 Welcome to the metal voice returning guest Bobby Blitz all the way in the east coast I'm waiting to find some territory, but I'm actually in Jersey. I'm in Jersey. All right New record Bobby. I heard it for the first time yesterday like quickly. I didn't get it much time to absorb it But I was completely impressed. I mean scorched coming out April 14th. I think a nuclear blast Wow I think, you know, I guess covid has been good to you like in that sense, right? I don't let's say it hasn't been good to us. We took it. We took advantage of the opportunity of Gotcha luxury of time. I think that that would probably be the best way to put it Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's directly responsible. I think for the results, especially my results on it I think the other guys You know, they they tweaked and pushed and pulled and pinched and You know added things over that Over that three year period But for me, I I mean I tore that record down a few times just to make sure that it was that it was a metal record You know worthy of the luxury of time, you know as as opposed to hit and run kind of everything This is these are the things that kind of stood out. I take notes as I'm listening to it like a big production like a really fat production will call it The guitar work. It's just there's a different tone to the sort of like the guitar fills and and just the the guitar parts and the solos lots of diversity very melodic and uh, man those tempo changes Jesus, you guys are just I think that's a pretty good take. I mean, especially for one listen type of the thing that you know to start with the production We we use Collin Richardson again. He's been he's this is his fourth project with us and he's uh You know beyond He's a friend. We trust the guy, you know, he's he did a record for us from soup to nuts called kill box and That is a heavy piece of real estate. I think it was just released in 2004 when the The popularity of the genre was not way up there wasn't at its healthiest state but that's one of the best sounding fucking records we've ever done and Directly responsible to him, you know, he is there directly responsible for that So when he did this mix, you know, we didn't give him a lot of guidance I mean we did the production and kind of guided him along with regard to what our ideas were but not generalization and sound But I do remember saying to him Or did he say to him rather we agreed on this Um, you know, we wanted a record that you could play really loud But it doesn't tire you out that if you know sometimes get one of those records you put on four tracks You got it on and not and you go I gotta take a break. I need a nap It's heavy as fuck, but I need a nap And I think he did that And the way he did it was that he used Um, for instance, some of the natural drum resonance from the room that he mixed in with whatever was digital He he did a throwback guitar back to the like the kind of early 90s So it's really something it's like it's like capturing two errors It's like capturing something in the past and exactly the present and listening to those two errors simultaneously So that's where that big fat production comes from That's a very actually you nailed it. I feel like sometimes it's like the first two records Especially when your vocals on some parts, right? Whereas The intensity of course is the last few records, right? Um, tell me about Scorched to me is sort of the song itself and maybe describe that a little bit to people I mean, this is like it kind of reminds me of like a meatloaf song in a sense where It doesn't sound like meatloaf. Don't get me wrong. It's sort of like it's long Melodic and there's just so many things going on But it still retains its melody at the end of the day and in its intensity. Tell me about scorched the song Where the fires were burning and the dives were howling Bout out of hell it's a perfect Shit man, I got laid to that record. I love I was like that was my introduction. That was like the time of my introduction into girls. I was actually in high school Scorched, um, you know I tend to agree with you because when you get into that chorus It becomes that kind of a hokey sing song type of a back and forth thing even though it's got hits You know, it's heavy heavy approach to it So it has kind of a traditional thrasher with kind of a a rock and roll sing song approach But the thing to me that makes the record That sets the tone for the record is the guitar intro into the song scores And the reason I say that is because the way I was describing the production prior is being two errors But listening to it simultaneously This is something to me that as soon as I heard it on the demo I thought to myself man This is is the way to open a record because it sets the tone for what's to follow that not just the song scorched But everything beyond that and what I mean by that is that it's from that other Place it's something that you would have heard You know a maiden or a priest do back in you know the early 80s They would do something lean on that guitar heavy shit So it sets the tone for everything and perfect for walking into scorched Which has got that kind of rock and roll sing song vibe to it That is uh, just packaged up neatly in a in a thrash package What about the lyrics scorch your scorched the earth scorch your brain Well burn it all down right I mean this was written this was written during the pushback You know what I'm saying? I mean, you know, I wrote this record three times. Like, you know, we were just talking Casually earlier before we you know, we hit the record button But I wrote this three times and the first time I wrote it it was it was You know scorched my earth and scorched my brain because I was fucking depressed as as hell And I'm not that kind of fucking guy, you know, and it's it was it was pandemic related You know, I mean it was no dog in the house that my dog had passed. I'm sitting here by myself I'm writing overkill lyrics. I'm like, oh, no This isn't me So It's it's the beginning of the pushback. You know, you know what I mean? Like yeah, I had to recognize the fact that I wasn't representing myself correctly on the record So I started pushing back and I wrote the record about three times and stuff like scorched the earth scorched your brain It's really just that pushback like, okay, we're not taking this anymore We're coming out and we're going to set this whole fucking thing on fire Unless you open the gate It's a great actually, you know what you couldn't have opened with a better song And then you go into a song like fever and I'm going what what are we going here? I go wait a second. This is bobby and is uh I would say taking over days maybe, uh, you know, sort of more of the clean to Screamo like and then back to clean again and I thought we were going to start with a disco fever or something I don't know. It had that sort of Sort of a spacey vibe at the intro, right? You want to tell people about that? It's uh, you know, I think the key to to good songwriting or at least for us anyway Is to be able to marry different things together to be able to stitch them together seamlessly Whether it be a riff or whether it be a breakdown or a mellow part into a heavy part Um, first is the the song the surgeon, which was the first single we did It's all It's a collection of like six riffs But you don't realize it until you start counting them and that's because they're They're stitched together seamlessly and on the swamp fever. This was like I thought this was really fucking interesting when I turned It on I said, oh look at mr. Moody and mr. Mellow and mr. Fucking scary over here with his, you know You know ghost-like shit And I started whispering to those parts, you know I was doing all this other shit that was just so not me And I think he had to nose right in the head with the taking over days because I had a much cleaner voice back then and it was due to the fact that I had been taking vocal lessons I I developed polyps on my cords and they sent me to a guy in a city named don laurence Everybody's gone to this fucking guy d schneider to life agony and Tony harnel every fucking rock guy who's lived in new york has gone With any case I'm out in the kitchen. I I'm thinking to myself I'm ruining the shit out of this fucking song by trying to overthink it and I'm making linguinean white clamp So I stopped to start here I'm singing I'm singing over the mountain, you know, and I'm having a time of my life, you know And I think to myself that's it just open your fucking mouth and let it happen So the mellow part of fever Was you know party to that kind of thought that type of thinking I'm like Me to do anything fucking special except just be myself on this And it became to me one of the the challenges of the record But really one of the highlights of it because we did sew together that mellow section with those wide open vocals and that Jesus when the when the fucking band comes in, you know, it broke grandma's dishes in the In the uh in the church that I think I don't know how high you're singing I think that's probably the highest part, you know that that register that you're singing in on that That's that's up there, man. You're gonna be able to pull that off live. That was like frigging high, man I could do that. I mean, I got no problem with the highest. I got problem with the load All right But I like, you know, I got to say it was refreshing I have to say it right and you know, it's it's to your point at the beginning of this conversation You want to put on an album that people won't get exhausted after the fourth song, right? But with a lot of interest and you know, it's eclectic. It's diverse. It's um It's got different dynamics and characteristics. How do you make that an overkill record? You know, it's traditional heavy metal. It's got mellow sections. It's got groove. It's got fresh It's got rock and roll. It's got blues. It's like all over the fucking map but You you have to sew those pieces together and then take the whole thing and try to make it You know, put your brand on it and I think that that's what we succeeded in doing and that especially Directly what's directly responsible is the amount of time that we had You know what and that goes to when bands Originally sort of form and they write music together and they release their debut album They have this time to sort of, you know, let the song sit and Uh Like a fine wine, right and become better and you can listen to them You change it little nuances. You rewrite the lyrics three times, right? I would have liked to hear the lyrics in the first round you still The alternate lyrics, right? I didn't change anything. I didn't know any more words But then there's a song like um, what was the second song? Won't be coming back and and this is where again more diversity when you're hitting that verse You're going what what's going on? It's it's just again, you're you're I don't know what it maybe it's just more melody It's just more melody that verse the way you sing that verse on won't be coming back It kind of changes a bit from the typical sort of overkill You know verse we'll say There there's a lot of melody injected in this and that is directly due to the fact Of how the music was written it called for it. It's just that simple it You know doing a song like won't be coming back with you know a a three note Thresh You know screamo type verse I think would have killed that song. I mean it's it's uh It's a beautiful melodic piece. So You know, that's really the key to songwriting and and I kind of attribute Getting things like that together between Didi and myself any other boys obviously putting in a whole bunch of stuff I mean Jason directly responsible for how this record turned out and so So was Dave lynx by the addition of their parts and they're playing Um But it's marrying the two two together, you know, what is it called for and that's really the voice of experience Speaking I mean you do 20 fucking records people still think you suck. That's fine But you become better at what you do. It's like a craft, you know And I'm saying if I'm a table maker and I make 20 tables the 20th is going to be way better than the first in my opinion The first is like your first girlfriend I mean the fucking thing it just gets bigger and bigger in your head. You're like, oh Boy, that's when girls were great, you know, or you know, boy. She was the best It doesn't necessarily mean that it just means it was your first experience with it But I said songwriters as we've gone along along have matured and that is all over this record And that was a dirty word in my 50s, but in my 60s mature is actually an okay word for me And you know, I also noticed and I'm trying to try to find this song. I have a list here Again, I heard it once right? So I'm just trying to absorb as much as I can There was a part with the the choir like you had a choir going on in the background in the midsection I remember what song was that it's the uh fourth cut. It's called twist of the wick Wow, that was a great song. Yeah guitar harmonies This this was a oh yes and the choirs on the midsection. Wow, it it really you know again You're adding a lot more flavors in there, you know, you collect the eclectic vibe to the whole thing You know, I mean it's it's you know when it starts off It's a thrash song, but it's a thrash song plus You know because and Jason starts going into some blast beats in this thing You know, it's almost like a death a death metal parts of this So there's this blast beats. There's a choir in the center section There is a hell of a melodic chorus and how do you sell all this shit together? So, you know, if you're thinking about a pandemic where people are like locked down for You know a two-year period say and I have two years to fuck with this I had all all that extra time to be able to sew my parts into deities parts and then and then put them all together You know, mine was kind of like the finishing touches. I was decorating the cake, you know What I mean they baked the cake. I decorated and it's um, that's a that's a unique song and that center section is funny I didn't even I was so stuck on that song I just didn't fucking know what to do with it And I and I finally kept working and working harder and I kept skipping over the center section because I wasn't gonna sing in it Well, in any case, I'm sitting in the studio with the guy I work with and I'm like, all right I think we're good. I think I got what I want with this play it through a place it through When I hear the center section for the first time, I'm like, what the fuck is that? That's beautiful But then you also Not only that kind of Sort of material or that sort of diversity then you go back to the traditional sort of heart of they fall with the gang vocals, right? I mean if I would have removed your voice and put Zetro's voice there it could have been an exodus song in that sense, right? That's a good point That's a good but that they do that they do a lot those gang folks. That's that's one of their staples for sure. Yeah Yeah, so it's nice to hear that Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, okay. So just tell me about the lyrics now We talked about the music. What kind of topics were you covering in terms of lyrics? Okay, we got the covid bit, right? You're you're locked in your house With no no dog. I mean you're you're stuck. You're alone, you know, you're I look when you why I got the fresh clams start everything around in the pot. It's um You know again Not to be redundant But talk about how about this talk about the lyrics you're most impressed with like really meant a lot to you from which song How's that? Well, look for instance at the surgeon if that was taken from a negative perspective Um, it was depressive if it was taken from a clear the infection Perspective it becomes positive So I took the surgeon and went from that negativity into almost a bloodletting type of a feel, you know and a midi the medieval Lost art of bloodletting when when you know, the body is worn out. So sure it is covid Responsible with regard to that The outcome of that song but only in a positive type way You follow me? It's not the it's not the negativity of a poor me It's the hey, we got to cure this shit and we got to move on Which is always kind of a positive message or overkill having a positive message and aggression Won't be coming back for instance. Here's um, you know, this was a this was a unique Conversation I had with DD and we hardly ever talk about what where we're going what we're doing He might say wow, I got a lot of riffs on this one. That's simple, right? And he goes he goes, what do you think what direction you're going and I said, I don't know I said, why don't you just I said, why don't you write your part like it's the last record? Where we're going to do I said you write it like it's the last one I'll write mine like it's the last one and we'll see what happens In any case I'm writing My stuff and I'm working on won't be coming back and I just injected that thought Lyrically into that song that saying hey, you know, write it like you're dying Write it like you're not coming back write it like It's the most important thing in the world and we'll succeed And so that was kind of the the basis of of that song All right, what about the girl one, uh, just was it uh, no her name Oh, just very very You know, it's just it's a metaphor for liberty um And liberty, uh, you know the gift from the french that we have in new york harbor actually cindy jersey New york claims it but it's absolutely ours. It's on that waterline. Yes Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. It's yours just like giant stadium is yours That's also your jersey strange enough You know, it's funny because I was looking at a map once and i2 was I thought was under the impression The statue of liberty was in new york territory, but it's not right and I realized that when I looked at a map I go wait a second something's not right here. What the hell's going on It's like new yorkers. I always had the fucking statutes cut. We're in new york You're staying the fuck out of here. You know come over and spend your money get the fuck out of here You know, we don't want you around, you know, we have all the best stuff. Oh, yeah, we got the statue of liberty I know you don't We're lyrics were I was I on so uh, yeah, no name. No name just okay Yeah, just uh, you know a take a metaphor for liberty Protecting it understanding it Not changing history for convenience. I suppose probably a A social shot at The flavors of the day, you know, you don't just get to like your opinions are not facts Opinions are not facts You can't just say I don't like this and that's a fact that could be a fact that you don't like it But the reasons you don't like it are not necessarily historical You can't just change fucking history. It is what it fucking is Listen, there's been mistakes. We got to move on, but you can't just fucking change. So so that's part of that Uh bag of bones is a journey. It was just a fun kind of a journey All the songs are mock titled at one point and uh, that one was mock titled last one and the You know, I thought it was because he wrote did he wrote that riff last and I said, oh, this is the way you wrote last He said no, I wrote this pretty early on. It's just that it seems like a stand alone next to all the other ones It seems like it's on its own Uh, probably because of the big fat groove in it. I said, yeah, you know something You're actually right. It does seem like the one song that is the kind of oddball, you know of the of the entire of the entire group So we decided that it should stay last and all I did was have some fun with it, you know, and we did the Steven Tyler Joe Perry kind of uh Harmonies in the chorus did he and I singing them? So so again just an eclectic vibe through the whole thing church bells cellos wires harmonies, you know on and on and on All right, so give me In one sentence for someone who's never heard this album. Give me one sentence how you would define it And I know you gave me a lot of we talked a lot about so a lot of areas One sentence, how would you define this album? I knew there was going to be a fucking test and I didn't study One sentence one sentence you had three years you had three years one sentence that sort of Defines this album. George is where we've been And what we are All right, okay All right, so you have a tour coming up you're going back to I think it's germany and spain, correct Yeah, I'm most of western europe. I mean italy you'll be in there france belgium holland Switzerland it's gonna be it's gonna be that's like april time frame, correct right right before the release. So it's the 13th we go um 13th is our first show the the release worldwide is the 14th. I think it's the same day as some other thrash band and must something Medals medallica medallica medallica good old medallica Is that one l or two ls? Uh, how about canada? I I can't even remember the last time you played in canada overkill Just never seems to really come back and I know it's not something you're responsible for right like I mean, it's you know, you're your people your handlers are taking care of these things But is are there any plans to come to canada? Well, I mean sure. I mean we always plan to come there. I mean, it's just You know things have to be financially feasible for us to to do and that's really the bottom line I mean, it's you know, you want me to be straight about the whole thing. Do I mean drop the 30% tax? Justin It's true. It's true. I'm not you know, I'm not being a dick about it But I mean if somebody's saying hey, you know, I can't pass the this on to the to the ticket, you know buyer Then it's kind of like you're kind of working for the promoter for the day You know, I don't know what people think the you know, everybody's making millions of bucks. We're getting x amount of money That's 30% is actually more than a profit. We're coming up to like sell 100 t-shirts. That's really what we're doing And it's not I have nothing against going to count it. I fucking love it. I mean, I'm a fucking hockey fan I always feel like I'm in the mecca when I'm up there. You know, you know what I'm saying Whether I'm in Toronto or Montreal or I mean, I just fucking love going up there. I love the people I mean, it's I I've always felt the the americans and the canadiens and mexicans were all fucking cousins That's as simple as any you know, and it's there's differences, but similarities Um, it's just that fucking true. No tax. That's true. No damn that true. No You screwed everything up. You screwed everything up Closie pictures and sometimes they're from the temples and stuff For the record, I did not vote for him. I did not vote for him Due to the I'm just trying to be humorous about it. But yeah, me too. Me too. It's probably you do three shows up there, man You're fucking you're taking a big bite out of your backside. So Yeah, yeah, uh going back to the early years, right? Um Of course johnny, you know and and marshes azula brought you guys in from mega force I don't know if the word is discovered but I guess took you on would be a better word You make that transition to atlantic was was it worth moving to atlantic records? Would have been a better decision to sort of maybe i'm not sure what happened, you know behind the scenes, but Looking back now, was it a good idea to go atlantic or maybe just stay a little more independent even though there was a I believe you guys were working together, right mega force and atlantic at one point, but It's actually just a distribution deal at the front and we were dealing directly with mega force for the first, uh You know field of fire was on mega force only then the distribution was the next records that came after that up until Horoscope and then halfway through horoscope. We were directly to atlantic Um, you know, I've had different answers for this in the past But you know as I get older i'm not saying i'm get wiser, but maybe more have more understanding and the understanding to me is that It was worth it because you know, it was a huge Conglomerate it had money up the wazoo. It put us in a position to be promoted at the highest level Um, and I think that laid the groundwork for what followed now Obviously, I'm much more comfortable in a smaller underground condo label. That's the kind of band. This is Um, they understand me. I understand them nuclear blast. I mean, it's a big It's a big label, but it has an underground mentality to it And that's and that's why it works for overkill But without atlantic all those people wouldn't have seen us there wouldn't have been necessarily two videos for the horoscope record that wouldn't have been Uh as much Promotion, so I think it laid the groundwork for what followed and what followed that You know very soon thereafter was grunge. That's when we left, you know, atlantic Because we weren't the flavor of the day anymore. Nobody was trying to find the the new Metalica, you know, the top did they did they sit you at a table and say look guys You have a choice here. Are you gonna play grunge like music or are you just gonna continue? That's that's always a myth. I've never I've never been put in a position like that by anyone in a label, you know I mean, I sure I have a feeling they don't always understand Um, you know some of the big guys really just they're just being counters, you know the being counters give them Tell them what's you know, what is really popular? This is really popular Look how many units they sold at that particular time But I think that you know if we're coming into that 90s era Where that whole new depressive kind of a Vibe came in with you know, uh the seattle sound. I mean, so it's great. Don't get me wrong. I mean it was But they It gave us we were already promoted at such a high level that even the fall-off that was going to happen Didn't hurt us to the point where we had to go away a lot of bands had to go away because of that You know, they went home and they lived in their parents base, you know, we were like, okay We've been promoted at a high level. Just don't take the call when seattle calls. Just don't take the call I guess that's it when they're telling us to go home. Just say fuck it. We'll just leave. Yeah I'm saying and we found other labels that invested in us and we found great tours And we still did south america japan went to europe every year and a little bit of a hard time reaching the west coast of the US because there's like such a dead space From the mississippi to california But now that's all gone away and and I think a lot of that is due to the fact that uh, Atlanta promoted the band for that That amount of time, you know, I think it's a it's a similar story with all bands, you know mid-level bands will call it Even though they didn't get the money they wanted from the big labels. They got the exposure That carried them through first, you know decades later, right? And uh, that seems to be the same old story like they didn't pay me but that name Resonates, you know for decades sure sure. I mean and I I've run into a lot of guys They didn't pay me but the the whole thing is it is it is not about the quick hit. It is about the long View the long ride, you know I mean if you think about the value in the music that you and I love I mean it's transcended at this point at least three generations And that to me is that is valuable. That means that means I've lived my life in this You know what I'm saying me being one of the oldest generations in this scene I've lived my entire fucking adult life in this That's the long road. I mean, but that's uh, that's a good view to to be able to say that this is this is how I spent my life. So am I looking to get paid? No, I'm looking at I'm looking to get, you know Canadian shows and not have to pay to do them but The point is this is the satisfaction is huge is times 10 the amount of money we would take out any What are some cool moments? Okay, you you know, you open for slayer. I believe at Halloween Right back in their heyday to mega death p-cells. What are some cool moments you remember from back in those days? Well, I think I got it. I gotta tell you a cool moment I think I got to move on because I got a radio. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Sure. Sure. I'm gonna tell you if you're cool moment I'm not gonna fuck with you here. Um We met in in 1988 we went on the road with with slayer and motorhead. So it was slayer motorhead overkill and I was a big motorhead fan obviously the name of the band, you know I mean and so was Stevie and sometimes you don't want to meet your icons, you know I mean the people that you you admire so much because God, what if I hate this guy, you know, and or these guys I'm gonna come home want to break all the fucking vinyl I had Well, I met them they were to It exceeded my expectations. They were great dudes. They were on the record 1916 We were doing under the influence. I think slayer was south of heaven So it was a great lineup with a great punch and years later years later in Seven Motorhead had us had us come on And do the german shows we did like well over 13 german shows with them and the last night was in berlin And it was just like 88, you know what I'm saying? I mean they never forgot my first name and they You know always cordial and I'd have beers with them at a festival or something where in any case the Lightman biggie walks in and he goes blitz Let me want to talk to you and I was like, oh, all right So I walked down and these overseas drink was sitting there. He's got ready for the show Because I want you to come up on stage for the last song and sing overkill with And I was like, holy shit I mean, this is like this is like I was dreaming this, you know what I'm saying like 25 years ago This was a dream of mine. So I go back to the dress room. I know the song cold But I take I I open my arm up like this and I take a sharpie and I write the first word Of every verse. So I don't fuck it up because I'm going to be really nervous, right? Forget the first word. Everything else is going to fall So he wants me to sing in his mic during the chorus So we're both up on his mic on the sides and then I would have my mic over here to do it And sure enough we sing the chorus and I looked out of my arm to get the next one. He goes I see him go And he walks up to the microphone and goes He's got cheat notes. He's got cheat It threw me under the bus 12th mass in germans It was lit as a tomato man. I was caught dead to rights. Yeah, here's the guy in overkill doesn't remember the song Good great story man, great story. I jumped right into the audience upside down and I think he's still yelling cheat No All right on that note. I know you have another interview April 14th scorched I was pretty impressed I was really impressed, you know, right when people thought you're going this way. Oh, you're going that way Very well made very well made out. Yeah, that's the that's the best thing about this whole thing Do whatever the fuck you want All right, bobby A pleasure always and hope to see you on tour soon Demi owns a pleasure man. Love to chat