BALLISTIC Mainman Talks About His High School Band Featuring MARTY FRIEDMAN

BALLISTIC's official web site has been updated with a new interview the band's mainman, Tom Gattis (ex-DEUCE, TENSION, WARDOG),recently gave to the Austrian radio show station. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Q: First off congratulations on your new record deal. Can you tell us something about it?

Tom: 'Yes, thank you. First off, I have little to do with it because, between my work and my new family, I don’t have the time to deal with anything else besides the actual playing. However, what I know about it is that it is a group of investors and record industry people who really like metal and would like to see it return to its roots. The main guy is in Scottsdale, Arizona with offices in Phoenix and other valley locations. The main record guys are from L.A. I don't know who they have worked with, but I know they are looking very hard to sign a new band later this year. They will be doing a lot of bar-hopping the next few months from what I understand."

Q: How did they hear of you?

Tom: "Well, one of them saw us at Bang Your Head!!! festival in Germany. I talked to him without knowing who he was and he was really appreciative of our set. About a year later a record guy from L.A. called me and said that he was going to be a part of this new label and one of the people was the person I talked to in Germany. The money part is located here in Phoenix, though."

Q: Much has been written about your past so I won't get into it here, but tell us please about your connection with Marty Friedman.

Tom: "We were in our first band together in high school back in Maryland. Marty was a guitar prodigy; by 16 he could out-play most professionals. Child prodigies are a dime a dozen these days, but back then it was pretty rare…in popular music, TONS of them in classical music like youth orchestras…. and certainly it was more difficult to promote then. We used to open for these big bands and I can remember their guitar players not wanting to get on stage after Marty had ripped it up. He would go off and it would be jaw-dropping…like you could literally see people in the audience staring with disbelief. After we split up he continued to develop his own style until now I would rank him as one of the world's best metal musicians."

Q: What did you think when you heard Marty was in MEGADETH?

Tom: "I got a letter from Marty telling me to go to a show where MEGADETH was opening for [JUDAS] PRIEST in Albuquerque, and he was in MEGADETH! I thought it was cool but in actuality it wasn't too much of a surprise, because everyone who knew Marty pretty much knew something like this would happen. At the time I was 100% consumed with engineering and mathematics studies as well, so this was a nice diversion."

Read the entire interview at this location.