the band although I do consider Jerry a friend and Franché was always a great guy to talk to. What I do for them is do my best to create releases that represent an unbiased and fan-like angle. I am very proud of "Static Age", "Box Set" and the upcoming "12 Hits From Hell", to say the least.

During Tom Bejgrowicz's time as producer for upcoming (post Misfits/Caroline deal-1995) Caroline Records/Misfits releases he came across some of Glenn Danzig's hand written notes for the Master Sound Productions sessions which took place in August and September of 1980.  The notes made it clear that at one point this session was intended to produce The Misfits first LP; notwithstanding Static Age of course.

12 songs were recorded during these sessions as well as one alternate take of London Dungeon but as with other Misfits recordings most of them would go unreleased during the bands existence.  The only songs taken directly from these sessions to see immediate release were; London Dungeon, Horror Hotel and Ghouls Night Out on the 3 Hits From Hell EP (April 1981).  Alternate versions of Halloween and Halloween II were also released on the Halloween EP (October 30th, 1981); Halloween was a completely new recording and Halloween II was an overdubbed version (Glenn Danzig-drums).

For whatever reason plans for the MSP sessions were abandoned and the band entered the studio no less than 3 other times to record most of the same tracks over before Glenn finally assembled the final Walk Among Us LP (March 1982) at Quad Teck Studios in January 1982.  There was also another aborted attempt at the album with a proposed release of 13 tracks in late 1981 (Plan 9 PL9-01); the songs on this release were compiled from various recording sessions.

TVCasualty.com-September 29, 2001
Tom Bejgrowicz: The tracks [MSP sessions] have always existed, just not in this fashion. I simply needed a theme for the release for it to be make sense. Recently, in my archives, I found a copy of a sheet of MSP letterhead that listed all the songs from those sessions but it had them listed as "Side One" and "Side Two". They wanted this to be an album just like "Static Age" was supposed to be one as well. And after matching it up to their 1980 press release, it states how they indeed were recording an album that Fall. This was what spawned this specific idea. In many ways it's like "Static Age" where "12 Hits From Hell" brings you the session in the entirety of which it was planned to hopefully come out. Except this time, we utilized Bobby Steele's guitar work as the back-bone since he was kicked out after these sessions and they decided not to really use his work when they did the "3 Hits From Hell" and "Halloween" singles. His stuff is great and when it's combined with Doyle's style - it creates an amazing sound, unlike any other I've ever heard. I also threw on the second take of "London Dungeon" as a bonus song and that rounds things off quite nicely. Eerie supplied 7 unreleased photos of the band and both he and I wrote detailed notes regarding the sessions.

Finally in July of 2001 Tom Bejgrowicz (along with Alan Douches) took the MSP sessions and mixed/mastered them according to Glenn's original notes.  The resulting album was titled 12 Hits From Hell but it, like so many other Misfits releases would never get an official release.  The album was canceled reportedly due to Jerry Only not being happy with the mix and Glenn's disappointment in the overall layout/photo credits.  Had The Misfits gotten this record off the ground back in 1980 it would surely take the place of Walk Among Us on any must have punk album list and be considered a seminal punk release but there would have also really been no need for the 7" EP release of 3 Hits From Hell (April 1981) or the Halloween 7" single (October 30, 1981).

The album is noted by Tom Bejgrowicz for featuring both Bobby Steele's as well as Doyle's guitar but the Misfits being a "5 piece band" (at least in recordings) is nothing new as a lot of Misfits previous releases featured various guitar tracks either combined or overlayered.

Here is a comparison of the 3 different versions of "Walk Among US";

Plan 9 PL9-01 (1981)
20 Eyes            (Mix-O-Lydian, August 1981)
I Turned Into a Martian        (Mix-O-Lydian, August 1981)
Astro Zombies        (Mix-O-Lydian, August 1981)
Vampira            (Mix-O-Lydian, August 1981)
All Hell Breaks Loose        (Mix-O-Lydian, 1981)
Nike A Go Go        (Mix-O-Lydian, August 1981)
Devils Whorehouse        (Newfound Sound, June 1981)
Night of the Living Dead    (Mix-O-Lydian, 1981)
Skulls            (Mix-O-Lydian, 1981)
Violent World        (Mix-O-Lydian, 1981)
Horror Hotel        (MSP sessions)
Ghouls Night Out        (MSP sessions)
American Nightmare        (Newfound Sound, June 1981)

Walk Among Us (March 1982), final mix from Quad Teck, January 1981
20 Eyes
I Turned Into a Martian
All Hell Breaks Loose
Vampira
Nike A Go Go
Hate Breeders
Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight? (live)
Night of the Living Dead
Skulls
Violent World
Devils Whorehouse
Astro Zombies
Braineaters

MSP Sessions (08/05/1980 - 09/05/1980)/12 Hits From Hell (September 2001)
Halloween
Vampira
I Turned Into A Martian
Skulls
London Dungeon
Night of the Living Dead
Horror Hotel
Ghouls Night Out
Astro Zombies
Where Eagles Dare
Violent World
Halloween II
London Dungeon-take 2 (This would surely not have been included on any proposed album in 1980.)

All the songs from the MSP sessions had previously been released (on various albums and different mixes) except for the alternate take of London Dungeon