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John J.D. DeServio of Black Label Society - October 2008
Here we have a little teaser of what is
coming up in the next issue of Paragon. When I heard that JD was doing a clinic
tour along the East Coast I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk to
him about BLS and Cycle of Pain. Due to time limitations we did this one through
e-mail and JD was nice enough to get it back to me the same day I fired it off
to him. Since there is some time sensitive stuff in here I thought it would be a
good idea to give everyone a sneak peek at what will be in the next issue. So,
sit back with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and enjoy!
Rob: Musicians have to do a lot of interviews; in fact, I’m convinced they do more interviews than even big screen celebrities. I think it’s just the nature of the music business. What are some of the questions you get on a regular basis that you absolutely hate being asked over and over again? JD: This one!!!! [Author's Note: Fair enough, noted] Rob: Like any other art form, music is a certain percentage of talent and a certain percentage of equipment. What gear can you absolutely never be without? JD: I love my Schecter studio 4 strings (fretted and fretless). Rob: I know that you’ve got a few things going on right now, but I wanted to ask you very quickly about Black Label Society. What’s going on with BLS regarding new music and/or touring? JD: We're headlining some festivals in Europe in November and December. next year we'll fire it up in the spring. Rob: Of all the BLS songs in the catalog, which songs are the most fun to play live? JD: Been A Long Time. Rob: Out of all the countries or cities you’ve seen around the world, where would you say the best food is? JD: Italy Rob: Aside from BLS and Cycle of Pain, you also teach music. When you aren’t teaching, touring or writing in the studio, what do you do in your spare time? Where are local fans most likely to bump into you? JD: Playing 2k8 online!! Hockey for xbox360!! My name is noke07 but I’m gonna change it to blsbass!! Rob: I was a music student once myself and I had a bunch of great teachers, but in the beginning I wasn’t as dedicated as I should have been. Do you have any, and if so, how do you handle bad students? The ones that don’t practice as much as they should or don’t take it 100% seriously. JD: I get rid of them. If they're not into its a waste of everybody's time. Rob: Your clinic tour will only be on the East Coast for now; will you be doing any clinics out West at any point this year? JD: I hope to do some in LA and maybe Vegas or Phoenix. Rob: It’s believed by many outside of the Metal culture that Metalheads are dumb people. Tell us why we’re actually smarter than those people think, and why those people are big poopie heads. JD: You cant generalize anybody!!! That’s stupid!!! Rob: We often hear about the negative things people do when they try to interpret songs, like, oh, kill people. You always hear about murders and stalking and other garbage by deranged Metal fans but you never hear about the good stuff. Surely there is someone out there who listened to Iron Maiden’s “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” and decided to become a world-famous conservationist. Aside from the obvious reason that the media only reports on negative stuff, why do you think we don’t hear of any success stories about Metal fans? JD: You hardly ever hear any good stories about anybody actually! So many people do so many good things but only negative shit gets press! Rob: Working with a guy like Derek Sherinian, whose albums tend to have at least 10 different musicians on each of them, is much different from doing a regular band gig, like with BLS. Do you prefer the mass musician kind of scenario, or are you more of a “get 3 other guys and write an album and call it a day” kind of guy? JD: I like a band creating a sound. Rob: That’s it; I’m done bugging you for now. Is there anything I didn’t cover that maybe you want to plug? Or maybe some inspiration words for our readers? JD: My clinic tour starts Sept. 15th-26th at Daddy's Junky Music and Sam Ash Music Stores: 15th Maine, 16th New Hampshire, 17th Boston, 18th Connecticut, 24th Philly, 25th Long Island and 26th New Jersey. My side project, Cycle of Pain has a song on Sons of Anarchy on FX Network Wednesday Sept. 17th, we're psyched!! My release date of the record got pushed back until ‘09 so maybe a single for Christmas! I'm also doing a benefit for a friend of mine who has breast cancer on Sept. 28th in New Jersey. There’s info on all of this stuff on www.johnjddeservio.com and the MySpace. |
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