JOHN DESERVIO Talks About Doing Double Duty On BLACK LABEL SOCIETY/CYCLE OF PAIN Tour

Cathy A. Campagna of The Aquarian Weekly recently conducted an interview with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY/CYCLE OF PAIN bassist John "J.D." DeServio. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Aquarian Weekly: Have you all [CYCLE OF PAIN] just stayed connected over the years?

DeServio: Yeah, we were a band since we were 15 years old, we have been friends and just jammed together ever since. Off and on in different situations, and a few years back, me, Joe and Gregg actually went out as a three-piece. We did a few gigs as C.O.P. and that was in '03. Then I got a record deal last year and I played the people all the music that I had recorded over the years, it was a lot of my old stuff, jazz music, a bunch of rap stuff, a bunch of rock and some stuff I had recorded with Joe and Gregg. They [record label] said I could do whatever I wanted, and I said, "Well, I'd love to do a rock album and use my guys that I grew up with." That's kind of how it happened, which is pretty insane. I was like, "Yeah, put the band back together bro!" I am 40 years old and starting a band up. That's pretty funny, actually.

The Aquarian Weekly: Yeah, but you're obviously exuberant yet have all that experience backing you up.

DeServio: I am way seasoned. [laughing] They left me on the grill a little too long. No, it's all good. I can't wait till we actually play the first show and we look out into the crowd and it's like a sold-out house and my band will be playing at the show. It's really amazing, man; it really, really is.

The Aquarian Weekly: How did the writing work out. Did you do it while touring with BLS or on your downtime?

DeServio: Actually, I did both. This record is 13 songs and I happened to write nine of them myself and four of them with Gregg and Joe. Some of them came when I was on the tour bus, sitting in the back lounge just coming up with ideas and then, here they are on the record. There are a couple of songs that I had written back in like '99 and some that me, Joe and Gregg had written in '03. We wrote a couple last year so it was a compilation of all that kind of stuff through the years recording the riffs, and that leading us to a recording a record.

The Aquarian Weekly: You actually have a lot of guests on there, did it all come together just as fluidly for you?

DeServio: Yeah, most of them are my friends that I chose. The record label had a couple of people come in. Zakk is my bro and Sen Dog. Ray Luzier from KORN plays drums on a track. Clip Payne from P-FUNK sings back-up on the same track that Ray plays on. Brian Tichy, a great drummer, played with Billy Idol and Ozzy and all these bands, he is on a track and played guitar as well on a track. Burton from FEAR FACTORY, he did some screaming on a song. SYMPHONY X singer Russell Allen did some back-ups and Hugo [Ferreira] from TANTRIC and the violin player [Marcus Ratzenboeck] from TANTRIC, they are also on the record. It's pretty insane.

The Aquarian Weekly: You're also doing bass clinics as well while on this tour. How do you keep up with the pace?

DeServio: I take Viagra! [laughing] Listen to this shit. With BLACK LABEL, we do meet-and-greets in the daytime the day of show. So there are going to be days where I am going to be doing a bass clinic, a BLACK LABEL meet-and-greet, a CYCLE OF PAIN show and a BLACK LABEL show all in one day. I am the new hardest working man in show business, James Brown ain't got nothing on me. I am like, "Oh shit, how am I going to get through this one?" That's when alcohol comes in handy. Let's see if I can do it. When all this shit is over, then I can sit back for like a minute in my house and say, "I fucking did it!"

The Aquarian Weekly: You're looking forward to that cycle of rest.

DeServio: Exactly, I need that cycle of rest, because I have been on a never-ending CYCLE OF PAIN! No, in all honesty, this is an amazing opportunity. I mean, our first tour is opening up for BLACK LABEL, that's insane. SEVENDUST is on the bill, and DOPE. That's like the big time. BLACK LABEL has been around for like 10 years and SEVENDUST and DOPE have been around for a long time and for my band to get that opportunity is pretty cool.

Read the entire interview from The Aquarian Weekly.