Necro: What happened with Damien?
Necro: The Samhain set with Danzig; the tour, is now in the annals of history. What do you think is the most important aspect of the whole thing?
Zing: Well, number one, to show fans that of course were probably too young to see the band when we were out the first time; to give something to them. To show people that London and I; we're not dead, we're around. Just the importance of the music of that era; that we came back and fuckin' rocked it. Probably the best Samhain ever sounded.
Necro: Really, why do you feel that way? (regarding the sound)
Zing: Well, Todd added a lot on guitar, his guitar playing is great. Everything went too perfect, let's put it that way.
Necro: Perfect? That's an interesting thing to say...
Zing: Except London's dislocated shoulder, (happened the night of the Detroit show-11-23-99) that's right.
Necro: Now we find that Steve Zing is a psychic.
Zing: Who else?
Necro: There were some other things that I guess could happen on any tour. People coming down with stuff, cancelled shows, etc.
Zing: I did the whole tour with a massive toothache in which I needed a root canal, and I was on painkillers for the whole tour which wasn't fun. But I had to do it, and London with his shoulder; we all had the flu at one point which caused us to cancel a few shows. There's always something that happens, but for the most part it was great.
Necro: So nothing seemed bizarre or out-of-place? Or is it supposed to be that way?
Zing: Well, I don't know. But, it was the most professional organization that I've dealt with in music. Any bugs that were gonna be were worked out in rehearsals.
Necro: Does that professionalism go back to Glenn Danzig himself?
Zing: Definitely.
Necro: What happened with Damien?
Zing: Well, Damien couldn't get out of his commitment with Iggy Pop. He's been playing with Iggy for about 4 or 5 years now, and Iggy just so happened to go on the road the same time we were going. It's a steady gig with Iggy, and he couldn't get out of it.
Necro: Oh, you're saying he wanted to do it.
Zing: He definitely wanted to do it; big time. He was disappointed, we were disappointed. We were lucky we got Todd to learn the songs.
Necro: So how do you think he (Todd) worked out for you?
Zing: Todd worked out GREAT. He's a professional by all means, I mean the guy knows his shit.
Necro: How did you feel back on stage, despite it not being the original line-up? Did it bring back memories? It must have.
Zing: The most amazing thing about it is that I've never played with London or Todd before, and when we started playing, it took me back to back then. I felt like maybe we stopped for a week and then we came back. It was such a natural progression to play those songs again.
Necro: What was the fan reaction to you? Were there any personal statements directed towards you as far as what Samhain meant to them?
Zing: It was great to finally meet a lot of kids that I've talked to over the years; I signed a lot of stuff for them. That's one of the best things about music is that you get to meet all different types of people and talk to them. You get to make these somewhat distant relationships with people because everybody's pretty much on the same wavelength.
Necro: Did you have a hard time re-learning the Samhain songs or did you have it pretty much down pat?
Zing: The funny thing was when Glenn told me I had to play bass, I've never played bass before. So, before I went out to L.A. for rehearsals, I didn't practice the drums. I practiced bass and the songs I had to play because that's what I was more concerned with. The whole thing was not a forced issue and that's what was so cool about it. Glenn's reaction to me was, "don't worry about anything, we're gonna go have a good time," and that's exactly what happened.
Necro: Did you get any feedback from any other celebrities present or anything like that; other bands that might have been backstage at the show?
Zing: Yeah, there were some. I think Dee Dee Ramone was there and things like that. You know what? To be honest, there were a lot of different bands present, and right now I couldn't remember all the names; some were popular ones. But, to me that stuff doesn't really affect me in any way. I don't get off on meeting someone unless it was Elvis. I don't really care if I get introduced to somebody that's really popular because they're no different than I am.
Necro: What was the most memorable show of the tour?
Zing: You gotta understand, every show had a memorable experience only because the whole thing wasn't forced and it wasn't like none of us got along. To me, it was so enjoyable that everything made a lasting impression that I'll never forget.
Necro: I've seen the tour photos, most notably the ones done by Devilman138. I look at these photos of you and I see a very emotional, determined, and focused individual. Was that the case?
Zing: I think so, I was there to do my best; I think I did, I think I pulled it off. Again, I reiterate that our main purpose was to go out there, have fun for ourselves, and treat all the fans to something that they never have seen before, or ever will again. We could have easily held off on it until the box set came out, but we were more focused because we didn't have pressures of promoting something.
Necro: Okay, but how did you feel after the show in Detroit? It was not a happy-go-lucky kind of atmosphere for you.
Zing: At that point I didn't know what was gonna happen. To hear London screaming the way he was and to see his arm basically hanging on the floor, I thought that was the the end of the tour for Samhain. They were pretty much all ready to get another band to finish the rest of the tour. But, London bit his lip and finished it. It wasn't easy because he was in pain all the time, but he did it.
Necro: You can't bury a good thing....
Zing: Yes, that's for sure....
Necro: So, you were literally on pins and needles....
Zing: Oh, all the time.
Necro: Did that improve your performance, or hurt it?
Zing: Neither. I mean I was worried about the tour ending sooner for myself, and for London of course. One thing as a musician is when you play a show, you always wanna play it like it's your last. Because, you never know, and you wanna give everything you can. I look at Glenn when we played Rhode Island; Glenn was sick as a dog. He shouldn't have gone on that night, we should have really cancelled that night, but he didn't. He played through the whole thing and did both sets. When we got to Pittsburgh, the tour manager said, "you're not gonna play, you just can't do it, you're too sick." Of course we had to cancel, unfortunately. But he was sick as a dog, and that's professionalism; you try to get the job done.
Necro: Nothing was gonna stop you no matter what....
Zing: Right!
Necro: I think most bands; maybe it's due to your experience, or you're in tune with your mortality,whatever it might be; would have called it quits.
Zing: Well, nobody was looking for that. We just wanted to make sure London was okay first and foremost. It's not like we forced him to continue, it was up to him and we made sure he was comfortable.
Necro: I dunno if you wanna call yourself "old-school," but it just says something about the veterans of the music biz in that they can really stick it out. That's what I think it's down to. The new groups don't even know how to puke.
Zing: Well, I dunno because I'm so not in tune with today's music. I'm not bored with music, I'm bored with the re-hash. If you ask me in particular, who's re-hash, I dunno. I just turn on the radio and I go "oh no, what's this? Next!"
Necro: So, how was the blood?
Zing: That was great. It started out that we were only gonna do it in the major cities, and wound up being every show.
Necro: What were the look on people's faces? Where there mouths dropping?
Zing: There were people that were just amazed to see this. Even a lot of the younger fans who have copies of bootleg records, they were amazed by it; I was glad to see that. You're able to relate to someone by playing music and you can't ask for a better thing, you really can't.
Necro: What then, did you get out of this whole experience? What was the meaning of this.
Zing: I think what we got out of the tour was the fact that after all this time, we've realized that this really clicked. Even though Todd was not an original member, and London and I never played together; not only did it click, it just shows the songs held up more than anything.
Necro: What impact do you think these concerts had on the music world in general? Did it shake things up?
Zing: Well, I hope we made a lasting impression on the people who got to experience it. I remember things like standing at the bus, I remember you dropping your records into the street. I remember all those things, ya see what I mean? I remember vividly each thing. So everything I wanted to get out of it, I got out of it.
Necro: Well, I dropped the records because I thought Glenn was gonna punch me or something. You know, he has this bad reputation....(laughs) Just kidding, of course....
Zing: What did you get out of it?
Necro: I finally saw what I had imagined, come into being. It was everything I expected and then some. It was....a nightmare come true!
Zing: But, did you like it?
Necro: Of course! Absolutely!
Zing: Unfortunately, you got the raw end of it because London had to fuck his shoulder up. But, we tried!
Necro: Actually, to tell you the truth, that might be the whole meaning of the band right there. Your mortality, how short things can be....
Zing: Life is weird...
Necro: Right, how mysterious and strange life can be. So in a sense, if you look at it that way, it's kinda cool. But, hurting one's self and missing the show is not of course.
Zing: You would really have had to be there while this was being put together. It was very weird, the whole thing, for me anyway. Because it came about in a matter of weeks; not finalized until a matter of days for certain things. It was a "drop everything and fly to California". It was surreal to me, a real wacky experience. Let's put it this way; it was fucked up. It was the best fucked-up thing I've ever done!
Necro: I don't think it would have been any other way, really.
Zing: Right, exactly. But, it worked David, and that's all that mattered. I left knowing that I did the best thing in the world.
Necro: It also was bigger than it ever was. You played to the biggest crowds you've ever had, true?
Zing: Oh yeah. We didn't travel with 2 buses and a semi when we did it years ago. We traveled in a friggin' van with no air-conditioning, no heat, and no money. With the guys in Danzig, I shared a bus with them, and they were really cool to me. It was their tour really, and they made me feel at home. Those guys are fuckin' amazing.
Necro: The funny thing is, is that every member of Samhain and Danzig didn't come from Beverly Hills or something. You paid a lot of dues to get to where you are now.
Zing: Still paying, unfortunately. But, that's okay; I know I'm still alive when I have to deal with bullshit.
Necro: Let's get to the box set. What does it mean to you?
Zing: I just hope to leave some kind of mark on society and hope that this is just one of the many things that I'll do that will accomplish that.
Necro: Is there any meaning other than the product itself? On an artistic level or otherwise.
Zing: For guys like me, London, and Eerie; let's look at it from our side. Before Samhain, we just had high-school garage bands, punk bands. When we did Samhain it was something totally different, something that was really serious. I knew from the get-go that it was gonna be different and it was gonna make a lasting impression. For Glenn, it was a new beginning, hence the Latin "Initium"-new beginning. Because for him, he had something basically established and he let it go. He did this not knowing what was gonna happen. So then really, it is the perspective of a man who took this chance by forming this group. I've always felt that Danzig and Samhain share a common thread. Not only because Glenn wrote the songs, but it always had the same meaning to it. There's no denying that Glenn is one of the most talented songwriters out there. There's a certain feeling that goes along with his writing that carried over from Samhain to Danzig. As opposed to the Misfits which sounded totally different. The box set means then, a feeling of accomplishment. Of something that was from each member of that band; a piece of our lives that will live on indefinitely, beyond us. Because it did make a mark in this society. It's not like we set out to prove that, it proved itself and I think that's where it ties into what the tour meant to me; it just proved itself.
Necro: What do you think the fans old and new, got and will get out of it (the box set)?
Zing: That this was ground-breaking. It was groundbreaking for a new band because it was a new sound. Just like the Misfits never sounded like somebody else, Samhain never sounded like someone else. Well, you gotta bunch of those that have tried copying it, but really they don't exist. So, I just hope that people will look at it and go, "this wasn't forced, a forced box-set that had to come out." This is something we all wanted to come out and no one's getting rich on it. But, it was something for kids that weren't around when we were playing who are now interested in the band. This should really answer all their questions for the kids that didn't see the tour. Who we are, what we are, and what we set out to do.
Necro: So many stories...and memories...
Zing: Remember, I met Glenn in 1978. I knew I was gonna play with him because I set my mind to it and I visualized it, and it happened. That's what blew my mind more than anything else. When you're a kid and you're idolizing this guy who is making this music; Glenn was larger than life to me, and it just worked out, I made it work. Man, it was a fucked-up ride but it was amazing.
Necro: What happens after this? with Samhain?
Zing: Well, nobody knows...we'll see what happens. You never know, you never know......I love saying that because, you just don't know what could happen....
~THE END~