DANZIG mainman Glenn Danzig spoke with Sam McPheeters from Vice Magazine recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Vice Magazine: I’ve always been curious how a band like Danzig works. You’re the figurehead, the front man, the namesake, and the songwriter...

Danzig: "That started after SAMHAIN, when I hooked up with Rick [Rubin], because we were courting lots of major labels at the time. It was his idea to change the name to Danzig. I said, 'Well, I was gonna do that after the MISFITS. I just thought it sounded too much like Billy Idol or something.' But by the time Samhain had run its course and was becoming Danzig, people knew what to expect from me, from Danzig. The original idea was to have a different lineup every record."

Vice Magazine: I’ve read that you’re going to slow down on touring some because you don’t want to deal with the downtime that comes on the road.

Danzig: "After the 2005 Blackest of the Black tour, I stopped touring. Then I said, “Well, I’ll do local shows, because I don’t have to sit on a bus for fucking three days between shows, doing nothing.” I’m a workaholic, and so I’ve always got to be doing stuff. When you’re on the bus, you can’t do shit. You’re not at home, you don’t have all your shit."

Vice Magazine: But I guess you then got tired of not touring…

Danzig: "I love playing live, so I started out again with a couple local shows. Then we put together a West Coast run and I flew home after every two or three shows. And then we tried this thing where we flew out to the East Coast, did four shows, I flew home, and then we started a West Coast run that went out to Denver for two and a half weeks, and every two or three days I flew home. It worked out OK, so in 2008 we did a Blackest run where I flew home every few days. That didn’t bug me, so we’ll try a full tour this time. I’m going to try the flying-home thing and see how it works."

Read the entire interview here.

As previously reported, Glenn Danzig has announced a special nine-city concert trek that will kick off in Norfolk, VA on June 15. The dates, played to usher in the June 22nd release of Deth Red Sabaoth (evilive/The End Records), Danzig's first new studio album in six years, will feature long-time Danzig cohort, guitarist Tommy Victor (PRONG, MINISTRY), drummer Johnny Kelly (TYPE O NEGATIVE) and former SAMHAIN bandmate, bassist Steve Zing. Support for the east coast dates will be GORGEOUS FRANKENSTEIN, the band of original Misfits member Doyle, and SEVENTH VOID, the band that includes of Danzig/Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly and Type O guitarist Kenny Hickey.

A special internet pre-sale has now launched at Ticketmaster.com and is ongoing through Thursday, May 13. During this internet pre-sale, fans who purchase a ticket can also purchase a special, limited edition Danzig 7" vinyl single with two brand new songs - 'On A Wicked Night', the first single from the new album, and 'The Revengeful'. See the itinerary below for on-sale info and where to purchase tickets.

Danzig plans to dig deep into his career-defining catalogue and perform tracks from Danzig, Lucifuge, How the Gods Kill, and on up to the present, including several new songs from Deth Red Sabaoth. "Danzig fans have their own favorites from throughout the years," said Glenn, "and I hope the set list we put together will satisfy everyone."

Deth Red Sabaoth is his ninth and was produced by Danzig himself. It was recorded in Los Angeles throughout the course of 2009. The multi-tasking Danzig handled bass duties for most of the album and even played drums on the song 'Black Candy.'

According to a press release, Deth Red Sabaoth is 11 songs strong, and some song titles include 'The Revengeful' and 'On a Wicked Night.' There is also the two-parter called 'Pyre of Souls'; part one is said to be dirgy and opens with an acoustic guitar, a piano and Danzig's signature vocals, while part two erupts with electric guitar fury.

The album has a natural feel, thanks to the way the iconic Danzig attacked the recording process, choosing to steer clear of studio trickery and technology. "I think that fans will really dig this new album," said Danzig in a statement. "I've been told several times that the album has a cool vitality to it, that it sounds energized, and I got that feeling when I was recording it. I wanted to have an organic sound, bigger and thicker, so I went out and bought some 1970's Kustom tuck 'n' roll bass amps to play some of the guitar parts through. You'll hear real reverb, real tremolo on this album, which sounds completely different than the stuff that's done with computer chips."

The visually-arresting artwork for Deth Red Sabaoth was designed by award winner Joe Chiodo, who has worked on dozens of graphic novels and comic books, most notably X-Men Unlimited. It makes total sense, as Danzig is a noted comic book fan and publisher; Chiodo also works on Danzig's own Verotik publishing line.

Danzig tour dates:

June

15 - Norva - Norfolk, VA
16 - The Fillmore, Charlotte, NC
18 - Nokia Theatre, New York, NY
19 - Trocadero Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
21 - House of Blues, Boston, MA
24 - Knitting Factory, Boise, ID
25 - Knitting Factory, Reno, NV
26 - Nokia, Los Angeles, CA
27 - Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA