Hybrid Moments

Walk Among Us

Walk Among Us

In March of 1982, Ruby/Slash Records released Walk Among Us, the first full length Misfits album to be available to the public. Walk Among Us would later be considered by most fans to be the quintessential Misfits album, as well as one of the best punk albums of all time. The band began playing shows again after nearly a year. They started to become notorious for their intense stage presence and brutal live performances. Doyle was a sports athlete like his brother, and shared his linebacker physique, which, coupled with their ghoulish appearance, caused some to view them as two of punks most intimidating axemen. Between the brothers, Glenn Danzig would bellow out his morbid lyrics while thrashing around on stage or crawling around on the floor, sometimes throwing and receiving punches from the crowd. Despite Glenn's smaller stature at about 5'5", he was fond of fighting, and enjoyed taunting the crowd, and instigating violence.

Perhaps the most infamously violent Misfits show took place in San Francisco on April 10, 1982. During the show some people in the crowd began to throw cans of beer at the stage. After Doyle was nearly hit in the head with a full beer can, he smashed his guitar over a crowd member's head, instigating a full out riot.

Arthur Googy and Danzig argued often and finally ,after a lengthy argument, Danzig kicked him out of the Misfits. The Misfits had to cancel their plans to record their next EP, which they had planned on calling Earth A.D..

In need of a drummer, they offered the role to Doyle's friend and classmate, Eerie Von, who had served as an occasional photographer and roadie for The Misfits. Eerie reluctantly turned down the offer because he had already committed to drumming for the local band Rosemary's Babies. Black Flag vocalist, Henry Rollins, who had become great friends with The Misfits during their west coast gigs, informed ex-Black Flag drummer, ROBO, that The Misfits were in need of a drummer. In July of 1982, ROBO flew to the east coast and joined the band.

Doyle graduated High School and began working full time at his father's machine shop with Jerry. They used their earnings to purchase new instruments (because they tended to smash theirs on a weekly basis), and to fund The Misfits tours, recording sessions, and album pressings. While they provided funding for the band, Glenn would handle the Fiend Club and work on composing new songs. A common misconception is that Glenn only wrote lyrics and sang for The Misfits. Glenn is a multitalented musician, and would often write new songs himself and later teach them to his band mates at practice, where the songs would become fleshed out (Practices were usually held in Jerry's garage, which they referred to as "The Pit.").

[edit] Decaying

In September of 1982, The Misfits embarked on a large scale tour with their friends, The Necros, opening for them. During the tour, The Misfits stopped by a studio to record the instrumental tracks for the Earth A.D. EP while Glenn slept. On October 17, the band was arrested in New Orleans on the charges of grave-robbing while in search of the burial place of voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau. The Misfits denied the charges, and a witness reportedly attested that they had not even entered the cemetery gates. The band bailed themselves out of jail and skipped court to drive to their next performance in Florida. Upon returning from the tour, The Misfits released an album of live material called Evilive.

During this time Glenn was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with The Misfits, for reasons that are disputed. He began to write songs for a new band project, which he considered calling "Danzig", but instead chose to name "Samhain", after the ancient Celtic holiday which influenced the modern Halloween celebration.

In July of 1983, The Misfits went into the studio to finish working on Earth A.D. They decided to record and add two of their new songs to the album, making it closer to full length status. In order to make it a proper full length album, Glenn decided to record two of the songs he had intended for Samhain: "Bloodfeast" and "Death Comes Ripping". The resulting album was Earth A.D., a gritty, thrashy album which none of the members were quite satisfied with. In August, after a series of arguments with Glenn, ROBO decided to leave the band. Glenn became further disenchanted with The Misfits and began to audition musicians for his new band project.

On October 29, 1983 (see 1983 in music), The Misfits played their yearly Halloween show in Detroit, Michigan. Glenn had selected Brian Damage to be the new Misfits drummer. However, Brian got drunk before the show and continuously messed up the songs. After several songs Doyle escorted Brian off the stage and the drummer for the Necros filled in for the rest of the set. The band members were visibly upset with each other and Glenn informed the audience that it would be the last Misfits show ever. The next day the band members drove back home without saying a word to each other and went about their respective lives.

The last show of the original Misfits was at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ, in November, 1983, when the band showed up unexpectedly with their equipment and played an abbreviated set.^{[citation needed]}