Doyle

By Jay Oakley

So Doyle, how is the tour going so far?

Shitty!

The last time you were able to come through you had Tiny (Biuso) and Left Hand (Graham) and you have a line-up change going now. What brought that about?

Well... [Laughs] We got a drummer (Brandon Pertzborn) who could play anything I could write. Tiny couldn't play some of the songs and we switched them out. With the bass player, we usually have Graham but he couldn't do it this time so we got this other guy, Brandon Strate.

So far, so good when it comes to that?

Yeah, we're doing good. He's a good guy, I like him.

Awesome. We talked a little bit last time about the new record and how that's been going. You said there were still some drums that needed to get worked out.

We've done all the drums. They came out insane! We're gonna mix it, master it, title it, artwork it, promote it and then we'll come out.

So, you still have a little ways to go but do you have a rough idea of when you want to get it out there?

I'd say by the first four months or so of next year.

How much longer do you have going in the current tour?

Too much longer. They're still booking shows which to me is fucking stupid. There's no promotion time.

So, you haven't had much in the way of turn outs?

Yeah, we're not having good turn outs, the promotions kinda sucky. We had a couple of good shows.

How's everything going with writing? Is Alex (Story, vocalist) still putting out tunes for you guys to work on?

No, actually I write the music then I give it to him. But, we've got thirteen songs done for this next one and about eight that we're still working on. Once I get a minute, where I can sit there and demo them out I'll get them to him.

Is thirteen songs going to be the number for the next album?

It might be twelve. It depends on what Japan wants. They usually want more songs. I'm not giving them thirty songs like we did with the Misfits, they can forget it.

When this tour does come to a close are you going to take time off to work on the record or just veg?

I'm going to go see my girlfriend (Alissa White-Gluz) and give everybody the finger for a while. I don't know but we're probably going to go mix when we get a minute.

That's totally cool. She was actually in town recently so we caught her when she was playing The Summer Slaughter tour in Baltimore.

I was here. Yeah, I was here with her.

How's everything going with that? You talked extensively about everything, like keeping it on the down low when she had gotten the gig but you guys had to be quiet.

Oh yeah, yeah. It was hard, man. It was hard keeping it a secret. you'd keep saying it and be like, "Woops" and try to change the subject. It was a really good gig for her. It was her favorite band.

Actually that was one of my favorite parts of the last time we talked was you saying how she called you in tears and you were kinda tripping out about it and wondering what went down.

Oh yeah. [Laughing] I got pissed.

You had talked before about hopefully trying to get something together where the two of you could tour. Did that get to happen at all?

We're trying. I just got their booking agent in Europe, so hopefully we can do something in Europe. I would like that, it would be easier for me and her. I think it would be a good tour too. Especially here, it's hard to draw people in the States. You go to other countries and they get it. Nobody gets it here, everybody's watching you on their fucking phone and they want it for free. They'd rather watch it on YouTube and play with their dicks then actually go to a show and enjoy it. Which sucks. But yeah, I want to tour with her. We just did a show together called Metal Allegiance. She's on some record with those guys. It's the guys from Megadeth and Anthrax and Testament, Death Angel and I don't want to leave anybody out because there was so many of them.

This was all for the Metal Allegiance show?

Yeah, she sang one of the songs on the record and they were doing a show and she was off. It was in New York and she said, "Hey, do you want Doyle to come down?" and they were like "Yeah! Lets do it!" I said I'd do it only if she's singing because I wanted to perform with her so we did "Last Caress," it was awesome.

Is she still living in Canada?

She's in Montreal, yeah.

I wanted to ask a little about history. I know you've talked about it but when it comes your departure from the Misfits, what brought about that decision?

I just wanted to be a real band, get a singer and a drummer, be a new band and he (Jerry Only) wanted to sing. I didn't want to play with Marky Ramone and Dez (Cadena) and Robo. That's not for me.

I understand, man. I've always said, as much as I love your old stuff with Glenn (Danzig) and with my age I'm very partial to the stuff you did in the 90s with Michale (Graves.) I thought it was stellar stuff but the lineup that I liked least and wasn't super stoked on was the Dez and Marky lineup. It just seemed to much punk super group and less like the Misfits. I don't want to beat them up because I like their work but it was weird to me and visually strange.

It wasn't the Misfits. It wasn't right. It was wrong and I wasn't comfortable with my brother being the singer. To me, that's not right and I wanted to get a great singer. Too bad we didn't find Alex right then. He must have been insane at that age. [Laughs] I would have loved it but Jerry wants to be the singer. He doesn't want to relinquish that which sucks but whatever.

So, you just played the Rock and Shock festival up in Worcester, Massachusetts. Talk about that because you were playing with everybody.

The Rock and Shock! It was a Danzig tour roll through with Superjoint and Veil of Maya. Prong played and we played and there was a super jam. I did it last year and they said, "Hey do you want to do a super jam?" and I asked what they meant. I said, "I don't jam. I only know my songs or Misfits songs and if you guys want to do that, I can do that." So we did all Misfits songs last year. We did about ten of them and this year we did four. I got my drummer, Brandon Pertzborn, and Alex sang and we went out there and just crushed it. We did "Astro Zombies" which we'd never played together, me and him, "Last Caress" and two others. It was cool, Ace Von Johnson (Faster Pussycat) played and I don't know who the bass player was.

Oh, that's cool. Ace is a nice guy, I've talked to him a few times. A big horror guy, he loves you guys and he's just a good dude.

Ace is a nice guy. Yeah, he's a cool.

Are you doing NAMM (an exhibition dedicated to musical instruments and products) this upcoming year?

I am trying to do NAMM this year, I think I'm going to.

How does NAMM typically work for an artist?

For me, I just call up Dean Markley and say I want to sign and they say, "OK." and I go and I sign.

So, it's kind of like a meet and greet?

It's a meet and greet. You sit in their booth and a bunch of people come. You sign your picture and give it to them and say, "Hello." Last time, I did it with Rex Brown (Pantera) and Piggy D (Rob Zombie) and that was cool. NAMM is just so packed with people now and my social anxiety blows my mind. I really want to go because my girl's playing, so I want to see that and spend some time with her.

You've always seemed like a relatively quiet, chill kind of person where big crowds might not be your thing.

The smaller crowds freak me out more. Shows like this give me more social anxiety. I can play to a hundred thousand people with no problem. That's easy. When there's fifty you feel them all looking at you and you freak out.

And the last thing I wanted to talk to you about because It's relatively fresh news. Is it true that you are no longer having your guitars coming through Oktober?

That is true.

What happened there?

The contract's up and that's pretty much it. We're talking to some other companies right now.

Did you just want to shop around a little bit or just not necessarily super stoked on the product anymore?

We're not at liberty to say anything like that. It ran out and we both did what we could do with it and that pretty much it. So, we're going to try through another company.

Doyle, thanks again for taking some time and I really appreciate it. Sorry that the tour hasn't totally been to your liking.

No problem. When people come, they like it. But, I would like to see more people. I want to have a better show and get more people to see what we're doing.

Doyle

I wanted to start off by talking a little about your new record Abominator. When you were finished with the final product did everything come out to your liking?

Yeah. It's the only record I can hand to someone and just say, "Here's my record." Instead of, "Here's my record but this sucks, that sucks and this sucks." Same thing with my girl, she said the same thing. It's a great feeling. Finally, after all the records I've done in my life.

One of your previous projects was your Gorgeous Frankenstein band but you had said that a lot of people didn't know that was you.

They still don't. They still don't know about this. Any ideas? We're open. [Laughs]

Well, people like myself, we try to do our little part to make everyone aware of your work.

That's right man. It's hard, it's expensive to promote that and getting every magazine and every website to look at it. Ya know, how do you get it out there? We're working Twitter and Facebook, Instagram. I'd say 95% of Misfits fans don't know I have a band. That's why we're playing here (Metro Gallery in Baltimore.) If they all knew, we'd be playing the big place.

Your current band does have a different lineup then Gorgeous Frankenstein, it wasn't just a straight name change. When it comes to who you recruit and who you choose to play for you, what do you look for?

People better then me. Musicianship, writing, everything.

When it comes to putting everything together for touring does it usually come together smoothly? Or does it have the usual headaches that come along like scheduling and what venues will have you?

The booking agent does that. We don't have to do anything. They figure it out.

When it comes to your overall hopes and goals for the record, what are you looking to get out of it. Especially with it being such a personal project and you being so stoked on it, are there any achievements you want?

A job. I want it to be a job.

There has been a lot of talk from my understanding that you have a second record all set.

The drums aren't finished. The drums aren't finished and there is no title or artwork.

As far as a release date does it still have a ways to go?

Spring 2015.

As far as your history with bands like the Misfits, do you look fondly on your time there?

Sure.

A question that I personally would like to ask you. You have talked openly about wanting to see a Misfits reunion. As far as you, Jerry and Glenn is there anyone in particular that you would like to see behind the kit? CHUD or Robo from the older days or anything like that?

None of them. Somebody great. Whoever we can get along with, whoever Glenn wants. I don't give a fuck who is back there. I'll put a drum machine back there.

Are there any new bands that you're into right now?

The thing I've been listening to the most right now is Arch Enemy. I like that a lot.

Is that more of the new stuff? That's with Alissa (White-Gluz) who took over for Angela (Gossow) right? She replaced Angela who people may or may not know.

Very few people know but what a great transition they did with that. It was a secret for over a fucking year and she called me from Japan crying and I was like, "What happened?" and I was thinking who's gonna get me a plane ticket to get out there and punch somebody. She was crying her ass off and said, "My favorite band just asked me to join them." And I was like, "Is that good?" and she said, "Yeah." [Laughs] So we had to keep that a secret for a while. It was smooth, man. Really good, it was amazing.

What do you usually do when you're just kicking it? Whether it's on tour or off, do you stay relatively chill?

Well, she's so busy that when she's home I'm picking her up from the airport and I'll stay with her until she leaves. She just got home today actually. She's gonna fly out on the 2nd to meet us and she's gonna sing with us, ride on the bus for a week or so. 

Does she still live in Canada?

Yeah, our two schedules are rough. When I left for this, she's coming home. When I come home, she's leaving. We're trying to open for them. They have the tour coming up but Angela said it's to late because we have Huntress and whoever the fuck else they've got.

It's all locked in and it's like, "Of course, it is."

Yeah, well they already did it and announced it.

When it came to joining Arch Enemy was it an easy decision for her to make?

Oh yeah. She was gonna do both bands and those assholes and idiots (The Agonists) said no and kicked her out. They had a chance to have the girl that also sings for Arch Enemy. Stupid, so fucking stupid. They ruined their careers. She told them she was gonna be busy all year with Arch Enemy so lets write the record and then we'll go out in 2015. They couldn't wait a year. They all have huge egos and she found out they didn't even like her. They came to her house for a band meeting and kicked her out.

Does Alex (Story) have any problems when it comes to working with you and working with Cancerslugs?

No, he's a fucking songwriting machine. He could write ten songs tonight before we go on.

Yeah, getting back to the record when I was listening to it between the lyrics and his voice I was like, "Wow!"

He's great. I just hand him the music arranged and he just fucking kills it. I don't change anything he does. I'll say things like, "I hear something here and if you wanna try it, try it and if you don't OK." I wrote one word on the record, Abominator. We didn't have a title. I blurted it out. I was driving down the road listening to the "Abominator" hook and pulled over and called him up. It was the last song on the record.

When it comes to writing the records do you, kind of, let everyone handle their business? Do you guys write lyrics first followed by music, etc.

I write the music first. I write it, arrange it, program the drums, the bass everything and record it all. I send it to him and tell him what my arrangement is so he can figure it out. I tell him where to sing and where not to sing and then at the end I tell him to do whatever the fuck he wants and sing where he wants. Very rarely have we changed arrangements. Maybe once, on the next record I think. There was one song where we were doing a double chorus at the end and I was thinking, "If I'm questioning it, then it's wrong, so throw it out."

Do you and Alex have any previous history or did you meet up at a show or anything?

I put ads out in all the New York and LA papers years ago for a singer. His was the only CD I didn't throw in the garbage. I listened to the whole thing. Usually I put a CD in and as soon as the person starts singing I say, "No." And there was some famous people who sent shit and it went in the garbage. I didn't know they were famous, I found out later.

I read once that when it came to how you wanted things sung, Alex was the voice that you wanted for your music and you were way into the way he did it.

Oh, he was great. He sent me like a hundred Cancerslug songs and they were all great. The writing's great, the hooks are great, the word's are great, his voice is awesome and he believes what he's saying.

How did "Left Hand" Graham work into the equation?

He was in Graves, CHUD brought him down. I send him eleven songs and said when he's ready to come down. He came down a week later and knew every song. He hasn't missed a note and I need someone on that side better then me so I can just fuck off. Because if it's someone worse then me then I have to play really good and it's not happening. It's not my thing.

Did you ever consider working with Goolsby much?

We did work with him. He sang and played bass for Gorgeous Frankenstein for a while.

Did you ever consider him for this project?

Oh hell no! He doesn't get it. He's not a professional.

When it came to changing the name was it due to just being over it?

That was Alex's idea. He called me up and said let's change it and start over fresh and that was something I was thinking about at the same time. Nobody knows the other name. We went out on tour and there would be fifty people if we were lucky and the people that were there didn't know I had a band. We came out and opened for Danzig for a whole tour and I'd be at the meet and greet with Glenn and people said they didn't know my band was playing.

That sucks but so far so good?

Yeah, the name change is way better. We still need to get it out to every fucking fan we can get it out to.

Thanks so much for your time, Doyle.

No problem, anytime.