On The Record: Frank Bello on Anthrax, pranks and music therapy

Frank Bello, from the band Anthrax, discusses his recent book and the therapeutic power of music. He talks about his childhood, his love for KISS, and how music helped him through tough times. He also mentions his upcoming projects, including a new Anthrax album and a solo EP. Bello emphasizes the importance of staying true to oneself in the music industry and offers advice to young bands. He also talks about his favorite gear and a new pedal he collaborated on with Tech 21. Bello reflects on the personal meaning behind the hidden track "Anthony" on Anthrax's album Volume 8. Hello everybody and welcome to the Ultimate Guitar interview with the great Frank Bello. Frank, thanks for joining us today. Hi Justin, how are you man? Thanks for having me from where you are to where I am. I'm at my basement in New York, in Westchester, New York, and I realized I have to clean. It looks like you got a bit of clutter there, so that's great. I'm a clutter guy, and you know what, I just recently brought most of my guitars in my house, a lot of my guitars. I need to, my wife came down here and she goes, no, this is my shameless promotion kind of vibe here. You know, you can see the record, the EP, the Tech 21 stuff, the pedal. This was a selfless promotion, shameless promotion, but yeah, I have to, this is this week's project for sure. I need to clean up a little bit, sorry. Yeah, we'll get into all that stuff behind you because you've got a lot going on this year. What does the rest of 2020-23 have, I had to think of what year it was just now. So I ordered the book that you have behind you. Fantastic read, I'm really enjoying it. You're a fantastic writer. Thank you, and my co-writer Joe McIver, I have to give him props because without him and a bottle of vodka right where I'm sitting right here. I don't think I would have gotten through that book because it brought up a lot of stuff. And the great feedback and the great reviews we've had and the sales, thankfully, we're getting is, I don't think people, they know it's not just your obligatory rock and roll book. It's really what I wanted to come from, I wanted to connect with people and stuff I've been through. And apparently the feedback we're getting and the reviews and the great emails and letters and comments I'm getting, people are really connecting because my trials and tribulations I had through my life, my death of my brother, abandonment of my dad, he took off when I was 10 years old. People are really connecting with that and really digging in on the essence of the book, which is really, it's about family. I don't know, you push down enough times in your life, you got to pick yourself up and brush off. And the only way I knew how is just to keep going forward. And I think a lot of people are connecting with that because a lot of people get shit on that. You don't like getting shit on, you got to rise up and move on. And I guess this book is helping people do that, which is great for me to hear. Yeah, it's a great, it's a book that advocates music as a therapeutic outlet. And I think that's the great, great takeaway that I've taken away so far. I'm not through the whole thing yet, but. Absolutely. Yeah. What else would we be without music? The outlet, I look at it this way, I equate it like this. What would we be without music? I know me growing up when the hurt of my dad taking off and having, you know, being abandoned and having no money because he took off. My mother didn't have a job and going on welfare, all that stuff. The only thing that filled that void, that hole that I felt, that sorrow, whatever you want to call it, angst, all in one, one big ball in your gut. The only one thing that was a constant soothing thing for me was music. It was my outlet. It was the thing that made me feel better. And look, I'm very, very grateful for music and very grateful for the living I've made and the career I've had. I'm very grateful for that. I know how lucky I am. I don't take that for granted. But music for me is the spice of life. It really is. It still is to this day. I'm writing, just before we started to talk, dude, I'm writing some stuff that I think is great. And it made me, you know, I'm just in a good mood. I don't know how to explain it. It just gets me to where I need to be. It's like taking a pill, a happy pill. I pick up a guitar, somehow, or I just put my headphones on, somehow that makes the chemicals in my brain soothe out, man. And I'm still thankful for it, you know. You know, I was surprised to learn, I guess I wasn't super surprised to learn in the book, that KISS had a very heavy influence on you, as I'm just so shocked in all the interviews I've done over the years, how KISS is this recurring thing that comes up as this just driving force, man. They really shook the earth. What was it about KISS that really drew you in and made you a fan of music? Well, you know, I'm really honest with this. In the book, too, I just say it straight out. Look, coming from where I came from, I needed heroes. When your dad takes off and you're looking for somebody to look up to or something to look up to, you're searching. That's what happens when you're a kid. You're like, all right, how could I emulate that? When I saw KISS, I said, it's over. That's what I want to do. This is it for me. I'm in, all in. I'm all in. I knew I had a goal. That was my goal in life. I want to get on stage and do that. I want to play these amazing songs, something like it. I want to do my version. But that was my goal, and it really gave me a serious focus about where I wanted to go at a young age. Because all I could think about, I have to finish school, and I have to get onto a stage. I have to learn this craft, whatever you want to call it. I just love it. That's why I'm a proponent of making people and younger kids, older people, play. Just try an instrument. If you play four notes, two notes, I don't care what it is. Just get that feeling. I want you to have the same high. I put that forward in the book also. I think it's so important. Being that we're a guitar-centric publication, you're a bass player. Why did you land on bass? What was it about that instrument or those frequencies that really spoke to you? Well, funny enough, 12, 13 years old when I was playing, I started to play. I started on rhythm guitar like a lot of people do. A lot of bass players have actually started on guitar. My drummer, Charlie Benanti in Anthrax, you guys probably know him. We grew up together. We're related. We grew up in the same house together. We jammed. We jammed. I would watch what he does. He's always a great drummer, and he played guitar also. I started to jam with him, guitar, and learning all that stuff. I was playing the bass parts on guitar. It was he who said to me, you're playing the bass parts again. I just heard that first. Again, the EP I have and all the stuff I write, the stuff I write for Anthrax is on guitar. There's nothing better than just jamming on a guitar, just sitting in an acoustic. I just love both. I hear bass first. That just happens. I think they're a great combination, but I love the bass. Plus, it's two less strings, so it's easy. No, but honestly, it's just a lot of fun. I enjoy writing with a guitar. I rarely write with a bass. I write my bass lines with a bass or Anthrax and stuff like that, but guitar and music, I write with a guitar. I still love guitar. Is that where the songwriting process starts for you? Does it start on guitar or bass? Are you looking for that rhythm to build upon when you're writing, either with Anthrax or with your solo project? That's a great question because sometimes it's a melody. I write a lot of Anthrax melodies, and it just happens to work like that. You hear a melody, and it's like, this part I can just chunk on something on the bottom of this melody because the melody is so strong. It doesn't need a big thing on the bottom of it because the melody is so strong, and vice versa. Sometimes a great riff will come up, and it's like, all right, this melody will go right over that. It's a one-two punch. It really works back and forth. That's the way it works with me. It's funny enough. I bring my phone everywhere. For Anthrax, the other day, we were recording a new Anthrax record and writing some lyrics and melodies. I had this song. I was playing the song in my head, the Anthrax song, and all of a sudden the melody came up. I grabbed the phone. It just comes to you like that. Yeah, but it's hand-in-hand with writing. You mentioned the new Anthrax record, so I've got to ask, where are you guys at in the tracking or recording or writing process as far as that record goes? We're recording. Guitars, drums. I'm actually recording my bass next month. When Anthrax does these days, we do a bunch of songs together, like a bulk of songs. I think we have eight or nine right now, and we'll keep writing what we're doing. I think that's important. That's why we did the last record, and it came out the way we wanted it to. We have a good bulk of songs right now that we know already, but we still want to have a couple more. That's the way we go. We'll digest these for a while. I'll do my bass next month, then vocals will come on, and we'll have this locked up, and we'll start writing a few more songs. Then we'll choose what's best for the record and how the record goes. We're hoping, frankly, because it's been a while, man, next year. It's been almost eight years from the last record. I want to have a record out. We all do. I can't wait to play new songs, all this stuff. I want to go on tour, but it's got to be right. Did you guys try to put stuff together during the pandemic as far as sending files back and forth, or is that just not how Amtrak works? Do you guys like to be in the studio together when you're writing and recording? We actually got together periodically, but during the pandemic when everything was locked down, I live in New York. We were really locked down. It was really ridiculous when it first started, and everybody's doing that jamming over the Internet. That's great. I think that satisfied a lot of people. I thought that was great. That was fun. With Amtrak, the three of us have to be in a room and looking at each other and vibing. It's spontaneous, and it's locked in. You know it. You do it like this, and I love this, but the latency, there's a second delay. Imagine just jamming like that. It's like, would you play there? It stops the vibe, and all of a sudden, you're taking apart the song for no reason. It's like, we have to do it. We have to get together. That's what we did. I think it was a smart move, because we won't put out anything we don't live, and it's got to be right. It's got to be exactly the record that we're coming out with. That's who we are. I've always felt that your music is very authentic and very genuine, and it comes from a very real place. I think that's what connects with people, especially myself. You guys have been playing together for 40 years. Yeah, we should talk. It's funny you say that, Nick. I thought about that when you see the number 40, and we did this whole 40th anniversary thing, and it's great. Great celebration, but as you get older, as a musician in this world, and you see how it all changes. They took the record company business away from us, where you have to stay on the road to make a living to feed our families. That's just the way it is. It's black and white in front of your face. Those checks aren't coming in the way they used to, because there is no record company business. That's just the way it is. You stay on the road, and no matter how old you get, no matter how much your back hurts, and I love playing, so it doesn't matter to me. I'm a yoga guy. I try to keep my ass in shape and all that stuff, but it is harder than any other time that we've had. I feel bad for the younger bands coming up today, because I want to pass the torch, and I want to see younger bands come up and write a great record and be that next great rock or metal thing. It's so much harder now, but the one thing they have is the internet, so that's the balance. Use it as much as you can. I tell all the young players like that. You've got to use it, man. That's what's given to you. We didn't have any of that when we were younger. We just stayed on the road and played every corner in the world that we could. Are there some newer bands out there that you feel are capable of carrying that flag forward as far as thrash music goes? There's a lot. There's a lot going on out there, but for me, I just want to hear somebody step out and be themselves. You know what I mean? Look, I like a band like Turnstile. I love that. It's heavy, and it's raw. I just like what they're doing. It's straight here. Those guys are going to be headlining everywhere soon, right? You know what I mean? I look forward to stuff like that. That's what makes me say, yeah, all right, we're going to be okay. In terms of band dynamics, as we mentioned, 40 years together in buses and vans, man. Brothers fight. There's always going to be disagreements and artistic differences. How have you guys learned to work through that, and what advice can you give younger bands that are maybe struggling with some of that stuff? That's a great question. Are you in a band? I'm not. Well, I was going to use some of your experience. That's why. For the younger people who are in a band or are starting a band, just be prepared. Look, I've seen Scott Ian, Charlie Benanti, all the guys in my band, Joey Belladonna, more than I've seen in my family, in my life. Think about that. You've got to realize it's that. You learn to have respect. There's no time for ego. What happens with ego, it gets you out of the band, and the band doesn't work, and you want to get out, and you want this guy out, and get rid of your ego. First off, it's not about you. It's about the band. It's about music. Solid advice. You mentioned you'll be recording your tracks next month. Do you have a pretty solid idea of what you're going to be using for gear in there? Have you changed it up in the last eight years since the last record? I'm loyal to a fault, Justin. My Harkey LH1000s haven't done anything wrong to me. My pedal, I don't know if we're going to talk about this. I can't show it. I have the prototype here, but I'm not sure if my favorite company, Tech 21, we have a pedal coming out within the next month or two. It's called the Street Driver 48. I had to look at it just to make sure it was there. Street Driver 48. They're calling it, it's like a SansAmp on steroids, which is the ultimate compliment because we went deep. I've been very fortunate in my career for people really liking the sound of my bass that comes through with the Anthrax record, and I'm very proud of that, and I'm very thankful for that. I don't record until I hear that. I don't even play live until I hear that sound. They had to cut through Charlie Benanti's drums, his kick drums specifically, and Scott Ian's thick guitar playing. Do you know the bass player Tom Peterson from Cheap Trick, one of my favorite all-time bass players, and just a great dude. I love him. His bass sound is just incredible. Doug Pennick from King's X, another guy. Doug and I talk about this all the time, about Tom Peterson's bass sound. Tom played an 8- and 12-string bass that always had this piano top-end sound that just highlighted the bass. It just really cut through without losing the bottom. I still long for that sound, and I think we really did a good job because we went at it for this pedal. I think people that like my sound, when they hear this pedal, a lot of people have been asking me about and asking Tech 21 when this is coming out. It's coming out within the next two months. I'm really excited about it. How long has this been in production? I know a lot of times you have a prototype there. I would imagine that's not the first prototype that you've had and road-tested and sent back with notes. Exactly that, Justin. That's what happens. I was fortunate enough to be on the road when they sent me my first prototype. It was awesome. I can't wait for people to hear and play this thing because the people at Tech 21, who I trust, who I value their opinion of, they said this is going to be one of the best ones. For me to hear that from that company, man, yes, exactly what I wanted to do. They've done great stuff in the past, and I expect this pedal to be right on par, if not exceeding that. Thank you, Justin. I hope you like it. I wanted to touch on your solo EP. Is that pedal maybe making its first appearance on your solo EP? It will because it just came out. I have more stuff I'm writing right now for solo stuff. This is an EP called Then I'm Gone. It came out over a year ago. This was the answer to the book because what happened, I don't know if you guys know this, but when you write a book, especially about your family and your upbringing, it brings back a lot of emotion. What happens, you go through your family stuff. The stuff that I thought I went through therapy and got rid of and I compartmentalized and I put it away, well, when I started going through this stuff, the death of my brother, my brother was murdered when I was 23. It was a very traumatic thing in my life. When that came up again, it was right here in my face again when I was writing the book. The abandonment of my dad. All the trials and tribulations people go through. Everybody's got their story, but this came and it was right here. After I finished writing the book, it was still there. I said, all right, what is always my go-to when I'm in a bad way? Writing, music, my outlet. I picked up a guitar and started writing songs because there was a lot there, a lot. There you go with the EP. If you guys haven't checked it out, it's on iTunes. It's everywhere. Check it out on YouTube first if you like it. Again, if you like it, check it out and pick it up. It's a three-song EP. I'm really excited about it. People are digging it. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put out periodic songs. I think that's the way to do it nowadays instead of full-length records. Eventually, people ask me if I'm going to do touring and stuff. Eventually, when it's time, when it's right. I'm talking to some people about that now. Anthrax is my first priority, obviously. When the studio stuff goes away, then maybe I'll do some shows. We always expect solo EPs to take on a little more of a personal nature. As far as your work in Anthrax, is there a song that means the most to you personally? Anthrax wrote a record called Volume 8. I don't know if you know this or not, Justin. It's a hidden track on Volume 8 that a lot of people have found. Maybe they'll find it now again. We talked about this before the book stuff. My brother was murdered at 23 years old. Like everything else I do in my life, if something's going on, I have to pick up a guitar. The only way I had to go on tour in two weeks, three weeks, to go to play Japan, and I was really all over the place in my head. I didn't want to do anything. I just didn't understand how he could be taken and all that stuff. So I wrote this song for my brother. It's called Anthony. It's a hidden track on Volume 8 that the guys in my band, they were just great. I don't know the word for it. They really came to my aid there. They really did. And they said, look, we don't think it's an Anthrax song. And it's not an Anthrax song. It's a very personal song. It was a message to me, my brother Anthony, that I'll see you again, and giving hope and all that stuff. So many people have caught onto that song because it's a hidden track on Volume 8 and identified with their loss. Look, I'm glad that they did because this is very personal to me, and I just did it to heal myself. But so many people have written me, and it chokes me up now to this day because of the lyric content on it. It really gives you hope that when a close person in your life has passed, your dream is to see them again, and your belief. My belief is I'll see them again somewhere, whatever belief you have. But for my brother Anthony, I know I'll see him again, and that's my belief. And a lot of people have caught onto that, and it gives them hope. If you ask me to go back to it, that connects with me. There's a lot of great Anthrax songs that I've written with the guys. It was just a beautiful thing to let me have that song on that record. As much as we love to geek out about gear and tone and all that stuff, those are the songs that hit you the hardest. The lyrics are in the book. The great backstory behind the song, or the tragic backstory behind the song, there's some heavy stuff in that book, man. I salute you for making it through that because I know it wasn't easy. It's not a book. Look, I didn't see that coming. You know, Joe McIver and I have been talking for years about writing a book, about me getting my story out and all that stuff. He knew there was a lot of great stuff, and I called him up. When COVID started in this room, in this basement, I called him up. I said, Joe, it might be the time because I was in here. I was just writing songs. Nobody can go out, right? And that was it. We did it as you and I are talking right now, Justin. That's how we did it. And I had a bottle of vodka and, at times, a big thing of tissues right here from the stuff we were just talking about. And, yeah, and, again, I have to say this about the book. There's also a lot of great rock and roll stories in it, too. So if you like, you know, the stuff from Metallica, all that stuff, there's a lot of great, fun, off-touring stuff, the Big Four stuff, all that great stuff. So I don't want people to think it's just like this self-help thing, but it's also – it's both. It's got a little bit of everything. So that's what I'm very proud of. It's got a little bit of everything. Seeing you guys live is a lot of fun. You guys bring so much energy to the stage. And knowing from trying to learn some of your songs and failing miserably, a lot of your songs are very technically difficult to play. Are there some songs or some parts of songs that come up in the set list and you're thinking, oh, shit, this part's coming up. I really need to focus here. What are some of the most challenging parts to play live? You know, I used to think that about what got the time for the bass solo and all that stuff. But that song became so popular with the crowds and the fan base, I don't think about it anymore. I guess when you think too much, you know, the whole solo thing, like, oh, here comes the bass solo. Like, I'm not a bass solo guy. I'm just not. I like playing bass. I like making little songs within songs with my bass line. To go off the spotlight with a bass solo was never my thing. But what got the time, that was a Joe Jackson song. There was a bass solo in it. Okay, fine. I made my own bass solo. And it goes over great. And thank God, when I see the fans' faces when they see me play it, it makes it all, oh, my God. It's like, yeah, that's why I'm doing this. A song called Skeletons in the Closet. I say, all right, this is a challenge. But I'm at this age now where I'm looking for the challenge. But I don't think I'm any guru of bass. I just love bass. I love that bouncing off other musicians. Come on, man. My favorite guys are the bass players I jam with. J.D. from Black Label. You ever see the guy play by himself? He's incredible. Rob from Metallica. You ever see him play? And he's great with Metallica. You ever see him play without Metallica on his own? He's incredible. Dave Ellison. There's so many great players that I love bouncing off of. As a tab site, are you familiar with Ultimate Guitar? Do you use tabs? I don't use tabs. You know, it's funny because when I grew up in high school, I was in jazz class. I played stand-up. I was never allowed to play on the electric bass in my jazz class because I guess the teacher had her favorite player. So I did love the extension. I was learning the extension and all that stuff on the stand-up. If the teacher wasn't there, I would go to the electric and jam with my friend John Tempesta. You know John Tempesta from The Cult? He plays in The Cult, the drummer. Yeah, he's like a Rob Zombie. He's playing drums in The Cult right now. We went to high school together. We used to jam heavy metal songs. I used to grab the electric bass and used to play Iron Maiden. We used to play Judas Priest. We used to jam all this heavy metal stuff. My teacher would get in there early and she'd come in and she'd just throw us both out and put us in the principal. The side thing is I've always loved doing this and keeping this club going music. It makes us feel good. That's a pretty cool thing. One of the coolest things to me about this club is there's a lot of kids picking up the instrument and they're beginning their journey. To that kid who just got his first bass, what advice do you have for that kid? I show you at my clinics step-by-step, day-by-day, minute-by-minute. You have people from their 60s and you have kids in their teens coming to my clinics and I just do the same thing. Maybe the 60-year-old's just starting bass. Maybe he's intimidated. He's like this. I don't know what to do. There's nothing better than that. My first thing is I come up on stage here with me. I put the bass on them. It's that magic moment. I'll just take them through three notes. I'll just take them through the first... Right, fellow Signature? I had to do that. It's a shameless plug, but I just take them through it. That's sharp. I'll take them through three or four notes. Make them feel they're on a stage. They're in front of people and they're playing because I think people forget this is playing music. You're not working music. You have to play and feel good. When you play, you feel good. The look they have in their face from the 60... I've done it with both. 60-year-old dudes or girls coming on the stage and just getting that first step out. That first step is everything. Once you have a little confidence... Look, you go to the E. Then you go to the F. Taking that next step. All of a sudden, you're progressing. That's the step you need. Once you break the ice, man, then you're off and running. As long as you got your bass. Do you mind showing us some of the stuff you've been working on? Or do you want us to wait for the record for that? I can't. I can't play the riffs right now. That would be bad. I love that bass, by the way. Thank you. I'm really proud of this bass. The Charvel. Frank Bello's signature Charvel. If you haven't seen this yet, we worked on this bass for a while. This is a bass I've had in my head for about eight or nine years right now. My good friend, Mike Campesta, from Charvel and Jackson, we worked on this together. Everything I asked for, they gave me. I can't be happier with this thing. It's got a maple neck, poplar wood body, which I love. This is another shameless plug. Get ready for it. Frank Bello's signature EMG pickups. If you haven't checked them out, if you like powering my sound and what I do, we took a while to get these. They're finally ready. Check these out. A lot of people are digging these pickups. There's a lot of output, to say the least. Pretty much, this is a great combination bass. If you like precision and jazz, it's right in the middle. I've got to ask about one of the songs that really got me, that expanded my mind. You know us metal guys can get pretty entrenched in this is metal, this is not. We can't listen to that. Of course, Bring the Noise. What is your recollection of that recording process? Were you surprised by the success of that song? Well, it's funny how that happened. My guitar player, Scott Ian, came up with the idea. He got me into Public Enemy. If you know Public Enemy at all, it's heavy. It's just heavy. Chuck's voice alone is heavy. It's one of the deepest, fattest, amazing voices ever. I love it. He came up with the idea, we should do this cover song. I'm in. Of course. How do we do it? He came up with this riff. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, over the vocals. Yeah, okay. Chuck will go on top. We can collaborate. It was as easy as that. It just went, sent the music over to Chuck. Chuck loved it, made it work. For all the people back then, you've got to remember this. I don't know if people know this, but people say that wouldn't work. They say, it's not going to work. Let's collab. We can't bring this on tour because there's going to be problems in the audiences with fights and all that stuff. I'll tell you, that was one of the most successful tours we've done and fun tours. The crowds were insane. Those were insane. We did a video of it, for God's sake. That vibe just goes to show you anything can happen in music. That's the way I look at it. There should be no boundaries. There should be no boundaries in music. You've got to experiment and try different things always. Yeah, that was a groundbreaking song for me as being very young when that came out. That was really cool. I think you made an important point about playing music rather than working music. Being on tour is hard work. You guys always seem to have fun with it based on the times that I've seen you. You like to bust each other's balls too. What's the best prank you've played on each other through the years? On each other or on the bands? On other bands. Oh, my favorite prank of all time of all time for Anthrax has been a lot. Because we're ball busters. We're New York guys. We're sarcastic in a fun way. We don't want to hurt anybody. Ball busting to keep it fun. I guess that's all it... Because we've been together for so long, that's how to keep it fresh. Keeping each other on the toes and stuff. My favorite of all time was we were on tour. Was it Clash of the Titans? I think it was Slayer and Megadeth. Alice in Chains opening. This was on YouTube. You guys can look this up. Slayer was on, I think, their last song. I don't know if it was Angel of Death. You know when they set up the lights and all these big things up? We had a line come all the way down and we bought the biggest fucking fish we could. So the thing was with Slayer back then, you could never make them crack up on stage. It was very serious and stuff like that. Our thing was to bust balls and make them crack up. They were into the song. It's fucking brutal and I love Slayer. He's a great friend of mine. They were into it. Everybody's freaking ripping out and all that stuff. Tom's at the vocal mic, right? Right in front of Tom's mic, dude. Slowly this huge fish comes right in front. Like out of nowhere. It looks like out of the fucking sky, right? It just comes right in front of him. He looks and all of a sudden you see him. He looks to the side. He sees us. We're fucking crying. We're crying. We broke up. And Tom, if you know Tom, he's got the best personality in the world. He's hilarious. It was just one of those great pranks that worked really well and it was just exactly what you wanted to happen. It all worked out. It came out so slowly and deliberate. You know what I mean? It was so slow and deliberate the way they did it. Dude, it was right in front of him so you couldn't get away. It was so good. So yeah, that's still to this day my favorite prank. Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. It was fun. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. This went fast, dude. It's awesome. It did. I loved you guys forever. So thank you for having me. And New Anthrax next year. Psyched about it. Hope we can do this again, Justin. Absolutely. Me too. Thank you so much for taking the time and hopefully we'll see you on the road soon. Be safe out there. Enjoy your time in the studio. Thanks, brother. You take care of yourself.