OVERKILL Bassist Signs Deal With MIGHTY MUSIC Solo Album Due In October
OVERKILL songwriter and bassist D.D. Verni will release his debut solo album in October through Mighty Music. The effort features guest appearances by a number of guitarists, including Jeff Loomis (ARCH ENEMY), Angus Clark (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA), Jeff Waters (ANNIHILATOR), Bruce Franklin (TROUBLE), Mike Romeo (SYMPHONY X), Mike Orlando (ADRENALINE MOB), Steve Leonard (ALMOST QUEEN) and Andre "Virus" Karkos(DOPE) who also contributed the rhythm guitar tracks. Rounding out the group is former OVERKILL drummer Ron Lipnicki. The record was mixed and mastered by Chris "Zeuss" Harris (ROB ZOMBIE, QUEENSRŸCHE, HATEBREED). The first single, "Fire Up", features Orlando.
Verni states: "I'm psyched to get this disc out. We had a lot of fun and a lot of great players contributed.
"There's some metal, punk, classic rock... its all in there," he adds. "From QUEEN to GREEN DAY to METALLICA, I think we covered all the bases."
In addition to 18 OVERKILL albums, Verni has four releases with his side band THE BRONX CASKET CO. So why do a solo record? "Well I never really stop writing material, and after some time, it starts to pile up and take shape and I wonder what it will be," he explains.
"In the past, anything that was not OVERKILL material I would put aside for my other band THE BRONX CASKET CO., but when I starting pulling these songs together, it was clearly not that, and I thought, 'Okay, I guess it's a solo record.' The material was kind of metal and kinda rock and kinda punk, so those really are my basic influences. In OVERKILL, I take all that background and funnel it into our thrash sound. But these songs were not thrash but a combination of the other stuff.
"I would never really have an interest in doing a record that was thrash-sounding outside of OVERKILL; I just don't think it could be any better. The fun is trying new shit and seeing where it goes for me.
"I could always do all the instruments myself, as I have in the past on projects, but thought this could be a good opportunity to try working with some new people. My wife was hearing me thinking out loud and basically said, 'Why don't you just call some guys whose work you like and see if they would be interested?' And so that's what I did."
