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I Want Your Skull: Danzig says death of iconic musicians helped bring the Misfits together

Last week’s news that the principal players of iconic horror punk band Misfits would be “reuniting” for two gigs at Riot Fest later this year was nothing short of a shock. Frontman Glenn Danzig and bassist Jerry Only — who will be joined by guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein in Denver and Chicago come September — have been warring for years, both in the courts and out.

While the Misfits have carried on with various members (with various results) and Danzig has been known to play a Misfits song or two during his solo tours, often with Doyle, it seemed like a proper reunion to hear all the classic songs by the main people responsible for them was just a pipe dream. The Misfits, unfortunately, would be the Smiths of punk; complete with lawsuits and a prickly frontman who you were never sure if he was in on the joke or not.

But in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Danzig says part of the reason for the Misfits reunion was each member’s own mortality, and that the recent spate of deaths in the music world helped convince the 60-year-old it was the right thing to do.

“It’s been a shock to see so many musicians dying this year,” Danzig tells Rolling Stone. “A lot of them weren’t really that old. David Bowie’s death came out of the blue, as did Prince’s. And I’ve said it before with Peter Steele and Dio: If you’re a music fan, you think these artists will be here forever, but you should enjoy them while they’re here, because you never know what will happen. You’ve got to enjoy it and let it happen before everybody dies.”

Danzig adds that he and the other members are in good health, but he’s not wrong in assuming that anything can happen to anyone at any point. “You’ve got to enjoy it and let it happen before everybody dies,” he says in a way that only Danzig could.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/glenn-danzig-on-misfits-shows-i-want-you-to-be-surprised-20160516#ixzz48w6SdFab
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