Bob Pantella is one of the busiest guys in hard rock/metal. If the guy isn’t playing drums for Monster Magnet, he’s playing drums for Riotgod. If he isn’t drumming for Riotgod, he’s drumming for Atomic Bitchwax. If he isn’t drumming for Atomic Bitchwax, he’s drumming for Cycle of Pain. If he isn’t drumming for Cycle of Pain, he’s hopefully soaking in a fucking hot tub or trying to get some fucking rest.
Just to add to Bob’s ever busy schedule, Bob took some time to talk with me again for our third interview. It’s always a great time talking to Bob and he truly loves what he does and it shows. We talked about what lit the fire in him as a kid to play music, we talked about the latest Riotgod masterpiece, and why he’ll never stop doing what he loves the most: playing music and seeing the world. Bob’s a great guy and once again ladies and gents, here’s the extraordinary Bob Pantella.
Bob,thanks for taking the time to talk today brother. Long time no talk!
Yeah man, it’s been a while.
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Another glorious press day for you! How the fuck are you?
[laughs] I’m doing great. Busy as fuck and going bananas [laughs]
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When are you not busy as fuck dude? C’mon.
[laughs] My fucking head is spinning.
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I was bummed with the Monster Magnet show here in Atlanta got cancelled. I was so looking forward to finally having that beer with you.
Man, everybody got really fucking sick. Even the bus driver got sick [laughs]. That night, Dave (Wyndorf; Monster Magnet singer) couldn’t even talk with the fever and the sweat. I wasn’t too bad off. I was feeling achy but I really got sick as hell when I got home. It hit me hard. We didn’t play the gig but we wound up going to that fucking strip club. What’s it called? Where the 70 year old broad dances [laughs].
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The Clermont Lounge.
That’s it. Yeah, we wound up going there of course [laughs].
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Every fucking band ends up at the Clermont dude. It’s like Purgatory for strippers man.
[laughs] That’s pretty fucking great.
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They have bands that play there sometimes and that’s even funnier. Trying to watch your friend’s band play while strippers are trying to dance to them is quite an experience.
[laughs] That’s fucking classic. I don’t even remember leaving the club to head back to the tour bus [laughs].
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So are you tired of doing interviews yet?
I haven’t done that many. I did a few Euro interviews and those are always tough because I never understand what the fuck the guys are talking about [laughs].
They ask the same kind of questions, they just have a weird way of asking it. When you answer the questions you’ve got to be very straight forward with real simple answers so they know what you mean. It’s hard to not be too descriptive or use any slang. They’re not all going to get that.
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So I have to say, Driven Rise is not just Riotgod’s best album to date but it’s a goddamn masterpiece.
Thanks Don and honestly I feel that way too. We put a lot more time into it because we had the time. We paid a lot more attention to the artwork and actually hired a real artist to do the cover and it’s our third record. I think we’ve got it down by now [laughs].
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In all honesty, I felt like Invisible Empire kind of had a lack of focus.
Invisible Empire was done in a big rush. From the artwork to recording it, it was just a crazy deadline which was my fault. I should’ve just ignored the deadlines and said fuck you, it’ll be done when it’s done but there was other shit in front of me and other tours that needed to be done. It would’ve been another year but you know what? You live and you learn and this time around we did it right.
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Did you guys at any point in the process of recording this album realize what a great album you had on your hands?
You know, I think it took us until we got to the last song. We finally listened to it as a whole and we said, “Yeah, this is sounding what it’s supposed to sound like.” We spent a lot of time with the order of the tracks and we are all just very happy with it. There’s none of that, “I wish I didn’t do that” or any of that. That album came out exactly the way we wanted it to and we got it.
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Another thing I love about Driven Rise is that it’s not a long album with filler on it. This is a solid, to the point album.
Thanks. Yeah, we didn’t do that on the 2nd record. We didn’t want to make a long record. We wanted to make it fit on vinyl and that tends to let you cut off all the fat. There’s not a lot of fat on this record. In the past, I used to think that the more you give them, maybe they were getting more for the money but I found that not to be true. It’s really all about quality, not quantity.
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I remember those days when bands like Iron Maiden only did like 7 or 8 song albums. Then CDs came out and they were maxing out the media disc with filler.
Yeah, there was a lot of fat on there. You only have so much in you when you’re making a new album. You run out of fucking ideas [laughs]. They can get boring and long winded and just get to the point and move on. 45 minutes and that’s it.
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I thought it was funny that the newest Riotgod album is the shortest one.
[laughs] Yeah, since the first one they got shorter and shorter [laughs]. The next one will be five minutes long. We’ll put out a ’45 [laughs].
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I’ve seen bands like Skid Row putting out EPs and that’s seems to work. I mean the average attention span of music listeners these days is what? 5 songs?
[laughs] Right. It’s almost like going back to the old days when people just put out a fucking single. Nobody ever put out a fucking record, like the Motown stuff. There’s your single. That’s it. You put so much time into making a record and you put so much time into promoting but it’s really only in people’s minds for such a short time. Like the Skid Row thing, I think that’s a great idea because at least you’re in people’s faces more often with something shorter.
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I know it’s probably like asking you who your favorite kid us but of all your projects, how does Riotgod stand among them?
Well, that’s a good question. Actually, they’re all a little different. I love them all equally but they’re all different. I get something different from each of them. With Riotgod, it’s my personal creative outlet. As far as the music goes, I really get to do everything I want in this band. Mark does the lyrics and the vocal melodies but I get to see it through from beginning to end and I can get that out of my system. With Atomic Bitchwax, that’s great because I get to go crazy playing the drums and I love that and in Monster Magnet I get to play the giant rock shows and get that out of my system. With Cycle of Pain, we don’t do all that much that often but that’s more of a metal thing for me. I get to do the double bass thing and use the china boy [laughs]. They’re all so different. It’s great for me as a musician.
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Do you ever feel that one day you’ll have to whittle all these down to just one project or do you see yourself always being this crazy fucking busy?
I just never find myself saying “no” to very much. If there’s room in my life to do something else I’m going to do it. I like being busy and I really enjoy it. It keeps me out of trouble. I also have my recording studio so I’m always working in there. I love working in the studio. I love that as much as I love being on the road. I mean, it’s totally different but I love it as much.
Um, sometimes like when I don’t feel like getting out of bed but it’s not like I have to go lay bricks or something. I don’t feel like I’m going in the wrong direction. It’s not like working behind the counter at McDonald’s. Now that sucks. That would really suck [laughs]. It’s not a job to me. It’s always fun.
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So how about a Riotgod East Coast tour? Are you going to come to Atlanta finally or am I going to have to come up to Jersey to see you guys and crash on your couch?
[laughs] Well, we’re going to do an east coast run heading down south in maybe into Texas. I don’t know when just yet as nothing’s been booked. I have to book it around stuff I have with Monster Magnet and I’m in studio with Atomic Bitchwax as we speak working on a new record. In September we’ll be doing a Euro tour in there as well.
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Well get your ass here man. Atlanta needs a Riotgod show.
I know. Man, I haven’t played in Atlanta in so fucking long and the one time I was supposed to play in Atlanta in December got fucking canceled [laughs]. The last time I fucking played in Atlanta was with Raging Slab at the Fox Theater opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Mother’s Milk tour [laughs].
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That’s fucking insane. I was a huge Raging Slab fan and I had no idea you were in that band until a few years ago.
Yeah, I was in that band from ’89 – ’91 touring with them for the debut album.
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Yeah, and you guys did some weird tours. Didn’t you tour with Motley Crue too?
[laughs] Yeah. We did some shows in Florida on the Dr. Feelgood tour [laughs]. We just didn’t fit with anybody at the time. Yeah, like I said, the last time we played Atlanta was with Raging Slab, Mr. Crowes Garden, and the Chili Peppers. Like six months after that show, Mr. Crowes Garden became the Black Crowes and they just took off. That would’ve been a good tour. The Black Crowes and Raging Slab.
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I always found it funny that you had this side bar of bands like Raging Slab, Junkyard, Tesla, even a band like Dangerous Toys yet you guys never toured together and ended up on these really odd, fucked up bills.
[laughs] Yeah. That would’ve made so much sense to tour together.
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Bob, just a few questions about YOU brother. When did you know you wanted to be a musician?
Oh man, I was a really little kid. I was like 3 or 4. My dad was a guitar player in a band and they would always rehearse in our living room so I’ve been surrounded by it since I was a little kid. I knew forever.
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Why the drums and not the guitar or the oboe?
[laughs]When you’re 3 or 4 years old and you’re looking up at a big drum set it’s pretty impressive. It’s a very uncomplicated thing. You just hit the circles with a stick. I mean, what’s more fun than that? [laughs]
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So your parents must’ve been really supportive of you as a musician.
Yeah, totally. I just grew up with music constantly playing all around me. It was just always around.
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Do you remember the first gig you ever played?
Yeah, I think I was like 12. I played in a park with a rock band called Ruins. We’d play covers like “Cocaine” and “Stranglehold.” We weren’t good but we played them [laughs]. I was always playing with people and trying to put a band together which is hard to do at that age because everyone is so fucking scatterbrained. Hell, now it’s not much different but anyway [laughs]. From there I just never stopped and it just grew into a career.
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Drum solos: Cool or not cool?
Eh, if you’re a drummer, yeah they’re cool but for everybody else, I don’t think they’re that great [laughs]. They can be really funny and corny unless you’re listening to Buddy Rich or something serious. I’m not into them. I like listening to them personally like for my own learning but really, it’s more of a get up and go get a beer thing [laughs].
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What’s your favorite drum solo that you’ve heard?
My favorite drum solo? In a rock band? Deep Purple “The Mule” on Made in Japan. I love that solo.
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If you could play drums in any band of any era for just one night who would it be?
Oh fuck man. For one night? I’d be John Bonham with Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in 1973. I’d get to play fucking “Moby Dick” for a half hour [laughs].
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How important is the drum sound on albums to you?
Oh it’s paramount. It’s very important because on any album it’s all built on top of the drums. Whether you’re a drummer or not, you know a good rock record when you hear a good drum sound. Back in Black. Man, what a great fucking drum sound. There’s nothing worse than hearing great songs with a shitty, thin drum sound. I fucking hate that.
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Like, does it kill you when you hear crappy sounding drums on albums?
Oh yeah. It ruins it. IF the song is a good song, that can usually shine through a shitty recording or something but if you have the option, at least try. Maybe spend a little money [laughs]. If you’re making a record and you have no budget, at least go somewhere that you can get the drums to sound really good. Drums are acoustic. It’s so much easier to capture guitars and everything else in a small space but drums are the hardest thing to capture because they’re acoustic. Once you get past that, you have a really strong foundation to build upon and I think any musician would probably say the same thing.
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Except for Lars Ulrich.
[laughs] Yeah. [laughs]
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Do you feel like technology when it comes to making records these days has done more harm than good?
Well, it really just comes down to how you use it. It still comes down to a good ear. It doesn’t matter what kind of recording device you’re using. It all comes down to a good set of ears and good taste. The hard thing about it is that you have so many options. Too many and that can be dangerous. You can lose yourself in it very easily. It definitely, if anything, takes a lot more discipline to not do certain things even though you can. It’s just so easy to press that shiny red button but you should just leave it alone [laughs]. You should just be able to capture a band and its sound. If you have to change the way that you play to record something, then the recording is being done wrong. Like the Queens of the Stone Age thing. They recorded all the drums and then the cymbals later.
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That’s a horrible idea.
Right? Why would you do that? You’re missing the whole point of capturing something. That’s a horrible idea. It’s like how Def Leppard recording one string at a time and then making chords out of that later in the mix. That’s just fucking weird [laughs]. I mean, whatever floats your boat but I like the real deal. I like real rock n’ roll [laughs].
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What is a hard rock/metal album that nobody should live without hearing?
There are so many but ya know? Let’s go way back and obscure and say those first two Dust records. Those are great records. They got lost in the fucking dust [laughs]. I think they just re-issued them on vinyl a year ago or so. I love discovering old stuff I never heard before. That’s stuff I would recommend everybody check out especially if you’re a stoner rock fan.
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I love hearing some of these newer bands coming out and playing that old stoner, kind of occult rock style. Are there any new bands like that you feel are doing it right?
Yeah, Kadavar from Germany. Those guys are fucking great. They really nailed that sound and got it down. They sound great. They got the right equipment and they even fucking look great. You’d never know it was a fucking new [laughs].
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What is it about that classic sound that seems to have been making such a comeback with newer bands?
I think it’s really just cyclical. Everything comes back around at some point. That kind of music was only around for a very short period, maybe five years and then it was gone. It’s just kind of a blip on the screen but it was such a great moment. I don’t know if people realized it while it was happening. Probably not but that just a really good time in music. They were really no rules yet and just the freedom of it. It sounds honest and real. It doesn’t sound contrived.
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If you were to lose an arm, would you continue to play drums like Rick Allen or just call it a day?
Man, that’s a tough call. I don’t know if I would ever perform but I definitely wouldn’t stop making music. I think it’s cool that he’s still doing it. It takes a lot of fucking balls to get in front of a crowd of people and doing that. Could you even imagine going through all that? He pulled it off. He supplemented his left foot to make up for the slack.
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That’s true. I mean what do you use your fucking left foot for anyways besides keeping the hi hats closed?
[laughs] It’s like the last floor tom. That’s a table isn’t it? A place to put your drink. [laughs]
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Finish this sentence: If I wasn’t a musician I would be…..
A bank robber. [laughs]
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Bob, it was so great to talk to you again brother. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.
Yeah, dude, this was fun. Next time I’m in town we’ll go the Clermont and hang out [laughs].
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