Jason Bittner reflected on his decision to leave Overkill in a recent chat with Pod Scum. Asked what kickstarted ‘Category 7’, his supergroup with Phil Demmel, Mike Orlando, John Bush, and Jack Gibson, the drummer said, “If I’m being frank, the impetus, for me, was my dissatisfaction with my role in Overkill.”
“I hadn’t been happy in the band for, like, two f*cking years,” he further noted. “It wasn’t a surprise that I quit. I’d been dissatisfied for a long time, but I’m a team player. I don’t like to leave things. I love the guys personally. So, I just kind of hung in there, but I was not happy where I was career-wise, let’s say, within the confines of that band.”
“I wasn’t a band member. And that’s the main thing for me to keep doing this at this point in my lifetime. That’s why for ‘Shadows Fall’ to be back together, I’m 20 percent owner-member. I’m involved in the decisions. I just don’t get told what’s happening. I hate that. I’m a Capricorn. I can’t deal with that sh*t.”
Bittner joined Overkill in 2017 and played drums on the band’s last two studio albums, 2019’s ‘The Wings Of War’ and 2023’s ‘Scorched.’ He announced his departure a few months ago, explaining at the time that handling three bands was overwhelming his schedule.
Mentioning plans for new records and tours with ‘Category 7’ and ‘Shadows Fall’, the drummer said he decided to leave Overkill to “concentrate solely on the bands that I am a full member/owner of.”
Overkill later hired Jeramie Kling as their new drummer. The band played their first show with Kling at the Posada Rock festival in Câmpulung Muscel, Romania, on August 30.