Static Age | The Fiend Crypt

Stop me if you've heard this one before....The Misfits released their first single, Cough/Cool in August 1977 through their own label, Blank Records. As luck would have it, Mercury Records would later release Per Ubu's debut album (November 1977) using the Blank Records as the label, completely unaware that The Misfits had already claimed the name. In exchange for the Blank Records name, The Misfits were given 30 hours of "graveyard shift" studio time at C.I. Studios in New York.

This "gift" gave The Misfits a huge opportunity and they planned to take advantage of it; they quickly ditched drummer Manny Martinez and brought in Jim "Mr. Jim" Catania to fill the drum seat. Mr. Jim had been in previous bands with Glenn and had also done some work with him during the early formation of The Misfits.

photo shared by https://www.instagram.com/wearethefiendclub138/

"Static Age was recorded in several consecutive sessions. I believe over a two week period. We would rehearse the songs we wanted to record before we even got to the studio. Then, we would lay the tracks down ourselves. The actual Static Age sessions were done with all of us playing together at once. Kind of like a live show. Yes, we went back and did overdubbing and vocals. But, the basics were all done together at once."~Franché Coma

With mixing complete in February the band had the components in place for their first album but Mercury Records passed on picking it up; it was also shopped to Sire, Chrysalis and Red Star Records whom all passed on it as well.

With no other option and limited funds, the band instead opted to release the Bullet 7" in June 1978 but that would only contain 4 of the songs recorded for the Static Age album. By October 1978 both Franché Coma and Mr. Jim would leave The Misfits, replaced by Bobby Steele and Joey Image respectively.

During the close of this new line ups tenure the band would release (now using Plan 9 as their label) one more Static Age track, Last Caress. The song was released on the Beware 12" EP (January 1980) which also included the previously released songs from the Bullet 7" as well as two songs recorded with the new line up.

front/back of Bullet 7"

After several more line up changes and inner band turmoil, Glenn Danzig would disband The Misfits on October 29th, 1983 in an impromptu announcement during what became their last show....ever.

front/back of the Beware 12" EP;

although Bobby and Joey are credited for all the tracks "Last Caress" features Franché on guitar and Mr. Jim on drums.

In 1985 Glenn signed a deal with Caroline Records to begin distributing Misfits albums. His first release through them was Legacy of Brutality in September 1985. The album was a hodge podge of previously recorded material from the Static Age sessions as well as sessions/songs from 1979, 1980 and 1981. For unknown reasons, Glenn overdubbed guitar and bass on the recordings from the Static Age sessions.

front/back of Legacy of Brutality

"...we didn't like it at the time, Now I remixed alot of it, laid new tracks on it and the stuff sounded alot better. At the time it was also money too, we didn't have that much money to work with."~Glenn Danzig, Black Market #6 (Fall 1986), when asked why the stuff from Legacy of Brutality wasn't released back when it was recorded.

promo poster for the Bullet 7"

In the ensuing years Glenn would release yet another Misfits compilation with Caroline while also battling former bandmates over past/future royalties since Glenn was the only one receiving any compensation. Finally in 1992 Jerry along with Franché, Doyle and Robo would bring litigation against Glenn, this matter was finally put to rest in 1994 when an out of court settlement was signed which also resulted in the sale of all Misfits recording to Caroline Records.

various flyers for Misfits 1978 shows

As part of the new deal with Caroline Records both Glenn and now Jerry were given a say on future Misfits releases; Caroline now needed either/or to authorize future releases. Jerry came up with several releases for Caroline; a Teenagers from Mars 7"/cd single, Static Age LP and the "live" album Max's X-Mas but all of them were cancelled due to Glenn already having a deal to release Collection II.

The cd cases in the 1st pressing of the boxset were all embossed; Static Age received it's own separate case

The one set of tapes that were initially not handed over to Caroline were the Static Age sessions, which according to Glenn were lost. As luck would have it, Franché Coma had placed his cassette of the final mixes into a safety deposit box which Caroline used for the mastering of the finished release. The Misfits first album was finally released as part of a Misfits boxset on February 27th, 1996.

Static Age cd insert from The Misfits boxset

Glenn eventually turned the Static Age tapes over to Caroline and on February 24th, 1997, producer/engineer Tom Bejgrowicz (along with engineer Alan Douches) mixed and mastered She, Spinal Remains and In the Doorway to fit in with the rest of the Static Age album. The solo release of The Misfits first album finally came on July 15th, 1997, some 19 years after it was initially recorded. This release also included a bonus track of several outtakes from the Static Age sessions.

front/back of Static Age