(Orginally Broadcast on 08/06/89)
JIM GILLETTE and MICHAEL ANGELO: What's goin' on, man.
AC: Hangin' out, good to see you. Nice of you guys to drop by at this god awful hour.
JG: Hey man, it's...it's wild, dude.
AC: Well, here to talk about the album O.F.R., which since we're on national television, we'll refer to it as Out-Effing-Rageous.
JG: Go on, say it dude.
AC: Don't egg me on. Before you guys formed Nitro, you had already worked together, right?
JG: Yeah, we did a little solo album, and, uh, met at a beach party. I know it sounds crazy. It's true, yeah, I know.
MA: Yeah, we met in Venice Beach.
JG: Actually a barbecue, but you know. Took it from there. Saw the video of him doing this shit [mimes guitar solo], said "whoa, dude." Got him to play, and started writing tunes, man. It was awesome.
AC: Really. So you got together, and I guess you had an idea of what you wanted Nitro to be. It seems, especially from the album title that it would be very outrageous, to all extremes. Was that the first plan from the start?
JG: That's it man. You know how he plays guitar, and I do the same thing with my voice -- the higher, the better. It's not something we said let's try and be this way, it's just how we were.
MA: Put it this way: we only did one show before we got signed. We walked onstage -- it was at Gazzarri's on the Strip. Jim walks onstage, shatters glass, it was all over, and then we started the set. And I end it up playing double-necked guitar upside-down behind my back. So that about sums it up.
AC And I think we should talk about both of those talents before you guys leave tonight. I've got another question -- when people hear the album, will they have the same idea -- to all extremes? The fast guitar playing? The glass-shattering voice?
MA: Every cut's really intense.
JG: Every cut.
AC: Hang out for a little while longer -- we'll use this stuff here [points to guitar rig].
ADAM CURRY: Headbangers Ball continues. Jim and Michael here from Nitro. You look kind of suited up and ready to show us something. Where's the quadruple neck guitar?
MICHAEL ANGELO: Um, oh probably in somebody's living room. It got stolen when we were on the road.
AC: You're kidding.
MA: No. In El Paso, Somebody wanted it bad enough to break into our truck, crawl through the cargo bay, and grab it.
AC: Really.
MA: Yeah.
AC: Thank god there is a picture of it on the album, so if people go out and buy the album they can look at it.
MA: It's on one video, so that's good.
AC: You design your own guitars, right?
MA: Yeah, yeah, I invented the uh...I was the first person ever to play two guitars at the same time, left-handed and right-handed. I used to play it upside-down, so I figured why flip it upside-down when I can just have one with four necks made?
AC: Tell me about this particular model.
MA: This is my design, and Jim helped me design it. It's the Rocket. It's 29 frets and aircraft aluminum. Built for speed.
AC: Well, why don't you show us your stuff. As we say, "Shred it, dude."
[Michael Angelo shreds it]
JIM GILLETTE [into camera]:
Any time, any where, any place, man,
PART III:
ADAM CURRY: The Ball is back, with Jim and Michael from Nitro still with us. Michael, we saw just a small demonstration of what you can do on the axe. And Jim, I hear you can break glass with your voice?
JIM GILLETTE: No problem, man.
AC: I've seen Ella Fitzgerald do this in the Memorex commercial, but how does it work?
JG: Have you ever gone like this [makes circle motion] on a glass?
AC: Yeah.
JG: You gotta hit that exact note. When you put it up to a frequency counter, if it's like 995.2 -- if you hit 995-like-23 it won't break, man. It's gotta be perfect.
AC: So as Michael mentioned earlier, at the beginning of the show you go out there and you shatter the glass, and then everything starts?
MICHAEL ANGELO: He also shattered the glass system, too.
JG: I blew the whole system up. I blow monitors up and PAs all the time.
MA: He's like the loudest singer I've ever heard in my life.
AC: Well, this can be a very expensive hobby, then, when it comes down to it.
JG: Yeah, we got EV. Give us more, give us more.
AC: You got like a standard contract. [laughs] That's incredible.
JG: Yeah.
AC: So right now you're doing a tour?
MA: Yeah, yeah, we've been playing all over the country.
JG: It's been the Hell tour, dude. Summer, 110 degrees everywhere, man.
AC: Now, you were coughing a little bit, how's the voice holding up?
JG: Um, haven't missed a note.
AC: [to camera] So that's a warning, just wear your contacts, it's probably the safest, when you go to the next gig. [to Jim and Michael] Well, I thank you guys for dropping by. Thanks for bringing in the stacks.
Hey, we're Nitro!
The highest, the fastest, and the loudest
It's O.F.R., man
The Headbangers Ball!
PART I:
ADAM CURRY: Headbangers Ball continues. Adam Curry with you on the bus, which has kind of been revamped for special guests that we have with us this evening. We have Michael and Jim from Nitro. Welcome to the revamped bus, guys.
PART II:
Michael'll make you look like a disgrace,
He'll outshred anybody to Hell and back, huh?
