RockOverdose and Zisis Petkanas had the opportunity to talk to the Trash Metal drummer, Jason Bittner, about his recent projects during the pandemic and the future of the metal scene.
Enjoy!
RockOverdose: Welcome to RockOverdose, how are you these days?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I’m ok, a little sore, recovering from a lower back strain last week, but aside from that, I’m good.
RockOverdose: So, we’re seing a lot of musicians discover different creative parts than they used to do, during this Covid era. Where are we finding you now, if you take any advance on the situation and the big pause?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): Yes, to a certain extent. At the beginning of the pandemic I’d say yes, a lot, because I was collaborating with a lot of artists. I was doing drum videos, with drummers ranging from Todd Sucherman to Steve Smith and it was stuff that really challenged me as a drummer. And then there were compilations of cover songs I was doing with other musicians, it was a lot of fun and everyone who was doing this kind of collaborative videos was happy, but I think after 3-4 months everyone just started getting tired of the pandemic. Everyone was like “yeah, ok, compilation video, yeah this is cool, when is this gonna end?”. We wanted to go play live. Maybe that’s why you don’t see many of these things happening anymore. But it’s open to a lot of different collaborative things.
I myself have been lucky to have been working on different aspects during the pandemic. I’m still trying to do as much online teaching as I can, it’s hard to do a lot of Skype lessons, because people don’t have the money right now, it’s not a viable time for economies. The most important thing right now isn’t a drum lesson, is to stay healthy and safe and pay your bills! I’m lucky that I’ve been able to stay running the course by doing musical endeavors. Once we knew we were gonna be in for a while, we started doing some more pre-production for the Overkill record and we finally started tracking it in September. We were supposed to be done with that record by August of 2020. That changed our due date and kept us busy.
After that was over, I had some various stuff that I was doing, but shortly after that I came back and was doing my solo album, which I literally just finished tracking the drums for that last week. Next up for me is, I have another session to do for a guitarist (a client) and then I’m working on some things with Michael Gilbert from Flotsam and Jetsam, we still enjoy making music together and then April looks like I’ll probably be back in the studio, working on another thing that I have with some friends up here, called Coconut Donut, like a 70s rock kind of thing, it’s a mellow kind of stuff, but it’s fun music and cool people to play with. I also have another record that we started a few years back, but a few things have changed, we have a new singer. I can’t really talk about that, until we have all 12 songs with all vocals. Aside from that, I’m just trying to stay sane and healthy, like everybody else.
RockOverdose: That’s the main point. A few years ago, Metal Fundamentals announced you as “Mr Heavy Metal”. Would you share with us an experience you will never forget from your years on the metal scene?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I’m confused because I don’t know what Metal Fundamentals is, but that’s awesome! That’s a really cool thing to say, there have been some “what the fuck” moments in my career. Obviously the biggest one was meeting and becoming friends with Neil Peart. I’ve documented that, almost every single interview that I’ve done, especially since his passing. It’s one of those stories I just couldn’t make up. I was still playing for Shadow’s Fall back in 2005, we were lucky enough to be on the main stage for the Ozzfest 2005, with headlining band Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. We were flying out on the sweetest tours of the year on the States.
So it’s the first day into pre - production, before the tour started in Boston. My drums had just been moved from the outside on this gigantic 10 foot riser then my tech comes and tells me: “We’re rolling your drums in now. So I go up to my riser and ask him to get off and now I’m starting to tweak things around, because I’m really meticulous about my drum set. So I’m down at the pedals and I’m making adjustments, so my head is down and I’m looking at the ground. With my peripheral vision I see a figure approach the side of the drum rises. So this gentleman comes up and says: “Excuse me, mate, what kind of foot plates are those?”.
My initial reaction was “what the fuck” and as I’m getting up to look at this gentleman, I go “oh my god”, because it’s Bill Ward, standing right there, asking what pedals I use! And he says “Hi, I’m Bill, nice to meet you, is Jason around?”. And I’m like “I’m Jason” and he goes “I just wanted to come up and introduce myself, I love your playing and I play your band on my radio show”. My mouth is on the floor right now. I’m like “you know who I am?” and he’s like “Yeah, I play your stuff all the time”. So from that moment on we were best friends through all of Ozzfest, it was the most amazing tour of my life, for one summer being able to hang out with two of my biggest heroes, Bill Ward and Nicko McBrain, it was mind blowing for 9 weeks. That was definitely one of those wtf moments.
RockOverdose: You also had the opportunity to tour with Anthrax. Do you want to talk about this experience?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I got a chance to basically meet the guy I look at as my older brother, cause that’s how I look at Charlie. He’s my biggest influence, I love him to death, we’re extremely close friends and I can’t say enough good words about him. The first time, when he called me to fill in for the Among the Living reunion, it was amazing enough to play two shows with the band. And that turned to another fill in in 2008 and that turned to another thing…
It’s one thing when the guys you look up to kind of let you in the club, but it’s another thing for your hero to let you walk in his shoes and he let me do that. It was one of the best experiences of my life to say I at least played in one of the Big 4 bands. Then they took my guitar player! But I’m the winning end of that, because John’s departure to Anthrax allowed me to go to play on Flotsam and Jetsam, which in my opinion is Arizona’s biggest metal band ever. You can argue Sacred Reigh, but they were not active for a long time.
RockOverdose: Internet has given the opportunity for unknown bands to become famous all over the world. What’s your opinion on the internet effect and how do you think social media have affected the music?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I’m more on the negative side, that’s my 110% honest opinion. I think social media can be venomous at times, hurtful and disrespectful, but social media can be a wonderful platform for things, too, when they’re not abused! I think some people take advantage of social media, it’s another thing to sit behind a computer and say things, it’s another thing to do that. It doesn’t matter what band it is, they’re like “this band sucks”. Well this band is out there touring and making a living, what are you doing? “If you heard my band you’d know we’re great!”. Ok, whatever.
So, it’s a lot of that, but I also think it’s great to spread music to places it might not have gotten before, but it’s also killed a lot of revenue for the artists! I hate to be one of those “old guys” that complain about how the music business is now, but it’s not a business anymore! A lot of bands, even if they’re not selling many records, it leads to at least a little bit of revenue, but you have to come off the road and now you’re scrambling for the next 6-7 months for your family. Sometimes music can’t come first, and that’s why people sometimes leave to support their families. It’s just changed over time, let’s put it that way.
RockOverdose: Thrash metal has a tradition on giving tremendous drummers. Why do you think there is such a tradition in this genre?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): It’s an honor for me to be mentioned as a part of this tradition, but where I came from, the earliest days, for most of us drummers in the mid 80s’ that started getting into Thrash, it was just 3 guys, Lars Ulrich, Charlie Lee Benante and Dave Lombardo. Metallica was the first band who played double bass to reach more audiences, I know people argue about it, but that was always a name that got thrown in, like “oh, they had double bass before this band”.
Whatever, Metallica is the one that brought it to them. And then, we don’t even have to talk about Angel of Death, because it’s THE double bass fill. Period. People heard that for the first time and said there’s no way that’s his feet. So, there was a bar that got set with Lars and Charlie raised it all the way up here and that was where we all were aspiring to be. So with Thrash Metal, I think the tradition is to have great drummers, because that’s the one element in Thrash Metal, that if you don’t have a good drummer, you’re not gonna make it, that’s it. You can have a rock band, a pop band, have an ok drummer and get by. But you can’t have an ok drummer in Thrash Metal. You can’t have an ok guitar player either, you need someone that shreds and kicks ass!
RockOverdose: As you said in the beginning, you have invested a lot of time teaching drums. What would you advise someone who listens and reads this interview, who wants to start playing drums?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): The best advice I can give you about playing drums, if you can, is to hire a good private teacher, even if it’s one on one via Skype. I’m not trying to plug my own lessons, although I teach, but you have to get a good private instructor, someone to help you with the fundamentals and learn at least a little bit of reading, because it will help you become a better player. There are a lot of great drummers that are self taught, but you can really get much further if you learn the language of the drums. Also, start slow, don’t try to imitate your favorite drummers who play at light speeds, you’re not gonna do it the first time. Try to enjoy drums for what they are, always remember that.
RockOverdose: Yes, it’s good for a person to read and study to become better and better.
Jason Bittner (Overkill): After you have spent time doing the fundamentals, reading and studying, the other half of time should be playing drums and having fun, experimenting and going out of the book.
RockOverdose: Is there any drummer outside Thrash metal that you admire and you like their way of playing?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): There’s tons of them, but if you wanna talk about a specific style alone, Gavin Harrison is one of my favorite drummers outside of a metal setting. His feel is undeniable and he has a way that he phrases things and plays that is unique.
RockOverdose: What do you think about the modern metal scene?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I really can’t comment much on the modern metal scene, because I’m not that involved in it. I see some bands that might open up for us on tours. I try to stay relevant, I’ve doing a lot of streams on Twitch, so I get a lot of songs sent to me by people to check out bands, cover songs or whatever.
RockOverdose: How do you see the future of metal scene and rock in general, after the giants of metal are gone? Will there be other so big metal bands?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): In my opinion, I don’t think so. This is the one question I hate in all these interviews, it’s so hard to give an answer, because none of us know what’s gonna happen. I mean, every day the thought process in my head is like: “What if we never play again?”, but do I think that’s the reality? No. I can’t lie to you that I don’t think about that on a daily basis, because what if we don’t?
This is how I see it. If this situation continues, many people might not return to this kind of employment again, maybe this door is closed. I can’t lie to you and say I’m not scared of that myself, but maybe the opposite will happen, and when this all finally starts to clear down, that everybody will be back out there and they won’t be doing the retirement tour, but the “holy shit, I’m still standing” tour.
RockOverdose: Sure, but do you see the next Metallica, the next Maiden, the next Black Sabbath?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): Nope! I’m gonna say it with 110% resounding absolutely not.
RockOverdose: Yes, it’s really difficult.Have you heard any metal bands from Greece?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I’ve recorded with two. I bet you weren’t expecting to hear that answer, were you? The first one was Memorain, my good friend Ilias and then Celestia.
RockOverdose: What about Rotting Christ, Septicflesh…?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I’m familiar with both bands.
RockOverdose: What are your memories from Greece?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): I love going to Greece, it’s one of my favorite places to go in the world. Weather’s always nice, food’s great, shows are always crazy.
RockOverdose: Any news about Overkill?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): Aside from what I told you in the beginning, just working on the record for now. Just that we’re all staying in contact, there’s a text chain, usually for some senseless joke or bullshit.
RockOverdose: Would you like to leave a message to the fans?
Jason Bittner (Overkill): Thanks for always being there and supporting whatever band I’m in, I love the fans and the culture, the history of your country and I hope I can come back and play for you. Thanks a lot!
RockOverdose: Thanks so much for your time for this interview, take care!
For RockOverdose,
Zisis Petkanas
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