Jerry Only joins Nicole Alvarez backstage at Coachella.
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00:00I am Nicole Alvarez, and this is probably one of the cooler things that has ever happened to me.
00:04Jerry from The Misfits, the original Misfits, are playing Coachella tonight.
00:08And you are so cool that you're sitting here in a trailer with me just hours before you're going to go on stage.
00:13Why would you do that?
00:15Well, we started early. I was here at 6 a.m.
00:17You were?
00:18Yeah, I like to set it up myself.
00:20It's really cool to walk all over the place and see people of all ages wearing Misfits t-shirts.
00:27So stoked to see you guys.
00:28Does that make you emotional?
00:31Yeah, a little bit.
00:31Yeah?
00:32Yeah, I tell them it's my mother.
00:34So what punk rock shaped you?
00:37Well, back in the day when we first started, we really listened to 1950s music and stuff like that.
00:45Like what?
00:46Oh, Buddy Holly and Little Richard.
00:48Like a runaround Sue situation, too?
00:50Yes, Dion.
00:51Yeah, my dad raised me on that, too.
00:53Yeah, well, my mom collected 45, so she used to play them when I was a little kid.
00:56And I was really excited about getting into a band.
01:00I wanted to go to college and play ball, but instead I wound up joining the band and taking it from there.
01:07And it was nice because the music that we were playing in the Misfits, the punk rock, was pretty much just like 50s music.
01:13Take me back to your earliest memories of the Misfits, like the very humble beginnings.
01:19What do you remember most clearly about those days?
01:22Fondly.
01:23Well, we used to practice in our garage, and a lot of the bands from the West Coast, like Social Distortion, who was like 14 years old, would come and stay at our place.
01:32And we pretty much got together through a mutual friend who was a drummer.
01:39And he came up to me, and he said, hey, we're starting a band.
01:42It's brand new.
01:43I was playing bass for about a month.
01:45And what happened was that I met Glenn, and we started rehearsing.
01:51And the next thing you know, we put out a record, and bingo, the next thing we were on the road.
01:55What was the first song you ever wrote?
01:57She.
01:57I think She was the first song I learned, and Bullet, believe it or not.
02:01Yeah?
02:01First show you ever played?
02:03CBGBs.
02:04CBGBs.
02:05At 17.
02:06What about L.A. shows?
02:07Do you have any memories of some cool L.A. shows?
02:09Yeah.
02:09We played, well, we had riots at a couple of them.
02:12I believe that.
02:13Yeah.
02:13But I would say the Whiskey A Go-Go is probably the first recollection.
02:18We played Florentine, not Florentine, Gardens, the Fillmore up in San Francisco.
02:24There's been many iterations of The Misfits.
02:27What, if anything, hasn't changed throughout all those iterations of The Misfits?
02:31Well, you know, the fury, the attitude.
02:35But most importantly, the image and the, you know, the horror link, because that's, Glenn
02:41was selling comic books when we first started the band, and I was working in the machine
02:45shop.
02:45So I wound up building all our stuff and coming up with the hair and the image and, you
02:50know, making the spikes and stuff like that.
02:52What do you think of the state of punk rock nowadays?
02:54I think it evolved pretty well.
02:57I mean, as, when you look at it, you know, we started a whole subculture.
03:02You know, at first, when I went to see the Ramones, they were hanging out at CBGB's.
03:07I walked in and I looked around the room and I go, oh, there's one.
03:10And there's one.
03:11I heard about these guys, you know, because Glenn would take me out.
03:14And me and him would go out.
03:15And that's the one thing that I really wanted to do with this band, was keep it to its basic
03:20element.
03:21So.
03:21Do you have any other fun memories you can share with Glenn?
03:24I mean, about Glenn with us?
03:27Well, I don't know how fond he would think it is, but I remember when he got arrested
03:31in London.
03:32What do you remember about that?
03:34Well, I knew Sid Vicious' mom.
03:36I happened to be there the night he died.
03:38So, well, I made him dinner, actually.
03:41You made Sid Vicious dinner the night he...
03:42Me and his mom made him spaghetti bolognese.
03:45The night of?
03:46Yeah.
03:47Dude.
03:47Yeah.
03:48Wow.
03:49Yeah, I left a little early.
03:50It was getting ugly and I wasn't about that.
03:53So, I helped his mom.
03:55And when we went to England, we were on tour with the damned.
03:59And the guy was stiffing us for our pay, so we walked off the tour.
04:04And I called Sid's mom and I was like, you know, Ann, I said, you know, we had to walk
04:07off this tour.
04:08You know, this son of a bitch didn't pay us and I'm not dealing with that.
04:11So, what wound up happening was that she said, hey, why don't you come down to Canterbury
04:15with me?
04:16Oh, wow.
04:16And so, I went down to Canterbury with her and Glenn went to go see the jam at the
04:20Rainbow.
04:21Yeah.
04:21And he got into a fight with a bunch of skinheads.
04:24Ah.
04:24And wound up, I get a phone call.
04:25He says, oh, Glenn's in jail.
04:27I said, you're kidding.
04:28I said, Ann, we got to get back up to London.
04:30So, he wrote London Dungeon when we were in, when he was in jail.
04:33Wow.
04:34Was it hard to get all of you together to play this festival?
04:38No, not really.
04:39I mean, you know, we go really back to the beginning with Golden Voice.
04:43I mean.
04:44Yeah.
04:44Yes, you do.
04:45Yeah.
04:46I mean, we were probably one of the first bands they were booking and it was probably
04:49one of the first real companies that we were booking with because we used to book our own
04:54shows.
04:55Does your legacy surprise you?
04:57Because, again, there will never be a time when there's not people wearing your logo.
05:02Can I be honest with you?
05:03Yeah.
05:03It does surprise me.
05:05Really?
05:05Why?
05:05Well, because we didn't plan on it.
05:07When we got together, we were doing it because we loved it.
05:10And I still love it.
05:11You know, that's why, like I was telling you, 6 a.m., I was the first one here.
05:15We had no security.
05:16We drove right up to the stage.
05:18Wow.
05:18So, you seem very grounded still.
05:20So, it's never really gotten to your head.
05:22No.
05:23I think that's the most important thing is to stay grounded.
05:26Okay.
05:26You know?
05:27What else would you like your legacy to be?
05:29Well.
05:30That you did an interview with K-Rock hours before hitting the stage at Coachella.
05:33I've been listening to K-Rock forever.
05:35That's amazing.
05:35You know?
05:36So, yeah.
05:36When they told me K-Rock, I said, yeah, I got that.
05:38Yeah.
05:38Oh, my God.
05:39That's amazing.
05:40I'll do it.
05:40So, yeah.
05:41I think that, you know, I think our legacy is something that's going to stand the test
05:45of time.
05:46I mean, you know, if you look at things that are iconic today, like, for example, if you
05:50looked at, like, the Rolling Stones logo.
05:53Yes.
05:53Yes.
05:53Yes, as well.
05:54They had said they were playing 50-something years, and they said, well, we've been playing
05:5850-something years, but we've only actually played two years.
06:01The rest is standing around waiting.
06:03That's true.
06:03I mean, you're the only band, besides Prince, Prince was the only other artist that had his
06:08logo on the bill.
06:09I heard that, but I heard that was his name.
06:12Yeah.
06:14Miles?
06:14No.
06:15That's not the point.
06:16The point is, that is very cool, staring at the poster and seeing that that's how iconic
06:21you are.
06:21Yeah.
06:21That has a lot of, you know, meaning for us, because that was from Famous Monsters, inspired
06:26by.
06:27Yeah.
06:27Yeah.
06:27And, you know, everybody's saying, oh, you got your logo on there.
06:30It's pretty cool.
06:31I said, well, we were there when it started.
06:33It was the talk of the town.
06:34Oh.
06:34As soon as that poster dropped, it was the talk of the town.
06:36Well, thank you.
06:37What are you looking forward to the most tonight when you get on stage with your friends, your
06:40brothers?
06:41I'm trying to have perfection.
06:43We've been working on this, getting ready for this show.
06:45What really does matter?
06:46Perfection?
06:47What do you consider perfection to be?
06:50Being able to go out and let it all out and have, you know, have the people get the concussion.
06:57Feel it.
06:57Yeah.
06:58And they will.
06:58There's a lot of people excited for you.
07:00And again, I want to thank you for stopping by.
07:02Well, thank you.
07:03K-Rock, the Misfits, it all just makes sense.
07:06It has been a true honor.
07:08God bless you.
07:08I'm Nicole Alvarez, Jerry from the Misfits.
07:10Jerry only.
07:11It's K-Rock.