{"id":7263,"date":"2012-03-28T19:51:36","date_gmt":"2012-03-28T08:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=7263"},"modified":"2012-03-28T19:51:36","modified_gmt":"2012-03-28T08:51:36","slug":"bobby-blitz-ellsworth-of-overkill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/03\/bobby-blitz-ellsworth-of-overkill\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth of Overkill"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cThis is an age of technology, of megabyte and gigabyte, etc and I think that it says older when you think in terms of electric, but when you think in terms of age I think it has a lot to do with a period of time and a long period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Bio:\u00a0 “Although everybody seems to have a different account of who came first in the world of New York\/New Jersey area thrash metal, it seems certain that New Jersey\u2019s Overkill have stayed around the longest, and have never let their fans down by remaining musically consistent and true to their roots for over 30 years.\u00a0 There are few names as well respected as Overkill, and with the resurgence of metal in the music world, this band is poised to return to the top. Overkill are ready to show mature metal heads they still have it and are geared up to teach the new schoolers exactly how it\u2019s done.”<\/p>\n

Fifteen albums already under their belt, Overkill have just released their sixteenth album \u2018The Electric Age\u2019 and it\u2019s a kick ass slab of metal.\u00a0 Sitting at home in New Jersey and waiting for the snow to come down, we had the chance to talk to Overkill singer Bobby \u2018Blitz\u2019 Ellsworth about the band, the new album, touring and some great stories about Australia.<\/p>\n

Your new album is due at the end of March, can you give us an idea of what to expect?<\/strong>
\nOh geez, to verbalise the audio.\u00a0 It\u2019s funny because my voice is still healing from the screams and I think D.D\u2019s fingers are still warm from playing bass, I mean it\u2019s only been three weeks since we delivered this record and as we were mixing it I was recording all the way up until the end.\u00a0 So it was about an eight month process but it gave us the luxury of time and I think when you have time you can go after the small details which we did.\u00a0 This record has got almost with that time factor in there, it still comes across with that immediate energy, it seems to have a similarity to the last record but with different production and seems more power packed for the amount of time that it passes.<\/p>\n

Did this one come together any differently compared to previous releases?<\/strong>
\nI think a little more time on this one than the last one and I think that\u2019s necessary, you know, we\u2019re kind of a blend between modern technology and the old school sweating in a room and working out the songs.\u00a0 So the songs have been worked out old school and recorded that way, you know everyone\u2019s playing with Ron the drummer to start the record.\u00a0 Then you start trading stuff back and forth via wav file and I\u2019m in a small studio in my house, Dave\u2019s down in Florida, then we\u2019re all together for two weeks, then we\u2019re apart for two weeks.\u00a0 Over that eight month period it gave us the opportunity to look at the material we had and present it really the best way we could and say \u2018hey you know this really could be better\u2019 or \u2018this could be faster\u2019 or \u2018maybe we should cut the tempo on this just a little bit\u2019 or \u2018it needs another verse or it needs another chorus\u2019 so I think that was the difference was the amount of time.<\/p>\n

What was the inspiration song wise on this album this time around?<\/strong>
\nIt always starts with, our songs obviously start with the riffs, and D.D. collects the riffs and that\u2019s on a continuous basis.\u00a0 The last release was \u2018Ironbound\u2019 and that was 2010 in February and this guy has got something in his pocket that\u2019s a recording device, he\u2019s got one in his car, he\u2019s got one on the bus, so you\u2019ll see him at sound check putting riffs down for the last tour for the next record, so I think that\u2019s always the start.\u00a0 When it comes down to what my end is, I start writing as a song develops in phonetics, I go with the melodies first and I go after what the drums are doing.\u00a0 I try to fit all of that in, so the inspiration for me really comes to how they play and then I try to marry a vocal line to what that drummer\u2019s doing and then add the twists and the turns according to what the guitars and bass are doing.\u00a0 Regarding the topic it\u2019s always based on emotion and probably the most recent emotions that have risen up in my life recently or my life within this band.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Is there a meaning behind the album title \u2018The Electric Age\u2019?<\/strong>
\nObviously a period of time, it sounds very old school with the word \u2018Electric\u2019 it\u2019s almost a forgotten word, I don\u2019t think people use the word electric unless they\u2019re paying an electric bill, or an electrician uses it.\u00a0 This is an age of technology, of megabyte and gigabyte, etc and I think that it says older when you think in terms of electric, but when you think in terms of age I think it has a lot to do with a period of time and a long period of time.\u00a0 So we were looking for something that had a little bit of value than just the moment, something that encompasses more of a career than just one particular record because I do think that on these records we have what we were and what we are becomes a blend and it makes the music of the day, the music of 2012.<\/p>\n


\nHow has being on Nuclear Blast helped to prolong your career?<\/strong>
\nWell you know, we\u2019ve been on a lot of labels over the years and one of the things I really like about these guys is that they\u2019re obviously fans of this music.\u00a0 If you go in to Donzdorf, Germany where their headquarters are, it\u2019s in this one horse or one sheep town out in the middle of nowhere, but everyone\u2019s got on some kind of black heavy metal shirt, everyone\u2019s in a T-shirt that says Exodus or Overkill, Suicidal Angels or Meshuggah and I think that\u2019s kind of cool when you\u2019re handing your material over to people that are in to the scene you feel a lot more comfortable.\u00a0 I remember, I think it was back in \u201993 when we were on Atlantic and I was sitting in an office with D.D. and we were talking the promotion plan for the new record, and the guy was in a suit and a tie and he got a call and he had to get up and take it and I looked at D.D. and I said \u201cWe are Fucked, this guy knows nothing about us\u201d ha ha.\u00a0 In Nuclear Blast I think it\u2019s the exact opposite.<\/p>\n

What are your touring plans for the run of this album?<\/strong>
\nWe start in the US, we do what\u2019s called Killfest here with a band called Balphagore as support, they just recently had a problem with their singer, he went through an operation and because of his health they had to drop off, so we replaced them with God Forbid and a couple of smaller bands, The Aborted and a couple more, so it\u2019s going to be a four band package that goes through the US.\u00a0 That takes us in to the festival season into Europe, then a European tour to follow, and I\u2019m pushing like hell to get back to the Asian area and the pacific to see you people again, we had a real good time there and it was only three shows and I keep telling my agent, three shows, twenty six years man, you can add another five ha ha.<\/p>\n

So no solid plans yet to come back to Australia?<\/strong>
\nNo nothing direct, but we\u2019re pushing, I mean that\u2019s the idea, we have to get a promoter involved down there.\u00a0 If you have momentum, use the momentum, you know we manage the band as well as play in the band, so I think we understand a lot about momentum and a lot about exposure so it wouldn\u2019t be too soon to come right back and say, expand the base in Australia.<\/p>\n

How do you rate the Australian crowds compared to those around the world?<\/strong>
\nWell you know, one of the things about metal, and it\u2019s funny, I was doing a Japanese interview the other day, it\u2019s a great leveliser I suppose that\u2019s with many music\u2019s, and if cultures are different, cultures become the same as soon as the music starts, there is no language barrier between us and an Asian country.\u00a0 Now obviously there\u2019s no language barrier between us and Australia, but there is cultural differences to some degree.\u00a0 I look at it and I thought about it, everybody sort of thrashes the same around the world, but these guys remind me a lot of the Americans, but it\u2019s something to me, I\u2019ve played 2,000 American shows in my career, so I\u2019m probably pretty right one with it ha ha ha.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen you’re playing Wacken festival, a festival you\u2019ve played a number of times before, how cool is it to be a part of that?<\/strong>
\nIt is cool to be a part of, you know it\u2019s the biggest one obviously, it\u2019s done very well, the production is fantastic.\u00a0 It runs like clockwork but it\u2019s still fun to settle in and have a few beers with the guys from other bands that you haven\u2019t seen in a while.\u00a0 I remember that was one of the last times I hung around and drank with Pete Steel in one of our last times through and you know, I\u2019d known Peter since he was in Carnivore, we were just kinda old New York buddies, but I do enjoy that end of doing it and I do enjoy the crowd, the crowd always gets really psyched up.<\/p>\n

I hate to make you sound old, but at now over 30 years as a band, that\u2019s a pretty good effort\u2026<\/strong>
\nWell, no, I started when I was nine ha ha
\nWell looking back has there been a defining moment you can share with us?<\/strong>
\nYou mean besides going to Australia for the first time? Ha ha.
\nHa ha any other ones?<\/strong>
\nDefining moment?… I suppose obviously over thirty years it\u2019s not one book, its many chapters of that book, and I always think that getting signed was the most amazing thing. I still get a smile on my face, I have the picture in my office talking with our lawyer and the record company and we\u2019re all drinking sixteen ounce Budweiser beers and putting our name on the contract.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always thought that was what opened the door for everything else, so I would assume that\u2019s the defining moment and then everything followed.<\/p>\n

What is it that you think keeps the band together and relevant?<\/strong>
\nWell this is something that you love, you don\u2019t do this for thirty years, I mean, at this level it\u2019s not something that makes you rich, but it\u2019s given us a great feeling of success and I think men do things for different reasons.\u00a0 We obviously make a living out of it, we have, but there\u2019s a great love of this.\u00a0 I think the more you\u2019re off the needle, the more you\u2019ve got to go back to the needle, it\u2019s that whole feeling of it has an addictive nature to it.\u00a0 Somebody asked me about any drug habits I had when I was younger, and I said you know, I always experimented, I never had a fear of them but I never really got hooked on doing anything but the metal, it was always kind of the dope that kept me off the dope and to some degree it was what I keep going back to with regard to adrenaline.<\/p>\n

Any plans for a new live CD \/ DVD in the future?<\/strong>
\nYou know I would think so with regards to what our reputation is about and that reputation is that we\u2019ve always been able to deliver on that live stage, but it\u2019s not anything we think of specifically right now because The Electric Age is so damn new, my fingers are warm, my throat is sore, it\u2019s only that old, so will something happen?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure it will, but is there any active plan?\u00a0 No there\u2019s not.\u00a0 I always wanted to do a live show in Turkey because we only get there now and then, or maybe a live show in Australia because we hardly ever get there and I always know there\u2019s a great excitement when a band is not on the normal touring schedule on the norm from going through there once every eighteen months for instance.<\/p>\n

As one of the pioneers of Thrash metal and still doing it today, why do you think Overkill never took off the way others did?<\/strong>
\nGeez I don\u2019t know, obviously something has to do with song writing, I mean there\u2019s some great songwriters, and we\u2019re obviously talking about The Big 4 to some degree here.\u00a0 I mean Metallica wrote great songs man and had super opportunities and super management and I think with those great songs, as long as it\u2019s presented to the right people at the right time it takes off.\u00a0 With regard to us, I don\u2019t know, I think we\u2019ve always been underground, smaller with maybe even regard to thinking with what other bands have done, you know there\u2019s not a huge distance with us and some of the other bands with regard to the Big 4, I mean with Metallica, it\u2019s really The Big 1 and the secondary 3 ha ha ha and following them are a bunch of other ones that are doing actually pretty good.\u00a0 Sometimes you talk to people in New York and they\u2019ll say there is a Big 4 but Overkill\u2019s one of them ha ha.<\/p>\n

Do you have any memories of the Australian tour down here?<\/strong>
\nYou know, I can tell you, I was just asked what I remember about Australia, and obviously the shows and I had a really unique thing happen to me.\u00a0 I never wait for the luggage when the luggage comes off and I usually grab my cigarettes, through the terminal, go through customs and I get picked up in customs by one of your people at the border and I\u2019m looking around and they didn\u2019t pick anybody else.\u00a0 He said \u201cIt\u2019s just random\u201d I said \u201cAlright, be honest with me, why\u2019d you pick me?\u00a0 Does it have anything to do with the way I look?\u201d he leans over and he goes \u201cAbsolutely\u201d ha ha ha ha I said \u201cNow this is a fuckin\u2019 cool country.\u201d I said search away my friend.\u00a0 I said it\u2019s about time to run into a country with a set of balls.\u00a0 Then to take it one step further, I was reading this book, all these anecdotes by a woman who wrote a book called \u2018what would Keith Richards do?\u2019 and this guy pulls it out and said \u201cDo you have anything in common with the famous Keith?\u201d I said \u201cNo, not a thing, just music.\u201d Ha ha.\u00a0 I loved being down there and that as my introduction to stepping on your continent and the energy that followed over the three shows that we had the pleasure of doing with the Australian head bangers.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From: <\/strong>New Jersey, USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth – Vocals, D.D. Verni – Bass, Dave Linsk – Lead Guitar, Derek “The Skull” Tailer – Rhythm Guitar, Ron Lipnicki – Drums<\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.wreckingcrew.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> The Electric Age (Nuclear Blast, Riot! Entertainment, eOne Music)<\/p>\n\n

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