Overkill is one of the first Thrash Metal bands, formed in the early 1980s in New Jersey (but often attributed to New York City), and very active ever since.
They were formed in New Jersey when a previous D.D. Verni/ Rat Skates (real names: Carlos Verni and Lee Kundrat) project, a punk band called The Lubricunts, broke up in 1980. (There's a picture of the Lubricunts demo cover in the "Wrecking Your Neck" booklet.) D.D. quickly wanted to form a new band, so he put out an ad which was answered by vocalist Bobby Ellsworth. He was also a bass player at the time, but in the new band he would concentrate solely on vocals. He brought with him a guitarist from his old band (a punk/classic rock cover band), whose name is forgotten. After rejecting several names, including Virgin Killer, this new band finally settled on Overkill, naming themselves after a Motörhead album called Overkill.
Early covers (especially those done under the Virgin Killer name in the very very early days) were punk songs for the most part, including selections by The Ramones, and The Dead Boys. By 1980, they had recruited two guitarists (names forgotten over time) and the setlist included songs by Motörhead ( "Overkill", half of the Ace Of Spades album, and others), Judas Priest ('Tyrant' was their closer for a while), and Riot, as well as a smattering of punk covers, which were played with extra distortion, intensity, and concentration on riffs, thus marking Overkill as one of the first Thrash bands.
In 1981, Dan Spitz (later of Anthrax) left the band and Rich Conte entered, along with Bobby Gustafson. At this point, they started writing originals, including "Grave Robbers" (later renamed to "Raise The Dead"), "Overkill", and "Unleash The Beast (Within)".
