OVERKILL's BOBBY 'BLITZ' ELLSWORTH On What Keeps Him Going: 'What The Hell Else Am I Gonna Do?'

May 2, 2020

BackStage360 conducted an interview with OVERKILL frontman Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth before the band's February 29 concert at the House Of Blues in San Diego, California. You can now watch the chat below.

Asked what keeps him motivated to continue making music and touring four decades after OVERKILL's formation, Blitz said "debt," before adding more seriously: "This was always something that carved its place. It's not the big thing, it's not the big time, it's not the small time, but it has its place, and it has its value. And I think there's something to be said about that purity. To be able to do this based on your own rules, I think — what else am I gonna do? It's not about keeping it going; it's more about doing what I enjoy doing."

He continued: "I manage the band with D.D. [Verni, bass], so we have a bigger stake in it this way. And I don't mean monetarily; I mean, the stake is more of the risk when you're the managers. So you're approving the merch, you're doing the accounts for the merch, you're doing the artwork, you're making sure all the paperwork's in order, et cetera, et cetera, you're talking deals, you're making new contacts. So that gives it a bigger stake. It's not just standing on stage at the House Of Blues. It's every step that brings you to the House Of Blues are the small satisfactions, and then this becomes the payoff. So I think if you look at it that way, why not keep going? What the hell else am I gonna do?"

OVERKILL has spent the last year touring in support of its 19th studio album, "The Wings Of War", which was released in February 2019 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was recorded at Gear Recording Studio in New Jersey, SKH Studio in Florida and Jrod Productions with engineering handled by Verni and guitarist Dave Linsk. The album was produced by the band while Chris "Zeuss" Harris took care of the mixing and mastering. Travis Smith (NEVERMORE, OPETH, SOILWORK, DEATH) was again enlisted to create the artwork for the album.

"The Wings Of War" marked OVERKILL's recording debut with drummer Jason Bittner (SHADOWS FALL, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM),who joined the band in 2017.

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