top of page

In December 1982 The Misfits released their first live release, the Evilive 7" EP.  It contained 7 songs that were recorded when Googy was still their drummer.

The studio version of these songs were released on various Misfits offerings; Walk Among Us LP, Bullet 7" EP, Horror Business 7" EP, 3 Hits From Hell 7" EP and the Night of the Living Dead 7" EP making it an all around selection from the Misfits catalog.

20 Eyes, Night of the Living Dead, Astro Zombies and Horror Business, all found on side one, and London Dungeon, from side two, were all recorded at The Ritz in New York on December 17th, 1981.  All Hell Breaks Loose and We Are 138 were recorded at On Broadway in San Franciso on November 20th, 1981.

On Broadway was located above Mabuhay Gardens, where Black Flag just so happened to be performing that same night and of course Henry Rollins ended up going upstairs and joined The Misfits for We Are 138.

The Misfits replaced Tenpole Tudor at The Ritz show and Bobby Steele's band The Undead was one of the opening bands.  The Misfits heckled and threw things at Bobby during The Undead's performance, the audience in turn threw stuff at The Misfits during their set; leading to Glenn's angry comments/threats heard on Evilive.  This was also the show were Glenn devised the anti-Bobby Steele/Undead alternate lyrics for Teenagers From Mars.

The complete shows can both be found in bootleg form;

November 20th, 1981@On Broadway; San Francisco, CA
Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?, London Dungeon, Astro Zombies, Devils Whorehouse, All Hell Breaks Loose, Horror Hotel, Ghouls Night Out, Hatebreeders, We Are 138, Attitude, Teenagers From Mars

December 17th, 1981@The Ritz; New York, NY
We Are 138, I Turned Into A Martian, Horror Business, Night Of The Living Dead, Attitude, Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?, London Dungeon, 20 Eyes, Astro Zombies, Teenagers From Mars (new lyrics), Nike A Go Go, Hate Breeders

Evilive was originally released in 3 different editions.  There was one that had a cover that featured a shot from April 13th, 1981 at Whisky A Go Go.  One that was a 3 pack with 3 alternate covers; one Glenn, one Jerry and one Doyle.  There was also one that featured a live shot of Glenn and Doyle from an unknown show in 1982 after Robo joined the band.

An original (short) review for Evilive by Jimmy Johnson from an unknown publication~

...great 7-song live EP which faithfully documents the Misfits' rambunctious in-the-flesh assault... limited to 1100 copies, so move quickly..."Earth A.D." 12" is next...

Evilive would see rerelease on October 15th, 1987 (both LP and cassette) with the additional songs Nike A Go Go, Hate Breeders, Devils Whorehouse and Ghouls Night Out added.  The original songs were also in a slightly different order from the previous EP.  This time side one was devoted entirely to The Ritz show and side two to the On Broadway show; which of course was out of order as the On Broadway show happened first.

Here is a Summer 1987 review of the Evilive LP from an unknown source~
THE MISFITS Evil Live (Caroline): The Misfits are such a hot item these days, it's not surprising they keep repackaging old product.  The Evil Live EP was originally a fan club 7" EP in '82 or so.  A few years later it was rereleased as a 12" and even the people with the 7" bought it for the superior quality (not crammed in like the 7").  Now here it is again, repackaged as a full length LP that we have to buy again for the handful of previously unreleased tracks.  Grumblings aside, though, Evil Live is still a surprisingly good record.  Having seen Misfits in their various incarnations over six or seven years, I know I'm not alone in feeling that the last few years with Doyle on guitar were their low point as a live band and their high point as a live act; they were more a visual experience than aural (Doyle was such a lousy guitarist, so often out of tune, so many badly played parts and missed notes).  So how did he play so well on Walk Among Us and on these tracks, or did Glenn Danzig have to listen to 100 tapes before he found quality stuff?  Arthur Googy and Jerry Only were always a solid rhythm section, and as he did live, Danzig steals the show here; if he isn't the modern Elvis Presley, Lux Interior sure ain't!  Total chest-out rolling tanks of muscle, Misfits flesh grind, a 100% "attitude" recor, and of course, H. Rollins helps out on 'We are 138.'  We'd prefer a live recording of the Bobby Steele or Frank Coma pre-Max's banning years, but this is an authentic '80's document.

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • instagram

©2019 by The Fiend Crypt. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page