Author Topic: This is the BRUTAL TRUTH
Embittered Instigator
Cult Member
Member # 146
posted January 31, 2002 10:01 PM
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Danny Lilker is a sophisticated world traveler. He has a keen appreciation for classical music. He is literate, educated and eloquent, as one would expect given that his mother writes poems, one of which was recently published in The New York Times.
By Morgan Pehme
He enjoys an Edenic marriage with his beautiful wife. Oh yeah. And he's also one of the founders of the notorious 80s heavy metal mega-band Anthrax.
"I can't help it if people pigeonhole me," elucidates Lilker, who, in addition to having been in Anthrax, has been an integral member of a number of death, black, thrash and grindcore metal bands like Nuclear Assault, Brutal Truth, Exit-13, Hemlock and The Ravenous. Lilker reasons that the presumptuousness with which certain individuals tend often to judge both him and his art is owing to their ignorance and close-mindedness in regard to the nature of his musical genre of choice. "Others pander to trends," laments Lilker. "I don't."
Lilker, 37, was born and raised in Bayside at 26 Ave. and 213 St. "I grew up in a regular middle class family and went to all the local schools like PS 41, JHS 158 and Bayside High. I was just like any other kid around here. No one saw me spray painting pentagrams around here when I was growing up," reminisces Lilker.
Yet it was within the confines of Bayside High School that the phenomenon called Anthrax, which would spread to infect a generation of suburban youths attracted by heavy metal's provocative, rebellious lyrics, frantic beats and visceral instrumentation, was created. Lilker details the craze's genesis: "It was hygiene class in Bayside High School around 1980, before the band formed. We were learning about different diseases as part of the health curriculum and all of a sudden 'anthrax' magically appeared on the blackboard and I said, 'Wow, that would be a killer name for a band.'"
Indeed it was. Lilker, a bassist, together with fellow Bayside resident, guitarist Scott Ian Rosenfeld who later shed the appellation Rosenfeld later assembled an ensemble of friends and began touring as Anthrax, playing whatever gigs they could finagle. Their persistence soon yielded dividends and the band secured a record contract with Megaforce Records. However, just before the release of the band's first album, "Fistful of Metal," tension within the group reached a boiling point and Lilker was compelled to suffer the consequences. "I was ejected by the band," recounts Lilker. "The lead vocalist at the time, Neil Turbin, told the other guys, 'It's him or me,' because for one thing I was taller than him and he was somewhat of an egotist, and also because he was very neurotic and uptight with no sense of humor." And Lilker's reaction to being expelled from the band he named and helped spawn? "I was a little nonplussed."
His forced exodus from the band would become a source of frustration on Lilker's part to receive recognition for his work. On future albums, Anthrax would appropriate leftover riffs from Lilker's work, only giving him credit for his creative input after sustained prodding by the bassist. Much more recently, as Anthrax has experienced a resurgence of late owing to the dubious distinction of their namesake being also that of the biochemical agent used by malefactors to terrorize the U.S., Lilker has been denied his rightful place in the VH-1 "Behind The Music" special, due out soon, which will celebrate the band's history. I felt like I was glossed over," says Lilker, describing his initial reaction to the snub. "Scott Ian told me when I e-mailed him that VH-1 is in charge of the whole thing and they decide who is on the show and that they had to narrow it down because they said they have only have 44 minutes when factoring in commercials. But I find it hard to believe that the band could not influence the show's producer to include a founding member, who wrote most of the first record."
Despite being misused, Lilker is largely unwilling to harbor ill will towards either VH-1 or Anthrax. In fact, he is still in a separate band with Ian and Anthrax's drummer Charlie Benante called Stormtroopers of Death, or S.O.D. Though they have no dates currently scheduled to play, Lilker guarantees that S.O.D. will be back with another album, as they are under contract with the German-label Nuclear Blast to issue one more.
Though Lilker missed out on the spoils accrued by Anthrax in its heyday, he has no regrets. Playing the "extreme music" which is the song of his soul, Lilker has toured the world - exploring such exotic locales as Croatia, New Zealand, and Japan alongside the most celebrated artists of his beloved musical genre; bands like Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. Nowadays, he has largely set aside the grueling demands of the road to embrace domesticity. He is currently one of the managers of Duane Reade pharmacy in his native Bayside, where he lives with his wife, Heather, whom he met two years ago at the March Metal Meltdown.
Scott Ian quote:
quote:
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They talked to people that had insight on the different
stages of our story. Jon Zazula, Kirk Hammett, Chuck D, Janet Kleinbaum, Steve Ralbovsky, Lonn Friend, our parents, and band members past and
present. Except for Danny Lilker. We asked them repeatedly to talk to him but they felt it wasn't necessary and that he was well represented. There's been plenty of rhetoric on the net about the supposed "Lilker conspiracy".
It's all bullshit.
If people want to talk shit in chat rooms that's fine. I don't go to chat rooms. I have a life.
I spoke to Danny throughout this whole thing and it's fine between us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Danny Lilker quote from article:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Scott Ian told me when I e-mailed him that VH-1 is in charge of the whole thing and they decide who is on the show and that they had to narrow it down because they said they have only have 44 minutes when factoring in commercials. But I find it hard to believe that the band could not influence the show's producer to include a founding member, who wrote most of the first record."
Embittered Instigator
Cult Member
Member # 146
posted January 31, 2002 10:01 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Danny Lilker is a sophisticated world traveler. He has a keen appreciation for classical music. He is literate, educated and eloquent, as one would expect given that his mother writes poems, one of which was recently published in The New York Times.
By Morgan Pehme
He enjoys an Edenic marriage with his beautiful wife. Oh yeah. And he's also one of the founders of the notorious 80s heavy metal mega-band Anthrax.
"I can't help it if people pigeonhole me," elucidates Lilker, who, in addition to having been in Anthrax, has been an integral member of a number of death, black, thrash and grindcore metal bands like Nuclear Assault, Brutal Truth, Exit-13, Hemlock and The Ravenous. Lilker reasons that the presumptuousness with which certain individuals tend often to judge both him and his art is owing to their ignorance and close-mindedness in regard to the nature of his musical genre of choice. "Others pander to trends," laments Lilker. "I don't."
Lilker, 37, was born and raised in Bayside at 26 Ave. and 213 St. "I grew up in a regular middle class family and went to all the local schools like PS 41, JHS 158 and Bayside High. I was just like any other kid around here. No one saw me spray painting pentagrams around here when I was growing up," reminisces Lilker.
Yet it was within the confines of Bayside High School that the phenomenon called Anthrax, which would spread to infect a generation of suburban youths attracted by heavy metal's provocative, rebellious lyrics, frantic beats and visceral instrumentation, was created. Lilker details the craze's genesis: "It was hygiene class in Bayside High School around 1980, before the band formed. We were learning about different diseases as part of the health curriculum and all of a sudden 'anthrax' magically appeared on the blackboard and I said, 'Wow, that would be a killer name for a band.'"
Indeed it was. Lilker, a bassist, together with fellow Bayside resident, guitarist Scott Ian Rosenfeld who later shed the appellation Rosenfeld later assembled an ensemble of friends and began touring as Anthrax, playing whatever gigs they could finagle. Their persistence soon yielded dividends and the band secured a record contract with Megaforce Records. However, just before the release of the band's first album, "Fistful of Metal," tension within the group reached a boiling point and Lilker was compelled to suffer the consequences. "I was ejected by the band," recounts Lilker. "The lead vocalist at the time, Neil Turbin, told the other guys, 'It's him or me,' because for one thing I was taller than him and he was somewhat of an egotist, and also because he was very neurotic and uptight with no sense of humor." And Lilker's reaction to being expelled from the band he named and helped spawn? "I was a little nonplussed."
His forced exodus from the band would become a source of frustration on Lilker's part to receive recognition for his work. On future albums, Anthrax would appropriate leftover riffs from Lilker's work, only giving him credit for his creative input after sustained prodding by the bassist. Much more recently, as Anthrax has experienced a resurgence of late owing to the dubious distinction of their namesake being also that of the biochemical agent used by malefactors to terrorize the U.S., Lilker has been denied his rightful place in the VH-1 "Behind The Music" special, due out soon, which will celebrate the band's history. I felt like I was glossed over," says Lilker, describing his initial reaction to the snub. "Scott Ian told me when I e-mailed him that VH-1 is in charge of the whole thing and they decide who is on the show and that they had to narrow it down because they said they have only have 44 minutes when factoring in commercials. But I find it hard to believe that the band could not influence the show's producer to include a founding member, who wrote most of the first record."
Despite being misused, Lilker is largely unwilling to harbor ill will towards either VH-1 or Anthrax. In fact, he is still in a separate band with Ian and Anthrax's drummer Charlie Benante called Stormtroopers of Death, or S.O.D. Though they have no dates currently scheduled to play, Lilker guarantees that S.O.D. will be back with another album, as they are under contract with the German-label Nuclear Blast to issue one more.
Though Lilker missed out on the spoils accrued by Anthrax in its heyday, he has no regrets. Playing the "extreme music" which is the song of his soul, Lilker has toured the world - exploring such exotic locales as Croatia, New Zealand, and Japan alongside the most celebrated artists of his beloved musical genre; bands like Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. Nowadays, he has largely set aside the grueling demands of the road to embrace domesticity. He is currently one of the managers of Duane Reade pharmacy in his native Bayside, where he lives with his wife, Heather, whom he met two years ago at the March Metal Meltdown.
Scott Ian quote:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They talked to people that had insight on the different
stages of our story. Jon Zazula, Kirk Hammett, Chuck D, Janet Kleinbaum, Steve Ralbovsky, Lonn Friend, our parents, and band members past and
present. Except for Danny Lilker. We asked them repeatedly to talk to him but they felt it wasn't necessary and that he was well represented. There's been plenty of rhetoric on the net about the supposed "Lilker conspiracy".
It's all bullshit.
If people want to talk shit in chat rooms that's fine. I don't go to chat rooms. I have a life.
I spoke to Danny throughout this whole thing and it's fine between us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Danny Lilker quote from article:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Scott Ian told me when I e-mailed him that VH-1 is in charge of the whole thing and they decide who is on the show and that they had to narrow it down because they said they have only have 44 minutes when factoring in commercials. But I find it hard to believe that the band could not influence the show's producer to include a founding member, who wrote most of the first record."
