Metal Sludge — Ex-BulletBoys drummer Jimmy D’Anda has recently opened up about the demise of BulletBoys after their ill-fated reunion.

D’Anda was recently interviewed by Andrew DiCecco for Vinyl Writer Music and he covers all kinds of past, present and future.

On December 12th 2019, the BulletBoys announced that the original line-up of D’Anda (drums), Marq Torien (lead vocals), Mick Sweda (guitars) and Lonnie Vencent (bass) were back together.

Unfortunately for them, Covid hit a few months later in March of 2020 and it put everyone on ice for the better part of 2020 and 2021

Then late last year, the band started to splinter and eventually imploded right after the New Year.

Metal Sludge covered the various developments as the reunion of original members slowly faded.

On January 3rd 2022, Metal Sludge reported the following: “BULLET BREAK UP … BulletBoys have officially lost 2 original members, Mick Sweda and Jimmy D’Anda out.”

Then 3 days later on January 6th 2022, Metal Sludge posted the following: “1, 2, F#@K YOU … Mick Sweda helps describe the unfortunate side of being in BulletBoys: “Toxic and Poisonous and nobody needs that at our age.”

Now in a brand new interview the East Los Angeles native talks openly and gives readers an inside look at how things imploded for BulletBoys after their 2019 reunion.

Read an excerpt from the interview below with Jimmy D’Anda.

————————————————-

Andrew – Vinyl Writer Music:
It would be remiss of me not to mention the elephant in the room before we wrap up. Earlier this year, you and Mick Sweda split from BulletBoys for good. Mick has spoken out on the matter, but I’d like to hear what led to your decision.

Jimmy D’Anda:

It’s really a tough thing. First thing’s first; nobody didn’t think that this was gonna go up in a ball of flames. I mean, everybody knew it; everyone knew that it was gonna end badly. What I was hoping for was that it wouldn’t end horrifically, and hopefully, we can go out there and make some money and possibly have some dialogue or communication, so that even if it does go away, it isn’t a “Fuck you, motherfucker!” You know, maybe it’s from time to time we get together and we go do shows. Maybe every now and again there’s a really nice offer from Mötley Crüe to open up … “Fuck, yeah! Let’s go do it.” I was hoping for that kind of stuff. But again, like I said, the reason I left in the early years was there was a lot of negative energy. I don’t think I need to point any fingers because everyone knows who it’s about.

But there comes a time in everyone’s life when people start saying shit about you, and you’re like, “I’m in a band with you, dude.” And someone is trying to get you kicked out of the band to replace you with another drummer because he’ll play during COVID but I won’t play. There’s so much fuckin’ bullshit; I didn’t sign on for this. I really don’t need to be here; for that matter, I don’t need to be anywhere. Because you know what? I swear to God, I’ll tell you right now, I’ll go back and work at fuckin’ Guitar Center and be happy. I don’t need to have stress and anxiety in my life. I did it when I was in BulletBoys when I was a kid; I was nineteen or twenty years old. I was put through fuckin’ hell during that time because I was a kid. I got hazed all the time by these guys. By all of ‘em. Mick, maybe not as much, but definitely Marq and Lonnie. I went through a lot of shit. I hoped that people were in a better place, and there was a while there I thought that maybe everybody was, but then you start hearing people, “Oh, you know he said this about you,” or, “You know, he’s doing this now…” After a while, it’s like, “Wait. Hold up, hold up, hold up.”

And here’s what’s funny – nobody knows this – I quit the band in September and then I called the manager and said, “Larry, I think you should keep going on with BulletBoys.”  He goes, “Jimmy, I’m gonna try.” I go, “Yeah. I’ll even help you guys find a drummer,” because I wanted to try to leave them in a better place than I found them. Then little by little, I’m starting to hear other comments and other things are being said. Then COVID, of course, during that time period is just running rampant and there’s too much other nonsense going on. It should be much easier; it shouldn’t be this hard. And so, by the time the last two shows were coming around, it was emotional. When I played that last show with them at Monsters on the Mountain, I walked off stage and I literally exhaled really large because I realized thirty-three years of my life with this band had come to an end. It’s over. There’s no doubt in my mind. Because there was always a question mark over the last ten or fifteen years; maybe I could do it; maybe we could go back; maybe we could actually be friends a little bit, enough to actually have a career, make some good money, and make music. I know that’s not gonna happen now.

So, Larry asked me to stay on for the last three or four shows, and I did. And then during that time, it just became such a fiasco and there’s so many negative things that are happening. It’s such a bummer. It’s like, “You know what? I didn’t want this to end like this, but apparently, this is how it’s gonna end now.” So, then I quit, and then the Whisky show rolls around and there was more drama. And then Larry, the manager, quit. Then Mick called me, and he goes, “Dude, I did not sign on for this. This is just way too much fuckin’ bullshit.” He couldn’t deal with it, so then he quit. I’ve only heard through the grapevine that Lonnie quit; I haven’t talked to him yet, but I heard he was like, “Dude, there’s no way I’m going back. Just me and Marq is not gonna happen.”

Again, listen, I’m sad for the fans, too. I’m sad that I didn’t get a chance to go out and show people, “This is what I was known for.” Don’t get me wrong, I love playing with George, but going out and playing songs I was known for was gonna be a nice little treat. Listen, there’s a reason why people get divorced from their wives and their husbands. I left one wife, which is George, to go back to an ex-wife and then realized, “Oh, no. Wrong one. Sorry!” Listen, man, honestly, I wish everybody the best. Everybody go out there and live your best lives. Stop being a fuckin’ dick, go work your ass off, make money, come home to your family, and be a good person. There it is.


Read the full interview at Vinyl Writer Music