Kelley Simms: Overkill is what you’re primarily known for, but what is it about Bronx Casket Co. that’s so rewarding?
D.D. Verni: There’s a handful of different things, but the main reason I do it is it’s a lot of fun. It’s cool to try different songs and different instruments. One of the coolest things too, is working with some different people. With Overkill, I’m working with Blitz, I’m working with the guys in the band. Sometimes working with a different producer here and there, but pretty much it’s been me and Blitz working for a long time. Getting a change to work with different people and try some stuff.
On this new Bronx record, I had Mike Romeo from Symphony X do all the solos. I’ve known Mike for ten years, we worked on the last Bronx Casket record a little bit together. I worked with a guy name Bill Starber, who had worked on some of the Rob Zombie records, doing a lot of programming stuff, which is something I’ve never done before. It was kind of my first stab at trying some of that stuff. The last Bronx Casket, I did a lot of orchestra stuff, which is more stuff that I had never really spent much time doing. And on this new Bronx record, especially, I’m doing all the vocals, which is something completely different again for me. There’s just always something new, different and fun that’s a challenge.
Is there a reason why Mike Romeo played all the leads and Jack Frost didn’t?
There’s really no more of a reason than to just try something different. The first Bronx Casket record, I think Jack did all the guitars. The second Bronx record, I did all the rhythm guitars and Jack did the leads. On the third one, we split it up. And on this one, I did all the rhythm guitars and Mike did the guitar solos. Plus Jack was busy doing other stuff, too. It was more just a chance to change it up. I was looking for something a little bit different. Plus, Mike is just a phenomenal guitar player. On the next one, who’s going to do what? Who am I going to work with? Who am I going to bring in? I don’t know. That’s the fun of doing these records.
You’ve always handled the backing vocals in Overkill, but you seem to be pretty confident at taking over the lead vocals this time around for BCC. What happened to Myke Hideous and how did you decide to take on the role?
On a few of those back records, I sang a song here and a song there... two songs, three songs on one of the records. So I’ve done a few already. Mike had done a great job on the past record. We had a fun time in the studio recording those things, and it was fun to collaborate with him and do different things. But we went and did a few shows, which is something we hadn’t done. It was our third record before we did any shows. We did one show with Mike as our vocalist, but it didn’t feel right up on the stage. I’ve been up on stage basically only with Overkill, up there trying to break your face every second we’re on stage.
So to get up there with Bronx Casket and Mike singing, it didn’t feel right to me. I think at that point I said if we’re going to take this to another level and play some shows to an audience, I’m not going to feel comfortable unless it’s heavier and a little toughened up from what we were doing before. So that’s when it just made more since for me to just do it myself. So, I wound up singing the songs and going less of the goth route and more into metal, where I’m more at home.
That’s what I was going to mention. Antihero kind of moves away from the goth sound that was more prevalent on your previous records, was this a conscious effort?
I think a little bit, yeah. It’s just where my head was at. With the Bronx Casket records, they’re kind of all over the map, kind of where ever my head is at at the time. The last one I was really into the atmospheric kind of stuff and orchestras and the slower tempos. Then, a couple of years had gone by and I thought, “What do I want to do now?”
Then got into the more industrial kind of sound, more kind of punching it up metal. It was more kind of what I felt like doing. The first Bronx Casket record was more riffing, like old Sabbath, more doom, like Trouble, that kind of vibe. People ask me what the next one is going to be like. I say, “I don’t know.” Depends on where my head is at when it’s time to start putting some songs together for a new one.
Your songwriting, lyrics and melodies seem to have become even stronger. What was your mindset while writing for Antihero?
I wanted the music to have good energy. On the past records, I was really much more about the feel and the tone of the songs. They were slower and doomier. This one I was more into having, musically, to have good energy on the songs. It didn’t have to be real fast tempos, but I just wanted them to feel like you could put a beer in your hand and drive down the road and just be driving faster, and feeling good with that.
I’m kind of all over the map with the lyrics too. I try not to get too personal because I just hate lyrics like that, to tell you the truth. When you’re reading lyrics and it’s like somebody at a therapy session and you’re like, “Oh, shut up.” I try not to do that. I’ll give an opinion or a thought on a subject, but I try not to make it too introspective about this happened to me and this is how it made me feel.
Sometimes I just make up stories. Some people will have lyrics that mean many different things to many different people, but I feel like, if you can’t read the lyrics and know what the song’s about, then I blew it. I didn’t get my point across. The point of the lyrics is for you to know exactly what I’m trying to say or how I feel about something. Not to be some kind of thing where it could be interpreted by a bunch of different people, it should be pretty clear.
Since forming BCC, did you think it would even get this far and be already at four releases? Did you think it would turn out like it has?
It’s kind of like when people used to ask me if I thought Overkill would be around for 25 years later (laughs). I didn’t give it much thought. I don’t often look down the road that far, I pretty much a lot of times have my head down and looking at the road in front of me. I think it’s the same kind of thing with this. When I first did one, they asked me if I’d do a second and I said “I don’t know. It’s fun and if I have time and it feels challenging, then I will.”
Then when I did a second and then on and on. You read a bio on it now and I look at it and I say, “Wow, we did our first record in 1998?” That’s a while ago. It’s been ten years and four records. That’s like a whole career for some bands. So, I guess that part is kind of cool. I kind of take them one at a time and what’s right in front of me at the time is what I’m interested in.
What is the word on Overkill? Are you in the writing process yet for a new album?
We’re going to be in Europe all of March with Destruction and Heathen for support, which will be a fun tour. I like those guys. Then we come back and finish up with a show in New York with Accept as support. That will probably finish it up for the Ironbound tour. We’ve been touring a lot on this record. We have a bunch of festivals over the summer, bouncing back and forth from Europe. Probably in April or May I’ll have to start thinking about getting back in the studio and start to piece some stuff together for Overkill for a new record.
You’ve mentioned not really playing many shows with BCC. But, do you plan on touring for this album?
I don’t know on that, either. I have a lot of people ask me that all the time. The touring part of things I treat very much like I treat the album part of things. If it sounds like fun and challenging. I like hanging out with the guys in the band. We have a lot of laughs together and have a good time.
So, I think if we would get out on the road and do some shows, it would be fun. I’ve never sang week after week ... full shows. So, I don’t know how that would go. We’re talking to a lot of people, we’ll see what comes up. Whether it’ll be headline shows or we jump on support for another band’s tour, I don’t know. I hope we do some because it would be a lot of fun.
The cover version of Queen’s “Death On Two Legs” is pretty cool. Obviously you have a different vocal range than Freddie Mercury and the tempo is sped up a little bit. But you seem to pull off the layered harmony parts pretty well. What made you decide to record this song?
We did “Free Bird” on the last record and “Jump in the Fire” on the first record. I love doing covers. I had a bunch of ideas of how to do it. I wanted a tougher, heavier version. I love Queen, they’re one of my favorite bands, ever. But, some of the concern was I wasn’t going to do it at all. But, once we got going a little bit with it, I thought I could do it and it’d be ok.
We had a lot of fun doing all those harmony parts. We had a team of people in there singing, I don’t know how many tracks we had of all the different harmony parts. That was a long night of a lot of laughs, because we sucked for awhile trying to get those harmony parts. They’re hard. I listen to that song now and I think it came out pretty cool.
Since Overkill’s already on eOne Music, was it easy for you to pitch BCC to them?
I think so. EOne did a great job with the Overkill record. It was received so well. Everything for Overkill the past two years has been really good and positive. Part of that is people over at eOne did a great job at marketing and everything across the board. It just made sense when I was doing this, the first people I thought of was eOne. I like them personally. I’ve worked with them before and seen that they know what they’re doing over there.
What’s next for D.D.? What do you hope happens or continues to happen with your career?
I’d like to have this record get out there and reach a few people. We’re definitely proud of it. The mix came out great, everybody played great on it and I think it’s a really good record. After that, hopefully play some shows. My whole entire adult life has been about being creative. Creative with Overkill, everything from songwriting to graphics, T-shirts and everything that’s involved with the band. Hopefully I’ll be doing both BCC and Overkill and doing shows for both and keeping that experience of doing that going.
