Rob Rock interview (about Impellitteri)

BM: How did your gig with Impellitteri happen? You haven’t worked with him since the year 2000. How did a reunited Impellitteri album come together?

RR: Well, me and Chris have remained friends throughout the years. We talk once in a while. He had given me a call and said he was going to do another Impellitteri record and he wanted me to sing on it. I said, “Oh, well what have you got?” He says, “Well, it’s another JVC Victor Japan release.” He doesn’t have the rest of the world yet. But he wanted to go back and do the first line-up, basically, me and him and do this album. I think it’s the last album for his JVC Victor contract. So he wanted to finish the way we started, I guess. I’ve been waiting for a long time to hear from him in that regard. Whenever we’ve talked in the past six or seven years we never talked too much about music. More about family stuff. So this time he brought up the album and I said, “Yeah. It sounds cool. Let me hear your demos and stuff.” He sent me some music and it was really good. So I said, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

BM: Hmmm.

RR: The big difference is, though, when I’d do the albums with Chris, I would fly out to L.A. for a couple weeks. First I would demo the songs at home, and then I would fly out there. And Chris would be the guy recording the vocals, you know, we’d record it in his studio. But this time, I was really busy, I didn’t want to fly out from Florida for a couple weeks out there, and he didn’t even suggest that this time, which really surprised me, because Chris is a very hands-on kind of guy.

BM: [laughs]

RR: He said, “This album, you do your vocals in Florida, do whatever you want to do.”

BM: Really?

RR: Yeah, he says, “I’m still working on my guitars and these songs for like two years now.” So he says, “I got my parts down, and I’ll just trust you to come up with something great. And just demo it for me first, and then we’ll agree, and we’ll move forward with that.” So that’s what he did. I demoed them up at home, and then once we all said, you know, once we agreed that this was going to be the melody, he didn’t even bother with the lyrics, I went in and recorded them locally here. And then I sent my vocals to the mix guy, up in Canada. And so it’s being mixed right now in Canada, while Chris is in California, and I’m down here in Florida, and the mixing guy is just sending us [laughs] copies of mixes.

BM: [laughs]

RR: And saying, “Ok, what do you think?”

BM: How is he sending them, via email or something?

RR: Yeah, you know, like YouSendIt, like downloading it.

BM: Oh yeah, yeah. [laughs]

RR: It just amazes me how much has changed since, you know, when I used to do the Impellitteri records.

BM: Yeah.

RR: You know, we’d just fly out there and spend time together. Now it’s like, I still haven’t seen Chris in a long time. [laughs] I haven’t seen Chris probably in six years. [laughs] And here we are making a record together.

BM: [laughs] That’s wild. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can make a record 3000 miles apart. [laughs]

RR: Yeah, it’s amazing.

BM: Well, how does the stuff sound to you, compared to the older stuff you used to work on with him? What made you hear it and say, “Sign me up”?

Answer to the MasterRR: Well, I heard a couple songs that reminded me of, like, the Answer to the Master [1994] album. And the Screaming Symphony [1996] album. And those two albums, for me, were the best stuff we did. So [on the new one Chris] stopped chasing the MTV video sounds.

BM: [laughs]

RR: Like on his last album, he wanted to be modern, he wanted to be on MTV, and he just, I guess he just stopped chasing that and said, “Well, if I’m going to do it with Rob, I guess we’ll do what we always do together.” [laughs] And that’s what I really liked about it, it’s raw and it’s really more, to me, straight metal, Screaming Symphony not trying to cop on some new fad or something. So I really liked it.

BM: Well, when I sent you the e-mail about Chris’ announcement on Blabbermouth [”The goal of this record was to make a historic album that will rival ‘Van Halen 1′, OZZY’s ‘Blizzard of Oz’, PANTERA’s ‘Cowboys from Hell’, YNGWIE’s ‘Rising Force’, METALLICA’s ‘Master of Puppets’, and even new artists like CHILDREN OF BODOM and AVENGED SEVENFOLD.”] I wondered if that confidence is typical of Chris Impellitteri, if he’s that enthusiastic all the time? Or if this new stuff really is that good?

RR: Well, Chris is very enthusiastic about it. [laughs] Put it that way.

BM: [laughs]

RR: But I talked to him, I said, “What are you saying here, man? I don’t understand.” He said, “Well, it didn’t come out the way I meant it” is what he said. He said, “What I meant is this will be, you know, for those bands, like Metallica, say they put out 10 albums, and their, whatever album that you think is the greatest, or Van Halen might think their first album is the best one.” He thinks this album is his Metallica, it’s his Van Halen, it’s like your favorite album from those bands. This is his favorite album for his band. So yeah, I’m like, “Well, it don’t sound nothing like that, dude.” [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

RR: I didn’t get that from that. Of course, people flag on him for it, but I’m just like, “Well, that’s Chris. He gets excited.”

BM: [laughs]

RR: [laughs] But no, it’s really good. I think it’s going to probably be our best album.

BM: Really?

RR: Yeah, I think it’s really strong. And Greg really mixing it, you know, it’s really, really solid. You know, with Impellitteri records, there’s always me and Chris in the mixing room battling it, you know, it’s funny. We’d be mixing it with Michael Wagner, and Chris would be like, “Guitar’s gotta be louder.” We’d sit there, and about an hour and a half later, I’d be like, “Ok, you done?” “Yeah.” “Ok, now turn the vocal up.” [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

RR: We’d go back and forth. So by the end of the record, you know, the drums would be small, because the vocals and the guitars are up in your face, you know?

BM: Yep.

RR: But the new album, with Greg mixing it, the drums are in your face, everything’s in your face. It’s really coming out really good.

BM: Who is the drummer? According to Wiki, it doesn’t list the bass, keyboard, or drums for this album. Who are they?

RR: It’s the same guys. Glen Sobel on drums, James Pulli on bass, and Ed Roth on keyboards.

BM: Really?

RR: Yeah, yeah.

BM: That’s interesting. Whoever updates those Wiki entries neglected to do that this time. So it’s James Pulli, Ed Roth, and Glen Sobel – the classic line-up?

RR: Yep, the band we toured with. And we toured Japan, I don’t know, four or five times. It was always the same band, so it was cool to finally make an album all together too. Because we had Ken Mary in there playing drums in the beginning. You know, I don’t know what happened with him in the more recent years, but now it’s back to, to me, the prime lineup and the prime sound of the Impellitteri sound of Rob and Chris. That’s the real reason why I wanted to do it, because it was back to what me and him do naturally, you know. Not some contrived thing where we’re trying to chase a sound. I was happy about that. We’ve even got the typical 15, 16 tracks of backing vocals going on too. Just like the old sound. It sounds cool.

BM: Yeah. It ought to be great. I’m excited to hear it. Is it going to be called Good and Evil?

RR: Yeah.

BM: Ok, good. When is that coming out, do you know?

RR: I don’t know. Originally, I think it was supposed to come out at the end of the summer, but we’re still mixing it. [laughs]

BM: [laughs]

RR: But probably in the fall. I don’t know, maybe next year. I really don’t know.

BM: Sometime soon?

RR: Chris is like, you know, “When it’s done, it’s done.” He said, “I’ve always been rushed.” He said he’s always rushed his albums in the end, trying to make deadlines, and this time, he’s just like, when he’s done, then they can set the deadline.

that was from

www.metal-zen.com

Fundy

Sounds cool. Hopefully Rob has some more lyrics like Fires of Babylon and Garden of Chaos.

Woo Hoo! Rob Rock back with Impelitterri! AWESOME!!!

TOTALLY relate to the comments about the internet... I think like 50% or more of the guitar solos and a few bass tracks for the Incarnate CD arrived through email!
It really is amazing what can be accomplished through the internet these days.

As for lyrics: At least with Rob singing, we know there won't be any swearing on this one...

Now, we'll see when this album comes out.
Sounds exciting a new Impellitteri album with Rob Rock.

I think Impellitteri with Rob Rock gave the best album.
Or have you an other thought about this?

Hmm, a reunion that didn't even require them to be in the same room at any time.....interesting.

Fundy wrote:

BM: .... I wondered if that confidence is typical of Chris Impellitteri, if he’s that enthusiastic all the time? Or if this new stuff really is that good?

RR: [laughs] But no, it’s really good. I think it’s going to probably be our best album.

BM: Really?

Dumbest line of questioning in a typical interview. "Do you think your latest album is as good as you previous work?"
What do they expect for an answer? "No, it's not quite as good as our thrid album, nothing could top that."
Of course he's gonna say it's their best album ever. (isn't he obligated to by law or something )
But it seems like every other interview has that same silly question.

It does sound promising. I'll probably check it out!

So right, Staybrite!

As for Impellitteri WITH Rob as opposed to WITHOUT Rob...
I have listened to pretty much all of their stuff spanning their entire career, and I can say with full confidence that I will ONLY EVER own an Impellitteri album that has Rob Rock singing. Aside from just being an awesome singer, and the fact that he seems to have the best feel for vocals with Chris' guitar style, it seems that even though Chris is also a Christian (as is another band member, though I can't remember who), it takes Rob to keep the band focussed spiritually. That makes a big difference to me... especially when Rob leaves and they come out with an album with the "F" word on it... sorry, that does NOT express Christian morals, guys!

When I am right I think Rob Rock did the vocal for the Joshua album "Intense Defense" too.
That's one of his best.

Thomas wrote:

I will ONLY EVER own an Impellitteri album that has Rob Rock singing.

I completely agree with you Thomas, and for the exact same reason.

Right on, Staybrite.

Now don't get me wrong, I do have secular music in my collection, including nearly the complete Megadeth collection, which DOES have some swear words in the earlier stuff (Thank God Dave is a Christian now! Woo hoo!)...

But when you've got a band with three guys confessing to be Christians, making very explicit comments about Jesus in their "special thanks" section of the CD liners, making reference in live shows to Jesus being a very important part of their lives, and then to come out with an album that contains the line "Here's a f---ing black rose"... Well, I'm sorry, but I'll take Dave Mustaine's honesty over that nonsense any day.

Now, in reference to albums that Rob has been on...

How about the very first Angelica album? VERY cool in my book!