Some would argue that The Misfits started the sub-genre of punk known as “HORROR-PUNK”. Few bands have left a mark on punk rock and horror culture like Glenn Danzig‘s original band from Lodi, New Jersey, and decades later, their music continues to find new audiences as generations of fans and musicians keep those songs alive.
On October 23, we headed to Characters Sports Bar in Pomona, California, for a night celebrating two important chapters in that history. LUCIFUGE, a Danzig tribute band dedicated to the first three solo albums, brought the early solo years to the stage before PLAN 9 took over as the evening’s headliners, delivering the Misfits show as they have for years. Raw, vicious and just spooky enough for our liking.
PLAN 9 has a history with the Misfits that goes beyond simply covering the songs. Originally formed in the late 1990s as a Misfits tribute, the band built a following through its dedication to the sound, look, and theatrical energy of the Glenn Danzig era. Over the years, they also established themselves as recording artists in their own right, developing a place in California’s horror punk scene.
We caught up with the guys from PLAN 9 to talk about the band, their connection to the Misfits, the legacy of horror punk, and what it means to keep this music alive for longtime Fiends and a new generation of fans.
TRULY DISTURBING: How has the tour been treating you guys? We were just talking a little about Vegas, but how has everything been going?
SCARY ONLY: Yeah, been on the road a few days now. Vegas was…fun (Laughs). The stage was great. The problem was that the sound disappeared onstage so we couldn’t hear each other. It kind of fell apart.
TRULY DISTURBING: Has anything weird or bizarre happened while you guys have been on the road this time around?
SCARY ONLY: Nothing crazy. No freaking arrests yet. No grave robberies, so it’s pretty cool.
TRULY DISTURBING: What is it about the original Danzig era that still draws you guys back to that music?
DR. WOLFENSTEIN: I think it’s awesome songwriting, the arrangements, and just Danzig’s voice.
SCARY ONLY: Yeah, I mean, he created an entire genre of music that’s been copied over and over and over by everybody. That’s just it. He created a style of music. That’s the only way to describe it. Very unique.
TRULY DISTURBING: Individually, how did you first discover the Misfits?
SCARY ONLY: I heard about them in Trouser Press magazine back in ’80 or ’81. They had cassettes for sale. That’s the first time I saw them. Then I saw that they came out here to play. They came out to San Francisco and played. They played Broadway.
All my roommates at that time were into them. When the Misfits came out here, there was nothing like it. There was no comparison. People on the East Coast and in the Midwest knew who they were, but they’d never come out here, so all you could see were photos and listen to the seven-inches. Then they came out, and that was everything. It was like, “Wow, we see this all the time, but now we get to actually see it.”
DR. WOLFENSTEIN: Oh, I actually went backwards. I started listening to Danzig first. I was like, “Oh, shit!” That’s the singer. He sings in the Misfits, too. And I’m like, “Oh, okay,” and then backtracked a little.
WATCH A CLIP OF PLAN 9 PLAYING “I TURNED INTO A MARTIAN” BELOW
TRULY DISTURBING: So where were you guys before the Misfits? When you discovered them, were you guys playing more Motorhead or punk rock stuff like that?
SCARY ONLY: Well, I was in and still play with the Hellbillys and was in the band Christ On Parade. We were fucking everywhere in the South Bay. But I had no intention of doing a Misfits band. Plan 9 came about as just a one-off, Halloween 1997. There was a club called the Covered Wagon, and the booker, who was an old friend of mine, asked, “Hey, man, do the Hellbillys want to play?”, our drummer ended up not being able to do it.
I brought the idea to some other friends of mine and I went, “Hey, guys, this is weeks out. It’s like a month and a half until Halloween. Do you guys want to do a Misfits tribute thing?” We were going to do half of it as a psychobilly thing, with a stand-up bass. So we got the songs together and did that, and it sold out. Then the booker was like, “Yeah, let’s do it again,” and it just kept growing from there. Our original guitar player was in Sacramento, and he was struggling. He didn’t take it seriously, so we tried out a few people and when Dr. Wolfensetin walked in, it just clicked. He had that Bobby Steele meets Doyle style that was what we needed for the group. We tried some other guys, but it just didn’t work, so Dr. Wolfenstein was our guy.
TRULY DISTURBING: Speaking of guitar work, what do you use for your rigs and do you style your playing off of the other guitar players in the Misfits?
DR. WOLFENSTEIN: I play whatever is there, man. If it works and plays, I’ll use it. I play like a mix of both Bobby Steele and Doyle. I liked how Steele had some more jangly, high-gain bits, but Doyle just dominates every chord so I try to blend the two where I can.
TRULY DISTURBING: So you guys have put out a few singles and a full album, Man Made Monster. What can we expect from Plan 9 in the future? Got any new music in the works?
SCARY ONLY: Yeah, we have a few songs ready to go and have everything ready to start working on it. It just takes all of us to get together and, of course, the funds to make them, but hopefully in the next year. We were supposed to put them out in January of this year, but obviously that hasn’t happened.
TRULY DISTURBING: So we can expect something hopefully by next year then?
SCARY ONLY: Ideally, yeah. You know how those things go tho, man. We’ll see how things turn out but we’re excited for some new stuff to reach our fans.
TRULY DISTURBING: Moving into horror movies, what films influenced you guys as fans? I know that as a cover band, you have to be into horror movies.
SCARY ONLY: Oh I still love the classics. The Wolf Man for sure is one of my favorites. It’s the one I watched the most growing up. There are so many favorites. That’s all I collected when I was younger, just weird and cool horror stuff.
DR. WOLFENSTEIN: I don’t know. There’s too many to pick. I always liked the suspense, that creepy horror vibe. Something like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the original one, you know? From the ’70s. The reels, just that crazy, gritty look. Same for like The Exorcist. They changed everything when it comes to horror and were just so influential.
TRULY DISTURBING: You can’t go wrong with the classics. Ours is of course John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN.
SCARY ONLY: Watching the first one (Halloween) and part two, back to back, is always a good night.
At this point, we were interrupted by a local patron who informed us that we were standing right where a homeless person had decided to use the wall as a bathroom earlier that night. Well, that pretty much brought the interview to an end, as we all agreed it was time to move inside. That’s when LUCIFUGE, the next band, was getting ready to take the stage. The guys gave me a pat on the back and continued on to grab their gear and chat with fans.
WATCH A CLIP OF LUCIFUGE PLAYING “MOTHER” BELOW
We went on to have an amazing evening as LUCIFUGE and PLAN 9 serenaded the Pomona crowd with a spooky good time. PLAN 9 kicked things off right with “I Turned Into A Martian” by The Misfits and threw in a few Samhain songs for good measure. The crowd broke out into the familiar Misfits OOOHs and AHHHs that all fiends know and love, and we faded into the October night, looking forward to catching PLAN 9 again some other Halloween night.
I’d like to thank the guys in PLAN 9 and Characters Sports Bar for having us!