Bobby Blitz of Overkill on New Album Scorched

foreign Cavuto and today on metal rules we are speaking with Bobby Blitz of Overkill to talk about their upcoming release scorched that's due out April 14th Bobby welcome it's a pleasure to speak with you as always good to be here Rob good job good to be back baby you know I was uh the one thing in life that you could always guarantee is that Overkill is going to release a soul-crushing album and just like taxes and death man you better be prepared when it comes out so it's an awesome album first it's really a first kill record yeah someone deceptically is probably true I mean this is uh this is our 20th release um you know since 1985 so we're talking what 38 years or something you know so 20 releases over that amount of time but this is the one that took the longest I mean this was a four year between the record um period of time yeah and that's kind of what I was gonna my first question I was gonna ask you is what is the band's actual anniversary I mean I know the first album was 85 but I know you guys got together in the 80s and I was trying to work on the intro and I was like how many years has it really been that you guys have been DD and you have been as a band what I met dating in 80 but I mean we didn't really become Overkill until 81. okay and a lot of people have been picking up on this I mean I suppose it's just the legacy of the whole thing um oh you guys were around before Metallica well I mean that may be true with regard to the individuals meeting each other but we were not writing anything like kill them all at that particular time I mean that was that proceeded you know that preceded everything and changed changed the world we did a couple of live songs who were primarily a cover band they were doing punk rock and we were doing you know the middle of the day and a little of the new wave of British heavy metal so we're kind of this eclectic cover band with a uh with an original or two that had come in but our stuff really didn't turn around until I suppose Bobby Gustafson got into the band somewhere in 83 and then we started writing but that that material wasn't really wasn't really ready until until 84 and then we ended up getting signed toward the end of that year but what do you consider your anniversary date of the the band being born what would you consider the original Overkill is really 83. like when Bobby came into the van it was a cover band up until that point we had gone through guitar players right I'm trying to think what songs back there made it I think um so-called race a dead made it um there was a demo called power in Black which held you know a thing called death rider which was on metal Massacre um not feel the fire uh Beast Within there was there was a few songs here and there but they a bunch of them didn't even make it to records you know so three for the original band I'm gonna pick 81 as the absolute bottom line anniversary and that'll go on record and that'll go on my intro to you on the website now we got that out of the way I can ask you the questions about the album you know we haven't spoken in four years since uh the wings of War which is really odd because we were talking almost every year because you had a release coming out um what was the the gap between this release and the last one well the Gap was you know it was February of 19 so we probably talked in January uh of 19 or December 18 uh when we did you know when we did our last interview um you know this is a pin a product of the pandemic we were slated to release scorched in April of 21 but our feeling was that if you can't tour the record you're going to kill the legs you know you're not going to be able to give it a chance to get legs there's there's a small window of opportunity for a release for a metal band that is not of you know that huge status you know where you could tour anytime you can release anytime you want we have to stay visible during you know the release till we're done touring the done touring is what keeps that record alive so that's why we kept putting it back and that was a bad decision had nothing to do with nuclear blast that we're willing to do whatever the [ __ ] we wanted to do but you know I said to Dede I said man you can't just have it be some obscure record that just like Fades into nowhere because nobody knows nobody there's a lot I was really good oh yeah but they never remember it seeing it live and there's something about that muscle memory when you're you know you're standing in the Wellmont Theater or you're standing in Starland these are Jersey clubs for the rest of the world um and theaters but that you know scorched you know the band opens with Scorch and that becomes like [ __ ] yeah now it's confirmed you know it's a live record it actually exists it lives it breathes um and that was uh that was the reason for for postponing it was to be able to have that tour I think that's really smart I was just thinking about AC DC's release high voltage that came out great album and they didn't tour and they still haven't even announced any potential tour dates for the summer or coming up so to your point it just kind of I don't want to say it fades away but it's a great album and it's deserved to the attention of a live audience and that muscle memory so I think what you guys did was great I think it's I think you make a good point but it's a little different with AC DC than it is with say death angel or an Overkill you know because they're they're the magnitude that they have the the you know they own a large market share of the rock and roll heavy metal fandom that's out there you know so so I think for us it's you know we're we're uh we're kind of and for years it's been this way it's been right record release or write record promote release tour tour write record you know so it's kind of like working on that clock and I and I think it's given us um you know it's giving us the opportunity to have legs over decades now as opposed to just over that that record if if we stay on that schedule that said taking four years for this record I think honestly I think improved the record itself but we actually have that much more time or the luxury of time uh to be able to to Really delve into it are you the type of guy that fiddles with everything and adjusts everything and modifies everything when it's kind of like done and you're or you just want to be done one and done and out the door how do you there it needs to be fiddled I mean not you know my end of the record is the vocals I I mean I write those Melodies first and then and yeah I usually do them with phonetics um and then I insert lyrics afterwards you know the the topics come up as I you know start clearing my mind of all the sins I've committed over the list two to four years [Laughter] but Hey listen you know every Catholic needs confession in the families every Sunday yes but I mean I've I I guess I've had a wealth of lyrical content from my own mistakes but I've always tried to put a positive spin on it but to fiddle with it I mean I might hear something like I need to double that in a you know in a lower register I need to put a Harmony there I need that's a little bit of fiddling the other guys Dave and Dede they're more you know knob diddlers you know oh that doesn't look [Laughter] well it does look pretty good but it's just like it doesn't look good hahaha that's funny those guys are those guys are uh are Studio junkies they really they really like being there and sitting in the chair and making stuff happen that way I'm more of a closer to a one and done okay you know um wings of War critically acclaimed is it real is this album really tough to follow up was there a lot of thought like we have to make this better bigger faster harder never no I don't the only time that we've ever had that type of a thought was um you know we thought that we kind of fell into a template with um you know the Ironbound record came out I think it was a great representation of a scene that was getting very healthy it wasn't just us writing records that had impact during that era it was you know a good part of the scene was had great offerings um the electric age which was kind of in that template maybe a little more thrashy and you know still in my opinion a great record still reflective of the scene and also white devil Armory I think it was I think that you know that was the father Son and Holy Ghost or the trilogy um and then I and then when we did um right the grinding wheel which followed that uh we kind of I think we broke a piece of that template there you know there was some obviously you're not going to throw the whole thing away but we started moving a little bit more in a different direction um and then we haven't spoke about it since and I think honestly I think um This Record uh Scorch is is more the progression of the grinding wheel than it is the wings of War um I think there's something in there with its uh eclectic value or dynamics that lend itself more so to that era than than the Lesser yeah and and scorched the title track is probably one of the best opening tracks on a heavy metal album that I've heard in a long time uh was that an obvious choice for you guys when you were working on this and to be the title track and to be the title of the album well the title track it wasn't going to be a title track that just so happened because you know the boys really liked the title you know I mean you know it's still a democracy here this little boats cast um you know everybody everybody's got to be happy to keep you know to be in the band I honestly wanted to call the record Twisted the wick uh if we're going to use a title track that's my favorite song yeah I mean and it just was a good song and I and I thought it it was more reflective of us but Scorch was a Scorch has got a great rock and roll yet thrash feel to it you know it's Got That Rock And Roll hook going on in the center of it um in the in the middle section it's also Got That Rock And Roll hook going on in the in the choruses so you know it wasn't over thought it was just it just happened but I can tell you I mean for years when I get riffs from Dede he you know he mock titles you know it'll be he'll lock title it you know Sabbath or Doom or Groove uh and this was mock titled opener and he's been mock titling a song opener for oh God says I mean since I he and I have been the only two writers you know I mean coma was like opener you know I mean from horoscope back in 91. so everything is over here I knew this was his vision and he was the Hitler I'll not being canceled you know who cares if you don't care about being canceled right but in any case um he he got he uh he mock titled with that and I I agreed and it was just uh I was having a hard time with it because he had he had put so many background vocals in it just says suggestions and once something gets in your head it becomes a scam especially for a new song especially when you're listening over and over again so I had he did another one for me without the background vocal so I relearned it and just ended up singing uh the that whole chorus in the kitchen just by myself messing around with something I forget if I was cooking or you know messing around on you know my phone but I was it just came out of my mouth and and I said boy if it's going to be that natural there's something special about it if it just if it's that easily into the song no that's cool you know um some of your songs on this album deal are right at home for any classic Overkill album Scorch talks about Annihilation the surgeon's talking about debt dealer part of they fall kicking some ass what are the topics that you like to gravitate towards is it is it pretty consistent well sure it is I mean there's there's a pool you pick from but but I have to tell you you know if you talk about Annihilation and scorched it's also it's also it's it's about Dynamics it's it's not necessarily about Annihilation and even if you look at the cover um it lends itself to that but but the idea is to have your own um your own definition of such or your own feeling of such or you know what does it mean to me kind of a thing and and I always like to think that when I wrote that song it was about us burning it up meaning that taking no [ __ ] taking no prisoners kind of a approach to things I looked at it as a live perspective um I looked at it as a pushback in the pandemic um you know way down deep in the whole idea way down deep in the pain you know it has nothing to do unless you stay in that hole you know the positive end of that is getting the ladder and climbing out of the [ __ ] hole you know what I mean whether it be the band whether it be me as an individual or whether it be somebody who listens to it and gets you know some type of a uh in-depth meaning out of it so sure there's a pool you take from or I take from with regard to the topic but I always try to to spin it into something that is a lot more positive than may appear so on the outside cool yeah because I was thinking scorched the Earth that was the thing that was ringing in my head most of the time on that album so I was like scorching the Earth annihilation and but yeah it could be taking no prisoners kicking ass I get it oh could also be a tour of scorching the Earth could be a tour you know it's you know I did this whole you know this this whole European um you know promotion jaunt for this record too and you know immediately it's like oh it's exactly like Field of Fire and say listen if you use this in slang or just in regular dialogue back and forth to Americans me and Rob are sitting in a bar you know and we said I said geez well that girl is scorching you know exactly what I meant you know if I said ah this band is [ __ ] on fire tonight and you said to me yeah man they're [ __ ] scorched I mean it would just you know it's how many different ways can you go with this so is it a positive thing or is it a negative thing is it you know is it Greta Thornburg you know with regard to that oh we have to change everything in the whole goddamn world right now in order to be now and we're not gonna or is it like man you're sitting in the bar having a [ __ ] Frosty one watching the band going okay bro now you're gonna get canceled with that comment we're gonna make a [ __ ] road of fire from here right around the world it's gonna be a [ __ ] ribbon this new Overkill awesome you know I I what do you think is your biggest strength as a songwriter I personally think it's finding the melody over these Fierce guitars and these complex rhythms and I that's incredible feet to do that's a great Pickup Man I mean it's um and that is I mean that's the keys the counter Melody to the melody you know if if the melody is the the counter Melody is important you look at the surgeon I mean there's [ __ ] five or six riffs in that song They're sewn together I mean just seamlessly you know and so which makes my job a hell of a lot easier if I can go back and forth now obviously this is more of that thresh template but it gives me a whole bunch of area to be able to write that counter Melody that fits in with what those guys did with the Riff and this is a riff oriented record this is a you know we're not like talking about all it's just you know this plastic chugging Parts you know where you're going from this chord to that chord you know to down one right this chord that chord you know it's just three chord Rock and rolls has has been around for [ __ ] ever you know it's just how you present it you know when you're when you're singing over for instance some some partner but this one's a little bit different and I thought it was a great challenge but the only way it really came out the way it did is based on the amount of time because if they were like becoming more are more done you know Jason's done in June 2020 you know Dave did work all the way up to the end but I had like I had one track of great guitarists uh to work with from somewhere in the summer of 2020 Dede added the base later on I kept changing [ __ ] so I had great stuff to work with but I kept tearing it down to make it better you know just like I'm not depressive from you know not pandemic oriented but positively oriented or the positive twist but making those Melodies happen I mean that's like you know this is one Melody this should be the other or this should be the other you know it should it should interact with each other and that movement is in my opinion what makes a song better and it shows experience and songwriting especially from dating and you do that album after album what was the hardest song on this album to find the melody or the counter Melody uh probably fever um it's a seventh track I mean I remember the first day I put it on I mean the first day I heard it was in this house you know when the when the lockdown had happened you know and I'm listening to this mellow part you know and I'm going oh okay so we're back to this [ __ ] you know I was called Danny every time he sends me something I call him and I leave a message because he never picks up the phone I go I don't know how you expect me to write to this crap you sent me I'm a [ __ ] professional no it's just a [ __ ] joke you know but I love doing it but this is exactly what I thought when I heard fever I'm like how does he expect me right for this [ __ ] and I became all [ __ ] Moody and whispery and you know I mean it's just like it wasn't me I was like being some kind of a douchebag that I'm not you know what I mean I was trying to force myself into a [ __ ] you know if I was the [ __ ] round Peg I couldn't get in that square hole you know yeah so I was singing a song out here I mean months later I mean I had written that [ __ ] first piece you know a dozen times with different turns and twists and Whispers And mood and I was out here singing over the mountain you know at my stove you know listening to it I was streaming it having a [ __ ] time in my life in the pandemic with a [ __ ] cold 16 ounce Heineken linguine clam sauce nice um and I thought to myself how [ __ ] great is it that every time this [ __ ] Aussie opens his mouth he's Ozzy he's always Ozzy he's [ __ ] Ozzy he's Ozzy he's [ __ ] great no matter what he does and it's mellow it's heavy and I said that's what fever is I said I never [ __ ] realized why why do I have to go out of my own Persona you know I mean maybe take a little something from somebody who actually succeeds at what they have with their voice so I went in there opened my mouth and there was the whole [ __ ] thing it was right in front of me I said I always had it it just took the uh the ice man to get it out of me and some and some beers and some linguine [Laughter] I get it hey what's a better cook during the pandemic no that's a great scenario I appreciate you sharing that we talked a little bit earlier Twist of the wick Twist of the wick yeah it's my favorite track um awesome old school Thrasher takes me back to the 80s what could you tell me about its creation well you know something I was um I didn't know where to go with that tune at first even though you know it's right in my wheelhouse because I could see that they it actually they added like um you know if it was a recipe you know they added a quarter cup of progressive to it you know what I mean it was it wasn't just that thresh template that sits with armorous you know or or you know the threshier parts of Mean Green killing machine or the surgeon it was it was a little bit of a progressive feel to the whole thing that took you other places and I could hear when Jason's drums came in man he was doing very close to like death metal blast beats there and I was like yes this is going to be great but it was throwing me away from the whole thing and especially with where the chorus and the pre-chorus went so it took me the longest time to finish and I gotta tell you when I finally hit it I mean I had the pre-chorus in the chorus for a long time and then I finally put the verses to it and I was like okay what am I gonna do in the center part and the engineer I work with I said play the whole thing through he plays the whole thing through energies monks singing in the center section I'm like where these [ __ ] monks come from oh so you should have dialed in on the on that first [ __ ] part of the song to be able to find my first step to you know to walk out of the forest that I never heard that Bibi added it and I was like that is just [ __ ] great you know a little bit of ear candy he worked with Derek and with Michael Romeo from Symphony X um put it on keys this whole monk thing happened I was like man [ __ ] Greg and it's I became one of my my favorite songs on the record based on the fact that I really didn't hear the whole thing until it was like done you know what I mean it wasn't like I was going along watching its progression I was really dialed into that first three sections of the song and I gotta get this and I did that probably I recorded that in studio at least six or seven different ways before I hit it now so yeah that's pretty cool thank you for sharing that you know Overkill has had a huge influence on metal over the years with so many bands out there like Metallica Slayer uh Exodus Testament did you feed those bands as Kindred Spirits or was it more like a sort of competitive nature that was brought on brought into Overkill I'm sure it's competitive I mean it's just I mean it's part of the game and I love I love the competition I think of this as a sport I mean it's it's a friendly competitiveness I mean it's not a negative competitiveness but you always want to be better or think that you are you know I mean I I love to see them succeed you want your friends to succeed obviously yeah we'll come fight with these guys and to some degree even the West Coast bands are just you know they're just cousins you know who develop something simultaneously while East Coast bands were developing what German bands were developing were bands from the UK and the fresh scene but I mean I think the competitiveness is is great because you know because it puts you the only winner in that kind of competition is a listener you know I mean that's really what it is because if you're competing I remember touring with Exodus you know and we were I forget I think we were in Spain um and we had we had a sold out house so Gary came off the stage he was sweating his ass so I've had the [ __ ] shows like he said something like [ __ ] that or something like that you know and I said my pleasure yeah yeah so I mean it's friendly but it's a um again I think everybody has that in their nature to some degree it's not like you don't want the other guy to win right I mean you see you applaud him if he does but but the idea is to go up there and just like let's pound him you know let's pound him into the ground that's a great perspective so if you think of heavy metal thrash music it's like a brick on a brick on a brick and you're building this wall and everybody's contributing to the wall and everybody's pushing each other to do better and sound better and sonically better so that's that's a great way to view it I you know it's very insightful well I think you know one of the things with with metal um in general and especially thrash metal I mean we all became friends during the tape trading days you know or became aware of each other there was no social media so you held a lot of those early memories you know close you know inside your heart it's like you know when you first heard you know an exodus demo where you heard first heard the Metallica stuff through you know whoever you were trading [ __ ] with and then you couldn't wait to meet these [ __ ] guys you know you'd meet them out on the road and we were just we were brothers from different mothers I mean we had the same [ __ ] ideas even though we didn't know what the idea was so you know you wanted to make it work but all I'm saying all I'm trying to highlight here is that we were fans before we were the musicians who wanted to create something great and be rock stars had nothing to [ __ ] do with that it was all about understanding that this shit's changing right now we're gonna add Punk to metal and see what we come out with and it was happening simultaneously around the world so we were fans of this [ __ ] way way before we were uh you know musicians that were touring and making records uh Bobby I want to be respectful to your time do you have time for one more question yeah of course I do yeah sure so you know we've talked about this a bunch of times in the past and you mentioned alluded to her earlier um you were in a jersey cover band where were some of the places that you played because I told you many years ago that I was in a jersey cover band I was wondering if we have overlapped uh I used to play the Union Jack and uh South River and then there was uh the Circus Circus in Bergenfield we used to play that and I was wondering if we ever crossed hats back in like 82-83 when I was touring we did uh we started doing the Union Jack in 83 in South River yeah right um actually I mean that was when we were covered slash original I mean we did shows down there with uh you remember Dan Lorenzo's Hades you know we did shows like that so they were you know the Union Jack had kind of a a collective Vibe they would have cover bands but they would also have original bands playing in there right you know some of those cover bands had Originals so we played there and I think we actually played there once we were signed we played there too uh we did a gig there uh we did the show place in Dover out of our return um it was like a strip joint during the day I mean that looks like you know Dan would be like setting up everybody but everybody be sitting on the end of the stage with a Coca-Cola watching the girls dance instead of like putting I'm not putting the gear up you know yeah how about Circus Circus in Bergenfield you play that one no I never played there but I did hang out in these places you know um I moved out I was actually I actually grew up in Rockland County um and then when the band started I I moved to I moved to Jersey but I mean I was going to the hole in the wall soap Factory uh Circus Circus I even went to some of the Long Island places you know speaks you know I mean but I I you know plan a weekend but then when lamours came in later on I'm not going to say it was out of that Jersey scene but this was all original music and this is when that you know that revolution of thrash was was starting you know that heavy stuff so that was the place to go you know that was just true I mean that was it and plus I mean I got a bar tab that's still open there I mean the [ __ ] place is closed I still love like 15 grand they're going to be calling me up we were drinking buddies back then so yeah I went we were never big enough to play soap Factory in hole in the wall but I used to go there and see Twisted Sister I used to go there to see Monroe so those were those were some of the Bands I used to like to go see put Monroe they were always a good band you know they always had there was always that really theatrical kind of band that could actually keep it together with regard to their sound as well as their presentation yeah they were like Motley Crue without before Motley Crue hang on I gotta show you something let me let me just let me grab something oh yes yeah you're aware yes I know Frank okay yeah I just had them out in uh in Pennsylvania shooting our video and um he's doing the volume two right now and he's gonna he's gonna include a bunch of [ __ ] from us about you know when we got signed and stuff but that covers the whole [ __ ] thing I'm sure your band's in there too I mean we were just a small cover band there wasn't wasn't like you guys yeah but but he's got like he's got like all the Aquarian um you know like the Aquarian match so I mean you might be in there with so-and-so oh yeah that's true yeah I gotta check it out I talked to Frank all the time about that stuff we shoot a lot of concerts together so we're always chatting it up so I'll send them some pictures of my band see if you could slip them into the volume Frank Bobby said I should be in volume two with my cover band says Bobby says well we should do an autobiography Bobby says no couldn't happen I keep my secrets in the close to the vest you know what I mean I hear you well listen Bobby I always enjoy talking with you so entertaining so insightful thank you very much for your time and I look forward to seeing you guys when you play out in New Jersey all right take it easy bye-bye well thank you for your time man thank you bye-bye

Channel: MetalRules

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Id: iJ3abd9g0so

Length: 29min 26sec (1766 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 16 2023