RONNIE GALLETTI Is Secure With NASTY SAVAGE's Legacy As The Band That Helped Launch Floridian Death Metal

By David E. Gehlke

Nearly every veteran of the legendary Floridian death metal scene will tell you that NASTY SAVAGE was the reason they got into the scene. Formed in the Tampa suburb of Brandon in 1983, NASTY SAVAGE landed a deal with Metal Blade Records two years later for the release of their self-titled debut that provided the roadmap for the death metal explosion that went global later in the decade. The band's frontman, "Nasty" Ronnie Galletti, was a professional wrestler on the side and free advice giver who selflessly doled out tips to future death metal legends in DEATH, DEICIDE and OBITUARY, among others. Those bands soon eclipsed NASTY SAVAGE, yet you won't find a trace of bitterness or envy from Galletti. Instead, the man can only gush about what he helped begin.

"Jeopardy Room" is the name of the band's first studio album in 20 years. While it's without integral founding members and songwriters David Austin (guitar) and Ben Meyer (guitar),"Jeopardy Room" brings NASTY SAVAGE into the modern era thanks to an ace production job from Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording to go with songs that stay true to the band's original traditional metal-on-caveman thrash style. Never at a loss for words, the friendly and indomitable Galletti caught up with BLABBERMOUTH.NET.

Blabbermouth: Why now for a new NASTY SAVAGE record?

Ronnie: "It was 20 years ago we did 'Psycho Psycho' and we did it because this guy Dave [Harman] came up with a big budget — he was a big fan. He paid us a lot of money to get back together. We wrote the music and recorded and released it. Not much happened after that. There weren't a lot of platforms or media or anything. We faded away and broke up. Then, we started getting calls from promoters, so I said, 'I'm going to try to put the band back together.' I got Dave Austin back. We picked up Pete [Sykes, guitar], who is still in the band and Jim Coker was the drummer. We had Richard Bateman [bass], but he had a tragic death. We got Scott Carino [bass], who was in DEATH and FESTER. We started playing shows for about four or five years off and on. Scott quit. He said, 'I'm done.' I said, 'It's not the end of NASTY SAVAGE.' Pete had a guy named Dave [Orman, guitar] in the band. [Kyle Sokol replaced Carino.] We had some shows, so he had to learn the set. He fit right in. It was the saying, 'Ronnie will never do another album.' We tried to do a demo, but we never completed it. We were in la-la land. A good friend of mine, Frank [Hirnschal], he's a big NASTY SAVAGE fan. He's got FHM Records. He's signed SIREN, local Brandon boys. He's German but comes to Florida from Germany, and he has a house down here. He has a Harley, so we go riding together. He spent the night at my house. We woke up the next morning to go for a ride and cooked a big breakfast; he said, 'We need to do a new NASTY SAVAGE record.' It was like, 'Let's do it!' That's how I was able to tell the guys. We had a goal to get it done within a year. It was October then. It had to be out by this October to debut at the Keep It True [festival] in Germany. It all worked out."

Blabbermouth: Where does Jim Morris fit into all of this? It seems like such a natural idea to have him produce the album at Morrisound.

Ronnie: "Here I am, standing on this island, all by myself, the only guy holding the NASTY SAVAGE flag. What are people going to say? Are they going to say, 'It's not NASTY SAVAGE without this guy? Without him, it's going to be blah, blah, blah.' I said, 'I can't change the past. All I have is the future and now.' I talked to Jim and said, 'This is where it began with NASTY SAVAGE.' He was down with that. This is their third location [Morrisound]. I've now recorded in all three locations, celebrating 40 years of NASTY SAVAGE. I had to get back there. It was a very important aspect, so I brought the guys in to talk to Jim before we recorded to get to know him. Then, I had to come up with some other things, some elements to get people to associate with the NASTY SAVAGE brand again and make it real in 2024. I go, 'What am I going to do? I need art. I'm going to contact VanDercar, who painted our covers, but that dude has been dead for 35 years.' I Googled him, got a number and got a response. It was his grandson. He said, 'I know who you guys are. I still live at the house!' It was like an enchanted land. He invited me over. I found some canvas and took pictures of all the old stuff, which brought back the past. We had the artwork, so when people saw it, they'd go 'NASTY SAVAGE. They have the artwork and they're at Morrisound.'

"I wanted to get Fred [Dregischan], the original bass player. He was the mastermind for the first album. He was so inspirational to me. I said, 'Fred, I want you to be on it.' He lives in Turkey. He was going to write the song 'Jeopardy Room'. He got it to us too late and Pete had a song, which we made into 'Jeopardy Room'. I said, 'Let's use a part of the song.' We used a part of the song Fred sent and made it 'Invocations' and tied it into the intro of the album, which is subtle before it smacks you in the face. That was another aspect. I needed one more: I was talking to Frank about the album. I said, 'I'm going to get OBITUARY on the album. We're going to re-do 'Witches Sabbath' from the early demo and they're going to do it.' I hadn't even talked to the boys yet. I just had a feeling they would do it because we respect each other and the years of history from where it began and where we're at now. That's how it came together with Morrisound. Working with Jim, you can't go wrong. I knew we'd have a quality product. We were on a timeline—we did the whole thing in eight sessions. Some of those were long. [Laughs] I don't know how Jim handled it, but he knew the timeline and we did it. We all delivered."

Blabbermouth: I'll go back to what you said: People are going to wonder how this can sound like NASTY SAVAGE without Dave and Ben. What did you do to ensure you kept to your style?

Ronnie: "That's a good question. You love everyone equally, like your children—the records, the band members, but you can't go back to that. It was 2024, and I told the new guys: It's in your hands. I want the 'Six Million Dollar Man': Bigger, faster, stronger. I said, 'Take it to another level. Don't be afraid to push the envelope. It doesn't have to be anything but now.' These guys are shredders. They're in a band called CONTORTED. They're fans of NASTY SAVAGE and knew they had big shoes to fill and out of respect, they tried to keep it in the old-school way of NASTY SAVAGE, but they also added new energy. All I could do was inspire them. In the old days, I'd get songs and put titles on them and write the lyrics. This time, I said, 'Pete. I've got a song for you. It's called 'Schizoid Platform'. I want it to be platforms of schizophrenia.' I tried to inspire them to create. I think doing it that way really helped. I'm telling you: These guys are so cool. It's so special. They created this music. The guys created badass music; I give it all to them and in the past, I got to give it all to Dave, Ben and Curtis [Beeson, drums]."

Blabbermouth: Nearly all of the legendary Floridian death metal bands, including OBITUARY, DEATH and DEICIDE have all cited NASTY SAVAGE as a huge influence and in some respects, the reason why they started a band. Yet, NASTY SAVAGE hasn't quite had that big breakthrough. Are you okay with your place in metal history? Is there anything you'd wish you had done differently?

Ronnie: "You can't change it. We were young and dumb and did a lot of stupid things. We created that first wave of metal that these kids who were watching us going, 'Oh, hell. I'm going to grab a guitar. Some drumsticks. I'm going to create a band.' The impact we had on them helped them create another level of extreme music. I was into the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal like HOLOCAUST and ANGEL WITCH. Then VENOM came out and it was like, 'You can do anything! There are no rules.' Then you had POSSESSED. That was the stage of death and extreme metal. Then there was DEICIDE, OBITUARY, ATHEIST and MORBID ANGEL. All of these bands were most likely inspired by us because they saw us. I was really proud that they took that flag and took it to another level of even bigger success and smarter business decisions. All of a sudden, Tampa Bay was the death metal capital. People were coming from all over to record at Morrisound. If we helped create that, it would be something I'm proud of. That was the second wave. Now, I'd like to find that third wave. I want to leave that legacy and do a compilation album and promote the next third wave. I'm proud of it. People go, 'Oh, you're a legend.' Will that buy me a coffee or a drink at the bar? [Laughs] It's cool that people remember and respect that. All you can do in life is leave a legacy behind or give value to others to put something of value on something you created or maybe burn some images in people's brains. Whatever it was, it's exciting because it's so euphoric to do it again after so long after not doing it with all new guys and energy. Life's a journey, man. You have to make the most of it. I'm in the fourth quarter of life. I'm 62 years old and I'm keeping it true. I'm celebrating 40 years and still jamming. Thank you, god. Thank you."

Blabbermouth: In addition to the music, you also put on quite the stage show by throwing yourself around and smashing TVs. Many people have shared that it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before.

Ronnie: "It was a natural thing for me. I wasn't a musician. I wasn't even a singer! [Laughs] I played one on stage. If you go onstage, you might as well shock and awe. My inspiration was Wendy O. Williams of THE PLASMATICS and professional wrestling and Jim Morrison. Then, there is a mix between SLAYER and Alice Cooper. It might have been Elvis Presley or Bon Scott [AC/DC]—people who have made a difference in people's lives. Or Ronnie Van Zant from LYNYRD SKYNYRD. I think of the story of Johnny Cash, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis touring the south in pickup trucks and playing the same stage. Little Richard would get off the stage and go, 'Top that!' Jerry Lee would go, 'I got you.' Then he'd burn his piano onstage. That was my mentality. When you have the stage, you might as well make the most of it. The rhythm will set you free. There's something hypnotic about David Austin's guitar and Ben and those killer sounds that they only could create. I owe it all to the band and the music for setting me free. When it's my turn to do shit, I'm going to look at Wendy driving Cadillacs through swimming pools and blowing up shit onstage and smashing TVs with sledgehammers. I said, 'Television sets! It feeds your mind with bullshit.' Wendy and I were pen pals and I told her I'm going to carry on this tradition. I'm going to use a TV as a gimmick or a stage prop to create mayhem and also burn images in people's brains.' There's nothing like now when you're older and start honing in on it more. That's what impacted these guys. The mayhem, the extremity — I remember when Chuck [Schuldiner], Rick [Rozz] and Kam [Lee] in DEATH, before they were even in a band, came to our house, our jam room and to our shows. They were die-hard metal fans. They loved heavy metal. They created this thing that became legendary. Guys like Terry Butler [MASSACRE, DEATH, OBITUARY] are heroes to so many — the Tardy boys [John and Donald], who are brilliant businessmen. MORBID ANGEL or DEICIDE. Glen Benton tried out for NASTY SAVAGE to be our bass player. We needed a new bass player for 'Abstract Reality'. I never went to the rehearsals because I let the guys who were going to play figure it out. I didn't care what they looked like. If David Austin said, 'This is the guy.' Then it was the guy. I had other things to do. I'm at this party we did for Curtis years ago and he passed away recently. Rest his soul. We're doing a benefit for Curtis for his brain tumor, and Glencomes up to me, 'Hey, motherfucker. I'm pissed off at you.' I go, 'Why?' He said, 'You didn't let me be in your band and I tried out for you.' I said, 'You tried out for NASTY SAVAGE?' I added, 'Glen, that would have changed the course of heavy metal. You may not have burned a cross upside-down in your forehead.'"

Blabbermouth: Can you imagine Glen and you being in the same band?

Ronnie: "It probably never would have worked! Look at what he's done. I'm proud of everyone that has gone on to have that kind of success. That's what I'm proud of. The fanzines, the marketing of demos. I helped create a scene. I'd get other bands like the guys in SIREN and tell them to send their stuff to all these places because I wanted our scene to grow. It wasn't about me. I wasn't smart enough to realize that if I helped create the scene, it'd help us at the same time, and we'd get recognition. It was a vision I had. The onstage stuff…I'd freak people out. I'd freak myself out. I'm still smashing TVs. I'm still getting bloody. I'm swinging chains. Now, I've incorporated flowers, such as sacrificial flowers, like those from the morgue. I use them as symbolic gestures. It's really cool because you hone in on what you do as you get older, such as how to relate to an audience and bring them along for a roller-coaster. There's nothing like when I have the TV. It's like a bullfighter. You know what happens at the end with the bull. The matador messes with the bull and puts on a show in honor of the bull and the sacrifice. It's a symbolic thing that happens. It's historic. When I finally get to that point with the TV and I'm holding it up in the air and looking into it, I can see my vision in the TV above my head and I can see the vision of the crowd on the side and the drums and the mayhem, I know it's about to happen. It's almost euphoric. It's the ultimate thing to do."