OVERKILL’S BOBBY BLITZ RECALLS HILARIOUS TALE OF SINGING ‘OVERKILL’ WITH MÖTORHEAD

Overkill frontman Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth was interviewed by Emily Strigl of the Talking Metal podcast recently and told a superb story about when Lemmy asked him to join Motörhead on stage to sing the title song from the album that his band is named after.

Often called “the Motörhead of thrash Metal”, Overkill started out as The Lubricants in 1980, briefly became Virgin Killers and before permanently becoming Overkill, would play half of Motörhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’ album plus the song ‘Overkill’ in their set.

Bobby Blitz became friendly with Lemmy over the years and told Talking Metal this story:

“We did a triple bill across the US which was Slayer, Motörhead and Overkill and I think the record they were doing was ‘1916’. It was when they had two guitarists, Phil Campbell and Würzel and Lemmy, obviously, and ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor on the drums.

“Through the years I’d run into these guys. Würzel had left and Mikkey Dee had come in on drums and Lemmy would still remember your name: ‘Hey, Bobby Blitz, how are you? Or, ‘Hey, Bobby Blitz, stop into my dressing room.’

“A lot of my memories with him are personal, but this one was public:

motorhead

Hella Rock Festival

“In 2008, touring with them through Europe. We were in Germany on the last show, and my light guy, Big Eric, says, ‘Lemmy wants to see you for a few minutes.’ He goes to me, ‘I want you to sing ‘Overkill’ with me tonight.’ I go ‘Fuck. This is going to be great.’

“I know the song cold, but I was nervous, now I’m doing it with the guy who wrote the song. I wrote the first word of each verse on my forearm. Once you have the first verse, you’re in.

“Sure enough, he catches me in the middle of the song and yells right into my microphone: ‘Cheat notes!’ in front of 10,000 crazy Motörheadbangers in Berlin. I totally panicked and dived into the audience.

“He’s looking over at me and still to this day, I can see his toothy grin mouthing the words ‘Cheat notes!'”

overkill

Overkill’s brand-new single called ‘Our Finest Hour’ is out during the first week of their European tour on November 4th with the new album, ‘Grinding Wheel’ scheduled for a February 2017 release.

Overkill in Europe November 2016

2nd November: Zürich, Dynamo
3rd November: Brescia, Circolo Coloni
4th November: Pinarella, Rockplanet Club
5th November: Graz, Explosiv
6th November: Stuttgart, LKA Longhorn
7th November: München, Backstage
8th November: Frankfurt, Batschkapp
9th November: Köln, Essigfabrik
10th November: Erfurt, HSD Erfurt
11th November: Osnabrück, Hyde Park
12th November: Weissenhäuser Strand
13th November: Berlin, SO36
15th November: Warsaw, Progresja
16th November: Krakow, Kwadrat
17th November: Budapest, Baba Negra Club
18th November: Vienna, Szene
19th November: Zlin, Winters Masters Of Rock
20th November: Markneukirchen, Framus & Warwick Concert Hall

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