Photo by Tom Begrowits
Eerie Von has been in various bands including Rosemary’s Babies, Samhain, and most well known as the original bassist for Danzig. In addition to his history as a musician he is also talented behind the camera as well and was a photographer/archivist for the Misfits. Although mostly known as a bassist during his time in Rosemary’s Babies he played drums. The band was active from 1980–1983. It was soon after Eerie and Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig formed Samhain. Eerie started out on drums in the band but quickly switched to bass. He remained in the band until 1987 the same year that Danzig formed. Eerie was the original bassist in Danzig and remained in the band until 1997. He appeared on ‘Danzig’ (1988), ‘Danzig II: Lucifuge’ (1990), ‘Danzig III: How the Gods Kill’ (1992), ‘Danzig 4’ (1994) and portions of ‘Live on the Black Hand Side’. In addition to his accomplishments as a musician Eerie published his first book Misery Obscura in 2009. The book gives us a view into some never before seen photos of the early punk days.
This past week Talk Toomey: The Metal Nexus Podcast host Joshua Toomey was able to catch up with the legendary bassist himself Eerie Von at the Nashville Rock -N- Pod Expo. The two talked about the early days of punk rock and Eerie’s time performing alongside Glenn Danzig in both his namesake group Danzig and Samhain. When jokingly asked if he was interested in jamming “Mother” later, Eerie responded with, “No. They’re not paying me enough to do that – or at all. No. If I never have to play that song again it’ll be too soon.” As Danzig‘s biggest hit, “Mother” allowed the band to receive heavy rotation on MTV during the nineties and reach a much wider audience. However, Eerie felt that it didn’t necessarily portray their sound as well as other songs and says, “That was not my favorite one. It’s the only one that doesn’t really sound like us. I like the stuff that sounds more like us. That sounded like AC/DC.” Click below to hear the full conversation.
