"To this day, I always have to answer two Misfits-related questions," explains Henry Rollins, who actually resides near Glenn Danzig, the original singer with the pioneering New Jersey punk bank. As the story goes, the Misfits and Rollins-who fronted underground contemporaries Black Flag at the time- chased fledgling Motley Crue vocalist Vince Neil on foot down Sunset Boulevard. "No, it didn't happen," says Rollins, clarifying the popular anecdote as an elaboration of actual events. And the other perpetual question? "Glenn would win," he admits, answering whom of the two would win a fight... But Henry-whose forthcoming book "Unwelcomed Songs: Collected Lyrics 1980-1992" features a personal favorite 1982 Glen Friedman photograph of himself onstage with Danzig and the Misfits, as the back coer- is still an avid fan of the dark singer. "Have you heard the new record?" Rollins asks, referring to 7:77 I Luciferi, the latest Danzig release on Spitfire Records. "I quite like it," he says enthusing that "it's got whallop. You can play it loud, and the record really smashes your head."

Thats nothing less than what can be expected from Glenn Danzig. Fiercely determinate in pursuing his creative and artistic visions, Glenn has spent his life-time challenging the constraints of an established structure of societal beliefs.

Raised in the Protestant faith, even atan early age he began to questions authority, already devouring the literary work of Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Baudelaire. It's likely that foundation of curiosity-reflected as individuality of artistic value-has marked his work from the Misfits, to Samhain, and, of course, Danzig. Through them all, he's remained pointedly honest, and not contrived by a subjugating corporate machine.

Danzig himself is characteristically direct when engaged in one-on-one conversation, quite often being reactionary to its nature. Intolerant of colloquial subterfuge, Glenn can be belligerent when verbally provoked, aggressive in making his point of view irrefutably clear. But despite an occasionally unsettling conversational demeanor, he is thouroughly engaging, and quite enjoyable to interview. Such was the case when the ominous singer joined Metal Edge to discuss everything from his Verotik comic book company, to disection the new album, even patiently tolerating his aggracation with 7:77 I Luciferi being referred to as "more traditional Danzig"...

METAL EDGE: This new record, to me, really sounds like a more traditional Danzig album.

GLENN DANZIG : And what's that? Each record sounds different. You tell me what you think a traditional Danzig record is, because I've never heard from anybody what a traditional record is.

ME: It has a lot of elements that I associate with Danzig, without necessarily going into one specific direction. Not to say that it sounds like any particular Danzig album, but when I first listened to 7:77 I Luciferi-as opposed to the last couple of albums-right away, its like, "Oh yeah, this is a Danzig album." I don't know if that makes any sense.

GD: {laughing} It doesn't make any sense.

ME: It's just the way the songs are structured, the drum beats-everything just reminds me of classic Danzig. Certainly, there's a very distinct atmosphere created right away with "Unendlich."

GD: I think they all have a distinct atmosphere created within the first couple of songs, y'know? I try to make each record unique, but also set about to do what I want to do with each record. I took this record in so many new directions I've never even gone in.

ME: To me, it's just one of those albums that I got into right away.

GD: I like that. You tell me you got into it right away - That's cool.

ME: Right, so from my perspective, its one of my classic Danzig albums that I really like.

GD: Okay, so what you're telling me though, is exactly what everyone told me on Satan's Child. [laughing] They're like, "This is the return to the classic Danzig sound."

ME: It's interesting that you say people said that, because I did not hear that at all with Satan's Child.

GD: That's what everybody said. What the fuck is the classic Danzig sound? The only person who knows is me, because I've been there from the beginning, especially with Samhain to now, y'know? That's the way I see it. [laughing] At the end of the day, I write the shit, and I know more of what Danzig is about than anyone else.

ME: Before you even started, did you have a clear-cut idea of what you wanted to do with this record?

GD: Yeah, I wanted to make a really rebellious, fuck-you-rap-metal-bands record. [laughing]

ME: How did the influence of having Todd [Youth] and Howie [Pyro] in the band affect I Luciferi?

GD: Not really that much. I mean, Howie would come to rehearsal, and then I'd show him his bass part, and that's about it. I think I pulled some of Todd's best guitar work in his whole career out of him. I did the record the same way [as in the past] - I bring the songs down and show `em to everybody.

ME: Right, but when you have different musicians, you're obviously going to get different results.

GD: They bring their own style of playing. Joey [Castillo], y'know, he's been in the band now for almost ten years now. Joey is a more rhythmic drummer than a lot of `em. There's always been a groove to Danzig songs, then you add a drummer like Joey, and there's even more of a groove to it. That's also what you might have heard - That's Joey.

ME: And, maybe parts of it, to an extent, Todd.

GD: Well, Todd is a punk guitar player-for lack of a better word-with a leaning on heavy stuff. It's not just Todd playing guitars on there, I'm also playing guitar on there. Like I said, I think I actually helped pull a lot of stuff out of Todd that I don't think he knew he had inside him.

ME: Is that a smooth process?

GD: No. [laughing] But it works out good in the end, because it's better for the record-It's also better for Todd as a guitar player, too. There's a song that didn't make it onto the record that I think has one of Todd's best leads he's ever played, "Bound By Blood."

ME: Is that going to be a B-side?

GD: It'll either go on the next Danzig record, or it'll go on a Japancese version, or a European B-side or something. I don't know yet, but it's too good to just be wasted. It's an incredible song.

ME: You talk about pulling some of his best performances out of him, but does that ever work the other way around?

GD: No. [laughing] See, a lot of interview guys have just a totally weird idea of what its like being in a band, writing songs. The other day, I did an interview with this guy, and I was telling him the same thing. He goes, "Well I write songs." I go, "Oh, are you in a band?" He's like, "well, no..." Well then you don't know what I'm talking about, so don't pretend you know. Everyone gets this idea, and they'll argue about it.

ME: You're an avid reader, and in the past, you've said that literature is really important to expand your mind and progress as an artist. That having been said, what books were on Glenn Danzig's nightstand when you were writing the songs for this record?

GD: Um... I don't know. It took so long to do this record. [laughing] What happened was, we did the initial tracks-like eighteen, nineteen tracks, whatever it was-and while we were waiting to fo the deal on it, there was just down time, and I was constantly writing, and I was like, we're gonna do more songs. So, we ended up doing almost, like, 28 songs for this record.

ME: Once you had the deal [with Spitfire Records] and were ready to put it out, did you find that it was really tough choosing what went on the record?

GD: Yeah, it was pretty tough choosing. There's a lot of good songs that did not make it to the record. One is that song "Bound By Blood" that I told you about. A friend of mine was down the other day when we were mixing "Bound By Blood," abd he's like, "Oh man, is this track going to be on the record?" I'm like, "No." [laughing] And he was just freakin out. But its a typical example of it being really hard picking songs for this record.

ME: Oddly enough, listening to "Wicked Pussycat," it's kind of-dare I say-almost playful for Danzig. [laughing]

GD: It's the happiest song on the record-if it's even happy. When I tell people, "yeah, I king of wanted to do a playful, very light song," they go, "That's light?" Well, if you hear the rest of the record. [laughing] Yeah, its pretty cool. A lot of people don't see it the way you and I do, though. But that's cool. Everyone gets out of it what they get out of it. And I dig that. I think all the songs should be personal for each person, y'know?

ME: At this point, with this new album, a tour is going to take up much of the year.

GD: Pretty much. We're already looking at ten weeks in the U.S. on the first leg. And then we'll go to Europe, and hopefully come back.

ME: Talking about that, what is the status of Blackest of the Black, the festival tour you're planning?

GD: That's hopefully going to go out this fall. Hopefully, we're going to have the bands that I want/ And then it's just putting the venues together that I want, and taking it out. Yeah, its going to be cool.

ME: Who have you got in mind?

GD: I can't tell you right now. I've had a lot of people trying to scoop us, but as it gets closer, I'll let you know.

ME: Not the first year, but maybe the second year, you were actually thinking about doing a Samhain set.

GD: Thats just speculation on my part. I don't know if all the parties could get together and do it again.

ME: You were talking about trying to have some of the real extreme video gaming companies sponsor it, and have that whole festival sort of feel. Is that still going to happen?

GD: I'm gonna try, we'll see. A lot of people might be scared of it. It's gonna definately be radical, and it's gonna make MTV look like a piece of shit. It's gonna make OZZfest look so corporate, it's ridiculous. It already is corporate, look at the bill this year - the worst.

ME: With Blackest of the Black,m it sounds like it will unsettle some conservative moralists. In that sense, do you think the accusations of sexual abuse against the Catholic church will maybe shake people into reality?

GD: What's that show with Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew [Pinsky]? Love Line - I was on that in like `94 or `95, talking about all these priests who were abusing children. There was the one case that HBO made the movie of, and the Catholic church tried to hit HBO with a lawsuit to stop the movie. It was basically about this little kid who had been abused by a priest. The Catholic church tried to destroy the family, `cause they were going to make it public. Anyway, I was on that show, and some girl called-she was obviously Catholic-she's like "This guy's lying, that stuff doesn't happen." And even Dr. Drew said that, unfortunately, it does happen. It is a problem. The Catholic church has a lot of power and treats people like shit. Its not just the Catholic church, though. I don't want anyone to think I'm singling it out. All organized religion. Every single organized religion.

ME: When you put everything in the world into perspective, it strikes me as funny that people will put more time, energy and emotion into stickering a Danzig album, than looking at what's going on in their own backyard that's a million times worse.

GD: Exactly. Hey, I'm not molesting litthe children and using my church to defend me. That's money you give to the church. They're using it to pay out settlements and to defend these priests who are abusing children. You can say what you want about me, but I'm not doing any of that fucked up shit.

ME: We've talked in the past about comic books-What's happening with Verotik and that aspect of your career?

GD: We're just doing books whenever we feel like doing `em. [laughing] We do books every... I think it's like, every four months, we'll put out a comic, which is good for me, `cause so much is happening now with the band. It's just a crazy time.

ME: When can we expect to see a McFarlane action figure?

GD: Never. But I know that there's a series coming out of Japan of Three Faces of Danzig. It's a Misfits one, a Samhain one, and a Danzig one. And then we just did a deal here in America with N2 for a Danzig action figure and some other stuff. N2 does all the Matrix and Road Warrior toys, and a bunch of Arnold [Schwartzenegger] stuff.

ME: Being a comic fan, were you looking forward to seeing the Spider-Man movie?

GD: No. Hollywood movies are pretty much like [record] labels right now-Very corporate. The only movies that get made really suck. I have no interest in watching them, because it's not making movies to make a good movie-it's making movies to sell tickets. To me, that's like pop music.

ME: At one point, wasn't there interest expressed in adapting some of the Verotik characters to film?

GD: Yeah, but of course it didn't happen. [laughing]. I'm not saying that it couldn't, I'm saying that in Hollywood it's not going to happen. A Hollywood movie is not going to happen, because it's just bullshit. Hollywood is bullshit. Early on with Verotik, we met with so many different studios, and they'd be freaking out over the stuff. But any of this stuff can be tailored to be an R or PG-13, y'know? Really, what it comes down to is, all those studios are run by geeks and nerds. [laughing] And they're never going to get it, y'know what I mean?

ME: I guess, then, that we can't expect to see an MTV reality show called The Danzigs, huh? [laughing]

GD: No, never in a million years. First off, I'm not an old, blabbering Parkinson's idiot like Ozzy.

ME: Do you think it's a mistake to let people get that close to your personal life?

GD: [long pause] It's none of their business, anyway. I know I like to keep my privacy.

ME: Do you think that sometimes it gets a little weird, because fans will get a sense of entitlement, like everything has to be for them, and not necessarily what the artist wants himself?

GD: That's the worst pitfall you can ever fall in, when the fans get that sense of entitlement. What I owe my fans-I've always said this from the beginning-is to do a great record that I'm happy with. I'm pretty lucky. My fans are very appreciative, and they're respectful. And I respect that, too, y'know what I mean? Respect is such a mutual thing, so, pretty much, it's very cool. I don't wanna make it sound like I just do it all for myself. I definately appreciate the people that listen to my stuff and really dig it. I like to hear that people like the record. But at the end of the day, its not going to change how I do a record, or how I write. It's not going to change any of that.

ME: There's not going to be a Hollywood Danzig movie, or a reality TV sow. But personally, I would enjoy an extensive DVD with all the Danzig videos.

GD: Well, that's gonna come out. Volume 1 is gonna come out, that has, I think, Danzig III: How the Gods Kill and Thrall-Demosweatlive videos on it. And then Volume 2 is going to come out that has Danzig 4, Blackacidevil, and possible the one we did from Satan's Child on it. And they'll be cheap- I think they'll be like $14.99 or $19.99, something like that.