Rockezine.com interview with Anthrax on Oct 28, 2002

with Frank Bello, Charlie Benante & Rob Caggiano on Oct 28, 2002


		Straight from the tour bus into the Hard Rock Café for a late hamburger breakfast and interviews with the Dutch metal press. Bassist Frank Bello doesn’t seem to be bothered. He talks about the new album and the tour enthusiastically while drummer Charlie Benante is a little reserved and maybe even a bit uncomfortable. The first couple of questions he answers as short as possible. But when he starts talking about the new album he can’t help becoming just as eager as his bassist. Newcomer Rob Caggiano (guitar) is a bit quieter. Which is understandable.
		Before the interview we were given the chance to hear a couple of tracks from the new album. The record company had made a mistake by sending an unmastered mix. That pissed the band off a little but when the right version blasted out the speakers they eased up.
		As the band’s playing the Heineken Music Hall tonight there’s no need to look for a subject to start off.
		Frank: I’m gonna get some Heineken. The last time I got here I brought some Heineken home, a couple of cases. They give you a really hard time at customs but in the end it pays. So I’m hoping to do it again today because tomorrow is the last show.
		As the band is touring as a support there’s not much time to play the new material live.
The last time I got here I brought some Heineken home, a couple of cases.		Frank: I can’t wait to play some new songs. Tonight we’re going to play one new song. We’ve got 45 or 50 minutes or whatever it is. We have a whole catalogue of Anthrax songs we have to play. Or they’ll say: ‘What happened to that song?’ You can’t get away with it. We try one song and it usually comes over really well. We want to play more. I can’t wait to play more but we have to… you know. When the album comes out we’ll play a lot more. And with the older songs, so it’s gonna be good. The song we’re gonna play is called “Superhero”. Usually, because it’s such a big chorus, people catch on right away. At the first chorus you see people with their hands in the air, which is great because you know it works. It’s gonna be a big song, touch wood. We only have time for one new song so we’ll see what happens.
		Touring with Motörhead can be recommended.
		Frank: It’s fantastic. They couldn’t be a cooler band. Because they give us anything we want. We go out together after the shows; we get loaded after the shows. We were saying the other night; we wished this was longer. This tour, with us on the tour because we get along so well. Everybody is like friends. They were in our dressing room last night, telling jokes and laughing our asses off. I just wish it was longer because it’s just like a family. Within two weeks, this is two and a half weeks now, we became like a family. Lemmy rocks. He’s a legend. When you look at him… he inspired me. Phil’s one of the best guitar players around and he’s underrated. Mickey is great drummer. It’s a great, tight band. That’s what I learned from them. You don’t think about it like that when they play, but when you stand at the side of the stage: good player, good player, good player all really good players. Including Lemmy. It just inspires me because Lemmy’s kept it going. I mean, we’re not a new band either but it inspires me. Charlie: It’s very loud! They’re a very loud band. Rob: It’s a blast!
		Rob Caggiano likes playing in Europe. Rob: I love it out here. I think, in general, the people out here are more passionate about music. They seem to be much more into it.
		Although the tour with Motörhead is great, the upcoming album We’ve Come For You All is of course the band’s main concern at the moment.
		Frank: I hope people will enjoy this record. We really took the songs apart and we put them back together the way we feel comfortable with them. Our vision is: what we like, they’ll like. So hopefully it’ll catch on. We want to have a taste of everything. This is our third listening party and it’s been nothing but positive. Everybody’s happy. We gave a taste of everything for everybody, every fan. Some heavy stuff, riffing and melody. That’s what Anthrax has been about. Charlie: We wanted to record the best album that we possibly could. We took some time off for the sole reason that we just didn’t want to put the music out. Music in general for me hasn’t been the best. And then, you know, came the time I thought hey we’re ready to do this. And he (Rob) came into the band and that gave us a nice little shot of adrenalin. Rob: He (Charlie) writes most of the music. The riffs, guitar parts, the textures and a lot of the leads. There’s a lot of guitar on the record. Charlie: There are some great leads on the record. It’s him (Rob) and Dimebag and… who else is on the record? Rob: Roger Daltery is on the record, he sings a song. Charlie: I like to say there’s more variety. I mean it’s not one-dimensional, like when you put on a metal album and it’s all the same.
		All of the people present at the listening session who heard the record for the first time were amazed by the drum sound. Especially the natural sound of the bass drums.
...Joey’s on the black list. That’s it...		Charlie: Why is everybody… There’s no tap dancing on the record! Or a typewriter, you know. We had an idea in mind where we wanted to go, what type of sound. We didn’t want it to be small. We wanted a nice, big, fat sound and we just worked on that.
		Although it is finished the album will not be released until February/March 2003.
		Charlie: When we release it Europe and Japan, in America they will sell imports and we don’t want our fans to pay a lot of money. That’s not fair. We have some problems with the record company but it will be taken care of.
		Through time Anthrax has seen some line-up changes.
Our vision is: what we like, they’ll like.		Frank: Well here’s what we did with Joey (former singer): we invited him with John (current singer) to tour in America with John doing half the shows and Joey doing the other half. Joey, the day the tour started, he backed out. So Joey’s on the black list. That’s it. He fucked us over, he fucked his fans over. After that, he burned his bridges; you know what I mean?
		Anthrax has been around for a while now and has had different ‘eras’.
		Charlie: There are different elements… of course the first thing that we did was Fist Full Of Metal. Then it was all new and exciting. You know, I was young and just out of high school. And then the next period for me was Among The Living when it was starting to get… you know, like Wow! We’re starting to be a big band. I remember a little bit of that (grins). And when John (Bush, singer) came in the band… that was good, that was really good. It felt like we finished one chapter of Anthrax and then went to another one. And The Sound Of White Noise to me was like, some of the best stuff. And even now. Every artist says: ‘O the new record is the greatest thing we ever did’ but it would be bullshit if I didn’t. Of course I could sit here all day and say it’s the greatest record since Sergeant Pepper but it’s not. It’s a great record but you can’t compare it to something like that but compared to what we’ve done…
		It hasn’t been plain sailing all the way for Anthrax. And not just because of internal struggles.
		Charlie: I’ve felt that since we did Stomp… We’ve been fighting ever since that record. Because of record companies. Here’s a fucked up thing: record companies that want to sign the band say ‘We need to see what the band has sold’ you know, what the last two records did. That’s a stupid fucking question because we had a label and two months into that record the label went dead. So there are no records out there.
There’s no tap dancing on the record!		Anthrax have their own way of writing songs. Frank: The writing process went the usual way. We guys get together in a room. Fight and we argue and then the best songs come out. We argue constantly about it. You know. “No, no, no! Yeah, yeah, yeah!” At the end of the day you’ve got a great record and everybody’s happy.
Check the live review section for a report on the Anthrax/Motörhead gig in Amsterdam. (Walter de Korver)