FORCED EXPOSURE #5, January 1983
--------------------------------

This interview took place at Glenn's house sometime in December...  Glenn
and Jerry did all the talking and unfortunately Robo wasn't present due to
the fact that he was visiting people in Florida...

Glenn) Kiss are playing the eight, we are playing the seventh right?  But
we don't have anything for the eighth.  We are gonna play either Madison or
St. Louis but all these people said if you're not doing anything come with
us and go see Kiss out there.

Jerry) I saw the new video the other night.

Glenn) They have a new video?

Jerry) Yeah, everybody has glowing eyes and shit.

Glenn) Yeah?  They're funny.  If you go and see Kiss you really can't take
'em serious.  It's like going to see McDonalds.  They're putting this band
on with us in Toledo.  They are called Manimals and they do all originals
except for two Kiss covers and they blow off flashpots and stuff.

Jerry) Do they do Detroit Rock City?

Glenn) I don't know but they do all originals and stuff and they are
supposed to be pretty good.  They have songs like "You're Gonna Rot In Hell"
and stuff and they blow off flashpots and do two Kiss cover songs.

Katie) Do people compare you to Kiss all the time?

Glenn) Sure, I don't know why.  Not that we are a Kiss ripoff but that we
must like Kiss or Alice Cooper or something.

Jerry) Those are people that know nothing about musice, see?  They go "Yo
Kiss right?"

Glenn) It's an easy tag, we've been called everything.

Jerry) Twice......

Glenn) Horror Rock, Ghoul Rock, Morbo Rock, Splatter Rock...

Jerry) Motherfuckers......

Glenn)Hardcore, punk, heavy metal, the funniest one was Horror Metal!

Katie) Who called you that?

Glenn) Someone out in LA and then alot of people think we are from LA 'cause
our reocrd came out on Slash.

Katie) Do you want to give yourself a label?

Glenn) I don't care, everybody's always trying to put a label on something.
I don't care what people call us..... like dickface, jerk off, I don't care.
It doesn't matter to me anymore.  Motley Crue want to be known as Motley
Crue.  Look, they're on MTV!!

Jerry) Nah!!

Glenn) No, look!  Tesco gave them a free ad in his last Touch & Go, he's so
fucked up!

Glenn) Look at this!  Tesco reviews....

Katie) Bad albums!

Glenn) Yes, Von Elmo and Thor.  But Tesco doesn't just like punk music, he
likes alot of music.  But in my collection I have Horror Soundtracks, oldies
and punk.  That's it.

Katie) Are you most influenced by punk?

Glenn) I don't really care, I like Horror Soundtracks better personally.  Ask
Jerry.  Jerry, what are you influenced by, besides booze and money?

Jerry) Elvis!

Katie) How old are the Misfits?

Glenn) Four and a half, going on five years.

Jerry) April 25th was the first show we did in '77, we played CBGB.

Glenn) We got alot of influences not so much that the influenced us to write
music but influenced us just to get out and do something.  Originally we
could not get alot of gigs because people did not like our music.  People
liked our music but people who booked the clubs didn't.  It wasn't your
typical heavy metal punk.  What I mean is like The Pistols or Dead Boys it
was like this real aggressive violent...

Katie) You were ahead of your time....

Glenn) We would throw over tables at shows.

Jerry) Y'know, we haven't really changed.

Glenn) And we couldn't get gigs.  I remember after Max's the sholw place,
all the table and chairs just became this huge thing like you could set up a
bonfire.  What I mean is they said, "Uh, uh, no ways you guys can play here
anymore.  All the stuff got wrecked, blah, blah."  So that was it until we
moved over to Hurrah's and then we started to get a bigger crowd and there
was no tables or chairs.  That was when the dance stuff was coming in and we
had a better reaction there too 'cuase people could go crazy.  There wasn't
no tables or chairs in the way so it brought the audience closer to you.
There werent' any tables for everyone to sit at and be real far away.  They
came right up to the stage and were real close to us.  That's when you start
letting people sing along otherwise you got to jump on a table...

Jerry) Yeah, right.

Glenn) Ask us how we feel about Jell Biafra releasing a Halloween 45.....

Katie) How do you feel about Jello Biafra releasing a Halloween 45?

Glenn) Jello Biafra is an asshole.

Jerry) On Plan 9 Records.

Glenn) Yeah, on Plan 9 Records.  Really, original.  I mean he had Halloween
written before ours, that's why it came out before us.

Katie) What do you think of the Freeze's Halloween release?

Glenn) This is a joke right?

Katie) No, it's not a joke.

Glenn) And they pretty much sound like the Dead Kennedys and now they have a
Halloween song.  You're kidding.  Are you kidding?....  They've got a 45
Halloween?  It's not our song is it?

Katie) No.

Glenn) We started a trend!

Katie) Their big thing was to get it out by Halloween but everybody knew that
when they started this project on like Sept. 1st, to get it out by Oct 31
it wasn't gonna happen.  It came out a few weeks ago.

Glenn) Well they really got it out before Halloween, like next year.

Jerry) Yeah, way ahead.... see we got our records out on Halloween.

Glenn) We got our Halloween record out last year a month before Halloween.

Jerry) Which was that one?  Night Of The Living Dead was released Halloween
right?

Glenn) Yeah, we released Night Of The Living Dead on Halloween night, the
first time we played the Irivng in 1979 and we sold them at the door.

Jerry) In the good old days....

Glenn) We were pretty much giving them away.  We didn't press that many of
them.

Katie) Do you have anymore mudslinging to do?

Glenn) No, I'm not mudslinging.  I just that's pretty fucked up.  That's like
us releasing a record called Holiday in Cambodia and saying "oh, we had this
written a long time ago" or if we released a song called California Uber
Allex and saying "who are the Dead Kennedys, never heard of them."  It's just
stupid and lame.  They pretty much have it made.  They don't have to do stuff
like that, I mean, but they are running out of ideas.  It just makes us look
better.

Katie) But they're huge, they've gone further than anybody else.

Glenn) Yeah, I would say the're probably the most popular around.

Jerry) Why, I don't know...

Katie) Do you think the Misfits could be like that?

Jerry) I think we will be bigger than...

Glenn) I think it depends on whether the scene gets bigger or not.  If this
scene goes mass market right, it's just whether or not everyone will hook up
to what we are doing 'cause we are not going to sell out like the Dead
Kennedys are doing.  I don't want to say they are selling out but they are.
They are getting more and more marketable.  Jello will come on with his
little pointy boots and that whoel routine.  He caters to the British punks
alot.  We are not gonna change.  We haven't changed yet and it's "accept us
or don't accept us," that's it.  I think we will get alot of respect for that
and I think we will be able to do it.  I hope alot of the other bands do too.
I don't want to hear this bullshit "this band sold out" and that means if a
band sells out, they give up their ideals, for money.  A band can't sell out
if they're not getting money.  We are not going to change our ideals and we
still play the same kind of songs.

Katie) How man Walk Among Us did you sell?

Glenn) We pretty much know, Slash is ripping us off, it's like 20,000.
They're ripping us off 'cause they said they only sold like what?

Jerry) 587.

Glenn) Something stupid like that and they said we owed them $2000.  We paid
for all the recording and didn't get any of the promotion they promised.

Jerry) They gave us a story about how they owed the Blasters money, so how
could we complain.  They paid them $21 each.

Glenn) We'r enot going to put up with that.  We chased them all out of the
office.  We were gonna kill them.  The Dead Kennedys have sold alot of their
album, something like 100,000.  I know Black Flag Damaged sold like 60,000.
That's alot considering the Germs first record is just reaching the 40,000
mark.

Katie) But the Germs have less mass appeal than Black Flag.

Glenn) True, and the band can't tour obviously.  See, that's what I'm saying.
We are just really heading up our second big tour and like Black Flag have
done four tours and half of one.

Katie) Do you think that's the answer?

Glenn) Yeah, and you gotta play areas like say we go to different towns and
maybe 50 or 75 people will show up.  They've never had shows before, maybe
Black Flag and us.  The Dead Kennedys refuse to play these towns 'cause they
have to get a guarantee, 1000 or 2000 dollars.  We go for a percentage
regardless of what you read in Max RnR.  You can even ask the Necros, I'll
give you the names of the clubs we played last time.  Most of the places we
played was for a percentage, 'cause alot of people are hesitant about giving
a guarantee to punks.  Did we come to Boston without a guarantee?  Yes!
So this bullshit, Max RnR just wants to slander us, they just print whatever
they can about us whether it's true or not.

Katie) Do you enjoy reading Max RnR?

Glenn) I don't read it 'cause I'll see something like about us, fin!  But I
don't like reading Communists.  I'm not going to read Timmy Yobarmon's
Communist Journal.  This scene should be fun, it shouldn't be too politically
oriented.  There should be a political awareness but it shouldn't be stuffed
down your throat.  Believe in politics or not be involved in the punk scene-
I mean that's pretty much the way it seems.  The music takes a back seat over
what you've got to say and that's not good.  You've got to have good songs
and then make people think.

Katie) How long have you been interested in horror?

Glenn) I've always been into monster movies, I don't know about him.....

Jerry) I used to be the best dinosaur drawer at age four.

Katie) How did it get into music?

Glenn) Pretty much the whole thing started when me and him were in the band
then eventually he was doing his eyes black and then I always like wearing
black.  The more youre attitude changes, you dress to fit the way you feel
so eventually that's what happend to me.

Jerry) I think the real turning point was when we got the Crimson Ghost as
our logo.  We came across it and we used it for a poster for Max's.  We were
looking through monster books for what we were gonna use and we finally came
across it and once it came out, it came out perfect.  The screen was great.
The posters looked great and that was it... we were building up to it.

Glenn) When we put that face on the Horror Business 45 and it just started.
People started writing us letters with skull on it and we had the skull on
our jackets and t-shirts.  We had Horror Business stand-ups all over and that
was it.  We just started putting it on everything.

Jerry) And we're still getting better at it, we developed it more and more
each time.  We got deadlier all the time.  We wear weapons, it's just the
thing we do.  We not only saw we are going to knock you over if you stand
in our way, we do it.  So it's great.  Boston was alright!

Katie) What did you think of playing in a church?

Jerry) I thought it was great.  I thought we kicked ass.

Glenn) People were just diving on stage  you gotta just drop the mike and
jump in.  You've got to go wild.  I like when people go off like that.  Like
it was violent but it wasn't violent where people get fucked.  It was fun
like when you go out and you start fucking around and everyone starts going
wild.  The one thing I noticed though was that some kids would try and get up
front to sing along and other people would try and come by and knock 'em over
or thrash 'em 'cause they're up front singing.  I mean that is not cool.

Jerry) You see, if you're going to be an asshole at our shows it's best to
stay home 'cause alot of people... y'know there was this guy the other night
in Jersey City giving me grief so Glenn finally had his fill of him.  He dove
off and punches this guy in the face.  By this time I got off the stage, we
stopped playing and the whole crowd was for us because the guy was being such
a scumbag.  Everybody just said "yeah, kill him" and everybody is throwing
punches at him.  So we ethre him down the stairs and out in the street and if
he's an asshole enough to come back, we'll do it again.

Glenn) This guy from the first song was just standing in front of us making
kissy faces.

Jerry) And giving him the finger...  I could have pluched his eyes out with
my guitar and I didn't 'cause this guy's an asshole and it's his problem.

Glenn) Alot of bands will go and just play, get their money and say all this
bullshit in their songs and when the song is over, say nothing about what's
going on.  We don't just stand there and say ok, we'll take this and we'll
take that.  We don't do that and if other bands want to do that then that's
fine for them.  The way we are outside of the gig is the way we are gonna be
on stage too.  We are going to be exactly that way only with instruments in
our hands.  If people can't handle that, that's fine.  If I was walking down
the street and someone threw a beer can at me, I'd go over and plow their
face, whether I could beat them up or not.  I con't care as long as I got
that one shot in and I say fuck it.

Jerry) And he's dont that too.

Glenn) You know what happens.  We get alot of people who talk and then when
we go over and say "you got a problem?" they clam up and run away with their
cocks between their legs...  When it comes down to really fighting let's
see, they'll probably try and fight with us maybe three on one but one on one
... no way!  But like I've backed down 3 or 4 people - I said, "come on, I'll
take you all on, let's go" and so if he comes up (points to Jerry) he's gonna
take on 10 of them and Doyle, he's pretty big......

Jerry) See, we don't go around starting it, if somebody comes up to us and
they are nice, we are the first to say, "hello, you ya doin'" and talk to
them but if they come over with an attitude either they don't like us or they
try and act cool.

Glenn) We get alot of this from girls (in falsetto), "Hi, what's that thing
in the middle of your head?" and I go "get the fuck out of here before I
throw you across the room."  I don't care if it's a guy or a girl.  If
someone's gonna fuck with me, with a girl I'll have maybe a little more
patience but anybody who hits me, I will back whether it's Mahatma Gandhi,
I don't care.  You've got to go "get the fuck out of here before you get hurt
and you don't want to get hurt" and like if they leave great, and if they
don't then a guy I'll punch and a girl I'll fling out of there.

Jerry) The thing that's good is that the people that want to see us, if they
want a release, we give them a means to doing it.  If they come the wrong way
then it's death and trouble.  You get alot of that... see that's what
happened in San Francisco.  It was wrong on both sides but it came down to a
point.  It's our dream to die while we're playing so if 500 people are going
to tell us "fuck you" then we're going to stand there and tell them "fuck
you" too and they were gonna kill us.  There were so many of them but you
know at the time, we stood back and they stood back and we could have died
but it was cool.

Glenn) They could have died too.

Katie) You don't write set lists do you?

Glenn) We used to write set lists, now we go up and just yell 'em out.

Jerry) We do alot more songs now that we don't have a set list.  We only used
to do 13 songs and that's it and if people didn't clasp and go crazy then we
didn't go out and do another song.  We could do 13 songs in half an hour and
we could go out and make $500 in half an hour or whatever and people would
say "fuck you."  Now we go out there and do whatever we think and we do 30
songs now.

Katie) Are you going to do this for the rest of your life?

Glenn) I don't know, I don't really want to, I don't really care.  I mean
eventually we will probably get involved in other things like movies and
stuff.

Katie) Do you have plans for any Misfits videos?

Glenn) Yeah, we definitely want to do the Misfits on video.

Jerry) Oh yeah.

Katie) Get on MTV?

Glenn) I don't really know about MTV, I don't think they'll take us like our
videos, we want heads to explode and blood.  How are they going to show that?
They won't even show that on Channel 7.

Jerry) Yeah, they turned down Duran Duran's video because it was X-rated or
something.

Glenn) Like the plans we have for Devils Whorehouse on a video are like so
sick, just so sick.  They won't every rake a Dead Kenndys video so how are
they gonna take ours?

Katie) So how close in the future is the video?

Glenn) Next year as soon as we get the money if we can afford a real
professional camera we're gonna buy one.

Katie) What's coming up on vinyl?

Glenn) Well the Evilive record is ocming out just for Fiend Club members and
anyone who palns on bootlegging it we've got something in store so you can't
boot it.

Katie) Someone was planning on bootlegging it?

Glenn) Yeah, it won't be able to be booted.  There'll be a way you'll be able
to tell if it's a bootleg copy or not.  Well we've heard alot of people say
it's probably gonna be booted because there's only gonna be 1000 copies of it.

Katie) Do you have a real problem with that?

Glenn) Well I know that stuff we've done has been bootlegged, like the first
45, the very first one we got, that we did, the Cough/Cool one.  That was
bootlegged.

Jerry) And that wasn't really worth bootlegging.

Glenn) It's just like a historical type thing and alot of people want it so.

Jerry) How about the Beware record?  That's still coming out and we don't see
no money from it.  That's why we've had alot of troubles.  We were trying to
swing a deal with a record company to get things off the ground the quick way
and we found out that people think that because of what you do and you're
playing for such a capital audience that they can fuck with you.  The same
thing with Slash.  The same thing with this British company that's selling
our record and we're not getting any money for them.  Next year should be a
really good year for us.  We should be busy, we should have to do paperwork
and do t-shirts all the time now.

Glenn) The music is spreading now into New Jersey and alot of the high
schools in the Midwest and stuff.  The kids are hip to the music and it's the
bands that really work hard and really go out and really know what it's like
to be a band and struggle and not have money to eat on the road and things
like that.  Those bands are the ones that will get what they deserve.

[Includes three photos, one with caption "PHOTO: Angela" and two with the
 caption: PHOTO: Phil-In-Phlash"]