Balistik Kick are true to their name; their music will kick your ass!!! Hailing from Bayonne, NJ, Balistic Kick is one of the many great up and coming metal bands in the underground. The following interview was conducted by drummer Mike P., a very nice guy and a true metal fan.
Hello Mike, thanks for taking the time to do this. Here we go.....
1. For all those who don't know, please give a description of Balistik Kick's playing style & influences
1. BALISTIK KICK is basically a simple power metal band. While other metalbands think the next step is to be more progressive, we go in the opposite direction. Powerfull riffs with simple time changes, sort of Maiden meets Motorhead. we try and write melodies that people can understand and sing along with.
2. When was Balistic Kick formed? Who was in the line-up? Any changes to the band?
2.BK was formed about 11 years ago. The lineup has stayed the sane except for the singers. The original songer was Tom Quinn who was not that much different the the singer we have now, except his voice wasn't as strong. The second vocalist was Lui Tazmane. Sort of a Vince Neil type voice. He wasn't that good vocal wise but was a great performer on stage. He was alot like David Lee Roth in the physical aspect. Then Joe came along and has been with the band ever since, which is now about 7 years. He has the true metal voice along the lines of geoff tate or Bruce Dickinson. The rest of the band has been together since day one.
3. How many albums has B.K. released to date, and which do you feel is the strongest?
3. We have 3 cds to date. The first one "BALISTIK KICK" is out of print and really hard to get. The second is "WARHEAD" and the recent one is "DESTROY". Each has it's good and bad points. The 1st cd has some good metal songs but the production isn't that great. "WARHEAD" we spent alot of time getting the sound the way we want which came out good but I think 3 of the songs don't really belong on that cd. They are too much straight hard rock instead on metal."DESTROY" has the heaviest songs so far but we should of added maybe 2 or 3 more songs.
4. Back in 1999, my friends and I first caught your performance at the March Metal Meltdown. Do you plan on doing any other Metalfests, tours, or European festivles?
4. The March Metal Meltdown was more for the death metal bands. I don't really see us doing anymore of them unless they start balancing out the death and true metal bands. It's great for the death metal fans but not for the rest of us. We would love to head overseas and do any of the metal festivals over there. They have the best events staged. It would be graet to share the stage with the likes of Hammerfall, Primal Fear or maybe even Gamma Ray.
5. Is B.K. signed to a record label now, or are you still self-financed?
5. We have a deal with Brennus Thunder International of france. We were the first band outside of France to be signed to this new division of thiers. It was only for the "DESTROY" cd. At the moment we are looking for a new label to join.
6. What bands has B.K. shared the stage with?
6.Let's see, I'll try and see if I can put this in order of appearance: EnuffZ'Nuff, Manowar, Savatage, Gilby Clarke, Quiet Riot, Overkill, W.A.S.P. and Quiet Riot again.
7. On your album covers, there is a creature. Does it have a name? Whose idea was it to feature such a thing? Is there a story behind it?
7. The creature that graces the cd covers is named Mortapyian Orbis or Morty the Orb for short. I made the drawing at my day jog while I was one the phone. It's only about 1 inch by 1 inch and in red ink. I enlarge it on a copy machine and thought it came out pretty cool. I presented it to the band and thought so also. So he became part of the band. The reason we use him is that when you see pictures of bands, we basically all look the same. So I figured instead of using our pjotos to promote us, we should use Morty. This way when you saw him, you would immediately know what band he represented. Just as Motorhead has the "warpig" and Maiden has "Eddy", we have "Morty". We also printed a comoc book featuring Morty to promote the 1st cd. That came pretty good! I wrote the story and my nephew, Justin Smith, did the illustrations. The basic story was how Morty and his sidekick, the Zombie Wolf, sorted out all the shitty promoters we ever worked with and destroyed them. You know, the same old story bands go through.
8. With the newest album, "Destroy", how long did it take to release? What are your thoughts and opinions on this album?
8. "DESTROY" took about 2 months to record and master. For the most part, it was recorded live in the studio. all the rthymn part and lead vocals were done live. The solos and lead guitar wew added later. The longest part was for the manufacturing of the cd. The people who printed the material kept getting everything wrong. In fact, there are still some things on the cd lyrics that aren't right. We had a deadline to make, so we had to cut our loses and release it the way it was.
9. Where does B.K. draw the largest crowds? Up to this point in your career, has the fan reaction gotten better?
9. The Birch Hill Nite Club is the only palce that we will play right now. The fans, the club, the promoter Stan Levinstone, are all great. We have no problems whatsoever when we paly there. It's really the only club that brings national metal acts to this area. We always have a good time there plus the place is packed with metalheads.
10. Where do you see the band five years from now? Any goals or expectations you see developing?
10. I don't really look to much into the future. As a band, we just set goals and try to achieve them. Where we are as a band right now is fine with me. We get to open for some great bands, we release our own music and we got alot of crazy fans all over the world. We play to a couple of hundred people on Friday and on Monday we go back to our day jobs. We get to be home on the weekdays and on the weekend, go a little crazy. It's great!!! The only goal we have at the moment, is to get signed and release a new cd in the next few months, If it doesn't happen, so what. We'll go back and do it ourselves. We did it before and we'll do it again.
11. Thank you for the interview. Any final comments, or something I missed?
11. Thanks Anthony! All we are trying to do is bring new metal to the people that still lkisten to true metal music. There are alot of us out there and we're getting bigger everyday. Europe is enamored with metal once again and it is bigger than the last time around. We will cntinue to create our own metal music and in the process, make a few friends and have a good time along the way. See you at the next show!!
Anthony DeLuca, Unstoppable Force Web-Zine.
http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/ufwz
Please provide us any info. reguarding how to purchase B.K. merchandise. Also, if you have one, please provide B.K.'s web address (we'll put it up on our LINKS page)
We offer the WARHEAD and DESTROY cds for $10.00. We also have black, long sleeve t-shirts (printing on front, back and both sleeves) for $20.00. These are to promote the DESTROY cd. Also for sale we have a pint beer glass for $5.00. They have our logo with a picture of Morty on 2 sides of the glass. Just send to:
Mike Paradine
89 West 15th st
Bayonne, NJ 07002