By: Robert Cavuoto
Overkill is synonymous with power, precision and perseverance. Across three decades they have shaped, refined, and steadily broadened a style of power metal.
They continue to power ahead through the changing musical landscape, trends be damned, and deliver an incisively supercharged and ridiculously energized landmark new – The Electric Age, their 16th full length studio album.
The Electric Age serves as an instant reminder as to why Overkill is held in high regard the world over as one of the pioneering thrash metal bands. With new tracks, like album opener “Come and Get It,” “Black Daze” and “Old Wounds, New Scars” the release brims with the attitude and passion of a band at the top of their game.
Overkill has always maintained a level of excellence and consistency across their entire catalog. I had a chance to sit with Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth, vocalist, for Overkill to get a clear and honest perspective of the band then…. and now!
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Robert Cavuoto: What makes you most proud about Overkill after 30 years and 16 LPs?
Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth: That the old guys can still come through occasionally (Laughing)! The thing that makes me proud about Overkill is our long history and we still have current value. We’re rooted in the past with regard to how the songs are written but still represent our style now in 2012. It’s a contemporary thing. It’s not about what we were, buy about what we are!
Robert: How do you stay true to yourself and your style with every record?
Blitz: We live in a box with fucking blinders on (Laughing). I guess not paying attention to the rest of the world I suppose. There is something to be said for that. When DD Verni and I signed up for this 30 years ago it was because we loved it. There was something powerful in the scene that we were attracted to it. This calling to continue and stay the course was really a natural thing for us. Our catalogue speaks for itself
At the end of the day, regardless of how song starts, it will end up as an Overkill song. That stamp as to be on it. It’s not something that we try to do; I attribute a lot of that to my partner D.D.. There are tons of bass players out there but when you put on an Overkill record even before I open my mouth you can recognize the bass playing as Overkill.
Robert: Tell me about what inspired you musically when you started and what inspires you now, when writing?
Blitz: When we were developing there was an attractive nature to it, a chaos. There is something charming about that chaos. As time goes on it becomes controlled chaos, not planned per se, always trying to get the same results with different tools. Doing this for 25 plus years professional, you start to understand when to crack the whip, when to load the gun, when to pull back. I think that’s the marketable difference. I think the outcome is still an energetic approach to what we are doing. It’s just a slightly different approach.
Robert: Tell me how you’ve seen the Thrash world changed over the years?
Blitz: We just did an in-store for the new CD, and someone said to me, “This is not like the good old days.” – I don’t know what you see, but these are pretty good days. There seems to be an upswing.
We did this when were kids, before the Internet. We started when there was vinyl, then CDs, then downloading, and then piracy. I think the idea is to be able to adapt to those changes and make the best of any situation. We were involved in a scene that sold “units” at one time. We don’t push as many units as we use to, so you have to adapt modern technologies to stay up to date, like with social networking, to keep fans involved.
Robert: Are you content with the public’s perception of Overkill’s place within Thrash Metal history?
Blitz: I’m content with our perception of ourselves. You are talking about 25 plus years of doing this; it’s more than a career, but a lifetime. So, there’s a huge amount of success with that. We have been able to do pretty much what we choose to do over that period of time. It’s great that people perceive us as one of the forerunners. I think doing it for the amount of time that we have done it has lead to a huge amount of satisfaction.
Robert: Looking back on your song, “Hello from the Gutter”, did you realize the anthemic impact of it?
Blitz: No, absolutely not. The title came from a New York Daily News column based on an article on the Son of Sam murders. The column was called “Hello from the Gutters of New York”. We were all close to it, D.D. lived in the city and I was just outside of it. The insight of how deep or how long it would go, we had no idea. Even Beavis and Butthead celebrated that song! (Laughing)
Robert: Would you say that was the song that helped “break” the band?
Blitz: I don’t think so. I also don’t think it is necessarily our best work to date. I really think that it was the era of Thrash Metal being accepted by the major labels. It was the flavor of the day. We were no longer underground. We got a great amount of exposure from that song. I think it was our most exposed song.
Robert: What do you think is your best work?
Blitz: That’s really hard to say! It’s like choosing between your kids. There are 16 records with countless songs. Maybe Horrorscope, as a complete entity. That was a fantastic record and really cohesive. From the Underground and Below and Ironbound were also cohesive records too. It’s too early to tell about The Electric Age, it’s still too new.
Robert: Your voice is such a recognizable staple in Thrash, it’s just as strong as it was back in the ’80s. What do you do to take care of it?
Blitz: (Laughing) If the hockey game is on I’ll open a Heineken and light a Marlboro. That’s what I do to take care of my voice. I really don’t worry about it; I think a lot of guys who have vocal problem in the past worry more about it. I consider it more of a muscle and something that has been worked out for years. As long as I live my live in balance, to some degree, it just doesn’t fail. I’m not keeping in a box I always try to learn a few new vocal exercises along the way.
Robert: Have you ever had any vocal problems with nodes for example?
Blitz: I had nodes developed between the first and second records, but luckily they were caught early. I didn’t need surgery but what I did need to do was to learn how to sing correctly. I went to a vocal teacher in New York City named Bob Evans. He taught me how to sing correctly. A nod is a little abrasion on the vocal cord where they touch when you sing. If you learn to do it correctly they dissipate from using your vocal chords correctly.
Robert: You have had several guitar players since the ’80s, how has that impacted the band over the years?
Blitz: To some degree they all contributed on really high levels. Metal was not the flavor of the day in the ’90s and people would rather work for their Mom and Dad. D.D. and I understood that Overkill was more important. It was all about chemistry and we were a couple of guys from Jersey who wanted to play with guys of the same kind of attitude of going out on the road and having a good time. That’s really important that we have like minded people and that it all works. My wife calls it the “middle-age boys club”, (Laughing) when she calls at 2:00 a.m., yeah honey – I can’t talk we are in the middle of playing dice!
Robert: Tell me a little about upcoming The Electric Age and Killfest Tours?
Blitz: Its starts on April 20th and we are going out with God Forbid. We start in Philly and then to New York in May. We are in the U.S. for about three weeks before we go off to Mexico. Then there are some European festivals. That becomes the European tour and the back end of that is next U.S. tour. So we are busy for at least a year. We are really excited to see the level of interest and some of these are really big venues. It’s working out really well.
Robert: What is the first Spinal Tap story that comes to mind?
Blitz: In 2007 we were opening for Motorhead in Germany. Lemmy came up to me on the last night of the tour and said he wants me to come up and sing “Overkill” with him! I was beside myself! How cool this is going to be. I knew the song well and played it hundreds of times. I was so nervous and didn’t want to get the verses confused, so I wrote the first word of every verse on my forearm. I get all the way through the song, everything is going great, I’m having the time of my life and banging head when Lemmy walks over to me in true Lemmy form and says in the mic, “Fucking Cheat Notes!” The whole audience heard it! (Laughing). What a great fucking experience! That’s one of the highlights of my career.
