GLENN DANZIG: I've always had my label, "Evilive," which was distributed through Caroline. This time around, I looked at all my options, and I realized it's all the same old record company bullshit. So, I brought my label into a license deal with E-Magine and it's total autonomy, the only thing I have to check with Christoph (E-Magine co-president) about is how much we spend on something. We also have ADA (through WEA) as our traditional retail distribution and we have the CD available on all the major sites like CD Now, Amazon.com, Tower Online etc.

SW: Can you explain to our readers exactly how this new label venture works, as far as downloading the new Danzig music.

DANZIG: If you go to the E-Magine website (http://www.emaginemusic.com), you can download two new songs, "Five Finger Crawl" and "Unspeakable," for free, and you can preview 15 seconds of the songs on the rest of the record for free as well. It's been going really well so far. We've been taking pre-orders on the Internet and it's going through the roof!

SW: This seems to be the wave of the future. You can tap into markets (countries) where there is no record distribution, all one needs is a computer!

DANZIG: I was in New York last week during the CMJ and I went to the E-Magine booth and Christoph told me the site already had 400,000 hits, which is crazy! It's cool to see a lot of the major record companies scrambling now, trying to get on board...they're probably gonna try to buy as many companies as they can and then put a lock down on it, like they always do.

SW: I can remember when MP3.com first came around, and started the downloading of music. None of the labels at the time took them seriously, in fact, they thought it was a joke...and look at where MP3 is now. The major record companies are now shitting their pants!

DANZIG: Yeah. It's great because when I tell people I'm doing an interview for an Internet radio station they're like, 'who cares?'. And I tell them, 'you better check yourself because Internet radio isn't just regional, it's global!' So, as soon as people find out about Internet radio stations like HardRadio, all the sudden, the rules have changed. We're talking, listeners from all over the world!

SW: I often get the same response...no one really takes Internet radio seriously because they just don't understand its international impact. They claim within the next 5 years you'll be able to get Internet radio stations from your car! And, since it's digital, the quality will be superior, with no static or interference.

DANZIG: Actually, within the next 3 years it will happen. In Japan, they have TV sets in cars right now, where you can punch up traffic routes, weather, everything! You can get Internet access already in cars in Japan, so within the next 2 to 3 years it's gonna be so crazy! The whole world is gonna change within the next three to five years.

SW: Danzig is really breaking new ground with this concept, you are one of the first bands to sign with a full online label...

DANZIG: I know Public Enemy has done something similar with MP3. We are one of the first to do it through the Internet and traditional distribution, bypassing a major label.

SW: Being a partner of the company, I'm sure you also get a lot bigger cut of the pie than is you were to be "employed" by a major label!

DANZIG: Yeah, you're basically their slave, and then they charge you for everything! You don't make any money from the label. I just foresee that now is the perfect opportunity for bands and artists to get out of their situation that they're unhappy with and stop complaining about it and just do it. Especially for the band who may have got dropped from a label, because the label wants to concentrate more on their newer bands or whatever the reason. This band is probably a vital artist who still has tons of fans. Take that as a blessing, get off that label, make some money and reach your fans! Stop working for free and take control over your career.

SW: As a label partner, do you see yourself signing other bands to E-Magine?

DANZIG: Yes. I'm signing the band Scummy. I think Christoph is signing Ministry's guitarist to a deal. We're gonna be signing a lot of artists.

SW: You've gone through the whole major label ordeal...Danzig had been signed to both (Def) American and Hollywood Records. Was it a problem getting a release from those labels? You only did one album with Hollywood...

DANZIG: And that was a major nightmare! The whole Disney thing...we were told that nobody would fuck with us at Hollywood and that it was separate from Disney, which is the biggest load of crap! And, with Rick Ruben's label (American), we had problems with accounting - that's why I left the label. He tried to do an injunction with us and he didn't get it.

SW: It's obvious you know a thing or two about the business end, which is not the case with most rock bands.

DANZIG: You can still be smart and get fucked over. Look at the Beastie Boys, another Rubin act that left the label, God Lives Underwater, the Black Crowes...they all had problems.

SW: So many people think that Rick Rubin is a fan first, just because he doesn't look or dress corporate. But I've been told that Rick is really no different from the other major labels execs when it comes to running his label.

DANZIG: He's worse, because he pretends that he's your friend. And anytime a problem arises, he pretends he doesn't know anything about it. But he doesn't do anything to fix it either and he'll tell you that you'll have to sue him to get it cleared up...and that's not a friend.

SW: Your comic book company, Verotik, is really taking off as well...

DANZIG: We're doing less comics and more media now with film and video. We're making a killer new Verotik website which will be linked to the E-Magine site.

SW: On your upcoming tour to promote this new CD, you'll also have your old band Samhain perform live.

DANZIG: The tour starts in LA on November 1st. I will come out and do a 45 minute set with Samhain and then Danzig will come out and just blow the house down!

SW: So you're obviously on good terms with the guys in Samhain...what about the Misfits?

DANZIG: That's a joke. With Samhain, we're not re-grouping, we're just getting together on these shows and having a blast. No new recordings, but the Samhain box-set will have a ton of unreleased stuff, just like the Misfits Box-set had.

SW: The direction of this new record sounds much darker and heavier than your previous album you did on Hollywood, which came out about three years ago...

DANZIG: Three weeks after that release, Hollywood pulled the plug on us and we spent the last three years trying to get off that label. We ended up doing okay with the settlement, until Cavallo stepped in as head of the label. Then the whole nightmare began again of trying to get off the label. But I guess Roy Disney read him a riot act and within a month we got free. On this record, we made a conscience effort to turn up the guitars, they got buried on the last record since there was so much other shit going on.

SW: So, anything as far as motion pictures?

DANZIG: We're doing The Crow III soundtrack, we did a remix of "Belly Of The Beast" and we're calling it "Underbelly Of The Beast." It looks like we'll be doing a song for the X-Men movie when it comes out. And then we'll be putting out a double-live Danzig record.

SW: Do you plan on getting involved in directing?

DANZIG: Yeah. I directed most the Danzig videos. I even directed the "Mother" live video and Rick Rubin gave credit to the guy who edited it, which was yet another problem I had with Rubin.

SW: In the future, do you plan on showing videos on the Internet through the Danzig/E-Magine site?

DANZIG: We're gonna have a 40 second teaser of the film over the Internet featuring the girls with the horns on the back of our CD cover. It's gonna be pretty wild!

SW: So, what about your personal life...with Danzig, the record label, the comic book company, and all the touring in between...can you maintain a normal relationship?

DANZIG: It's difficult. I'm not looking to start a family or anything, especially with the way my schedule looks for the next five years. I'm just concentrating on my career.