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Date:
1999
Taken from: Stain Magazine
URL: www.stainmagazine.com/sod.html
Interview by: Matt Wasiolek
Interview with Billy Milano
So here I am wandering China Town
looking for someone who knows what’s going on. See, I am suppose to interview
Billy Milano of SOD before the show tonight at the Trocadero, but no-one else
seems to know about it except me. The girl at the box office, the security at
the Troc., not even the people running the tour seem to know anything about the
interview or the guest list. The guys supposedly running things are too busy
talking on cell phones to God only knows who and are just too busy to check up
about the whole thing. I finally spot Billy Milano on the street talking to two
guys and giving autographs out, so I walk up to him and tell him I got an
appointment for an interview with him for Stain magazine. Billy tells me to meet
him back at the tour bus in 20 minutes and we can do the interview. So that's
how this whole interview came about.
Matt: So how’s the new CD doing?
Billy: It’s doing really good, it’s kind of like we’re a whole new band right
now.
M: The title of the new CD is Bigger Than The Devil, is
this a dig towards all those Black, Death Metal bands, you know, the ones with
their painted faces that look like King Diamond?
B: Yeah sort of, you know that whole clique of Death, Black Metal guys that take
themselves way too seriously. They should realize that what they and even SOD do
is a form of entertainment and just have fun with it. They could be a lot more
fun if they wouldn’t take all too serious.
M: Is the new CD all new material? Are there any old
songs on it from back in the day?
B: It’s all new material on the CD except for “Aren’t You Hungry” which is an
old song we redid for this CD just to see if the old stuff and the new stuff
connected, and it does just fine. It was one of the songs slated for the second
SOD album that never got released back then. Scott Ian and I later used parts of
the song in our other bands, me with MOD and Scott with Anthrax.
M: That brings me to my next question, what did you
think of Scott Ian using some of the old SOD songs on Anthrax’s “Attack of the
Killer B’s'?
B: I didn’t like it that much because it did not come off sounding as good as
the original stuff.
M: Did you guys write the whole new CD together or did
you all just bring your own songs?
B: No! We wrote the whole CD together in about 3 weeks. It was very spontaneous
and came about real natural. It felt real fresh, not stale, and the songs came
about naturally, nothing was forced. We felt no real pressure just write new
songs .
M: The new CD has a slightly different sound than the
last one, more of a grind influence can be heard.
B: Well we’ve been doing this for over 14 years now, so something’s bound to
influence you over time. Just the daily wisdoms and knuckleheadisms of life over
all those years will do that.
M: So did SOD start the word mosh or was it Anthrax,
because it just sort of came out of nowhere and replaced the phrase slamming in
the underground. It definitely got it’s start from the metal side of things
though.
B: I think SOD started it but it’s been linked to both bands, but I’m sure it
was us that actually started it.
M: How did you get to be the management for Agnostic
Front?
B: I have been into managing and the management side of things since 1991. At
that time I wasn’t into performing that much any more so I just got into it. I
manage a lot of bands besides Agnostic Front. I also do the US Bombs, SOD and I
just picked up Madball.
M: Cool! I was just going to say, you should try to
pick up Madball with Freddie and Agnostic Front being family and all.
M: Did you guys pick the opening bands on this tour?
B: I actually did, I picked the bands and I’m also running the whole tour.
M: So is the whole band committed to the whole tour?
B: Yes we’re all committed to the whole tour plus a European tour. The only one
that’s a little sketchy is Charlie the drummer who isn’t into playing live any
more. Heh! He isn’t the only drummer who can play this shit. If it comes down to
Charlie not wanting to do it any more and we get another drummer there won’t be
any animosity or anything.
M: (If Dave Lombardo and Phil ‘Animal’ Taylor can be
replaced can anyone be safe.)
M: The first time out SOD never did a tour.
B: SOD never really did any live shows at all, just 12 shows in 12 years.
M: So what do you think is the biggest difference
between 1987 to 1999 has been? Back then SOD was part of that whole crossover
thing between hardcore and metal along with COC, DRI, and the Crumbsuckers just
to name few. Now a days the sound which is associated with hardcore is more like
the whole metallic sound than what was customarily associated with hardcore.
B: That’s just to much of a question to ponder right now.
M: Well do you think SOD influenced a lot of bands?
B: I think we influenced everybody because we were the first underground band to
get major exposure on MTV, on Headbangers Ball. That show became a standard for
everyone back then. SOD was to metal what Chevrolet was to the American dream.
M: Did SOD not continue back in 1987 after making a big
splash with Speak English Or Die because all the members had prior commitments
to their other bands?
B: It really came down to some of the guys in Anthrax not wanting us to do SOD
full on.
M: Was it the members of Anthrax that were in SOD or
the other members that were not.
B: Totally the guys that were not SOD!
M: Do you remember when you played here at the Troc
with MOD, (Billy’s band after SOD) Exodus and Philly’s own Anvil Bitch opening?
You guys would not get off the stage until they brought down the Disco light
towers and did an encore.
B: Yeah! That was a great show. I have it on video tape. I even remember
spitting at the promoter for trying to throw us off the stage.
M: You even picked up a guy over your head and threw
him into the audience.
B: Well he must have deserved it!
M: No actually I think he wanted you to throw him.
B: That’s right he did, I threw him head over heals into the crowd. I must have
been in one of my Ivan Putsky moods. That guy even came back after the show to
try to get me to pay for his broken glasses.
M: I remember hearing the first SOD and the first
Possessed albums and thinking that they were the most insanely and fastest
played records I had ever listened to at that time.
B: Yeah, Possessed was a good band.
M: I liked your little dig at Micheal Hutchence of INXS
on the new CD, the whole intro your dead thing.
B: Heh! it’s true though.
M: Well if you hang yourself from a door knob nude
people are going to talk.
B: Exactly, you should just jerk off naturally.
M: So were does SOD go after this?
B: Well we just started touring and this is the first show. We’re going to take
it from there and see how it goes.
M: Why did you pick Philly to start off the tour?
B: We didn’t, it’s not like we picked Philly to start the tour. It just happened
that way.
So that’s it, Billy was cool enough to let anyone come to the show and take
pictures and even video tape the show, something you don’t see with bigger bands
these days.
1999, Matt Wasiolek