During a new appearance on Full Metal Jackie‘s nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn Danzig spoke about DANZIG‘s upcoming string of rare live shows on the U.S. West Coast, set to take place in late March. Support on the trek, which will include cities DANZIG has not played in many years, will come from DOWN, ABBATH and CRO-MAGS.
Asked if the upcoming dates will be all that DANZIG will do this year, Glenn said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t really like going on tour. As you can see, I’m only doing six shows. So just trying to get me to go and do a bunch of shows — I don’t mind doing a one-off here or there or whatever, but doing a bunch of shows, riding around on the bus, I’ve said it before… I know that we had to make up a Phoenix show last time that had to get canceled because we there was a bus shortage. And so basically in order to get a bus, we had to move all our first dates on the tour to the end of the tour. And there wasn’t an available venue in Phoenix that time period. We’ll make up the Phoenix show. And then we had a lot of fans asking why we haven’t come up to the big Northwest and San Francisco. So we’re trying to make that up. And it’ll be it for a while.”
Danzig also talked about the changes in touring since his early days, saying: “Well, everything’s more expensive. The last time I went out — I think it was 2022 or 2023, again just a handful of shows — and prices on buses and gas had just gone [way up]. And then this last time we went out in 2023, they went up three times what we normally pay. And this time it’s even crazier. So, I think it’s also become really hard for a lot of bands to go out there and tour. I’ve said it before — a young band just going out there, they would have to go out in a van, well, kind of how we did back in the day with DANZIG and SAMHAIN and the MISFITS. I mean, we would go out in a van. It was all we could afford.”
Asked if he enjoyed touring in a van at that time, Glenn said: “No. No one loves being in a van with a bunch of other people and a limited amount of space. I’d have to be driving, too. A lot of times we’d have the stick shift, and me and maybe one other person in the van would know how to drive a shift. So I’d have to drive most of the time also. You’re driving and you’re loading equipment in and you’re doing everything, pretty much.”
He added: “But anyway, I’m looking forward to these shows. It’s been a while. And hopefully all the fans will be digging it. And I’m sure they’ll have a great time. The lineup is insane. So, I don’t know what else we can do except come out there and knock you on your ass.”
Asked if there is any new DANZIG music on the horizon, Glenn said: “No.” He went on to clarify that he is “not even focused on touring,” explaining that he is “just doing six shows. And if that’s touring, then what I used to do must have been mega touring,” he said. “I mean, we used to go out for three, four, five, six months at a time.”
Circling back to the possibility of new music, Glenn said: “The whole music thing and recording and everything, it’s just changed dramatically where people really don’t buy physical product anymore. They just wanna download it for free online. So there’s really no incentive to new music, unless I’m in the studio and I do something and I wanna give it away for free to everybody. I don’t know if that’s a great business model.”