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Recently, notoriously outspoken S.O.D./M.O.D. frontman Billy Milano, always a man of many words and interesting stories, was kind enough to speak with us regarding why politics and Heavy Metal should never be mixed as well as the group’s latest Hardcore-tinged opus Red, White And Screwed…
Todd: How was S.O.D. originally formed?
Billy Milano: “…S.O.D. was one of those things that was just a chance encounter at a bar. I was bouncing at (legendary New York City-based club) CBGB’s…it was one of those days when I was bouncing and playing. I was playing bass in a band called the Psychos…we were opening for Agnostic Front at the time. These guys with long hair were in the club and I heard that a couple of guys were going to beat them up because they had long hair. I just thought that was retarded, so I walked up the guys with long hair and they ended up being the guys for Anthrax and the guys from Metallica. I was like ‘You guys better watch you’re backs in here. Just know there’s a couple of stupid people that wanna start some shit, but there’s a few of us here that aren’t gonna let it happen’. We wanted to make sure we flushed ‘em all out before we started thumpin’ on ‘em, ya know? A couple of guys came up to them, we walked up to those guys and we said ‘You have a choice…you can either walk out or you can crawl out. What do you wanna do?’ It really was our club for all intents and purposes. At the end of the day, it was a situation that spawned something, ya know? I walked up to those guys and I heard they were talkin’ about this Hardcore band they were gonna do. I walked up to them and I was like ‘Do you need a bass player’ because I was a bass player at the time and they said ‘No, but we need a singer’. So I said ‘I’ll sing’ because I had never recorded before. They said ‘Can you sing?’ and I said ‘No, and I can’t play bass either, but that hasn’t stopped me so far’. So that’s how it started. Instead of being a bass player, I went and sang on their record.”
Todd: Once the recording sessions for Speak English Or Die had been completed, did you or anyone else in the group have any inkling that the album had the potential to become as successful as it ultimately did?
Billy: “I’ll be honest with ya. And this is where a lot of people like to toot their own horn. There’s no way in hell anyone could have figured that out. We certainly did not see it coming. But what I will tell you this: I had played with so many bands that had terrible musicians that could barely play…that when I walked in and heard this stuff, I was like ‘…Holy shit!’, ya know? I couldn’t believe how heavy it was. For me, it was just something that I had never heard before. I had never heard this kind of music and I don’t even think the guys that write it had heard this kind of music. It’s really interesting that it finished the way it started, ya know? It started spontaneously and the record was almost like a joke. I remember goin’ up to do the record. I had been up all day and it was a five hour drive to get up to New York state. When I got to the studio, it was six o’clock at night already. Everyone was getting fired up to start recording and I’m like ‘…Man, I’m goin’ to bed…’. I went back to the hotel and pounded a few beers at the bar. By ten o’clock at night, I had crawled up to my room and had drowned myself in chicken wings and beer burps. All of a sudden, (Anthrax guitarist) Scott Ian is shakin’ me awake. It’s like two in the morning and I’m like ‘…What’s up?’ and he’s like ‘…You’re up tomorrow…’. I was like ‘…What? How much did you get done?’ and he was like ‘…Everything…’. And I was like ‘…Everything? What kind of fuckin’ record is this?’. And I think that was the beauty of the record. It was so off the hook, so spontaneous, so... It was just one of those things where it was just so carefree that it was doomed to be whatever it was gonna be, ya know? We had no expectations and with no expectations came no disappointments. But that also comes with great reward, so ya never know. At the end of the day, it just happened and it was quite the lucky streak, ya know?”
Todd: Why was there such a significant gap between the release of Speak English Or Die and Live At Budokan? In hindsight, wouldn’t it have made more sense commercially to not have waited seven years to release the group’s sophomore effort?
Billy: “Well…it was never something that we planned, so for it to happen was like ‘well, this is just the way it is’, ya know? …The guys from Anthrax and they were very insecure about the success of S.O.D. They basically would not let S.O.D. happen. While Anthrax was struggling, S.O.D. was thriving and…that was very disheartening to them. S.O.D. was the bane of their existence. It literally broke the band’s spirits. It wasn’t my fault the kids wanted S.O.D. I didn’t plan that. We weren’t able to do anything for quite a while because the guys in Anthrax didn’t wanna do it. Every time they went out and played, they had to deal with people cheerin’ S.O.D. At the end of the day, it got tiresome to them, I guess. But who knows? That’s just my take on it, which is pretty accurate, by the way.”
Todd: In hindsight, was the formation of M.O.D. a response to the creative frustrations you had experienced as a member of S.O.D.?
Billy: “The funny thing about M.O.D. is that a lot of people don’t realize that M.O.D. was around before S.O.D. I had started M.O.D. with Agnostic Front bass player Rob Kabula before S.O.D. …While I was still playin’ in The Psychos, Rob was tellin’ me about this up-and-coming music scene…where bands like this band called Slayer were playin’ around. I was like ‘Slayer? Who’s that? The first time I heard them, I was like ‘This is crazy. We gotta do something like that’, ya know? So Rob and I were always tryin’ to expand our horizons as musicians, but at the end of the day, what it came down to was that we really need to try something different. We had been doin’ Hardcore for so long, we were ready to do something else. It was just one of those weird situations. M.O.D. was something I had started, but wasn’t able to make happen. At the end of the day, there just wasn’t any kinship within the Hardcore scene. I think that was a lot of it, ya know? No one could play that kind of shit. I was listening to Slayer and I was like ‘What is that guy doing? What is that noise?’ and Rob Kabula was like ‘That’s the double kick. It’s two kick drums’ and I was like ‘Two? I got a drummer who can barely play one’. So it was certainly an eye-opening experience to hear that kind of music. I started M.O.D. as a result, but S.O.D. is what came to fruition first because it had a record deal and it already had the band in tow. It was just a matter of crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s to make it happen. It was a also a lot easier than finding a Hardcore dude that can play like (Slayer drummer) Dave Lombardo. …I think I’d still be lookin’ to this day.”
Todd: What prompted the dramatic stylistic differences between Surfin’ For M.O.D. and Gross Misconduct? At the time, did you view Gross Misconduct as a return to your Hardcore roots?
Billy: “…The first record, U.S.A. For M.O.D., was such a nonchalant record. Again, even though I had wanted to do M.O.D. and had planned to do M.O.D., it wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I had kinda resolved myself to walk away from music after the whole S.O.D. fiasco with the jealousy from the Anthrax guys. For me, it really came down to what was the next move for me, ya know? And I didn’t think playin’ in a band again was what I wanted to do. …I went to a music store called Sam Ash and this guy says to me ‘…Hey, you’re Billy Milano, right?’ and I said ‘Yeah’ and he says ‘…Listen, I’ve got band practice tonight. Do you wanna come down and try out as our singer?’. I was just like ‘What?’, ya know? It just caught me off guard that he would just come up to me and ask if I wanted to try out for his band. At the time, I wasn’t really doin’ anything. I was just playin’ a little guitar and a little bass. …It was really natural to make it happen, but it wasn’t something that I was taking seriously. When the record came out, Europe blacklisted me as a racist and America basically loved it and bought a hundred a sixty thousand copies of it. So there was a difference of opinion there. Every record I’ve done with M.O.D., right up to the new one, is just about what I’m doing at that time. I don’t think it really matters if a record sounds like the last record or if the new one has a different style. For me, it really comes down to…is that every record goes above and beyond just playin’, ya know? It’s little moments in reality that are captured on the records. I don’t think I’ve ever made a conscious effort to do anything in specific. The Surfin’ EP was done on a lark. We were in the studio writing for Gross Misconduct and it was so stressful that at the end of the day, I was just like ‘You know what? I’m just not havin’ fun with this band’. It was to the point where I was leaving the band. I had decided to quit and the record company had basically said to me ‘Hey Billy, don’t quit…take some time’. There was a long period of me just not diggin’ it and some of the records sound like it, ya know? But they’re all moments in time and one to the other, they’re all unique. I don’t think I wanted to do that consciously. I think it’s just something that happened.”
Todd: As far as M.O.D. is concerned, what are your current touring plans?
Billy: “My touring plans are probably going to be whatever comes out that makes sense. I’ve never really been big on touring with M.O.D. I’ve done the records, but I’ve never really done the touring. If the right tours present themselves… I’ve been getting offers, but the record (Red, White And Screwed) isn’t out yet and obviously we want the record out. I’d like to do anything. One of the things that’s cool about M.O.D. and of course S.O.D. as well is that we can play with anybody. I can play with Hardcore bands and I can play with Metal bands, ya know? So we’ll see what comes up. I don’t know yet.”
Todd: When you do eventually tour, do you have any idea what type of set list you’ll be working with?
Billy: “Well, that’s the thing. I’ve already done a couple of weeks of shows, mainly on the weekends the last couple of months. We’ve been doing a lot of the old stuff from U.S.A. For M.O.D. because we have to do it. Believe me, getting up onstage and playing “Bubble Butt” is not the highlight of the show for me. But the people wanna hear it right now, so right now you gotta deal with it. We also do a lot of S.O.D. stuff live because we haven’t put out anything new in years, so we went out, we wanted to do more of a tribute-based show, ya know? We did some old stuff, we did a couple of new songs and then we did a whole tribute set to S.O.D. But it was just because we were starting to break the band in together, ya know? I knew it would be more comfortable for the band if we played stuff that we all knew rather than tryin’ to blast out new songs. It was a nice mix of things, but when we go out for this new record, we might end up doing more new material than we originally thought we would. We’ll see what happens.”
Todd: Factoring in your obvious close connections to the group, do you feel Anthrax should continue once they finally unveil their latest vocalist?
Billy: “In all honesty, I think the consensus is in for them. At this stage in the game, I think they should just move on. Or get John Bush back in the band. That’s the end of it. Then everyone can shut up. The whole idea of Corey (Taylor) from Slipknot was too hard to imagine. First of all, I think Slipknot sucks. Besides that, the guy’s voice just doesn’t fit Anthrax at all. They had already established a good career with John Bush. They should have stick with it, ya know? …The bottom line is this: they had a chance to do it with Joey Belladonna again, but they didn’t implement it properly. It was more about a cash grab and everybody saw it. When they started talking about this whole political motivation on their message board, activism stuff where they tried to be activists all of a sudden, everyone saw through it. And when they tried to say they were doin’ the reunion for (deceased Pantera/Damage Plan guitarist “Dimebag”) Darrell, it was a fuckin’ lie because I knew nine months before Darrell died that they were doin’ it. In fact, they had talked about it and I had talked to John Bush about it. It was fuckin’ bullshit. They did it to themselves. They should have just worked with Joey Belladonna. It would have been fine. You can’t go back once you go into that reunion mode. Where do you go from there? Nowhere, ya know? …It’s over. They take too long to make decisions. It’s been like a year or a year and a half since Joey quit the band. What are they doing? Nothing. And that’s exactly what they’re gonna do.”
Todd: What was the main motivation behind your feud with System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian? Was it personal or entirely political?
Billy: “I didn’t have a feud going with him personally. I am a very strong person when it comes to my own opinion and felt like I needed to voice it. On September 11th, he had wrote some stupid letter where he said America had deserved what we got because of how we treat the Middle East and all this other shit. I was like ‘Wait a minute, those people in the Twin Towers didn’t treat those people like anything’, ya know? They were workin’ for a living. It could have been a McDonalds and it would have been the same result. They were attacks on innocent people, ya know? I was like ‘This guy’s an idiot’ and I just started ranting about him. I had just launched my website www.billymilano.com and I put it up there. His words came back to haunt him hard to the point where he actually had to apologize for saying it because they got so many death threats through their website. …He recanted his story and his comments and I was just like ‘Fuck, this guy’s an idiot for sayin’ this. There’s no logical reason for sayin’ that unless you’re just tryin’ to be a douche bag’. It was just a guy from System Of A Down thinking he was smarter than everyone else because he went to college. He was like ‘Oh, I’ve read history and I know what history really is’. You know what? He don’t know shit. Fuck him. I tell you what…if I ever meet that guy, him and (former Audioslave/Rage Against The Machine guitarist) Tom Morello are gonna get a massive ass beat down. …A couple of beers and dude, it’s on.”
Todd: Taking everything into consideration, do you feel Politics still have a place within Hardcore and Heavy Metal music?
Billy: “No…because I realized something. Everyone is so limited and one dimensional. No matter what they think about and no matter what information they have, they still don’t have enough information to think clearly and look at the bigger picture. I think that’s where the music and the entertainment industries fail collectively. You know what? Exit to reality. Don’t talk to me about three fuckin’ dollars for gas while you’re drinkin’ a five dollar fuckin’ coffee. Get the fuck outta here. …Everyone in Hollywood talks about this war in Iraq and how bad it is, how it’s immoral and how it’s illegal. But it was totally legal. The UN is the worst agency in the world. It’s never accomplished anything. You cannot even tell me one thing it’s accomplished…other than having top-rated parking in New York City. The UN is a Boy Scout club for the rich elitists of the world to have Diplomatic Immunity and come out to restaurants. And that’s exactly what it is. For Hollywood to talk about the war in Iraq being illegal is just ridiculous, especially when something happens to Israel and suddenly everyone’s behind it. ‘Oh, Israel has the right to protect itself’. Wait a minute. Israel has no right to be where they are. It was an illegal insertion of people, so whatever.”
Todd: Well, at least you’re not afraid to speak your mind…
Billy: …I don’t care anymore. People can say whatever the fuck they want about me. Go read your fuckin’ history books. And don’t just read your history book. Read the world’s history book. Remember…history is whatever the victor dictates. I’ve read across the board. I know for a fact that Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem is illegal. That’s a fact. We imposed that one them. Almost every US Senator that has retired from the Senate has said that we backed the wrong side. We should have backed the Palestinian and the Arab side. It would have been over already. There would have been a peaceful resolution and we would have had no problems with the Middle East. Instead, we backed the wrong side because we got forced into it by Britain and the UN. What a fuckin’ joke. Whatever. What do I know?”
Select Discography
Red, White And Screwed (2007) **
Rise Of The Infidels (2007) *
The Rebel You Love To Have (2003) **
Bigger Than The Devil (1999) *
Dictated Aggression (1996) **
Loved By Thousands, Hated By Millions (1995) **
Devolution (1994) **
Rhythm Of Fear (1992) **
Live At Budokan (1992) *
Gross Misconduct (1989) **
Surfin’ For M.O.D. (1988) **
U.S.A. For M.O.D. (1987) **
Speak English Or Die (1985) *
* as a member of S.O.D.
** as a member of M.O.D.