Danzig
Background information


Origin
Lodi, New Jersey, United States 

Genres
Heavy metal, blues rock, hard rock, doom metal, gothic metal 

Years active
1987–present 

Labels
Def American/American, Hollywood, E-Magine, Spitfire, Evilive, Megaforce, Restless, The End 

Associated acts
Misfits, Samhain 

Website
www.danzig-verotik.com 



Members
Glenn Danzig
Tommy Victor
Johnny Kelly
Steve Zing
 


1988 Danzig
1989 Danzig - Not Of This World (Live)
1990 Danzig II - Lucifuge
1992 Danzig - Dirty Black Summer (CD Single)
1992 Danzig III - How the Gods Kill
1993 Danzig - Mother (CD Single)
1993 Danzig - Thrall - Demonsweatlive
1994 Danzig - Mother (CD Single)
1994 Danzig IV
1995 Danzig - Can't Speak (CD Single)
1995 Danzig - I Don't Mind The Pain (CD Single)
1996 Danzig - Sacrifice (EP)
1996 Danzig 5 - Blackacidevil
1999 Danzig 666 - Satan's Child (Special Edition)
2000 Danzig - Blackacidevil (reissue)
2001 Danzig - Live On The Black Hand Side (Live)
2002 Danzig 777 - I Luciferi
2004 Danzig - Circle of Snakes
2007 Danzig - The Lost Tracks of Danzig
2010 Danzig - Deth Red Sabaoth  [FLAC]Beginnings (1986–1987)[edit]

Danzig is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band 
is the musical outlet for singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig, preceded by the horror 
punk bands the Misfits and Samhain. They play in a bluesy doom-driven heavy metal 
style influenced by the early sound of Black Sabbath.

Beginnings (1986–1987)
On July 14, 1986, Samhain performed at The Ritz in New York in what was to be their 
final show. In attendance was Rick Rubin, who was scouting for potential bands to 
sign to his record label, Def American. Rubin at first wished only to sign Danzig, 
with the intent of making him the vocalist for a hard rock supergroup that Rubin 
envisioned. However, Danzig refused to sign to Rubin's label without Samhain's 
bassist Eerie Von. In 1987, he added John Christ on guitar and Chuck Biscuits 
(ex-Black Flag) on drums. To reflect the change in musical direction and avoid 
having to start anew after future lineup changes, Glenn, on Rubin's advice, changed 
the name of Samhain to his surname, Danzig.

"Classic" original lineup-era (1987–1994)
In 1988, the band released its first album on Def American (later renamed to 
American Recordings).
In 1990, Danzig released its second album, Danzig II: Lucifuge. By 1992, Rubin's 
involvement with the band had waned. Danzig himself took credit for co-producing 
the third album, Danzig III: How the Gods Kill. The following year the band released 
the Thrall: Demonsweatlive EP, which contained several live tracks from the band's 
1992 Halloween show as well as three new studio tracks. The live version of "Mother
," a song from the first album, became popular on hard rock radio stations. A new 
version of the "Mother" music video was created using live footage, and the video 
became a hit on MTV as well.
On October 4, 1994, Danzig 4 was released. The album sold well, but did not contain 
a hit on par with the "Mother" single. The album's second single, "Cantspeak", was 
also a staple in MTV's rotation, but unlike "Mother" failed to appear on the 
Billboard Hot 100. "Cantspeak" is the band's only single other than "Mother" to 
chart on Billboard. Amid accusations of unpaid royalties and broken promises, 
Danzig's relationship with Rubin deteriorated, and the band left the record label.
Around this time, the band's lineup began to dissolve as well. First, Chuck 
Biscuits left the band in the summer of 1994 due to royalty disagreements. According 
to a special issue of Kerrang!, former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl turned down an 
approach by the band. Biscuits was replaced by Joey Castillo, who made his first 
public appearance as a member of Danzig at an in-store signing the day of the 
fourth album's release. Coincidentally, Castillo would later replace Grohl in Queens 
of the Stone Age. Though the band had toured successfully with its new drummer during 
the fall and winter of 1994-95, by the spring of 1995 Danzig was actively seeking a 
new guitarist, with Pepper Keenan and Dez Cadena considered possible replacements. 
John Christ and Eerie Von resigned on July 5, 1995.

Post-original lineup-era (1995–1999)

In October 1996, Danzig 5: Blackacidevil was released. The album was mostly a solo 
effort by Danzig, although Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains played lead guitar 
on three of the album's tracks. Joey Castillo played drums, the sole member still 
in the band from the 4p Tour. Castillo would record on two more Danzig albums, 
making him the longest-standing member outside of the original lineup.
For the next few years, Danzig was tied up in a legal battle with Rubin over the 
rights to unreleased material the band recorded for American Recordings. In November 
1999, Danzig 6:66 Satan's Child was released. A long-planned Samhain box set was also 
released, followed by a Samhain reunion tour. Samhain opened for Danzig for six weeks 
during the tour and consisted of Steve Zing and London May switching between bass 
and drums.

Later years (2000–2005)

By 2000, Danzig's line up had stabilized with the addition of guitarist Todd Youth 
and bassist Howie Pyro, both veterans of the New York City punk scene. In 2002, 
this line up released the album Danzig 777: I Luciferi. In 2004, Danzig released 
their eighth studio album, Circle of Snakes, with the line up featuring Tommy Victor 
of Prong on guitar, who had toured as a member of Danzig years earlier.
Soon after the album's release, Danzig undertook the Blackest of the Black tour 
across the United States, replacing Circle of Snakes drummer Bevan Davies with 
Johnny Kelly (of Type O Negative).

Recent activity (2006–present)

Throughout 2006, Glenn Danzig stated in several interviews that he had grown tired 
of the touring cycle, and did not expect to partake in any more large scale tours. 
Instead, Danzig would go on small, localized tours, such as the ten west coast dates 
they played for the 2006 Blackest of the Black tour. This tour debuted Kenny Hickey 
(of Type O Negative) as the band's new guitarist, while the East Coast dates saw 
the addition of former Samhain member, Steve Zing on bass.
In October 2006, Glenn Danzig released Black Aria II, the follow-up to his solo 
classical album, Black Aria. Black Aria was re-released by Evilive in May 2007. 
He spent the rest of the year completing the production and packaging of The Lost 
Tracks of Danzig, a double CD containing twenty-six unreleased songs that span the 
entire Danzig catalog, which was released on July 10, 2007. Danzig has also stated 
that he plans to record a dark blues album with either Jerry Cantrell or Hank Williams
 III.

In August 2008, Glenn Danzig announced that Danzig (the band) would do a 20th 
anniversary tour, celebrating the release of their self-titled debut album. This was 
the band's first full US tour in three years, which also included stops in Canada 
and Mexico. Also asked in August 2008 if the ninth Danzig album was planned, Glenn 
Danzig replied:
“ I have been in the studio here and there working on new songs but don't know when 
they will come out. I was thinking of putting one up on the Danzig site so the 
fans could check it out. Even thought about doing one on this tour. ” 
— Glenn Danzig, August 2008
 
On December 26, 2009, Danzig performed at the Starland Ballroom in New Jersey. The 
show was notable for featuring a special appearance by Michale Graves who, along with 
Doyle and Dr. Chud, performed several songs by the reformed version of the Misfits.
On March 10, 2010, a Danzig lyric book was released, titled Hidden Lyrics of the 
Left Hand. The book contains unreleased song lyrics combined with illustrations by 
Simon Bisley.
Danzig released Deth Red Sabaoth, their ninth studio album, on June 22, 2010. It is 
the band's first proper studio album in six years, since 2004's Circle of Snakes. 
Both Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly appeared on the record.
In 2009, movie director Todd Phillips chose Danzig's song "Thirteen" to open his 
film The Hangover. Danzig later recorded a new song, "Black Hell", to appear in 
the 2011 sequel, The Hangover: Part II.
In January 2011, Danzig were announced for the 2011 Download Festival at Donington 
Park, England, alongside bands including Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, and System of a 
Down. On the first day of the festival, Danzig headlined the Pepsi Max stage. On 
June 12, 2011, Danzig played at the Nova Rock Festival.
On October 25, 2011, a greatest hits album entitled The Essential Danzig was to be 
released through Sony BMG. However, as of December 2011, this has yet to happen, 
nor have details of the release been given.
October 2011 also saw a rare string of reunion shows called the "Danzig Legacy" tour. 
The shows consisted of a Danzig mini set, followed by a Samhain mini set, a set of 
Danzig and Doyle performing Misfits songs, and then ending with three Danzig songs 
and the performance of "Skulls".
In May 2012, Danzig released the song "Devil's Angels", the theme from the 1967 film 
of the same name, from his as yet untitled covers album: “I've wanted to record this 
song since 1979 and this is exactly the same arrangement I had for it back then, so 
it pretty much sounds like that late 70s style of mine. I'm really happy with the 
way it turned out, it actually came out much better than I had hoped it would. We're 
going to be playing it live on these upcoming shows.”
In April 2013, Glenn Danzig told Full Metal Jackie that he will begin work on new 
Danzig material with Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly after the 25th anniversary 
tour