Errier Von — Misery Obscura: The Photography of Eerie Von (1981
The books is an A4 hardback edition from 2009, and takes in 160 full-color pages- featuring a selection of photos taken by new Jersey bass player Eerier Von. As its subtitle suggests the book starts in the late 70’s/ early 80’s when Mr. Von was in high school taking pictures of his favorite punk band The Misfits. It then moves onto a very brief section about his first band Rosemary Babies (where he played drums). Before moving on to pictures taken between 1983 & 1987 of Samhain, for whom he was also the bass player. Moving onto the years 1987 & 1995 with Danzig, where he once again played bass
The book has a very scrapbook/ punk feel through-out. With as well as live, backstage & promo pictures, we get pictures of personal & related items such as drawings, scrawled notes, bottles of stage blood, etc. Added around the pictures you get snippets of text, roughly charting the time the photos where taken, and how Mr Eerier was connected with each band.
The book is broken down in period-related chapters- after the introduction, we move into the first chapter Punk Rock High 1978- 1982- this 60-page section first sets the context for Mr. Errier involvement with The Misfits. Then moves onto pictures of the band, taking in them in a cave & woodland shoot, a host of backstage & front stage photos- from various Misfit shows between 1981 & 1982, and ending with few shots of his first band Rosemary’s band.
Then we have the second chapter entitled All Murder, All Guts 1983-1987. This 27-page section goes from very early & eerier promo shots of Samhain snaps taken of Mr. Danzig at Graceland. Though to great blood-drenched devil lock captured live shots, onto later promo shots.
The third chapter, of course, follows Danzig, and is entitled At The Top Of The World 1987-1995. This over fifty-page section moves from early band studio pictures with famed producer Rick Rubin. The bands tour with Metallica on their Justice for All tour. More live shots. Recording of the bands 1992 album Danzig 3: How The Gods kill, including some great snaps of Mr. Danzig with H. R. Giger discussing the albums artwork. A selection of 1993 tour/ promo shoots, and studio shots of the recording of the non-live tracks from the 1993 ep Thrall: Demonsweatlive, and lastly pics from live shows in 95.
And the book final chapter is entitled And Then There Was One 1995-2009, and as it’s title suggests this few page section covers Mr. Errier’s solo career and artwork. All nicely finishing off the book/ story nicely.
Misery Obscura really stands as one of the more authentic, wholly interesting, and worthy band based photo books I’ve seen. Firstly each of the bands had a fairly distinctive & quirky look. Next Mr. Eerier notes & write-ups littered through-out the book are always down-to-earth, mood-setting, yet never ego-bound. Of course, this will be of interest to fans of either the three key bands, but I can also see of general interest to anyone who is looking for down-to-earth look at someone who's lived & worked through both US Punk & 80’s metal.