Ex-MISFITS Frontman MICHALE GRAVES: 'The Punk Rock World Hates Me And Has Rejected Me Wholeheartedly'

In a new interview with the Nothing Shocking Podcast, former MISFITS singer Michale Graves spoke about his transition from "punk rock icon to that of a Christian-based rock artist". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, some people are, like, 'What the hell, man?' Yes, in 2016, I really signaled to the world that I was kind of pivoting, or I wanted to pivot, to more faith-based sort of music. And if you listen to the album that I released, 'Wanderer', you really hear it and you definitely see it in the material.

"I'm sure that you know, in the punk rock world, I'm not well liked and I am certainly not well received anymore," he explained. "It's just been an awful, awful time for me in that world. And the hatred and the loathing that has come out of that scene had been just unbearable. And the collapse and the calamity of the European tour really forced me into making a hard pivot, because there's certainly no punk label, there's no hard rock label that is interested in me. And even if they were, they couldn't sign me, they couldn't work with me because the punk rock world hates me and has rejected me wholeheartedly.

"Aside of the fact that I am a Christian, born again, my faith has always, always been a part of what I do, all the way back to the MISFITS. But I had to make this hard pivot, and with the relationships that I've made along the way, I had this opportunity. Denny [Dennis] Sanders from The Label Group [TLG] under Virgin Music was starting this Christian... He wanted to start this Christian imprint label [Epochal Artists Records] under the bigger bigger imprint, which is The Label Group. And it just so happened that I had mentioned, along with my partner, that we were doing this, and he said, ' Wow, this is perfect timing.' So, I took the opportunity. And since I've been doing that, the relationships that I've made and the people that I've played with and spoken to, it's just been amazing. Contemporary Christian Music [CCM] Magazine just spotlighted me and I played a bunch of stuff on their program down in Nashville, where I just came from. Yeah, it's a whole new season for me."

Michale added: "People are, like, 'Well, what's the music gonna sound like?' And it's not gonna sound like 'Famous Monsters', but the music's not gonna change much except for the production quality. I've written some really great songs and I'm really excited about this next chapter in my life."

After one of the interviewers noted that "it's heartbreaking" when "fans turn on artists because of their political stance", Michale concurred. "I don't like it either. I don't like it either," he said. "I'm gonna say it's heartbreaking, it's soul-crushing. It's been awful, because I'm not like that. I wasn't raised that way. I didn't come up that way in the scene, with the MISFITS. The scene that I was in, the community that I was in was very diverse, it was very accepting. Nobody [got] canceled or attacked. I've gotten physical threats. My family's been threatened. It's just been an awful thing. And I'm not like that."

He continued: "There's this Michale Graves that's been built in the media that is so opposite of who I am. I'm [supposedly] affiliated with this person and I... It's crazy. It's crazy. I'm a lover, not a fighter . And I love the music. The music should bring us together. I've come up in a community and have always been part of a musical community that brings people together. So it's unfortunate. And that's the thing — I don't wanna fight. I don't wanna get into political debates or anything like that withh people. I just wanna make music that does whatever it does for people. It inspires them, it makes them feel happy. I just wanna continue to make great music and make people feel good and inspire them and strengthen them and lift them up through that music."

Michale is an internationally recognized artist who has been creating music and telling stories for over two decades. Before his 20th birthday, he was recruited to be the lead singer and primary songwriter of the legendary punk band the MISFITS. Graves faced an uphill battle of immense criticism while trying to fill the shoes of original MISFITS vocalist Glenn Danzig, but he injected the group with freshness, youth and energy which rewrote the history of the band in a way that even his sharpest critics found undeniable, reaching a whole new generation of music fans in the process.

After recording two albums with the MISFITS, "American Psycho" via Geffen and "Famous Monsters" through Roadrunner, as well as touring the world to meet millions of fans, Graves quit the band to blaze his own path. Michale steadily built a reputation as the working-man's punk rocker. He reintroduced himself to the scene with non-stop touring around the country before taking his new act worldwide.

When Graves testified on behalf of five Proud Boys members in March 2023 that he was asked to perform for them on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, he acknowledged that members of the Proud Boys may have been guilty of trespassing on Capitol grounds that day, but he said he did not believe they had any intention of targeting Congress.

The singer, who gained notoriety for his conservative views, has claimed that his "candor" got him "canceled", resulting in him being removed from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Graves has denied advocating "racism, violence or the exclusion of anyone based on race, religion, gender or identity".

He went on to resurrect his show called "Radio Deadly With Michale Graves", which he brought to the Censored.TV platform.

Photo courtesy of O'Donnell Media Group