Drummer BOBBY JARZOMBEK Says ROB HALFORD Is 'A Great Human Being, Great Person'

Jay Nanda of Examiner.com recently conducted an interview with drummer Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, RIOT, FATES WARNING, SEBASTIAN BACH). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Examiner.com: What was your first encounter like with Rob [Halford]?

Jarzombek: There wasn't a whole lot of guys that auditioned for HALFORD. Roy Z [guitarist/producer] recommended me for the gig. When I was rehearsing, we had rehearsed for maybe a day or so, and I was learning the material, trying to feel out what I wanted to play on certain songs. And Rob came in, and I didn't know that he was listening outside for a few songs. And he walks in, and we're playing. Somebody introduced me to Rob, and he was like, "Keep playing." He was walking around the kit, and he noticed I was reading my music, and he started doing the whole metal jabs, taking little punches while he's standing in front of the kit. And I'm like, "I guess he's kind of digging it." Rob said, "Let's take a break," and we went to Granada, which is in Burbank (California),and had some Mexican food. They had a huge table set up, and somehow Rob ended up right across from me. He knew I was from San Antonio, so we started talking about the legacy of Joe Anthony and what he did for metal. You could tell that Rob knew a lot about the city. Rob had a few stories about eating at different restaurants in San Antonio. It was great. Cool conversation. I could tell at that point that I was really going to like being in the band. He's still probably, out of all the people that I've ever worked with, he's definitely on the top as far as a great human being, great person. When we played in San Antonio opening up for IRON MAIDEN in 2000, that was my birthday, at Sunken Gardens. Rob made a big announcement. That was a big moment. Probably one of my finest moments, I would say. I had just gotten the gig six months earlier, we recorded "Resurrection", and I'm touring the world with Rob.

Examiner.com: What's the future of the bands your involved with?

Jarzombek: Right now I'm demoing stuff with FATES WARNING. A new song I just e-mailed to (guitarist) Jim (Matheos) a couple days ago turned out really good. He's got a 16-minute song for me that I'm gonna start listening to. I am excited about recording the record with FATES WARNING, and I'll probably do that when I get back from doing this tour with Sebastian in February or March. RIOT is going through a little bit of growing pains right now, and I wish things would move faster for the band. We're slowly kind of getting there to where we're working on things. That's about it. I would love to do another record with RIOT.

Examiner.com: So how did the June 2 show with RIOT in town go?

Jarzombek: I think we did four rehearsals, but where else are we going to do a warm-up show? San Antonio was a good place. Anytime you do something like a reunion, I think there's certain expectations that people have or a certain level that you really wish it would be at. But it's hard to be there unless you're a band that tours all the time. But it was good, and I thought we did good in Japan and at some European festivals. That "Thundersteel" record was done really quick, too. It was crazy. It's a great-sounding record, still today, to me, sonically.

Examiner.com: Who would be your dream bandmates of all-time?

Jarzombek: That's kind of a common question, but I don't think anyone's ever asked me that. Oh, man. That is weird. I'd say Gary Moore on guitar, but when he was doing his solo material, not the bluesy material he's been doing for the last 10 or whatever years. That's weird. I don't know who would play bass. Maybe Geddy Lee. Singer — probably Mikael Åkerfeldt from OPETH. That's a hard question, it really is. That's one of those questions where I would walk away and come up with the right guys.

Read the entire interview from Examiner.com.