muffytheVampirelayer said:
Ok Braniac, first off, I have not only met Mike, I worked for a band that had the Misfits(graves era) touring with them as guests. Here is why he is unprofessional.
a) failure to notify management of his criminal record hence a very long unnecessary detainment at the Canadian border, with Mike being refused entry, therefor screwing over all the Canadian fans b) he at many times had a rock star attitude, and mind you this was not all the time, treated roadies, club personelle like shit c) the simple fact that he walked off stage (and yes so did Doyle but this is about Mike) is the most bullshit unprofessional thing a musician can do. Swallow what ever bullshit pride you have and finish the show.
b) as far as drawing a crowd, there are certain places who have never heard of him, these places are basically ANYTOWN USA. How many shows have been cancelled, or moved to a smaller venue because of poor ticket sales. His recent album does not even show up on soundscan.
c)Yes he is living of the remains of the Misfits (just like Jerry Only is). If it wasnt for Jerry, Mike would still be cutting grass at some Jersey golf course. 1/4 of his set is songs from Famous Monsters, and American Psyco.
So I do know what I am talking about. Go back to the Gotham Road board, or the Web of Dharma or whatever band mike is in this week and spout your crap there.
1) The border thing can be seen as either a lack of foresight, just plain stupidity on Graves' part or overzealous border patrol/customs.
Regardless of what happened i wasn't there and don't agree with the use of drugs for myself but if that's what one chooses to do
then it's their life. He should have known that something like that could have come up but apparently didn't think it was important enough
to bring up. After all there are plenty of bands that go back and forth over the border who have some sort of criminal record.
a) Rockstar attitude does not necissarily mean you are unprofessional. It could be that the man was having a bad day(s) or what have you.
When i have a bad day people don't say i'm 'unprofessional' or have a 'rockstar' attitude. I just have a bad day and state as much.
b) If i'm not mistaken there was a very good reason that he walked (which had something to do with Jerry) but i agree if you start a show
then you may as well finish it to the best of your ability.
2) They are on tour now, and i saw them last year. I'm not aware of any intentional show cancellations or of any at all in fact
so i don't know where you're trying to go with that. and like you said a lot of people have not heard of him so a small turn out
is not unexpected in some places along with the fact that this new band is still fairly new. Also the reason why his album doesn't
show up on soundscan is because it was self released, self financed and NOT sold in any major record stores thereby nullifying
any numbers that could be generated by soundscan.
3) Again if he were trying to live off the misfits name he would be advertising the product his current band produces under something like
"Former Misfits singer Michale Graves new band, blah blah blah" which he does not do. Certainly he plays Misfits songs in the set list
since that is what the fans want to hear. The songs he performs live are the ones that he wrote so i see no foul there in any case.
It's just like when Rob Halford left Priest and did his own thing. The man still played Priest songs in his live set. big deal.
Yes you know what you're talking about to an EXTENT but it seems to me you have something personal against the guy and are content
to dwell on matters that took place YEARS ago rather than trying to give Graves at least some credit. As you shoudl know by now
the whole Graves/Only escapade was reason enough to put any one in a bitter state of mind and something you just can't separate
work/play from personal matters. You wanna bash? go ahead,
but you really need to make use of the internet as a tool for learning and stop condemning some guy just because you didn't like
it that he replaced Glenn as the frontman. Take care and good luck with your condition.
