Glenn Danzig's Amazing Art Collection

Alex Distefano

Danzig's bodyguard Russ MacKay holds two rare records, Samhain's "Unholy Passion" and Danzig's #1 classical music record, "Black Aria"

See also:
*The Craziest Danzig Stalker of Them All
*Glenn Danzig's Head On Other People's Bodies: An Appreciation
*Reviewed: Glenn Danzig at Gibson Amphitheatre - 10-31-11
*Henry & Glenn Forever Art Show: How Did Rollins and Danzig React to the Gay Fantasy Comic?

This week on West Coast Sound: Danzig-palooza!

In honor of Glenn Danzig's Halloween show at Gibson Amphitheater -- in which he will play songs from his entire catalog -- we checked in with him to see how his short tour is going so far.

"It was just brutal," he says of the first date, October 7 in Chicago. "We played for over two hours. The energy was like a bomb exploding." But he adds that this quick run is the one and only time he's going to be performing solo work along with Misfits and Samhain songs in the same concert. "After these shows there will be no more, so if you miss it, you miss it."

While we had him on the phone we also talked with him about his amazing art collection. Indeed, his bodyguard Russ MacKay hipped us to the fact that Danzig's massive archive includes hundreds upon hundreds of original paintings, an enormous library of rare vinyl records, and, of course, a room full of Misfits, Samhain and Danzig artifacts.

"Danzig's collection is enormous," says MacKay. "He's been a true collector and established art dealer for more than 25 years. Some of his artwork is truly one of a kind, and most of it is very dark."

One of his favorite artists is Simon Bisley, who is from England and known for his comic-book-inspired and multimedia works. "I really love Bisley's style," Danzig tells us, adding that the pair have known each other for two decades. He owns several of Bisley's original paintings, and Bisley collaborated with him to illustrate the album art work for three of his albums, Thrall: Demonsweatlive, 666: Satan's Child and Lost Tracks of Danzig, which feature colorful, vivid images of mystical demonic creatures and representations of death.

Bisley is also a contributing artist for Danzig's comic book publishing company Verotik and helped illustrate Hidden Lyrics of the Left Hand, a special limited-edition book which features Danzig lyrics.