Chuck Biscuits


Chuck Biscuits is a Canadian drummer best known for his work in rock acts such as Danzig, Black Flag, D.O.A., and Circle Jerks. Most recently, he was a member of the punk rock band Social Distortion in the late 1990s. Biscuits has named his main influences as John Bonham, Rat Scabies of the Damned, Topper Headon of the Clash, Keith Moon and Stewart Copeland.

Biography

Biscuits is the brother of Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery, a fixture on the Vancouver music scene—at different times, both brothers played drums for D.O.A.. Biscuits joined Black Flag in 1982 and toured with them for 5 months. His only studio recordings for the band were the 1982 demos for the My War album, which have been widely bootlegged.
After Black Flag, he played with the short-lived Floorlords. When that band broke up, Biscuits planned to quit the music business and took courses in art and electrical engineering. He briefly filled in on drums for a few shows for the Red Hot Chili Peppers during their Freaky Styley tour in 1986. A year later, producer Rick Rubin invited Biscuits to become the drummer for Danzig. Biscuits had been vocalist/songwriter Glenn Danzig's first choice as drummer for his band.
Biscuits joined Danzig in 1987 and appeared on the band's first four albums and one EP. In 1990 he recorded drums for one track on Glenn Danzig's final album with the band Samhain. In 1994 he became the first member of the original Danzig line-up to leave the band, citing a contract dispute as the reason for his departure.
Biscuits participated in a special concert held on December 28, 1994 to honour the lifetime achievements of his brother Ken, who had died earlier in the year of a drug overdose.
On October 27, 2009, a blogger named James Greene, Jr. who claimed to have been in recent contact with Biscuits posted a report on his blog announcing that the drummer had died on October 24 of throat cancer. This report quickly circulated to multiple media sources, but was soon questioned by Biscuits' friends and family as a hoax. That evening, Biscuit's sister-in-law e-mailed Greene to confirm that the musician was still alive. Biscuits himself never released a statement concerning the death hoax, and Greene would later argue that Biscuits was entirely responsible for the false report.

Equipment

Biscuits used Pro-Mark DC-10 marching sticks to drum. His drumkit at the beginning of Danzig was a black Premier Resonator, though he switched to a chrome covered 1970s era Ludwig Classic maple kit for Danzig II, and continued with that kit to record and tour for Danzig III and Danzig IV. Biscuits was usually seen using Zildjian cymbals. His regular ride cymbal sound during his work with Danzig was a Zildjian 22" Earth Ride. Biscuits also favored Paiste Rude cymbals. He used medium and rock ride cymbals as crashes. Biscuits' mainstay snare with Danzig was a Sonor steel model, though he also used a Ludwig piccolo snare.
With D.O.A. and Black Flag, Biscuits used an older blonde maple Ludwig kit. For Social Distortion, Biscuits used a Boom Theory kit, including a Bridgedeck snare built by Al Adinolfi.

Discography

D.O.A. (1978–1982)