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2016 began like any other year for fiends, some were anxiously awaiting Glenn's next release/announcement, some were looking forward to what Jerry had to offer and some were interested in both.
photo by Carmilla Rose; dates added by Zombiehorror
The Misfits™ kicked it off with an announcement of their upcoming Friday the 13th EP (June 17th, 2016), along with a slew of live dates.
screen capture from RiotFest teaser video
Unbeknownst to fiends Glenn and Jerry (through their lawyers) had been in talks about a Misfits reunion since December 2014 but the mediation had apparently fallen apart by February 2015. On May 11th, 2016 RiotFest TV posted a teaser video titled, "Tune into channel Riot Fest at 9am cdt Tomorrow"; it featured 1 minute and 29 seconds of snow/static before the end of the song Static Age can faintly be heard followed by a quick glimpse of the Crimson Ghost.
On May 12th it was announced that The Original Misfits featuring "original singer/songwriter" Glenn Danzig, "original bassist" Jerry Only and Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein "on guitar" would be reuniting for both the Denver and Chicago RiotFest shows.
The Misfits™ performing their last show; PunkRock Festival June 11th, 2016
Jerry cancelled a string of European Misfits™ tourdates on May 11th, due to "a family emergency"; his band did perform several shows prior to the announcement but only performed 2 after. May 14th, 2016 at Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL currently marks their last U.S. show; their (current) final show was performed at PunkRock Festival at Espacio Broadway in Santiago, Chile on June 11th. It had previously been announced that The Misfits™ were working on a new album tentatively set for release around the time they would be performing at Rockstadt Extreme Festival at Cetatea Rasnov in Rosenau, Romania on August 13th.
back/front of the Misfits™ Friday the 13th EP
“We’re working on stuff right now, my son is in the other room right now putting a lead on the title track, well it might not be the title track I don’t know what I’m gonna call the record yet, it’s gonna be the first song on the album I can tell you that much. *laughs* we’re working on it, we’re got maybe seven or eight good ideas that we’re starting to put together, I’d like to have demos before we start the tour and I won’t be home after that so I’m hoping before I walk out the door that I have seven or eight songs that are on CD and I can listen to and start to refine them, because most of the time I’ll sit there and hum the lead because this is what I hear in my head and stuff like that. So yeah, we’re starting to work on it, we have a tentative release date of August 14th at Dracula’s castle in Transylvania when we play at the festival, so I’m trying to get my record done for August 14th at the latest.”~Jerry Only, http://maytherockbewithyou.com, November 2015
Doyle began posting teaser images from The Original Misfits rehearsals in June on his Instagram. Glenn wanted no coverage whatsoever and preferred to keep everything a surprise; unfortunately for him one of his crew didn't honor the request and took a photo that made it online. The incident had Glenn fuming.
The drummer for the shows was kept secret but he was a mutual choice between Glenn and Jerry; eventually it was learned that it would be Dave Lombardo behind the skins. He was a popular guess among the fiend community.
The Original Misfits rehearsing in July 2017
Both the September 4th and 18th shows went off without an apparent hitch and the reunion garnered RiotFest one of its biggest audiences ever; the Chicago show was pro-shot but so far the footage remains in the vaults. It would be erroneously reported that Glenn stated this would be the only reunion shows but that was not the words out of his mouth and it would certainly not be the case.
Acey Slade, Dave Lombardo and Jerry Only
The Original Misfits with "Riot" Mike Petryshyn
Glenn kept busy putting together another Blackest of the Black for a two day run; May 26th Suicidal Tendencies (headline), Suicide Silence, Corrosion of Conformity, Belphegor, Discharge, Butcher Babies, 3Teeth. May 27th Danzig (headline), Ministry, Atreyu, Vamps, Marduk, Venom Inc., DevliDriver, Combichrist, Ghoul and Ritual. For the first time Glenn presented a Blackest of the Black closer to his vision of the event; including rides, a mini-comic-con, an overnight camp out/movie viewing and various other attractions.
"I first started Blackest in the early 2000s, and finally, my full vision is being realized. Get ready for sensory overload, from films to comics to Castle Danzig. This is going to be the real Blackest of the Black.”~Glenn Danzig, Billboard, 2017
front/back of Black Laden Crown
That same month Danzig's 11th studio album, Black Laden Crown (May 26th, 2017) was released; the band had been working on it at various times since 2014.
Danzig 2017; photo by Steve Zing
In July Danzig appeared at two European festivals, Sweden Bravalla Festival and Finland Provinssi Rock Festival.
In August 2017 it was announced that The Original Misfits would once again ride again, this time on December 30th, 2017 at The Forum in Inglewood, CA. The show would sell out in a matter of hours prompting an addition of another show; on September 25th, 2017 it was announced that The Original Misfits would be hitting Las Vegas at MGM Grand Garden Arena on December 28th of that year.
In September Glenn celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Danzig III: How the Gods Kill with a string of dates beginning on September 7th and running through September 25th.
On January 29th, 2018 it was announced that The Original Misfits would be performing in their home state [New Jersey for those living under a rock~zh] on May 19th, 2018 at Prudential Center in Newark.
Danzig announced several appearances for the 30th Anniversary of Danzig beginning on August 8th, 2018 and running off and on until November 3rd, 2018. That same month it was announced that Glenn Danzig signed a feature film agreement with Cleopatra Entertainment.
On September 11th, 2018 Live Nation Chicago began teasing another Misfits show using the phrase, "All Hell's Gonna Break Loose" along with an image of a raptor in flight. Subsequent versions of the photo included a bear and cub being added (on September 12th), then a bull (on September 13th) and lastly the Crimson Ghost's image was added (on September 14th); that same day it was finally revealed that The Original Misfits would be returning to Chicago on April 27th, 2019.
In October 2018 details of Glenn's upcoming film began emerging; the release would be an anthology film comprised of characters culled from his Verotik Comics roster.
On March 29th, 2019 Banc of California Stadium posted a photo of the stadium with an image of the Crimson Ghost on the field and on April 2nd the announcement was made that The Original Misfits would be performing there on June 29th, 2019.
On May 13th, 2019 Live Nation PNW posted a photo of the Crimson Ghost with the Seattle skyline in the background and on May 14th it was announced that The Original Misfits would be returning to Denver on September 7th at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre in Greenwood Village, CO. At the same time another announcement was made that The Original Misfits would be performing at the White River Ampitheatre in Auburn, WA on September 14th.
Glenn's Verotika movie premiered at Chicago’s Cinepocalypse on June 13th and had a L.A. premiere on June 25th at Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. In late June it was announced that The Original Misfits would be performing at Psycho Las Vegas on August 17th, 2019.
In July 2019 yet another Original Misfits show was announced, this time for Madison Square Garden on October 19th, 2019 mere days after that show happened another Original Misfits show was announced for December 14th, 2019 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. Both of these dates would feature area premieres for Verotika the day prior to the concerts.
On September 16th Glenn was briefly interviewed during the premiere of Rob Zombie's 3 From Hell in L.A. and mentioned that he would be filming yet another horror film (beginning in October).
"It's a vampire Spaghetti Western. We're in pre-production right now, and we start shooting next month."
On December 17th Domination Festival posted a flyer dropping the news that The Original Misfits would headline the second day of the festival, May 2nd, 2020.
On February 13th, 2020 Danzig Sings Elvis was officially announced as having a release date of April 17th, 2020; postponed to April 24th although many fans received their copies well before that date. Later that same month a handful of Danzig European dates were announced from July 31st, 2020 to August 9th, 2020.
Due to the Covid-19 (Corona Virus) epidemic Glenn’s Danzig Sings Elvis shows were cancelled/postponed as well as Domination Festival being cancelled for 2020.
Up next...????
This note was made possible by Misfits Central, James Greene Jr.'s book This Music Leaves Stains as well as various Misfits interviews. As always thanks to all the fiends (and photographers) that have provided all the photographic history.
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