Former MISFITS Singer MICHALE GRAVES: 'I've Been A Christian All My Life'

Michale Graves, former lead singer of the MISFITS, was interviewed on the latest episode of When Words Fail, Music Speaks, a music-driven storytelling podcast hosted by James Cox that explores the powerful connection between music, mental wellness, and the human experience.

Speaking about his faith, Michale said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "I've been a Christian all my life, and the music that I've written and the lyrics that I've written have always come from that place. Not all the songs, but many, many, lots of those songs come from that Christian perspective. It's another thing that [MISFITS bassist] Jerry [Only] encouraged. You have to also remember that before the MISFITS got back together, Jerry and [MISFITS guitarist] Doyle [Wolfgang Von Frankenstein] were in a band called KRYST THE CONQUEROR. And so Jerry's spirituality and his love of Christ and his faith, he was never ashamed of. This man blessed himself every night before he went on stage. And that encouraged me, as well as he encouraged me, to not walk away from that, and to somehow… And that again, when I was talking about challenging and creative challenging, it was the challenge to create from my Christian perspective in this environment, in this world of — the dark places."

Michale continued: "All along, especially when I was working with Damien Echols [an American author who first became known as one of three teenagers, the West Memphis Three, convicted of a triple murder in 1994 despite the lack of physical evidence connecting them to the crime and the dubious nature of the other evidence] and making 'Illusions' [the 2007 collaborative album between Graves and Echols] and that part of my career, there was a lot of people that came from the Christian side of things that were — they didn't understand. I don't wanna say that they were disgusted, but I got a lot of flak because here I was talking about my Christian, how I feel, my spirituality, my faith in the Lord, and they were, like, 'How can you say that when we see the imagery of the MISFITS and these songs that you're writing?' And I tell them, look, what's the point of me walking into a worship service or going to a church and playing for people or speaking to people who are already believers who are already there? They're already there. We're not doing anything. There's this whole other world out there, this dark world, that the MISFITS are in."

Graves added: "When I go out into the world, I'm talking to kids that have — there's a lot of church hurt. When you say the word 'Jesus' at a MISFITS show or a Michale Graves show, there's a lot — not now, a lot less now — but these kids, they look at you, like, 'What are you talking about?' So writing about these fallen worlds, the dark worlds, writing about demons, writing about angels, writing about coming from a place where you're at your lowest. These kids are broken, they're sad, they're lost, they're hurt, they're confused. And do you think that they're gonna just walk into a church or you're gonna have somebody that they don't respect, the second that they see somebody with like a buttoned-up cardigan and this and that, and they talk and they start talking about Jesus, and they're, 'Nope.' They're gonna turn their back and they're gonna walk away. But if I walk up to them and I say, 'Hey, man. What are you wearing on your shirt there?' There's demons or something. I don't know. And we start talking about Baal or Moloch or we start to get into demonology. And now we start to talk. And then I tell them about my faith. And that's how you run a monster ministry. And that's what I've been focusing on, really, since 2012. For the past 14 years, I've really, really tried to make that the forefront of what I'm doing."

Earlier this month, Graves announced the signing with Epochal Artists Records, a label under the TLG family and distributed by Virgin Music Group.

Michale will embark on the "God Bless America Tour 2026" this spring, bringing a unique and deeply personal live experience to audiences across the country.

"These shows on my 'God Bless America Tour' will be an intimate, story-driven live experience that blends acoustic music, testimony, and storytelling," said Graves.

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.

In recent years, some of Graves's concerts ended up being canceled over his reported affiliation with the right-wing group Proud Boys.

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.

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

Image credit: Puerco Rockero