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Nick Catanese - Interview

Black Label Society

Nick

The Evil Twin

AFTER THE HEAVENS SMILED UPON HIM AND LED HIM TO A CHANCE TO PLAY ON ZAKK WYLDES BOOK OF SHADOWS TOUR, NICK CATANESE NOW HAS 8 BLS ALBUMS UNDER HIS BELT. SO WE CAUGHT UP WITH ZAKK'S SO CALLED "EVIL TWIN" WHERE HE FINALLY GETS A LITTLE TIME TO REST AND TALK TO SAVIOURS OF ROCK.

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December 2006

HEY NICK, PLEASURE TO BE TALKING WITH YOU, WHATS HAPPENING FOR YOU AT THE MOMENT?
I am finally off the road after having 3 weeks off since June! I'm ready for the holidays and to just chill out.

SO YOU FIRST CAME OUT WITH ZAKK ON BOOK OF SHADOWS THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST UNDERATED ALBUMS EVER? Book of Shadows was VERY underrated, lots of great songs and the production was amazing.

DO YOU GUYS EVER PLAY THOSE SONGS ANYMORE? No ... BLS is a totally different band, if the boss wants to throw a song from there in the set I would be more than happy to play it. But we have 8 c.d’s of material to pick from already.

SHOT TO HELL IS REALLY KILLING, IT JUST SEEMS LIKE IT’S THE UP AND UP FOR BLACK LABEL? I hope so, all the songs have something to give, if you like the harder songs you have that, piano songs are there, moody songs, he really covered the bases.

Warming up backstage

MAFIA WAS A HARD FOLLOW UP, THAT ALBUM WAS KILLER? Mafia was one of my favourites and when I heard Shot to Hell I was blown away, I don’t know how he tops himself every cd.

FIRE IT UP WAS ONE OF THE BEST ROCKERS OF THAT YEAR, AND IN THIS RIVER WAS ONE OF THE BEST BALLADS! Yea those two songs are fun to play live too. And especially In the River for Dime.

A BIG HIGHLIGHT FOR ME WAS THE SKYNYRD CLASSIC I NEVER DREAMED, MAN YOU GUYS REALLY RE-WROTE THAT? Zakk did, he just did that for an extra song, I’m tellin ya he is a song machine.

I LIKED IT HOW ON SHOT TO HELL YOU GUYS REALLY SWAPPED FROM BALLADS TO METAL AND BACK AGAIN THROUGHOUT THE RECORD? Yeah that was the plan, make it for everyone to listen too, you could listen to it and your girl would like a few tunes it’s hitting every avenue.

Catanese live

I REVIEWED YOUR SHOW IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA FOR AN OZ MAG; MAN I GOT PLENTY OF CRED FOR THAT PIECE! Congrats!!! Hope you get even more.

THE SHOW WAS GREAT; EVERYONE IN AUSTRALIA WAS HANGING TO SEE YOU GUYS. THERE WERE THOUSANDS LINED AROUND THE BLOCK AT THE SIGNINGS, IT LOOKED LIKE THERE WOULD BE RIOTS AFTER THE DOORS WERE CLOSED! Yeah we had to cut off, they had us doing signings the same day as shows, that's insane, we need some time to get ready that's why we had to cut it off.

Zakk & his Evil Twin (bad influence?)

SO I REMEMBER YOU WERE IN THE ROCKSTAR MOVIE ALSO, WE JUST TALKED TO JEFF PILSON LAST MONTH WHO WAS ALSO IN IT, AND ZAKK OF COARSE. Yeah I had a blast doing that, getting to see how a movie is filmed is amazing. Plus everyone on the set was really really cool. Jennifer and Mark were great.

MAN YOU GUYS SHOULD PLAY A COUPLE OF THOSE SONGS SOMETIME? (Laughs)No, doubtful, those are for the movie only.

SO WHEN YOUR NOT BEING A ROCKSTAR AND MOVIE STAR WHAT DOES NICK DO IN HIS SPARE TIME, YOU GOT YOUR OWN FAMILY? LOL well first off I NEVER consider myself a " rock star “, I am a lucky punk that gets to

Nick (far left) in Rockstar the movie

do what he loves to do for a living, plain and simple. But on my free time, I LOVE video games, Xbox 360, PC games, the who thing, I love hanging with my family and my girlfriend, just being normal.

DO YOU FIND IT HARD TO JUGGLE IT ALL? Not really, its kinda hard the first week after a tour to get back into " home mode " when you aren’t living out of a suitcase and moving from hotel to hotel, but after that it’s amazing.

LOVE YOUR SIGNITURE GUITARS WITH WASHBURN TOO, GREAT DESIGN, HOW DID THAT ALL COME ABOUT? Well they saw our first DVD and saw Zakk and I doubling guitar solos, and then they starting asking about Dimebag and me had some good words to say about me (bless him). And then I flew to Chicago with my favourite Les Paul Zakk gave me, a Black 1968 reissue, Washburn took the specs from it and made that monster I play now. They sound amazing.

I SAW YOU MADE A SPECIAL ONE FOR ZAKK TOO RIGHT? Yea I had that idea when we did the Shot to Hell guitar. I wanted a guitar to thank him for everything he has done for me. Bottom line without me getting with Zakk I would be nothing. So that guitar was my thanks, it was a bullseye with my ET logo in the bullseye. It turned out great.

HOW DID YOU AND ZAKK HOOK UP IN THE FIRST PLACE ANYWAY? Email ... yea strange but true, in early 1996 I quit my local Pittsburgh band and saw Zakks email in Metal Edge, he was my hero for so long I thought " what the heck “. I emailed him sayin if you ever need a guitarist, just lemme know, and in a click of a mouse my life changed the past 10 years. Pretty crazy.

NOW J.D IS BACK ON BOARD TOO, WE TALKED TO HIM LAST MONTH AS WELL, HE’S A MAN OF FEW WORDS, WELL HE WAS THAT DAY! JD is the man, its crazy he was the first bassist in BLS, we did a total 360 with other players and back to JD, it just feels right.

Nick Catanese signiture Washburn

SO ZAKK MUST BE WORKING ON THE NEW OZZY ALBUM ALSO? Yup the man NEVER stops working. And I heard a few tracks its gonna blow people away.

HAVE YOU HEARD ANY OF IT? I HEARD ZAKK IS GETTING HIS SONGS ON THIS TIME AT LEAST? Its ALL Zakk, nobody else wrote, just like the ole days. Back to basics again. Its gonna be a great cd.

SO WHEN CAN WE SEE ANOTHER BLACK LABEL ALBUM THEN, YOU GUYS SEEM TO BE CHURNING THEM OUT? Shot to Hell is gonna be around awhile, the cd is to good just to throw it away and not push it. To many great songs to push. So we are gonna milk this one.

WELL WE HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON, AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU DOWNUNDER AGAIN, CHEERS BRO. Thanks for having me on and hope to see you and our " down unda " family soon !!!

THANKS TO NICK FOR TALKING WITH SAVIOURS OF ROCK. HE'S A GREAT GUY AND WE WISH HIM ALL THE BEST FOR THE FUTURE. GO CHECK HIM OUT AT

: www.nickcatanese.com/

J.L.

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