Danzig Danzig

Danzig 'Danzig' (Def American Recordings, 1988)

On Sunday 25 September 1988 Danzig were the third band I saw live. Whilst not quite as mindblowing an experience as Testament or Anthrax, the anticipation of Metallica gracing the stage within an hour added a frisson to seeing a band I knew next to nothing about.

I was still kicking myself for missing Slayer and Nuclear Assault the week earlier, but gigs, like records, were big purchases at the time and I had to choose judiciously how to spend limited funds. I loved Slayer, but Metallica were THE band and Master of Puppets was, at the time, the album I benchmarked all others against so I went for the Bay Area behemoths.

I had just arrived in Auld Reekie at this time and tickets had been purchased whilst still imprisoned in Dundee. As a result I was accompanied by Nolan, an older guy from Dundee, who was the first visitor to my new abode. Nolan had a mini ramp in his back garden which we skated relentlessly in the summer of 1988 and his dad gave us all Kaliber non alcoholic beer on occasion; that's all I remember about him, apart from the fact his wee brother looked like Batman's adversary The Penguin.

I was in row M and I think he was in row V. Danzig took the stage and the response wasn't exactly rabid. I remember they played 'London Dungeon', a Misfits song, which got the best reaction, but overall the crooning black clad dwarf and his slightly menacing bikerish band failed to impress. I recall Danzig punched somebody in the front row and I've since learnt that Glen doesn't like playing the UK, so perhaps he was a little wound up on the second date of the UK tour.

However, it's also obvious that Danzig is a bit of a tw*t and a control freak egomaniac. Unfortunately, this attitude/personality led to Pringle's friend, Danny, notoriously knocking him out one night, which hasn't really panned out every well for either of them.

One thing that still impresses about Danzig and all his previous projects is the imagery. Metallica wore Misfits and Samhain t shirts religiously and the fame of those bands grew as the thrash titans straddled the world. When skating in Bristo Square on the afternoon before the gig I approached an older skater who was wearing the now iconic Danzig skull shirt to ask him what they had been like the previous night; 'Like the Doors playing Black Sabbath' was the gist of his response. That didn't really mean that much to me, but I remember my dad almost choking on his Old Peculiar when I recounted this description as if I was an expert on the matter.

This record looks great. It looks a lot better than the music within, which is stripped back bluesy metal. Evil Elvis's vocals are over hyped by many, but he puts in a solid, sleazy performance. Jon, the previous owner of this record, obviously liked Danzig a lot more than I do and I was totally chuffed to find fan club letters and a brilliant Danzig christmas card within. Oh the irony!

Peace