Wings of War is the title of the latest album from Jersey thrash warriors Overkill. A band that started in 1980 and has released 19 studio albums to date. The Wings of War tour kicked off on March 26th at House of Blues in Anaheim, CA. The supporting act Exhorder from New Orleans opened each night on the tour and were definitely worth the watch. If fact, this is a band I could listen to over and over again. Phenomenal metal sound, heavy, hostile, threatening sounds that pound as you band your head, this is metal along the lines of Pantera, Lamb of God and White Zombie. If you like those bands I’m willing to bet you’ll dig Exhorder.
Both bands are on Nuclear Blast Records, a label that’s been around since 1987 specializing in metal and punk.
Backstage with the band before the show, we could hear the crowd screaming nonstop for a good 10 minutes straight until the band took the stage. The audience was chanting “Overkill” and “Bobby Blitz” non-stop! Then when the band hit the stage there was massive cheering! And hit it they did, wrecked it right out of the park. It’s easy to see way they have such a loyal following.
The band’s vocalist Bobby Blitz Ellsworth is a founding member and manages every aspect of the band together with original member and bassist D.D. Verni. These two handle all the management duties of the band. Although, Blitz is the front man and most recognized member of the band, he sees Overkill as a unit.
The stage is set up with four members equally spaced across the stage in front of the drums. Rather than setting up the stage as many bands do with the lead singer up front and all band members behind the singer. Overkill has all four of them equally lined up in front the drummer.
The musicianship in this band is absolutely outstanding. You really couldn’t ask for any more talent out of these guys.
Jason Bittner is the drummer and newest member of the band and one of the best live drummers out there. I was in awe of his playing all night. Bassist D.D. Verni is the definition of thrash bass, he and Bittner are a solid section of this holy unit.
It’s a two guitarist band with Dave Linsk on lead guitar and Derek Tailer on rhythm. While these guys are not original members, they have been playing together for nearly 20 years. This is a tight thrash band giving us their consistent heavy aggressive sound but always with some melody. Each song offers a little something different while being true to the Overkill style. The guitar solos were ripping and definitely a highlight of the night.
The band gives a 100 percent, concertgoers get the time of their lives, not to mention their money’s worth. My eyes stayed glued to the stage the whole time as my ears took in all this wrecking crew delivered.
Blitz’s voice is unique and clear for a thrash band. This is a thrash band that you can actually understand the lyrics. Blitz puts on one hell of a show, he’s full of emotion and intensity, his melodic voice is filed with aggression. He easily speaks to the crowd and they listen. He gets them involved and gives them direction, like “Don’t be a pussy”. We touch on his in the interview you are about to witness. I’ll bet you didn’t know that pussy is short for pusillanimous?
In this backstage footage, I sit down with Bobby Blitz before the show in San Diego and chat, join us for hilarious conversation held at the House of Blues.
We talk about all kinds of things including life in The Garden State,
You’re going to want to check this off the wall interview out!
Overkill’s tour was cut short when venues across began closing down the virus.
They were bummed to have to cut their tour short due to the virus, but the situation was out of their control. Now back home they’ve wasted no time writing new tunes and already have 9 new tunes written for studio album #20. Overkill will be back!
Overkill was the last band I saw live before the nation shut down due to the Corona Virus. They were off to a killer start, but along came a virus, not just any virus, but one that threatened to kill us all. So unfortunately, Overkill’s tour was cut short when venues were ordered to close their doors.
If you use your imagination, Overkill’s The Wings of War album strangely could be the soundtrack to the Corona Virus. First of all the virus is rumored to come from a bat and the band’s mascot is a bat named Chaly. Chaly is a skull with bat wings and florescent green eyes that glow. Chaly can be found on every album cover and on the bands merch too. Songs on the album include Last Man Standing, Believe in the Fight, Head of a Pin, Batshitcrazy, Distorian, A Mother’s Prayer, Welcome to the Garden State, Where few dare to Walk, Out of the Road Kill, Hole in My Sole.
The album is a strong release, all great tunes, no bullshit, true traditional Overkill sound without just being a rehash.
BPMD
Blitz-Portnoy-Menghi-Demmel
Bobby Blitz has an another project that you’ll want to be on the lookout for. It’s a nostalgia band, and he has already recorded an album’s worth of material with a few of the Metal Allegiance guys.
We’ve got a hell of a combo of musicians here, Blitz on vocals, Mike Portnoy on the drums, Mark Menghi on bass and Phil Demmel guitar.
The band is called BPMD for the members names.
The first single is Aerosmith’s “ Toys in the Attic”, they also do their own versions of songs from Blue Oyster Cult, Mountain, Cactus, Ted Nugent, Van Halen and ZZ Top to name a few. Each band member chose two songs to cover and the songs they chose are not necessarily the ones you’ll remember from those bands. For example, Demmel chose “Tattoo Vampire” from BOC and Van Halen’s D.O.A., Blitz chose the song “Evil” from Cactus a song that goes way back to the 60’s with Carmine Appice playing drums on the original version. All songs on thi s album are covers, but of course with a twist.
Out this summer, get your preorder in now.
The album is coming out this Summer on Napalm Records and you can preorder it now.
Pure Tone multi contact jack invented by Overkill’s Guitarist Dave Linsk
When your’re guitarist who plays 100 or more live shows a year, you run into all kinds of challenges with your equipment.
Overkill Lead Guitarist Dave Linsk talks about Pure Tone Guitar Jack, that he invented out of necessity. After dealing with constant problems with the jacks that were on the market andhaving to replace the jacks often due to the static sounds that would occur with use. Linsk developed Pure Tone which is a modern solution to an age old problem.
We met up with Linsk at NAMM where Pure Tone was on display at the Floyd Rose booth, where he tells us all about it himself.
See our interview with Dave here:
