Meet
Frank Bello
By Alun
Thomas
The New York Jets are down
and out, trailing 13-3 to the Baltimore Ravens as inexperienced quarterback
Brooks Bollinger is sacked yet again. But Frank Bello doesn't seem to mind. A
native of the Bronx, the veteran Anthrax bass player is wrapped up in the
success of the New York Yankees making the playoffs yet again. 'You should be
happy with the White Sox making it' he tells me. I choose not to tell him I
favour the Cubs. Meanwhile vocalist Joey Belladonna is mocked for the dismal
perfomance of his Minnesota Vikings, who are being decimated by the Atlanta
Falcons. It's easy to forget I'm here to interview Bello about his return to
the band he left in early 2004, and the status of the reunited 'classic'
Anthrax lineup, consisting of Bello, Belladonna, Scott Ian, Danny Spitz and
Charlie Benante, who prior to their reformation in April, last played together
in 1991.
Bello's presence in Anthrax has
always been more understated than that of Ian, Belladonna or Benante, but
having played with the band for twenty years after initially serving as the
bands bass tech in the early days, Bello has always been a pillar of the bands
sound. When Bello joined Helmet in 2004 for touring purposes it appeared his
days with Anthrax were indeed a distant memory. But he surprised the metal
world by returning, along with Belladonna and Spitz, in a move I wasn't in
favour of. Bello however puts an end to all the rumours that surrounded the
exit of vocalist John Bush, by giving The Zephyr an in depth look into the
reunion, the past and future plans, all in jovial mood it has to be said. The
interview took place on Anthrax's tour bus prior to their opening slot to Judas
Priest on October the second in Moline.
The Zephyr: Did You expect to
rejoin the band so shortly after leaving in early 2004?
Frank Bello: 'No. The way it was
presented was the right way. I was just about done touring with Helmet and it
worked out nicely. Plus I was looking forward to playing with this nut again
(points to Belladonna). It was done right and the contracts were signed the
right way.'
TZ: Who came to you with the idea
of reforming the classic lineup and were you reluctant in any way?
FB: 'The management called me up
just as I was concluding the last leg of the Helmet tour and they knew I was
done. They came up and asked what I thought about doing it. I said let's do it
the right way, everybody together and open to everything. That's what it is,
it's very open, we're playing some fun shows now.'
TZ: Did John Bush's non
participation affect you considering he was vocalist for twelve years and with
the band through their hardest years?
FB: 'I love John Bush, he and
Joey are both great singers, but this is another side of Anthrax I love too. I
consider it a family at this point. That was a time in Anthrax and this is a
time. It's important to me because this is where I grew up. I started with
Anthrax at seventeen years old and it's been a good run. For me it's revisiting
and making this generation know what Anthrax is about, what Joey's singing,
which are great songs, so for me it's a win-win situation.'
TZ: Would you agree there is a section
of fans who were Bush loyalists who might view the reunion as an insult to
Bush's achievements?
FB: 'No, because we gave John the
opportunity to participate. It was there on the table and that was before I
came in and was already dealt with. So for me there's no animosity. Rob
Caggiano (ex Anthrax guitarist) and I talked last week, we were both drunk on
the phone talking to each other. It's all good. There's no nonsense going on.
And for the people looking for that, it's just not there.'
TZ: How has the general reaction
been to the band worldwide?
FB: 'Great, we've done a lot of
touring. We started off in Australia, went to Europe for all the festivals,
which killed us physically, getting up at five thirty in the morning flying and
all that. But anytime you get to play to thirty to sixty thousand people for a
show, you're good. And this, playing with Judas Priest is the cream on the top.
In January we'll come back and do our own thing. It's a nice situation, we get
to watch Football on Sunday's, our Yankees made the playoffs the other day, so
everybody's pretty excited right now!'
TZ: What kind of a cross section
of fans are you seeing at the shows?
FB: 'It's a good mixture. You'll
have the Priest fans in front, the Anthrax fans a little more to the back and
the older brothers bringing their kids or their brothers, which is really cool
because it's a turnover of generations. You know you've heard about this, you
should check it out, and that's what we're seeing a lot of.'
TZ: Was your brief stint on the
Gigantour (an Ozzfest styled metal festival created by Dave Mustaine of
Megadeth) a positive experience? How different is it working with Dave Mustaine
in 2005 opposed to the Clas Of the Titans tour in 1991?
FB: 'We had so much fun, it was
five shows, but I wish we could have been on the whole tour! As soon as we came
in it was a party atmosphere, we had a card game and dice in our dressing room.
The shows were great, but afterwards all the bands were in our dressing room
having a great time, including Dave. He has always been a gentleman to me. I've
heard all the stories about Dave, but it's never affected me.'
TZ: Was it easy reverting back to
playing with Joey?
FB: 'Yeah. The funny thing about
Joey is we laugh a lot. We look at each other and laugh and don't know why.
You'll see tonight, stupid things like one of us hitting a wrong note or
something. Or someone in the crowd perhaps. One guy last night was like this
(folds arms, gives stoic pose, serious stare). He was like a musician checking
us out (laughs). It was funny, something as stupid as that, because of all of a
sudden it becomes our challenge to win him over. We're going to pick on him. He
got into it, he gave us a nod (laughs), he was too cool. I like that. The
challenge of 'fine, you want to be an old school fan, but we'll win you over
eventually.' This is music. People have a nine to five job, they come out to a
show and release. It's not about, 'I'm gonna kill someone'. No. Have a good
time with the show. That's what I want. That's why I play music.'
TZ: How does this current tour compare
with the Priest one in 2002 when both had different singers and played far smaller
venues?
FB: 'That was a lot of fun. Ripper's a
great singer man. but that was a different time. No disrespect to Ripper, I
love him, but I grew up on Rob Halfrod's vocals and you did too, so to watch
him do this every night, I mean last night they did 'Solar Angels', they're
doing better and better songs that I grew up with'.
TZ: If the band is to record new
material with this lineup could you envison what direction it would take?
FB: 'Here's what I know. It will be
current. But we haven't even talked about it. If it was to happen it would have
to be current and fresh. I couldn't see us just writing a record and saying
'this is it'. I feel like we're better songwriters now. We know how to take a
song apart from riffing, to melody to choruses. We know how to make a song
exactly what it needs to be. I take pride in that as that's where I want to be
as a songwriter'.
TZ: Would you like to integrate
some of the Bush era material into your live set? What personally do you feel
was the bands best piece of work?
FB: 'I don't know. 'Safe Home' is
my favourite Anthax song, the best we've ever written and it's current and
people are like 'why wasn't this a hit?'. Whatever we do has lasting power. I'm
not worried about having to go out and play 'Among The Living', you see the
reaction, it's cool.'
TZ: Do you feel some valuable
years went to waste with the long delay between 'Volume 8' (1998) and 'We've
Come For You All' (2003)?
FB: 'Absolutely. We didn't know where we were going, the
record company was putting us in a state of uncertainty and we decided we
needed a break. We didn't even know if we were goingto be a band. We needed a
break to get our energy back and now there's a driving force and hunger that
can't be touched. Our die hard fans have always suffered with us. But nobody's
crying here, we're tough guys from New York, fuck everybody else'.
TZ: Whe you replaced Joey with
John in 1992 were you banking on the 'Sound Of White Noise' to be Anthrax's
version of Metallica's 'Black' album? The record that put you in the same big
leagues?
FB: 'No. but I thought it would get
promoted better. Elektra paid us a good amount of money for that album, but
what happens in the music industry is that they turnover, this one gets fired,
that one gets fired. So whoever comes in and replaces them, whatever they like
is their priority and you're with the last regime and that's exactly what
happened. The music business is cyclical, it's sick the way it is. It's a sick
business, the ony way to do it is by word of mouth.'
TZ: In the mid 90's you relased
'Stomp 442' which went almost unnoticed, unfairly so. Do you feel any
resentment over how grunge came to nearly wipe out metal in the mainstream?
FB: 'Grunge of course changed the
scene, but the label we were on had no more money, they were bankrupt. When the
album came out we ran into some really bad luck, they were broke and said
'we're not a company anymore'. What do you do? We went on tour and tried to do
it our way and it's not easy when you don't have a record in the stores for
people to hear'.
TZ: What kind of sound was
Anthraz heading for in the mid 90's? Did Dan Spitz's departure in 1995 take
away your sound?
FB: 'No. We were developing
anyway. I don't think anyones departure from the band, including my own, would
be a departure from the sound. What people want to hear from Anthrax is fine,
but we'll always expand that. But the actual sound, the rhythm tones, is the
signature Anthrax sound. I don't want to change that. Scott's rhythm is the Anthrax
sound and Charlie's bass kick, I want that sound for Anthrax, I want to be able
to put bass in the middle of it. With Joey's vocals in the middle that's the
trademark Anthrax sound. I don't feel that sound can be touched. So I don't
think anybody leaving or not being there will make a difference.'
TZ: When you left last year
however do you think it took even more identity away from the band in terms of
identifiable members?
FB:' Joey Vera (Bello's
replacement) is a good friend of mine. He's one of the best people in this
life. He came to the Los Angeles show on this reunion, we saw each other, we
were drunk, laughed at each other and I said 'dude it's the funniest thing'. I
was happy. I told them to get Joey, he's the guy that could do it and I don't
think it took anything away from the band, as people know Joey is a great bass
player. I saw them with Joey, they were great and with the whole John Bush/Joey
Vera Armoured Saint thing, it just fit.'
Joey
Belladonna: 'We've (Frank Bello) and I have both been in and out of the band.
When I was out nobody gave a shit about me.'
TZ: I did, I thought your 1998 album
'Spells Of Fear' was excellent.
JB: 'I just winged that one, did it in
three days, I didn't even know any of the people recording it with me.'
TZ: Did you ever have any desire
to follow up your hidden tribute track to your late brother (murdered in 1995)
on 'Volume 8'? I found that to be a powerful moment.
FB: 'I have a few other songs
written, it's like a catharsis. A lot of people who have lost people have come
up to me with tears in their eyes which is a great compliment. It was nothing
to do with heavy music. It was just about that issue. He was a huge fan, he
came to every New York show and was behind me all the time, we were very close,
so there is a certain heaviness to that song. It was just the worst, I don't
wish it on anyone.'
TZ: The level of material Anthrax
created at such a young age is almost genius compared to todays acts.
FB: 'Thank you. I always took
pride in the fact we tried different things. Some albums like 'State Of
Euphoria' were rushed, absolutely rushed. But we're fans and I don't want to
disappoint myself so the fans won't be disappointed, and that's what it's all
about'.
(Thanks fo Jensen of Adrenalin PR
for his assistance in co-ordinating the interview)