Interview: Sid Falck (ex-Overkill, Infectus 13)

1. At what age did you first pick up the drumsticks?
Hmm, I played piano, guitar and bass when I was a kid. My older brother got a drum kit when I was around 11 or 12. I would go play on it when he wasn’t home, so that’s when it started.

2. Your name is Bob Falck. Why do you use the name “Sid”?
Well, I always went by Bob up until I joined Overkill. When I joined them, there was three of us named Bob. Bobby Ellsworth is known for his nickname “Blitz”, Bobby Gustafson went by his name. So they were trying to come up with a nickname for me, and one night during a party at Blitz’s house, I improvised with some drinking materials, and Bobby G said ” you’re seriously Insane dude… You’re a Seriously Insane Dane… Your nickname is now S.I.D” over time it just became Sid.

3. How did you run into Paul Di’Anno and become a member of his band Battlezone? You recorded an album with them called Fighting Back in 1987, and went on tour to promote that album, then left. What was it like working with Paul, and what prompted your departure from the band?
I moved from Denmark to London in ’84 and put an advert in one of the music papers. A couple of days later, John Hurley (guitarist) called and asked if I was interested in meeting with them, although he didn’t mention any names. As it turns out, it was Paul. Working with Paul was an adventure hahaha. He obviously was one of the most unique voices at the time, instantly recognizable. Most of the time it was just 5 mates having a lot of fun, way too much fun. I left because everything was very disorganized. Although Battlezone was a band, for obvious reasons, it was marketed as Paul with a backup band. And every one wanted to get a piece of the potential “pie” which let to, as I said, complete disorganization. Record companies and managers trying to pull in opposite directions most of the time. So I had informed our English manger in the fall of ’86 that I intended to leave, and was in return asked to do the North American tour which was about to start, first, which went into the spring of ’87.

4. After leaving Battlezone in 1987, you immediately fell in with and became a member of Overkill. How did that come about?
Well, Battlezones tour manager and LD, Rick Lathrop, also served in the same capacity for Overkill. So after Rat left Overkill, they used a temporary drummer to finish their touring schedule. So when it became time to look for a replacement, he suggested to them that they should check me out.
I went to a studio in Manhattan with them to audition, probably late November or early December of ’87, and although I had only played through the material once on a borrowed drumkit (all my gear was still in London) they must have liked what they heard, and I was invited to join them in early January of ’88.

5. Some musicians have a most/least favorite album they have appeared on. You appeared on three albums with Overkill: Under the Influence, 1988, The Years of Decay, 1989, and Horrorscope, 1991. Are any one of those your most/least favorite and why.
That’s a loaded question hahaha. All three of those albums have great songs, so it would come down to purely selfish reasons. From a strictly personal performance point of view, I’d say my worst performance was on UTI. I had 8 weeks total, to not only learn all those songs, but also to try to get a somewhat working grasp of a style of music I had little prior knowledge of. Needless to say, I feel my performance on that album was barely acceptable. TYOD and Horrorscope, again, have some incredible songs on them. I feel that by the time we recorded TYOD, I was coming into my own as far as my understanding of the music and whatnot, the whole band was reaching a whole new level of writing and performing. It was a major steppingstone for Overkill as a whole, and I am generally fairly happy with my own performance on that album. Horrorscope, again from a strictly personal performance point of view, is probably my strongest performance.
As far as for which album is the least/most favorite, is kind of impossible to answer. Each album has moments that could fit into either category, so while I may judge them from a personal performance perspective, looking at each album as a whole, it’s impossible for me to pick.

6. Two videos you were in for Overkill, Hello From the Gutter and Elimination (great shots of you in this video all throughout) appeared on MTVs Headbangers Ball. What was that experience like? What was it like making the videos? Are there any other videos you appear in for Overkill?
Actually, there were four official vvideos you’re leaving out Horrorscope and Thanx For Nothing, which also saw extensive airplay hahaha.
Shooting music videos are, in general, a pain in the ass, unless it’s a “true” live video haha. Of the above mentioned, only Thanx For Nothing was a true live video. In general, shooting a production video is incredible annoying. You spend one or two days repeatedly playing the song over and over and over again. When you’re done with the shoot, you feel like you never want to hear or play that song again lol.
As far as “official” videos, those are the only ones I know of, but there are tons of live videos floating around on YouTube and such.

7. What was it like touring all over the world and playing with such acts as Slayer, Nuclear Assault, Destruction, Testament, Motorhead, and Dark Angel when you were with Overkill? Any memorable moments? Any other bands on these tours/festivals you particularly got along with? Any you had bad experiences with?
Touring is the one thing most of us lived to do. It was both fun and a privilege to be able to do it. It was the ultimate vacation lol don’t get me wrong, it’s incredibly taxing at times. It can certainly wear you down mentally and physically after 8-10 months of non stop playing, especially considering that Overkill’s preferred booking schedule was 6 shows a week followed by one day off. Do that for 8-10 months straight and you end up playing a hell of a lot of shows during an album touring cycle. But, why would anyone complain? That’s what you live for.
It was a lot of fun, 95% fun. You play 1 1/2-2 hours and have around 22 hours a day to have fun, do stupid shit, get in trouble, or sometimes get on each other’s nerves lol. There’s not a whole lot of privacy on tour busses lol There are way to many stories to pick just one hahaha.
Playing with all the different bands we played with, was amazing. Except for the rare occasion of “misunderstandings” as far as what the role of a band was (opening vs headlining, no names lol) it was a blast, I mean, how can you not feel privileged to share the stage with legends such as Mötorhead and Slayer? A lot of personal friendships were formed.

8. You left Overkill during the Horrorscope tour? At what point in the tour did you leave? What happened?
Yes, I notified the band that I intended to leave about four months into the tour, just prior to the first concert of the European tour in Frankfurt, Germany. It was a very hard decision, harder than people might think. But I just was not enjoying what I was doing anymore. In retrospect, as I have stated in other interviews, I wish I had left in a better way, giving the band more notice among other things, instead of basically just walking out on them. It was somewhat of a douchebag way to do it. Bit we all have to live with the decisions we make, good or bad. Obviously, it lead to a lot of resentment towards me from the band, and I can fully understand that. Luckily, the band and I have reconnected on a personal level, over the last 10 years or so, and I’m very happy about that.

9. Did the departure of Bobby Gustafson from Overkill play a part in your decision to leave the band?
No.

10. When you left Overkill, you stated you never really were a fan of thrash music, saying you wanted to “push your drumming to the limit by playing the most complex type of music (of the era)” Explain.
Well, this is one of the most common misquotations… and it comes from being misquoted from the interview section of the ViseoScope home video. In it I stated that” I joined Overkill because I was looking for a challenge, and playing thrash seemed like nothing could be more challenging than that” and further that” it might not seem right to some, for me to join a band whose style of music was not a style I normally listened to”. These statements were made just after we recorded Horrorscope. How it got to be a quotation of something I said after I left, I have no idea lol the magic of the internet maybe? Lol.
To this day I still listen to thrash almost exclusively.

11. What did you do during the time after your departure from Overkill but before Infectus 13?
After I left, I very briefly (maybe a couple of months) worked with Mike Tramp in his band, Freak of NNature but that didn’t work out. After that, I did tour management and Front of House sound for a number of bands on American and European tours by the end of the 90’s I just started to live a “normal” life lol.

12. You reunited with Overkill bandmate, Bobby Gustafson, to form Infectus 13. When did you guys form this band? Why did you approach Bobby G. about forming a band? Why the name Infectus 13?
Actually, Bobby have nothing to do with Infectus 13. He have his own band, Satans Taint. Infectus13 is my creation, Satans Taint is his.
Infectus 13 roughly translates to “The infected 13” (from Latin) because it was at towards the end of 2013.
That I decided to see if I could do this one more time.

13. Infectus 13 has officially released one song off its album Last Rites. What is going on with the rest of this album? When will it be officially released?
We’re old so we work slow hahaha although I never anticipated it taking this long. We’re writing, recording, rewriting rerecording until I’m happy with what I hear. My goal is to have around 12-15 and we still have a little way to go to reach that number. I have stopped trying to predict when it’ll be ready lol but I’m becoming as impatient as everyone else hahaha.

14. Has your opinion about thrash music changed over the years? To me, Infectus 13, sounds like great heavy, groove, thrash. Some people are calling it Power metal. What are you calling it?
No, it really hasn’t changed. Good thrash is still good thrash or whatever you want to label it.
Labels really doesn’t mean much to me, but I am ok with power thrash metal.

15. You are also currently in a project with Infectus 13/ex-Overkill bandmate Bobby Gustafson and Raven guitarist John Gallegher called Hail Mary. Tell us about that.
Well, Hail Mary (Gustafson and Raven Bassist/vocalist John Gallagher) came about by Bobby wanting to do something to help raise money for a lady named Cheri Pogue, who is the wife of one of my guitar players in I13. Last year, she lost part of her leg in a motorcycle accident, and with no insurance, her and Steve’s medical bills and living expenses have been impossible to meet. Bobby G and I have been in touch over the years, and obviously, the possibilities of he and I maybe doing something together have been discussed, but the time never seemed right. However, around October of 2015, he got a hold of me and said that he felt that doing a song together and donating 100% of whatever it would bring in, was something he felt strongly about, and I completely agreed. After a few discussions, I suggested we ask John to do bass and vocals, and he said yes as soon as he heard what we wanted to do.
Currently (as of this interview) the song is being mixed, and we will release information shortly about when it will be available for purchase, and maybe announce other news.

16. Lately, you have been having some issues concerning your health. Can you tell fans here in the zines what is going on with you? I have heard that this is what prompted you to make a return to music.
Well, as it is probably well known by now, I was diagnosed with heart problems around Christmas of 2012, and have had a couple of heart surgeries since which hasn’t completely fixed the problem. And all of a sudden having to face the fact that due to this, I could be gone without warning, I had to seriously consider if playing again was something I wanted to do, something I had always kind of put on the “maybe some day” list. So here I am, trying to see what happens.

17. How would you describe your drumming career?
I think that’s an impossible question for me to answer. It is probably for others to judge.

18. Do you have any past and current musicians that have influenced you?
Lots lol from drummers such as Cozy Powell and Lionel Hamilton and being around drummers such as Dave Lombardo and Ron Lipnicki. I think everyone I have been around in the music business, whether the played drums or something else, have influenced me in some way. If you’re willing to, you can learn something from everyone you are around.

19. Do you have any hobbies?
Making a difference in people’s lifes?
I am very much a animal advocate, but I don’t know if that qualifies as a hobby lol.

Thank you for the interview! Hope to see more of you and Infectus 13! \m/