In a recent interview with Full Metal Jackie, Glenn Danzig discussed his upcoming string of rare live shows on the U.S. West Coast in late March, featuring support from DOWN, ABBATH, and CRO-MAGS. These shows will include cities Danzig hasn’t played in years.
He then went on to express concerns about the future of his solo career, hinting it might be over. Danzig cited the current music industry landscape and fan behavior as key factors. He expressed disappointment with fans recording entire concerts on their phones and sharing them online, arguing that this practice detracts from the live experience for everyone. He also pointed to declining physical album sales and the dominance of streaming as reasons for his diminished motivation to create new music, suggesting his next album could be his last.
When asked if these upcoming shows were his only planned performances for the year, Danzig responded (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “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 reflected on how touring has changed 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.”
Regarding the possibility of recording new music, Danzig 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.”
When asked if he still enjoys the process of songwriting, Glenn Danzig replied: “Yeah, of course. But I write lots of different stuff.
“I don’t see the music industry changing at all. So I don’t know if I’m ever gonna record again, at least DANZIG stuff,” he admitted. “Maybe at some point. I don’t know right now.”
Source: metaladdicts.com
