OVERKILL frontman Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth was interviewed by United Rock Nations on June 17 at Hellfest in Clisson, France. Entire interview can be viewed below.
Speaking about OVERKILL‘s upcoming album, he says, “The new album will be out before the end of ’16. We’re holding the title back for a little while longer so we can release it simultaneously throughout the world. Not that it’s gonna make or break the world or change any politics or anything or change the music business, but it’s the way we feel about it. And I’m very proud of the fact that we run this business. These are not decisions that are made by [our record label] Nuclear Blast; these are always decisions that are made by us. And I think that it’s important element in the fact that being a band that has self-management in it — myself and my partner [bassist D.D. Verni], and we have a third partner — but we can put our hands on that stuff, [and] we can plan our lives. We can [be in a] partnership with other people, but we plan our lives. So with this record, we’ve planned the time, we’ve planned the release, we’ve planned the title, we’ve planned the artwork. So that’ll be out before the end of ’16. The drums, the guitars are done. The bass is happening. I’m gonna start doing vocals when we get home. It’s gonna have the stamp of OVERKILL across its forehead, as normal.”
He also spoke about what inspires him to keep making new music:
“You know, whatever inspires me to do it, it’s first and foremost the opportunity. I think it’s something about the way we were brought up. Coming from the state of New Jersey, there’s a certain element of work ethic in it. And what inspires us is opportunity and being able to take that opportunity and make the most out of it. I’m not saying that Jersey is the only one common to this type of a principle or value, but I do say that I know that value as being that of my neighbors, my friends, people I don’t know. That area is always moving, it’s always working, it’s always grabbing new opportunities, so I think that that’s one of the great things — to be able to grab these opportunities and still feel, this many years later, that it’s not real work, that it’s something that’s just a great f**king experience to be part of. And if you take that from day to day, man, you’re gonna get good f**king results.”
OVERKILL‘s latest album, White Devil Armory was band’s most successful album; it peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200, making it OVERKILL‘s highest chart position so far and it sold 8,600 copies in its first week in the U.S. In its second week, the album sold over 2,850 copies in the U.S., bringing the sales to over 11,000 copies and dropping to #99 on the Billboard 200. On the third week, the album dropped to #158 on the Billboard 200 and sold 1,850 copies, totalling over 13,000 copies sold in its first 3 weeks.
