We have been Misfits fans since junior high. The Crimson Ghost, the creepy artwork, those doo wop melodies smashed together with breakneck punk, and songs about ghouls, vampire women, Martians and mutants made the Misfits pretty much the perfect horror kid’s band. You could love horror movies and punk rock at the same time, and the Misfits were standing right in the middle of that beautiful collision.
Then things got darker.
As the Misfits era came to an end in 1983, Glenn Danzig moved in a darker direction with Samhain, trading some of the Misfits’ cartoonish horror punk energy for something heavier, stranger and far more ominous. The music became more ritualistic, filled with Celtic imagery, bonfires, dark dreams and an atmosphere that felt like something ancient had crawled out of the woods. Those Samhain records remain some of the darkest work connected to Danzig’s career, and for fans who were there, that era carries an almost mythical quality.
Eerie Von was right there in the middle of it. He had already been part of the Misfits’ world and would go on to play bass in Samhain while documenting the bands, musicians and people surrounding that scene through his photography. His camera captured a side of the era that fans rarely got to see, preserving the people and moments behind the music as Samhain eventually gave way to Danzig.
With Danzig, the sound evolved again, bringing a heavier blues influence into the mix while retaining the dark atmosphere that had become synonymous with Danzig’s work. The early lineup featuring John Christ on guitar and Chuck Biscuits on drums remains, in our opinion, one of the greatest incarnations of the band.
Von’s photographs ultimately became an important visual record of the Misfits, Samhain and the early Danzig years. That work was eventually collected in Misery Obscura, originally published by Dark Horse in 2009, giving fans an intimate look at one of the most influential intersections of punk, horror and heavy music.
One interesting question came up while looking back at Misery Obscura. During a previous interview, London May (second drummer for Samhain after Steve Zing left) jokingly pointed out that he wasn’t really represented in the book. That got us thinking about how difficult it must be to work with a decades-spanning archive while trying to represent individual members of these bands, especially when the photographs are ultimately Eerie Von’s personal record of the people and moments he experienced.
Von offered a pretty straightforward explanation.
“Misery Obscura is the ‘Photography of EERIE VON.’ I did ONE photo shoot with London in the band, and Glenn has the negatives, so I actually had no photos of him to include.”
That doesn’t mean London was forgotten. In fact, Von says the one photograph he had from that session does appear in Misery Perfectum. The same issue applies to other members who may not have received as much photographic attention during those years.
“There’s one with him from the only shot I have from that session in the new book. I have no photos of Steve either, cause I used the ones I took of him while he was in the band, in the last book.”
The archive also includes photographs submitted by fans over the years, but even those collections have their limitations. The people taking those photographs were often focused on the more prominent figures onstage, leaving fewer images of some of the other members for Von to choose from.
“Also fans sent me lots of photos over the years, and those guys weren’t the focus of their attention either, so there were limited shots for me to choose from.”
It is a reminder that Misery Obscura and Misery Perfectum aren’t intended to be comprehensive photographic histories of every person who passed through the Misfits, Samhain or Danzig. They are Von’s photographic record of the people and moments he personally captured, which makes the images that did survive all the more valuable.
Now Von is opening the archives again.
Misery Perfectum continues that photographic journey, but Von approached this book differently. Rather than using the photographs primarily to tell another detailed history, he wanted the images themselves to take center stage.
“I always knew there’d be a 2nd book, because we only had a limited amount of pages in the 1st one,” Von tells TrulyDisturbing.com. “I told the story the first time, now I wanted to showcase the photos and let them stand on their own.”
That means Misery Perfectum isn’t intended to be another definitive history lesson. It is a collection of moments, many of which have never been seen before or were previously left on the cutting room floor.
“Yeah, there’s some that were never printed, or weren’t considered good enough, so with time, you see them differently, and include some of the ones that were left out,” Von says. “There have been technical advances that also allowed me to work on photos that I couldn’t spend hours on while in the darkroom back then.”
For Von, photography is only one part of a much larger creative life. He has been painting full time since 1999 and says his FIEND ART work is now his primary focus, though music remains part of his life.
Looking back at the photographs, Von also understands exactly what they represent.
“I always knew that the bands were great, and should be getting more attention, that the music was unique, and one day people would catch up,” he says. “I was right. It took 40 years for the MISFITS to get any respect.”
One of the most fascinating aspects of Misery Perfectum is the material that exists away from the stage. Backstage moments, soundchecks, people hanging around and all the little pieces of life that surrounded the performances help turn the book into something more than a collection of concert photographs.
“Glenn always said ‘don’t waste film’ if I took shots they couldn’t use for promo, like backstage or soundcheck,” Von recalls. “The photos can document but can’t really capture what it was like. Nobody will ever know what it was like except the people who were there, but with the photos you can pretend.”
That idea feels particularly appropriate for this archive. Forty years later, the people who actually lived through those years are among the few who truly know what it felt like to be there. The rest of us have photographs, records, stories and whatever our imaginations can build from them.
Of course, no conversation about this era would be complete without addressing the reunion question. Fans have spent years wondering whether the original Danzig lineup could ever return to the stage together. Von doesn’t appear particularly interested in pretending the clock can be turned back.
“Nostalgia is fine, but I don’t wanna pretend to be 20 something and pour blood over my head at my age,” he says.
Von is proud of what the original members created, but he sees no unfinished business.
“I am very proud of our Samhain and Danzig records, and of all the people we made happy on tour. You got the best of the band, and we gave it everything we had. I have no reason to go back. I don’t miss all that, cause I’m completely satisfied with what we did.”
That may be one of the most important ideas behind Misery Perfectum. This isn’t an attempt to recreate the past. It is a celebration of what happened.
“There’s no message, just a celebration of what happened, and to let you see the images and imagine how kool it was,” Von says.
For fans who already own Misery Obscura, Misery Perfectum offers another trip into an archive that still has plenty of stories hiding inside it. For those who somehow missed the first book, Von hopes this new volume becomes an introduction to both.
“People are never satisfied and must have content, so here you go.”
Honestly, we’ll take it.
The Misfits, Samhain and early Danzig weren’t simply bands we listened to. For a lot of us, they were part of discovering how horror, punk, art and music could all exist in the same dirty little universe. Eerie Von was there with a camera, and decades later, he is still giving us a way to look back through those photographs and imagine what it was like.
Just don’t believe everything you read about those days as Eerie concluded our interview with this.
“Don’t believe everything you read, or hear unless you hear it from me.“
The wait is finally over for fans who have been following this project. Misery Perfectum is now available for preorder through the link Eerie Von has shared on his official Facebook page. We’d like to personally thank Eerie for taking the time to talk with us.
- The interview has been edited for space and flow only.*