Stage Buzz: [Updated with Gallery] Doyle at The Forge of Joliet

Brassneck | November 8, 2017

Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (photo: Mandi Martini)

Under the eponymous Doyle banner, the dominating ex-Misfits axeman has conjured up 13 metallic horror-punk tracks on his sophomore solo effort that was released this past summer, Doyle II: As We Die. Currently on his As We Die World Tour, Doyle (real name Paul Caiafa) and his band – vocalist Alex “Wolfman” Story, bassist Brandon Strate and drummer Wade Murff at Joliet’s The Forge this Friday, Nov. 10. After two record-breaking 2016 original Misfits reunion performances that included vocalist Glenn Danzig, bassist Jerry Only and Doyle (with ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and guitarist Acey Slade), the band is reuniting again for three more dates in December with two shows in Los Angeles and one in Las Vegas. Until then, Doyle will traveling across the U.S. playing select songs from his two solo albums.

Mosh: Doyle II: As We Die was written at the same time as your debut album Abominator. Did any of the material change from then until the recording, or did you record both albums back to back?
Doyle: The guitars and bass were recorded back-to-back. We did the drums over because we got a new drummer, and we did the vocals over just for fun.

Mosh: With Doyle the band, you show off a more metallic side compared to your punkish side that you displayed with the Misfits.
Doyle: I don’t try to write in any way. I find whatever’s comfortable to play that sounds good. With horror punk, I think all those bands are horrible. To me, we’re not a horror punk band. We created it, but everybody just copies it and says they’re horror punk, but it sounds nothing like us.

Mosh: Naturally, there are some similarities to the Misfits.
Doyle: I don’t think of the Misfits even when I’m playing in the Misfits. I don’t try to sound like the Misfits. The reason it sounds a little like the Misfits is my guitar sound is the Misfits guitar sound. Alex Story, the way he writes is much the same way Glenn writes.”

Mosh: The Misfits’ American Psycho album turned 20 years old this year. What do you remember most about writing and recording it?
Doyle: The thing I remember the most about that record is doing a song called “Them,” [Ed: this song actually appears on Misfit’s 1999 Famous Monsters album) which is about giant ants. It’s a ’50s movie. I was making the ant noise in the beginning and I looked down and I was covered in giant black ants. So it must have been the right sound because they weren’t there before I started doing that. But once I started doing it, I was covered in them.

Mosh: Your girlfriend Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy does some killer vocals on “Kiss Me As We Die.” Did you immediately have her in mind for that part while writing the song?
Doyle: I had the idea for the middle part and the rest. The end part and the extra screams, she just did that on her own. She wanted to give me some more options. I said I wanted her to do an angelic, spooky kind of thing in this middle part. She didn’t listen to the song until we got into the studio. Then she went into the room and did it and said, ‘Like that?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, exactly like that!’

Mosh: “Virgin Sacrifice” also features guest vocalist Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. How did he get involved with the song?
Doyle: I met him a few years back on the Danzig tour and we became friends. We were going in to mix and I asked Alex about what he thought of Randy singing on a song. I wanted him on “Virgin Sacrifice” but Alex was like what about “God of Flies” or “Beast Like Me.” So I said I’d send him all three and let him pick. He picked “Virgin Sacrifice” and he came into the studio and we got the words up for him. He asked me what I wanted him to do and I just said, ‘Go in and do whatever the fuck you want, that’s why you’re here.’ He’s one of my favorite singers. Whatever he did, he picked out himself. I didn’t know he was going to sing the third verse, and he knocked it right out.

Mosh: Are you writing for a third Doyle album?
Doyle: I have about 10 to 12 things that I just need to demo out. It’ll either be a new Doyle record or if we can do anything with the Misfits. If there’s a Misfits record and I’m allowed to write on it, then I’ll submit those into that project.

Mosh: Do you write while you’re on the road or do you have to be in writing mode?
Doyle: I bring an extra guitar with me just to fuck around with on the bus. I barely touch it because I play guitar all night and I don’t really want to touch the guitar until I have to play it. Once in a while, I’ll play some riffs. I don’t really have time during the day to do anything.

Mosh: How do you maintain your workout regimen while on the road? Do you bring weights on the bus or do you have gyms staked out in each city you play in?
Doyle: We’re sponsored by PowerBlast dumbells. We bring benches and dumbells and mats and whatever else. The guys set it up and tell me where it is. I do my work out and get ready for the show.

Mosh: With the state of the music business these days, what bothers you the most?
Doyle: Don’t steal music, man. That’s our product, and when you steal it you’re actually robbing us. And if you rob us and we go broke, guess who gets no new music? They think the shit’s free.

Doyle appears 11/10 at The Forge, Joliet.

–Kelley Simms

Gallery from The Forge of Joliet Friday, November 12 – photos by Eddie Spinelli