I Captured a Unicorn
When most writers come to the decision they want to be a music journalist, I believe they begin to formulate a list of who their ideal interviews will be. Forget the mumbo jumbo Rolling Stone was spouting inn the movie “Almost Famous,” about how you can’t be a fan and write about music.
If you are not a fan of music, then how dare you write about it? Shame on you! I believe you should study music too. That is, if you are going to have the slightest idea of what you are talking about.
After the list is formulated, we start chasing after those ever elusive interviews that always seem to slip through our fingers. It’s like chasing unicorns. I have a list of unicorns. It’s quite a shot to a writer’s ego to get turned down for an interview. Especially to a journalist who constantly has bands saying, “Look at me, look at me.” I have only been turned down for interviews twice now. It was not pretty!
“Gigantour 2006,” there he stood on stage shouting out to the Oklahoma City fans that he couldn’t hear them. “I must be in Texas!” It was Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth, vocalist of the thrash band Overkill.
The first time I met Ellsworth he thought he already knew me. “Where are you from?,” he asked.
“I drove six hours from Texas to see you,” I responded.
You could have heard a pen drop. In-fact I heard five, as the whole band sat there gaping up at me. They all just dropped their Sharpies to the table.
To break the tension I continued speaking with them as Ellsworth began asking me more and more questions. When he was convince that we really did not know eachother he let me move on. Little did he or I for that matter, know that one day he would become my “unicorn.”
When I first received an invite from the venue to see Overkill play, I began sending emails. I emailed a PR company that I assumed was working with the band, but no such luck. I emailed the venue, no response. I emailed their booking agent, no response. I emailed the record label, who at last turned me down for the interview.
No matter, I am a fan. So I grabbed my press badge, my camera and set out on the three hour drive to Dallas. I was thinking in the back of my head, “Bobby thought he knew me the first time we met, so maybe he will have that sense of familiarity again.”
I met a lot of great people at the show. I gave out so many business cards that I ran out. I met several musicians, “I’m in a band.” Of course in my head I hear, ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ and think, ‘Of course you are.’
There I stood under the stage taking picture, while a hot little tribe of Native American boys kept the mosh pit off my back. I looked up at Ellsworth and give that spread finger, short, wave that you give to people you know well. He looked at me giving me the exact same wave and smiled with that look of familiarity you give to an old friend you haven’t seen in a while.
So after the show I stuck around with some pretty cool peeps who I met during the show. Bobby came right up and gave me the old friend hug. I stood there in his embrace, wondering if he really knew how he knows me.
He signed autographs and came back to talk to me. Of course being the, “ball buster” I am, as New Yorkers like to call me, I commence to giving him hell about OKC. Of course, NY and Jersey boys would never get a kick out of a chick who’s not afraid to give them crap. I told Ellsworth about my plight of failing miserably in the area of getting an interview. He told me he will most definitely give me one in the future.
Suddenly he looked down at his watch and said, “I have a little time before we have to go, would you like to drink a beer with me and have a chat?”
Naturally I want to jump in the air and do the little boogie dance, but I played it cool. I simply responded, “Sure.” Now I was thinking he meant sit at the bar and have a beer.
As Ellsworth walked me onto the tour bus I paused. In my head I was thinking, ‘What am I getting myself into? You grew up on this scene Eilene, you know they don’t invite nice girls on the tour bus. Bobby, you better be the nice guy I believe you to be.’
I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until my chest dropped in relief, as he seated his-self on the couch opposite me. Suddenly there he went again asking me a million questions. Ok, who is the journalist here? When he was satisfied that he asked me enough questions he turned to me and toasted, “Here’s to your writing career.”
“And your comeback,” I responded.
Ellsworth looked me in bewilderment. “It’s not a comeback,” he explained. “We never went anywhere. We’ve been out there touring all along. We never lost popularity on either coast. In the 90s we made more money than ever. We were still touring South America, Europe and Japan as well. We have a huge following over seas. By the time the 90s rolled around there were only four or five metal bands still doing it. We cornered the market.”
“We still book stadiums of 40,000 people or more. Yes I agree it is important to connect to the fans and get closer to the fans, but I can do that at a large venue as easily as a small one,” Ellsworth said.
That brought his stage dive to mind. Quite frankly, my heart stopped beating during the show when I saw him dive into the crowd. So I asked him about it.
“Do I worry about mass hysteria? No we’ve been doing this for 25 years. I think Oasis was probably the last band to really have that Beatlemania type hysteria. I wasn’t a bit scared when I dove into the crowd. I was in safe hands,” he said with confidence.
Tell that to a city who’s hero didn’t get assassinated on stage. It was Dallas and we do worry about mass hysteria and fan obsession. Dimebag’s death was a deep loss to the entire world, not just Dallas. With Dime’s death though, came the rebirth of metal.
“Yes metal is stronger than ever, but all of the bands that are out right now are influenced by the bands of the 80s,” said Ellsworth.
“If they expect to carry it any further though,” Ellsworth continued. “They are going to have to start coming up with a sound of their own. If they are just carbon copies of the originals and everything has already been done. There’s going to be nothing left to hold onto the interest of the fans.”
Maybe that’s true my friend, but I believe our southern metal boys and girls have a pretty good grip on it with all of the genre blending that they do.
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