Overkill won’t have the profile of Metallica or every other member of thrash’s Large 4, however they had been simply as integral to the scene as these bands. Shaped in New Jersey in 1981 and led for the reason that begin by livewire frontman Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth, they turned fixtures on the metallic panorama because of traditional late 80s and early 90s albums corresponding to Taking Over, Underneath The Affect, The Years Of Decay and Horrorscope. In 2019, the band ready to launch their nineteenth album, Wings Of Battle, Blitz appeared again of his eventful life and profession.
Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth has the very best snigger you’ll ever hear. This infectious madman’s cackle explodes out of nowhere and promptly rips your eardrums to shreds. There’s barely time to get well earlier than the following one arrives.
However then the Overkill frontman has loads to snigger about. His band’s nineteenth album, Wings Of Battle, retains up their late profession hot-streak. A fixture of the East Coast thrash scene since earlier than thrash was even a factor, Overkill have weathered the whole lot the music business – and life – has thrown at them. There have been the industrial highs of the late 80s and the grunge-induced lows of the 90s. Blitz himself has battled by way of numerous well being issues that may have felled a lesser particular person, but he stays as indefatigably upbeat, optimistic and devoted to the band he based again in 1981.
“Ya can’t let issues get ya down,” he says, earlier than unleashing the primary of many cackles: “Plus what else am I gonna do?”
How are issues with you proper now, Blitz?
It is snowing, my automobile battery’s useless, I believe I had unhealthy fish for lunch. [Cackles] Nah, I am high-quality.
Wings Of Battle is Overkill’s nineteenth album. How do you stick with it?
It’s as a result of we’re egocentric bastards – the fellows with probably the most information wins! Nah, it is one thing we have all the time cherished. We by no means discovered ourselves wandering round into partitions with an identification disaster. It’s all the time given us the chance for recent concepts, if we all know what we’re. It isn’t about mailing issues in or questioning what we had been. It is about conforming what we’re.
Former Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner performs on this album. Was he a fan earlier than he joined?
He comes from Albany in upstate New York and he would present up at each Overkill present in Albany with two fucking sticks in his again pocket. I by no means knew the child’s identify – I used to name him Sticks. And I mentioned to him someday, you are ready for Tim Mallare [Overkill drummer from 1993-2005] to drop useless onstage so you may throw in. And he mentioned to me, ‘I am prepared.’ So yeah, he is a fan.
We’re residing in a loopy world proper now. How a lot of that influences what you’re writing about?
We are the final cowboys right here. We got here from a special period. The world is loopy is as a result of our info is instantaneous. Again within the 80s and 90s, there was time between the act and when it bought to you, and within the interim the reality was discovered. I keep in mind my father telling me, ‘No matter you do, give it some thought first.’ Folks have forgotten that. The music Batshit Loopy is about that – the place did all of the frequent sense go?
You grew up in New Jersey. What that like?
I used to be a suburban child, like most metallic youngsters are within the US. Me and DD each had skilled fathers. My grandparents had been immigrants, so had been DD’s. New Jersey has all the time been second to New York. There are 5 boroughs in New York – they name Jersey ‘The Soiled Six’. The purpose being is that we constructed their bridges and their towers, we picked up their rubbish. There is a hell of a piece ethic in that.
Did being throughout the water from New York provide you with an inferiority advanced?
Extra like a fucking chip in your shoulder! It was, like, ‘Come over right here and say that!’ Seventy per cent of Manhattanites are nowhere close to Manhattan once they develop up – they only go there cos that is the place the cash is. However the individuals in Jersey had an awesome work ethic and a hell of an perspective. It is probably the most attitude-fuelled place I’ve ever seen in my life, and I am used to it. However some nice music has come out of Jersey: Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, the Skid Row guys. Frank Sinatra for fuck’s sake. It positive produces sincere illustration in music.
Who made you wish to be a musician?
The primary voice I keep in mind listening to was my mom’s – she was a soprano. Nonetheless is for that matter. She had 12 brothers and sisters. Our household Sundays had been them singing harmonies across the hearth, so it was a pure factor for me. When it got here to metallic, I all the time thought the benchmark was and nonetheless is Mr Halford. It was simply probably the most distinctive presentation to vocals, and it is one thing that has stayed with me for all these years.
You’ve bought a hell of a scream. When did you realise you may try this?
It was sitting on the seaside in a showering go well with and I dropped a cigarette on my lap! Nah! I simply began making an attempt it at rehearsals. I used to be initially making an attempt to imitate Rob Halford. The benchmark for a singer again within the early 80s was, may you do Priest’s Inexperienced Manalishi, and I may do it. It turn into form of my trademark, and it is by no means left me – it turned one thing I may use for impact right here and there all through my profession.
You began in 1981, a pair years earlier than thrash arrived. How did that change issues for you?
We clearly seen the power. We’d been coming alongside on the similar time, and we had been far more into the punk rock finish of issues and fusing it with conventional British metallic. We had been Misfits followers, we had been Lifeless Boys followers, we had been Ramones followers. However you begin doing a little Priest covers with that and also you begin creating a 3rd entity.
The fantastic thing about it was there was no template. It was being created in San Francisco, and in Essen, Germany and within the UK and in New Jersey – we did not have that instantaneous info, so it was form of arduous to steal it from one another. The sweetness was that it developed barely otherwise in all these locations and lots of others, with out the consolation or the know-how now we have as we speak.
Was there camaraderie between you and bands like Anthrax and Metallica, or was it extra of a rivalry?
I believe it was aggressive. We knew the Anthrax guys, however we by no means actually frolicked with them. They had been hanging out with Metallica. And generally Metallica would come down and hang around with us too, but it surely by no means appeared just like the three of us had been in the identical room.
You had been a fixture on the legendary membership L’Amour in Brooklyn…
Fuck man, we had been the home band there. We had been truly managed by two of the homeowners again then, We had been a very self-promoted band – we might put on out our Converse placing flyers into windshield wipers, and we’d continuously go to those two guys and provides them packages.
I keep in mind it being my flip, and I walked up considered one of them, and he goes, Pay attention child, I bought 40 of your fucking packages on my desk, you are a pleasant child, however your band sucks. A fucking 12 months later we had been the home band within the place, as a result of cash talks and bullshit walks. And these guys recognised that.
What was a typical there gig like?
Oh god, man. They’d a authorized capability of about 1200 individuals at L’Amour in Brooklyn, and a mean Overkill present would maintain roughly 1750. A median Metallica present would maintain 2200. It was fucking insane, It was dick-to-ass all the best way to the again of the room however the entire thing simply pulsed. You can see individuals shifting in utterly instructions in complete unison. It was off the hook.
What had been the degrees of violence like?
There was all the time fights, however I don’t suppose they had been essentially primarily based on the music. I keep in mind when the hardcore scene and the metallic scene bought fused collectively, there was little little bit of a time of unrest, but it surely by no means occurred between bands. You’d get X quantity of hardcore guys in Doc Martins, and X quantity of metalheads in Motörhead shirts, and no person needed to present an inch. However as time went in, it did fuse collectively
I keep in mind getting right into a fist-fight myself on the road with a few guys one night time. I wasn’t gonna again off. And in addition to, I used to be solely 150 toes from the entrance of the membership that managed me, and everyone within the place knew me. If I used to be gonna have large balls, that was the scenario to have ’em.
How do you look again in your first two albums, Taking Over and Really feel The Fireplace?
Oh, I’m very proud. I like with the ability to return – it is virtually like having a snapshot of your life. There’s some sensible younger man angst on these information. I used to be torn between two or three issues – I used to be a college pupil down within the metropolis, I used to be writing lyrics for Overkill, and I used to be an enormous fan of the punk scene. So after I hear Really feel The Fireplace, I hear all that. I hear my literary programs I used to be taking, stealing stuff proper out of Shakespeare in there. I hear the punk that I might see down at Max’s. And I hear the need to be a songwriter.
You launched the notorious Fuck You mini-album in 1987 with an upraised center finger on the quilt. That title was a hell of an announcement again then…
It was our solely political assertion. [Democratic senator and future Presidential candidate] Al Gore and his spouse Tippa created the PMRC, and it was everywhere in the information that information had been going to be stickered and banned. It may have been known as ‘Ban This’. Most shops bought it in black-wrapped covers or in craft paper. Some shops had the nuts simply to place it out. It was younger males to waving the flag of their very own freedoms.
If somebody had walked on the Overkill tour bus again in these days, what kind of scenes would they’ve walked into?
We had our enjoyable, let’s simply say that. I used to stroll in a venue with a beer in every hand, with a hard-on and in search of a struggle. Now I’ve a cup of espresso and I’m in search of a clear bathroom.
You hit a sizzling streak with 1989’s The Years Of Decay and 1991’s Horrorscope. What do you keep in mind about that interval?
We knew we had been completely different, and we considered that as an excellent factor. We weren’t being lumped into the entire scene as we developed. [1988’s Under The Influence] upset me slightly bit. However by The Years Of Decay, it got here to fruition – we turned a purely identifiable factor. With the Horrorscope report, we added a contact of groove to our strategy, and I believe that’s after we turned full-grown.
The 90s was a troublesome time for lots of thrash bands. How was it for Overkill?
The 90s is among the proudest eras of Overkill. It’s after we bought the hair on our balls. At some point, there was 200 thrash followers in a room sharing a draft beer, the following day there was eight. And we occurred to be 4 of them. We thought to ourselves, ‘If we wish to do that, must retool this fucking factor or simply go house stay in our dad and mom’ basements and surprise why no person appreciates our fucking genius.’
We took our administration over, continued to tour. I bought sober, I needed to have a transparent head to cope with it. However we bought it performed. I take a look at it as separating the lads from the boys. It made us what we’re as we speak.
![Overkill - Elimination (Official Vídeo) [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/svi6JiMe9c0/maxresdefault.jpg)
You had been recognized with most cancers of the nostril in 1998. How did that have an effect on you?
Effectively, I used to be sober by that point so I had a transparent head to cope with it. I used to trip on this bike membership, and I keep in mind sitting with this man who had much more years within the membership than me. He goes, ‘There are two sides to each fucking drawback. It’s nearly getting by way of it that sucks.’ I by no means appeared again after getting that recommendation, cos it was so simple as shit. I used to be complicating all these things in my head.
I got here in to do the primary present with my face all bandaged up. They’d simply eliminated a few of ’em so I may sing, and I used to be all swollen black and blue. I mentioned, ‘Someone get an image – we’re placing it on the quilt of the stay report and we’re calling it, You need to see the opposite man.’
A number of years later, you had a stroke onstage. What did that really feel like?
Effectively, the sunshine went off. I assumed it was an influence failure! It’s one thing I’ve a genetic disposition to. My mom has it. My pop would say, ‘Oh, mommy’s having an episode’, to not scare the children. So I had the ‘episode’, and I did extra harm falling down the steps off the stage than the stroke had performed to me. I used to be on my motorbike in fucking two weeks. Thoughts you, I may solely make left flip [cackles]. It took me 4 hours to get house!
Most cancers, a stroke, you had pneumonia a number of years in the past. Do you ever suppose that being in a metallic band isn’t good in your well being?
Nah, I by no means suppose that. That is the human situation – we’re fragile. Exit with a fucking smile in your face and your coronary heart racing, not clinging on to it like grim dying.
You and bassist DD Verni have each been within the band for the reason that begin. What’s your secret?
We had the identical upbringing, we perceive one another. His spouse mentioned to me someday, ‘The one cause it really works is that you are the similar individuals. You do the identical issues.’ We’re not enjoying pool with one another on Friday nights when the band’s not collectively, however for positive, now we have the identical rules. If we’re OK, the band takes care of itself. The band’s the simple half. Life is the arduous half. So let’s maintain life so we are able to do regardless of the fuck we would like. And I believe that is why it really works
The longest break you’ve had between albums is three years. Largely it’s only one or two years. Do you ever fancy a vacation?
Nah. We’re proud of our instruments on,. It’s like a middle-aged boys membership – after the work is finished and the set-up for all of it, it turns into a trip. There’s 5 guys rolling cube, taking every others’ cash, lighting cigars.
Do you ever take a look at Metallica and Slayer and suppose, ‘Why aren’t we as large as these guys’?
Nah, that may destroy it for me. I might moderately depend my success when it comes to alternatives and the times I’ve, not what Tom and Kerry are doing.
Do you ever see a day if you retire?
Provided that I can not take pleasure in it. I’m an adrenaline junkie. That is factor that’s stored me going all this time. It is the excessive I chase. If I can not do it at a excessive stage, positive, that is smart. However at this level, it hasn’t crept in but.
Initially revealed on metalhammer.com in 2019
