OVERKILL - Bobby Blitz Ellsworth

While counting backwards towards the day the next killer OVERKILL album IRONBOUND hits us right between the eyes we had the chance to interview one of the demolishers responsible for the wrecking machine called OVERKILL that’s been driving us on the edge of our rebellious selves for the past 25 years! Yes, Metalzone.gr had the chance to interview the one and only Bobby Blitz Ellsworth and it was a ride we will never forget!
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\r\nScroll down the page for the audio file of the interview.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: At the other end of our line is Bobby and he is ready for some OVERKILL. Hello Bobby welcome in Metalzone.
\r\nBobby: Helena, Thank you so much good to be talking to be talking to someone in Greece.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: I think Happy Birthday is in order…its 25 years now!
\r\nBobby: I didn’t get the present or the card…
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: I want to give it to you in person when you get to Greece!
\r\nBobby: ( Laughs) 25 years of OVERKILL we still the fire we felt in 1985 and IRONBOUND will be out in 2010 so… yap! A quarter of a century of what we like doing best!
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Wrecking?
\r\nBobby: Everything (laughs) I think it’s one of the charms of this music and it’s lasting. It started this revolution of thrash metal. We remain true to the basic principles that it was founded on.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Do you feel it’s as exciting as it was back then or do you have a different angle of looking at it?
\r\nBobby: There’s obviously a different angle. People change. Whether it is a personal relationship or a band or a business relationship. You change from year to year. Sometimes I remember the early 80s chaos, state of chaos, and somewhere along the line you actually get what you’re doing and to present chaos, is in a way being able to control it. Chaos controlled actually gives you more power. \r\n

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\r\nMetazlone.gr: It does and I think if you feel you can control chaos it can make you feel like a god.
\r\nBobby: Only on the stage. (laughs) Only on the stage! I think that one of the qualities OVERKILL have over the years is that it’s a hard working band. It’s really about finding chemistry, celebrating the chemistry, little changes and celebrating the little changes. It’s not about status, even in the new record the understanding of what we do is nothing without the support
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\r\nMetalzone.gr:  Talking about your upcoming release on January 29th in Europe through Nuclear Blast, IronBound. Tell us about this new release.
\r\nBobby: IRONBOUND is our 16th album. After 16 albums you learn things, if you don’t you’re either an idiot or you weren’t paying attention. When I think about this record, obviously excited, it’s a record that’s rooted in the past but is more of a re invention of that. Re invention being the key word. It was never a conscious effort but more of a result. The reason this happened is, we did a lot of touring over the past album, and many thrash tours. We did OVERKILL – EXODUS - GAMMA BOMB - TORTURE SQUAD, OVERKILL - MORTAL SIN, some newer thrash metal bands, WARBRINGER and what stayed with us is that live feeing we took into the studio. The chemistry that was captured in the album was that we were at a perfect pitch point where everyone was really working together depending on each other. We did the shows with EXODUS at the end of March of this year and started assembling that record in April. And I think that’s really the X Factor on why the record sounds like that. By the time it was done we handed it over to Peter Tägtgren of Hypocrisy and Pain fame.  Peter gave it that re inventive feel and contemporary vibe. Contemporary in 2010 is more about the big picture and Peter has brought that to the record.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: You know you make us want to listen to it more by the way you’re describing it. Tell me a few things about the lyrics.
\r\nBobby: Well lyrically I really don’t like to go into them. Again I like to live in the day. I remember when I just got into this. Picture a boy that owns the whole Black Sabbath catalog and plays air guitar what I thought about the lyrics that were the most important to me back then, how I perceived those lyrics, how they affect me in a personal level and found out later on when I read interviews of the bands I loved that they had nothing to do with the way I perceived them it ruined the songs for me. What I talk about in a generalization is about support, and effort and commitment and ironbound, setting goals, keeping those goals at all costs, in general even though the lyrics I write in this genre present a negative perspective they have positive outcome. I think that if you want to know that something positive exists you first have to experience what is negative. It’s really the way I like to write. I’d say it’s therapeutic. To pen the problems which I think are common to most of us, to pen the solutions to the problems and to pen that this is what IRONBOUND really stands. \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Do you think thrash metal is a kind of rebellious style of metal?
\r\nBobby: Helena it’s a fucking revolution! It started back in the 80s when the problems were social, political and in between different kinds of music it was the voice in the dark. It was the scream in the dark. And I think that what I see in the world today, social political etc is many of the same elements of why the thrash started back in the 80s. That’s why it’s rebellious it’s about revolution, it’s about doing what your heart tells you to do regardless of what society says is right. And I think that that’s what makes it special.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Do you think that’s the reason why fans return to the genre, kind of reviving like it was in the 80s?
\r\nBobby: I do and I think there’s a whole younger generation that’s celebrating it by writing songs, younger fans that celebrate it by coming into the shows. The value I see is that it transcends generations. If you’re born to the pop music there were few bands that have gained popularity and maintained it after their gone – Elvis Presley for instance. But this one is so long ago, iconic. The Beatles, iconic. What happens with this is that it becomes special because it’s more of a lifestyle. Once they listen to younger bands they are probably going to go back to their influences like ANTHRAX or SLAYER.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Do you see younger fans coming into your shows?
\r\nBobby: Yes and I think that that’s the point. I think that if you want to see where it came from you go to see the bands that are the old guard and not in a negative way. I love what we did with the IRONBOUND album it gives confirmation to what younger bands present and what younger thrash bands experience. \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone.gr: You’re touring in support of IRONBOUND beginning February 6th in Europe tell me a few things about it.
\r\nBobby: I love going on the road. I am a road dog, I’ve been chasing the hive that touring is all about. It’s why I do this. The tour lasts through the month of February and following that we’re in South America and the month after in the US. At this point we have 80 shows booked and then we return to Europe. We’re actually talking with a Greek band SUICIDAL ANGELS. We’re talking with them. It’s not confirmed yet but we’re really excited to have new bands it’s like the new verses the old and how there is a strong bond between the two. So we’re talking to new bands. And we’re having a 5 band package here in the US. VADER, EVILE, WARBRINGER and ourselves…
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Many different styles of extreme metal. Like a festival.
\r\nBobby: It’s the era of package. It’s the necessary for the audience who want to watch a great night of what it’s about. We toured with EXODUS last winter. The beauty of that it’s that it’s friendly competition that ends up for the benefit of the people who paid for the ticket. If Gary is on stage sweating with that sideways cowboy smile says to me "beat that Bobby Blitz" and I say "my pleasure Garry Holt" the ones who win are the people coming into the shows.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: IRONBOUND is you first release on your new record labels. How has the co operation been so far?
\r\nBobby: We have NUCLEAR for the majority of the world and for North America we have a company called E1 Music. When I went to, late October I went to Germany to have a listening party with a dozen journalists, I met the people, it’s nice to be able to shake hands with the people you’re going to work with for the next years, the feeling I had when I walked in, everyone I met was wearing a metal t-shirt. People I shook hands with had an Exodus or Overkill or Death Angel or Hypocrisy or Suicidal Angels shirt on. And this makes a guy in my position to be very comfortable. Because obviously you are giving what you’ve just worked on for two years prior to people who love it and understands it. So there’s a huge amount of co operation. On the other side I remember back in time, I think it was in Atlantic Records Verni and I were sitting in an office, and the guy came in with a suit and tie and he is giving us the plan and talking about how much he was going to do and I looked at D.D. and said “we’re fucked! He doesn’t know anything about it!” My point is that people that are into this are promoting it and working with it puts you in a comfortable situation.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Being into this for 25 years I would like you to give apiece of advice to the newcomers into the scene. Young kids who want to be just like you.
\r\nBobby: Well firstly you don’t want to be just like me because sometimes it’s very hard living in this head (laughs). Pay attention to all aspects of what you’re doing. The first aspect should always be purity that your idea is original keep that idea. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be accepted by the masses. And if it’s not accepted by the masses it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a good idea. What it means is that people need time to accept that idea. And this gives you the opportunity of originality. If you abandon your original idea to go with popular opinions you become a follower and not a leader and that is the key to writing your own music. One of the things about thrash metal is that it comes from the heart as opposed to the head. As soon as you start writing from the head you become more in the pop genre, it’s about dollars or euro or pesos it’s not about what the heart tells you, you should do. Pay attention to what your heart tells you. \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone.gr: I got a difficult question for you but I always ask this to people who are around this long and have the experience you have. What is heavy metal?
\r\nBobby: Heavy Metal is an action. And what happens when an action is presented is a reaction. So it really becomes almost a chemical thing. Like when you mix hydrogen and oxygen you make a bomb. I think heavy metal is the action and us who love it is the reaction.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Is it easier today to spread your music because of the internet?
\r\nBobby: Obviously I like to live in the day and living in the day is very easy to present your music. Prior days you could be working on a song for six months and then by the time the release happened it was a 3 years old song. So it was never in regards to being fresh. The downside is that everyone can do this. So it doesn’t help to develop a band. It makes people feel the pressure of I have to release it now because everyone else is. And that’s what I was talking about earlier when I was saying you should stay true to your original ideas. The good thing about OVERKILL is that with IRONBOUND we manage to offer in 2010 a contemporary offering but with a heart as opposed to feeling the pressure.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Are there any specific rules you follow when you create a new album?
\r\nBobby: We have a very big book of rules. And on the first page says “Remember that there are no fucking rules!” and the rest of the book is blank. There are no rules. I think that anyone a person who creates anything stops learning you stop creating. In my case I used a different studio this time to record the vocals. The guy I was recommended to by Rob of EXODUS said hey the guy is great he’ll work with you he’ll do anything. And I sat down with the guy and told him if it sucks tell me how I can do it better. He said “but you’ve been around for 25 years I can’t tell you something sucks” And I said no, because if you don’t I won’t know how to get better and will get what we had before. I want to progress. So I think that’s one of the elements to stick by, that I keep myself open to new ideas. He gave me ideas that actually helped me get through a positive end with my recording style.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: So after 25 years you’re still learning?
\r\nBobby: Exactly. In everything, in personal life or professional. I have a nice relationship with my wife and it’s because we learn new things. Because chemistry changes. She’s also willing to learn new things with regards to satisfaction with regards to growth. Who wants to put himself in that situation? Who wants to complain about the road? If you complain about the road maybe you shouldn’t be there. There is no more growth to that person. The road gets me so continuously high that I look forward to the next one I almost crave it. \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Thank you, you’re overwhelming.
\r\nBobby: Sorry once I start I don’t stop.
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Can you tell me if you’re coming back to Greece?
\r\nBobby: We hope to do so in the winter. I know we’re talking with Harry a promoter in Athens. Hopefully with the second run we will be able to do a Greek run I suppose two shows Thessaloniki and Athens
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\r\nMetalzone.gr: Last words at to you
\r\nBobby: Hope to see you soon, enjoy IRONBOUND! \r\n

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\r\nDOWNLOAD THE AUDIO OF THE INTERVIEW HERE
\r\n (sorry for the poor quality but it seems telephone lines are to weak to handle a man this extraordinary!) \r\n

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