Review Fix Exclusive: Sunflower Dead’s Michael Del Pizzo Talks ‘It’s Time To Get Weird’ and More

September 2, 2015 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with Sunflower Dead frontman Michael Del Pizzo about the band’s new album, “It’s Time to Get Weird.” Breaking down the band’s formation, inspirations and goals for the future, Del Pizzo gives us an inside look at what makes the band tick. Just wrapping up a tour with Korn, In This Moment, Hellyeah, All That Remains, Ill Nino, Hed PE, Nonpoint, Snot, Powerman 5000, and Soil, the band has had an incredibly productive summer.

Review Fix: How did the band get together?

Michael Del Pizzo: Sunflower Dead got together after Jamie from Droid (who was signed from Munky from Korn’s label) broke up. Jaboo and I had been writing material and decided to contact Jamie to talk about forming a band with guys from other bands who were the rock stars of their bands. We also wanted it to be more than just some guys in the flavor of the month clothing, it had to be larger than life and entertaining. It happened rather quickly, and we wrote, recorded and released our debut record and were on tour within a year in 2012. The band name is based on a short story I was writing before we had gotten together.

Review Fix: What acts inspire you guys?

Del Pizzo: The guys in SFD are very diverse with our musical influences. I will say that the band comes from a place of Alice Cooper and Kiss as far as the larger than life entertainment value. As far as the music, I hear influences from all decades of rock and metal in what we do.

Review Fix: What songs do you love but are ashamed to admit because no one would expect it?

Del Pizzo: I love “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood because I am a sucker for killer pop songs or pop country songs in this case.

Review Fix: What do you think makes you special?

Del Pizzo: Me personally, nothing, well I do play the accordion, but that just makes me weird. Sunflower Dead is special because of the chemistry that happens when you put all 5 of us in the same room. It is like fireworks and it resonates to those that see it, even when we eat shit and have a rough night, ha.

Review Fix: What song is the standout on this album, how was it written?

Del Pizzo: When people delve into our new album after it is released, they will see that this is a standout record. To answer your question, though, I will use the first single “Dance With Death”. This song originally was a piano ballad written by me. While touring last August, I was humming the melody and the words dance with death came out of my mouth. Seconds later I had a whole new approach to the song. When it came time to show it to the band, everyone in the room, including our producers Dave Fortman and Mikey Doling had these amazing ideas to take the song to an incredible level.

I will also mention that Jonathan Davis from Korn shares the vocal duties with me on the title track “It’s Time To Get Weird.”

Review Fix: What song do you think people may skip on originally, before it grows on them, why?

Del Pizzo: It depends on the person. I don’t think anyone should skip any of the songs from either of our records. It will make you a better person to know them all by heart, ha.

Review Fix: How do you want this album to affect people?

Del Pizzo: I want people to have fun by hearing us having fun on this record. I also want people to delve into the lyrical content and understand the journey I am on and how it is expressed song to song. SFD walks a fine line between entertaining and remaining grounded musically.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone pick up this record?

Del Pizzo: Because it’s the right time for a band like us with a record that you are about to hear to be embraced. The world doesn’t need a villain, their world doesn’t need any complainers, the world needs some insight to the journey of life while having a boatload of fun doing it. It’s Time To Get Weird, Evil Seeds!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Del Pizzo: So much… album release this Fall, touring all over the world, videos, and even more. I am also writing a graphic novel based off my Sunflower Dead short story with an esteemed horror author. We are looking to debut it at next year’s Comic-Con. Please keep updated with us at www.sunflowerdead.com, Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Spotify.

Watch “Wasted” Below:

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14316 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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