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Anthrax continues to reach milestones
By John Benson
Bucket lists aren’t just for people. Take for instance influential thrash-metal act Anthrax, which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary with a remarkable feat.
The moment took place late last month when the band made its debut on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” While bassist Frank Bello said appearing on the NBC-TV show was a blast, it was getting to meet fellow guest Robert De Niro that blew their minds.
“We grew up in New York City, so obviously we’re diehard De Niro fans,” said Bello, calling from his Big Apple home. “That was a very big night for us. The show was great, but the cherry on top was Robert De Niro could not have been a cooler person.
“He took his time, and it was really special. In 35 years, that’s definitely one of my highlights.”
Bello said meeting the iconic film star ranked right along with Anthrax performing at Yankee Stadium as part of the Big Four shows featuring Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. The latter milestone took place five years ago, which marked a renaissance of interest in the Scott Ian-led outfit that continues today.
Dedicated fans have been around since Anthrax’s 1985 breakthrough release, “Spreading the Disease,” and its 1991 landmark collaboration with rap-act Public Enemy on its single “Bring the Noise,” but Bello said the best thing about the group’s live concerts today is they have become a multigenerational affair.
Anthrax is about to begin another stateside run with Slayer. The bill kicks off with a Friday show at the Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in Cleveland.
We were going to do headliner stuff, but Slayer called and said let’s do this tour together,” Bello said. “It makes it a lot easier when you know you’re going to have a good time. Not only will tickets do well – and from what I hear they’re doing really well on this tour – but it’s fun to have your friends hanging out during the days and after the shows.”
He added there’s extra excitement among Anthrax members touring the group’s recently released 11th studio effort, “For All Kings,” which includes newest single “Monster at the End.”
The song’s innovative stop-motion video is already creating a buzz for its nod to comics and horror movies.
As for “For All Kings,” the album is the follow-up to 2011’s “Worship Music.” Bello said though the band doesn’t record as often as it did in the past, it does take a quality-over-quantity approach.
“For the amount of time we tour, the last thing anybody wants to do in this band is putting out something that’s not ready,” Bello said. “The songs we write, we take our time. We have to have that fire in the belly. We’re just fans writing songs.”
Speaking of being fans: If Bello had to characterize Anthrax as a De Niro flick, what movie fits?
“We’re the ‘Raging Bull’ because the line of the movie is: ‘Never went down. Never went down,’” Bello said. “That’s always been our motto. We take a punch, and we keep coming at you.”