THE BIRCH HILL
OLD BRIDGE, NJ 01.02.02
For millions of metalheads the word anthrax illicits a completely different response than that of the general populace. Originally formed in 1981, Anthrax is one of a handful of American metal bands to have not only survived the 80s but thrived in the 90s and, as evidenced by the show we saw Saturday, theyre still kicking ass in 2002.
Giving credit where credit is due, these guys were pioneers and innovators. Picking up where the English metal invasion left off, they are as responsible for the advent of speed and thrash metal as Metallica or Megadeth ever were. In addition (for better or worse) they helped pave the way for metal/rap fusion.
We sat down for a few minutes with bass player Frank Bello before their January 2nd show at The Birch Hill.
SHOW & TELL: The next album is scheduled for a March release. I found 2 working titles for it, but no definitive title for it. Have you guys settled on an actual title for it?
FRANK: The new working title is Taking the Music Back, thats just the working title right now. Were literally working on that right now. Just see what the vibe is like when we hear all the songs together. Right now thats what were working with.
S&T: What can fans expect in on this one in terms?
FRANK: Riffs. I always say with Anthrax when theres some good arguing going on in the music process or in the writing process its going to be a heavy record, an angry record. And thats what happened with this. Some good stuff, a lot of anger in this. We got screwed over a few million times in this band, especially this last couple of years thing going so now were ready with some big choruses and just a lot of riffs. Some things are really fun to play, like really hard to play; its challenging so I think people who have been Anthrax fans for years will not expect this, which is fun.
S&T: Do you think you guys get enough credit for sort of paving the way for the metal rap fusion thing or is that something you are actually trying to distance yourself from?
FRANK: You know what, its so, the whole rap thing is so played out right now, we did it, it was done then, all these kids made a lot of money off of it. Its boring, I cant listen to it, its stagnant. Um, nobody creates anything new, theres no creativity going on now. So, for me, when I hear all this rap stuff, even the newer bands and I could mention like 4 of them right now, I just laugh at them cause theyre getting over its just more of the same. Theres no creativity anymore. Its just try different shit.
Its just boring. As far as us taking credit I couldnt give a shit. Ya know what, we just do what we always did and I dont need credit and thats the bottom line, I dont need credit. Who cares. We do what we do, were innovators and whatever, we sound like we have big heads - we dont. The bottom line is we put out good music. Thats all we do.
We asked Frank 12 Questions... When he finished he picked a mini etch-a-sketch from the Show and Tell prize bag and played with it for the next few minutes. Somewhere along the way he remembered Yknow, I was never really good at this. Of course that didnt stop him from playing with it. After all, theres an etch-a-sketch artist in all of us.
Click here to read 12 Questions with Frankie Bello.
