Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth
by Deb Rao
Staff Writer
Don’t miss Overkill on the Killfest Tour this Spring. Overkill front man Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth has checked in with Hardrock Haven for a detailed Track By Track of Ironbound.
HRH: I remember during our earlier interviews that Overkill has a distinctive sound that you really don’t stray to far way from the secret formula that launched your career and made you successful. In making Ironbound did you go back into your mindset of the early thrash days? What was running through your mind when making the album and what did you want to accomplish in the studio when recording your 15th album Ironbound?
Bobby: Yes, it is unbelievable. I don’t think anything ran through our minds specifically as the songs took shape and were assembled we were coming right off the road. That was really the X-factor with this. What made this record what it is the fact that in March we were touring and in April we started assembling. This is that little bit kick in the pants that can put it over the top. We did a lot of touring for Immortalis with a lot of fresh type touring for Immortalis with regard to our set list and with regards to bands that we toured with some of the younger thrash bands like Warbinger. But also some of the old school guys like ourselves in Exodus. So I think that when you come off like a Overkill/Exodus tour and go into the studio in April to start recording drum tracks you are really bringing the stage into the studio. That becomes that unseen element, unplanned element. Then all the plans go away, as you start achieving something that has more energy that you initially thought it would have. I really think that was the over the top element. The fact that we came off from the road and into the studio.
HRH: The core of Overkill still remains intact. You and bassist DD Verni are the only original members. You have drummer Ron Lipnicki, and guitarist Derek, and Dave. What was it like working with drummer Ron Lipnicki on this album and the rest of the band? How did everything fall into place with the newer members when recording this album?
Bobby: Ron has the best hands ever in Overkill. He really understands what to do with his hands. He is absolutely creative. He is a raw vital talent. When you have that raw creatively, it has the stallion vibe to it. Where it runs free. I think you run with the stallion instead of trying to put him into a pen. I think that really is something that he brought to the table here. That lifted everyone else’s energy up. He understands what he does in-depth and does it with a wide unbridle approach to it. So if you have that I think everyone rises to his level of energy. So it becomes kind of natural after awhile. You are just thinking of it is. Ron sets the tempo that we have to follow or it is not a good record and obviously the rest of us did.
HRH: Tell us about the Killfest Tour and what the fans can expect to see at this Thrash metal extravaganza?
Bobby: It is obviously a blend of everything the old and the new. It has been 25 years since the record Feel The Fire. We are going to lean on that record just a little bit. There is going to be just a few cuts from that and a few obscure ones. To rest on laurels would be wrong for this. Ironbound’s strength speaks for itself too. I think what we are going to do is do a blend of everything and out in a few of our hits or misses in there and some obscurity also with 3, 4, or 5 cuts from Ironbound. I think it is necessary to show the history of the band from start to present but really rely on the present with regard to performance. The package is going to contain us, Vader, Warbinger, God Dethroned, and Evile. It is going to be a good Thrash tour. It has been bumped up to a lot of big venues. Tickets are selling already. It is really kind of exciting to be involved in this resurrection of thrash at a higher level.
HRH: How do The European fans differ from American audiences?
Bobby: I don’t know that once the guitar note yeah know the first guitar note or drum note happens that they really differ anymore. I think that this has been really kind of a universal language now for a 25 or 30-year period in some cases. If somebody is a Megedeth fan in Germany, the U.K., or Japan as opposed to Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago, I think there is really the same kind of reaction that they get out of this. This really becomes a singular culture at that particular moment or for that length of the song. There are differenced with regards to promotion in Germany or the U.K. with regard to the U.S. I really think that now once you are playing it really doesn’t differ that much not as much as it used to. I think it has really been a learned experience. If that experience has been learned to this point it is really not a life style. People once they are in a life style understand it just universally.
Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth Track By Track of Ironbound:
The Green And Black – “This is kind of a testimonial with regard to understanding that this is just not about the five that make this music but about all that make this collectively happen. I think that with the Green and Black being our colors, it is really about those that bleed the Green and Black. How hard it is, hard easy it is, it has been both at certain times. They have always stayed therefore for 25 years we exist. “
Ironbound – “We were throwing it back and forth, a whole bunch of different things. This was actually DD’s title. I had something that was Iron related; he had something that was Iron related. It is funny you work with a guy for thirty years you start understanding each other. I think that one of the things that was funny. I had something like Ironworks. He has Ironbound. Ironbound is actually a neighborhood in Newark, NJ. The reason it was named that it is right by the Port and all of the railroad tracks come out of there. They say that if you are above the Ironbound it looks like it is tied to the earth by metal ribbons. Because there is so many railroad tracks that go through there. We thought it was kind of the tip in the hat to let’s say local but at the same time it depicted our place in the scene with regard to being tied to the metal or tied to the iron. So I think that it was kind of cool to think locally yet act globally.
Bring Me The Night – “Bring Me The Night” is really simple. I think it is about understanding where you excel. Musically the song is such a throw back with regard to riff. Which makes me feel like I am almost when performing this song whether it is in video or rehearsal it almost seems like years that have gone by. I feel like it is a transition where the band started. But the really cool thing about it is the contemporary stand on the song. It lends itself to the older feel and at the same time gives a contemporary stand.”
The Goal Is Your Soul – “It is really musically out of the box type arrangements. One of the things I really like about this record in general is that sometimes he arranges songs with regard to standard. Sometime he goes so sub-standard or beyond standard that it is always a surprise.”
Give A Little – ” I that this one is really about arrangement with regard to lyrical content. It is a look at religion in general.”
Endless War – “I think we are what we are what we are. We will always be compared to that. All I did was compare the journey to let’s say the politics with social situations. Regardless of how big the situations seems whether it be endless or not in the world that many of those situations are also personal and affect those from singular to the family as opposed to let’s say world populations.”
The Head And Heart – “There was a book written in the 1600’s or about the first religious persecutions in the U.K. and how immigrations had started to the U.S. to stop that persecution. Really the song is about freedom.”
In Vain – “In Vain” is about citing your goals. I have to skip after this for The S.R.C., which is the tenth song, and about getting the goal or obtaining the goal. You cite the goal in “In Vain”. “If these are the rules to obtain what you need, “The S.R.C. is obtaining it. So I think two songs go together in some degree.”
Killing For A Living – “Autobiographical. Most of the spoken lyric through this or effective lyric in this song is really just from my own diary. It is really that simple. I think if somebody knows the band that well. They will be able to identify with every sentence in that. It is really about winning after being set up to lose. I am not saying it is a great accomplish of mine but it goes from everything and understanding you are a smaller part of things as opposed to the center of the wheel. If you understand that you are a smaller part. The successes come easier.”
The S.R.C. – “Refer to “In Vain.”