Anthrax - Behind the Music Remastered

they thought they faced every setback and they had more to fear when the band's best friend and unofficial sixth member were shot dead on stage I'm just wondering there's a dude running behind me now and it could be the most innocent thing in the world but how can I not think about what happened to dad anthrax has survived tragedy ban changes and financial setbacks but they're back on top as part of the classic metal rock show that is the big four and products the story behind the music they've spent 30 years perfecting a frantic take-no-prisoners style in playing - the craziest mosh pits in the world of speed metal if you went to their show you are not coming out without a bruise or a bloody nose it was like a failed gig if you came out unscathed physically people would attend these concerts feeling part of something that was their own and outside the mainstream and it was their own badge of honor that they wore to be part of it we're all about love the story of anthrax is just throughout all the bullets get you staying together challenges have always been a part of life for Anthrax's founder Scott Ian born Scott Rosenfeld on December 31st 1963 his childhood in Queens New York was far from tranquil most of that time I spent with my brother in the basement of the house playing with our GI Joes like trying to just hide from the fighting you know that was going on upstairs I'm sure was tough to be in a family relationship that was on the rough side when Scott was 12 his parents decided to divorce with his mother suddenly working full-time Scott and his brother Jason were often left to fend for themselves at home tough on all of us his brother his father and me sucked like every divorce in times of trouble many kids in Scott's neighborhood turned to drugs Scott turned to music I bought him a western guitar it's the plain strumming guitar and he took to it like a fish in water I just knew I didn't want to be one of the burnouts i my whole focus was I'm going to get the hell out of Queens by the time Scott graduated high school in June of 1981 he had formed a heavy metal band he called it anthrax after an infectious bacterial disease he'd read about in biology class it just clicked it just sounded right and most people didn't even know what it meant I think that's what made it kind of cool too because people just didn't even know what it was but it sounded heavy-metal to appease his parents Scott enrolled in st. John's College in Queens in the fall of 81 but he was always more concerned with music than mathematics once the I started anthrax that's all I cared about all I did there for the few hours a day I was actually on that campus so I walked around with my Walkman listening to Iron Maiden Killers record he'd be sitting on a couch and depending on cat tiger and really it didn't look like he was doing anything he looked like a very space stout individual and I just lost it one day and I said what what are you doing I'm thinking about my music and I had no answer you know I mean what do you say to that both Scot was determined to carve his own path changing his name to Scottie and he spent a year playing small-time gigs with anthrax then in the winter of 82 we met a kindred soul in 22 year old drummer Charlie Benante another New York native Charlie had also had a difficult childhood his father had died when Charlie was just five leaving in the find refuge and music everything revolved around music with me everything I would probably eat to a beat you know they started playing with five years old I mean guys always been great on drums Charlie quickly found common ground with his older sister son Frankie Bella the two bonded over a band called kiss Oh get about kiss every place his posters kiss figures every place they dress up as kiss they idolize kiss kiss for us growing up not only an inspiration but just like I think that held us together because Charlie grew up without a dad I grew up without a dad there was something to look up to by the time he was in his teens Frankie had picked up a bass guitar but his jam sessions with Charlie often dissolved into slugfest they would always fight their argue I'll put it on you they didn't see everything same way they still don't I guess there was always this sibling rivalry you know I don't - I would always do anything you know anything for him you know in February 83 Scott Ian invited Charlie to join anthrax Frankie would follow him soon afterwards replacing original bassist Danny Lilker with Neil Turbin as their frontman the group made a demo tape and took it to Johnny Zazula owner of a fledgling metal label called Megaforce records Johnny Z had his finger on the pulse of what was going on in the world of heavy metal and you know in 80 to 83 and we're like this is the guy we got to be involved with this guy they were a bunch of obnoxious kids from Queens and they gave us a demo and we listened to it and it really wasn't that good and I said that to him instead of getting pissed off they said all right well we'll see you next week within days armed with another demo tape anthrax was back hounding Johnny Z and his wife Marcia it was International House of Pancakes and we knew he would go there for breakfast and we were so excited about this tape that we just went there and they follow us in for the restaurant and they gave us their final demo which was pretty good and we were kind of flipped out marching I that they had would go this far Johnny Z was impressed but he still refused to sign anthrax leaving the band to face its first big test coming up we were raging against what metal had become this watered-down poser glam crap that just hated we were heavy metal we were metal and later a sudden and devastating loss and I just couldn't even right now we're just like into the state of numbness for days when behind the music continues by the spring of 83 anthrax had spent months trying to convince heavy metal maven Johnny Zazula to sign them but johnny was preoccupied with another group a San Francisco band at the cutting edge of a new sonic style called speed metal I remember the first time Johnny ever played me Metallica it was just like holy you know just revolutionary you know just unbelievable we were like well we have to be a part of that holy Johnny ass Metallica - come to New York to record their first album but once they arrived money was so tight for the fledgling band but the guys from anthrax had to pitch in to keep them from starving we hit it off of them you know pretty much right from the start they gave us a refrigerator which is really nice yeah put our beer in there and they gave us a toaster oven which was really nice - we would buy cans of soup and just put it would take the wrapper off the soup and put the can in the toaster oven and you know 15 minutes later we came to have dinner they were literally one step away from being homeless we were all living in the same world so it was kind of like we would do anything for those guys at that point in time as Scott watched his new friends record their first album his determination to get Johnny Z to sign a Trax was greater than ever we do anything to get Johnny's approval because to us he was like the king desperate to impress Johnny Scott took $2,500 he'd saved from his Bar Mitzvah and financed the studio session record the song soldiers of metal believe it or not soldiers the medal was very good and it was the beginning of discussions for a full-length album in October of 83 Johnny Z finally signed the group two's indie label Megaforce records three months later anthrax released their debut album Fistful of metal basically I think anthrax came together in the studio recording Fistful of metal because their songs did not sound like that going it just something mysterious happened coming out and everything started to catch on by the winner of 84 anthrax was at the vanguard of a new musical movement sharing the speed metal spotlight with Metallica Megadeth and Slayer that speed was born within those bands that that call most machine gun frantic kind of presentation we were raging against what metal had become just watered-down poser glam crapped it out just hated we felt what we were doing was so pure in the line of what came before us from Black Sabbath to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden to Motorhead we were heavy metal we were metal shunned by mainstream rock fans anthrax built up a core of rabid followers young men who'd found the perfect outlet for adolescent angst when the youth caught on to that it just went they wanted to thrash and kids with oh absolutely not this kid got his ear bitten off in the pit loses ear and imminent threat show comes back an hour later and he's in the pit again this thing I heard was so it was an incredibly fine line between danger and exhilaration and people just had this rabid total devotion to the primacy of the music that they were feeling with their screaming live shows anthrax quickly built one of the heaviest reps in metal but unlike many rock bands they left their excesses on stage it's time for your medication mr. Brown you were always known as the straight man amongst all the bands at the at that time you know anthrax we're known as the clean living fun-loving guys but as anthrax prepared to record their second album the group underwent a radical transformation in january '85 frontman Neil Turbin was replaced by Joey Belladonna veteran rocker but a newcomer to the speed metal scene Joey came from a different world upstate New York when Joey first saw that first crowd God you just almost you know like bizzy's like oh my god I didn't know if it was something that was going to break out to a fighter or was it just the way it was I had no idea it was a little scary yeah there's no doubt next anthrax is infected by infighting and it was just all downhill to the point of where I said either we get any singer or I'm quitting the band and later a senseless staff tears at the van nothing has been the same since that now I'm angry anyway but um I really don't care about my when behind the music continues anthrax returned to Europe to open for their old friends of Metallica on a lengthy tour but after only a few concerts on September 27 1986 disaster struck at 6:15 a.m. Metallica's bus hit a patch of ice on a Swedish Highway and careened off the road bassist Cliff Burton was killed instantly and I just couldn't even like now we just went into this state of numbness for days just horrible numbness and then like waves of pain and just disbelief the tour was quickly cancelled but as they always had before anthrax carried on and in May 1987 they released what many hailed as their finest album among the living we made among the living and it was like everything we had been working towards from the start of his band and it broke us and by December of 87 we were playing to five 6000 people sold out what a great feeling that was the album pushed anthrax to new heights but what made then truly notorious was the single they released soon afterwards a new world premiere video a groundbreaking merger of metal and rap called I'm the man a different way love rap music and we recorded I'm the man and everyone did their parts me and Charlie and Frankie we all did our raps and we were having such a good time with it it was like that's it let's just do it and it was as simple as that my butt with your face don't wash the beat and you know what that song just took a life of its own DJ started playing it and people started requesting it and that's where we knew like wow we actually might have a hit metal audiences can be a pretty uptight unforgiving bunch of purists so the fact that anthrax did that was pretty gutsy they were really the first group to take a hard metal and combine it with rap the single quickly went gold giving the group a sonic showcase for their inventiveness and their antics one thing about anthrax is they love to have a good time they had a lot of fun in this record just exemplified that they would put on their hats and carry on and do somersaults on the stage and give you this great rap show that was very funny anthrax rarely lost their smiles on stage but out of the public eye nerves had begun to pray get up and sing while most of the band members say they rarely drank lead singer Joey Belladonna was the exception and by the summer of 88 his partying had begun to cause tension within the band it's just all downhill to the point of where I said either we get a new singer or I'm putting the back feast with a stark choice Joey agreed to cut down on his partying he would soon quit drinking altogether but by the time anthrax began working on their next album fighting had become a familiar sight finally at one studio session in the fall of 89 Frankie and Charlie's long sibling like rivalry broke out into the open Frankie was throwing chairs Charlie was throwing skateboards and me and Joey and Danny Spitz were just looking at each other like what do we do rolling loss give us stolen skateboards us you know and it was me I admit it you know I'm an angry I can't help that despite the blow ups the band seemed to be making progress but on January 24th 1990 they experienced another setback when most of their instruments and inspirations went up in smoke at their studio you got a call eight o'clock in the morning saying your place is on fire man get up here right away we all met here and fire engines all over the place and building was in flames like oh my God my life is in that building the fire department let us go in you know we were like one of those like one and I'm running to save your cat or something like oh my god my strat you know why everything was just gone I hated that time sucked it's really hard to come from that we didn't know what we would do right now we're thinking that it may have been caused by the rock groups stereo equipment he MoveOn again an anthrax Ebola next a rap rock revolution those shows will go down it's probably some of the hardest shows ever and later anthrax is overtaken by terror for the first time in 20 years the name of the band really wasn't ours anymore when behind the music continues by the winter of nineteen nine anthrax had already overcome a dizzying array of obstacles they began work on the album persistence of time and that's probably in a way was that the most painful record they ever made but you know it's also one of their best records hailed as masters of speed medal anthrax also continued to experiment with hip hop in the spring of 91 they approached Public Enemy about jointly remaking the rap group seminal single the 1988 hit bring the noise I kept say hey let's do this song we want to be able to do bring the noise and I didn't take them whole heart seriously when they took it on and they actually did it in the track and everything and made too much sense rakh remake became a hit an anthrax and Public Enemy decided to celebrate their unlikely partnership with a national tour each show ended with a joint performance and bring the noise those shows will go down that's probably some of the hardest shows ever we did bring the noise together it was shrapnel it was that moment that everybody finally realized you know I've never seen anything like this before but now I understand the tour and the tomb were groundbreaking fusion to art forms that laid a sonic foundation for future band made a statement it resonated that's what you do music for anthrax had never gotten to do respect for actually making that bold first step into the world of rap there's a lot of groups out today that wouldn't have been able to be where they're at had anthrax not paved the way we now forgive you limp Biskit hello rach against machine doesn't even exist without entrance anthrax laid the foundation in the spring of 1992 the band inked a lucrative album deal with Elektra Records but within weeks of the signing they released some startling news they were firing lead singer Joey Belladonna as its new lead singer anthrax hired former armored Saint frontman John Bush and in one of their first meetings the new band mates wrote one of their biggest hits only heralded the more melodic onslaught of the group's next album sound of white noise we wrote that and we came together in about an hour it really did Scott had an idea one part I threw a couple ideas down we had the song constructed musically for the most part and it was boned John Bush is as physical and aggressive and animated a performer is anymote metal vocalist it's what makes sound of white noise such a magnificent dark record niska's bushes Loras is so dark Anthrax's elation would be short-lived in June of 1995 longtime guitarist Danny Spitz left the band followed soon afterwards by longtime manager Johnny Zazula the group soldiered on releasing their ninth album stop 4-4-2 in October 95 but it got such a bruising reception in record stores that anthrax an electro record soon agreed to part ways we didn't know what to do and it was it was pretty tough just not knowing for a band anymore we didn't understand how bad it was for us like we just figured okay we've got this little dip in the career art and we'll be right back on track but the band was about to receive a body blow unlike any that had come before on March 25th 1996 Frankie's younger brother Anthony was gunned down by an unknown assailant outside his girlfriend's home in the Bronx I got a call and it was my niece saying that uh Anthony was shot I'm like what hospital where is he and she's like he's not in the hospital they killed him he's dead I was flying up banging on my door I see it's Charlie goes wrong he owes anything he was shot was killed I really don't care about much anymore Franky's torment was heightened by the fact that the murder would never be solved as an expression of his grief he wrote a song called pieces but when the time came to go on tour less than a week after the funeral Frankie fell apart I had to go to Japan next Wednesday but I said no I'm not doing I you I'm not doing it it's not happening and I said to him you have to job because and he loves you the band three loved the band he was their biggest fan I was dark period for the band probably the worst worst time as always the band kept fighting in the summer of 98 they started over with ignition records releasing volume 8 the threat is real Wow but within months ignition had run out of gas our manager calls and says we've got big problems ignition lost their funding and we don't have a label that's when it was really like how could we have such bad luck really how is this possible took the air out of us just like getting hit in the stomach just knocks the air out of it and say here we go again how do we roll with this how do we make this better in the winter of 1998 anthrax was on the verge of being eradicated with no label and an uncertain future the band members took an extended break for the first time in two decades after the ignition fiasco we we waved low for a while we just took some time off all of a sudden I cared about myself for the first time in my life in the summer of 2003 ox regrouped and hit the road for a concert tour the fan reaction was greater than they'd hoped for here we are with nothing going on basically and we went out and sold out like two months worth of dates and we were just kind of wow you know what's going on taking it as a sign of better things to come anthrax made plans to open for Judas Priest on a massive American tour in the fall of 2001 but then came September 11th and in its aftermath the anthrax attacks that would eventually kill five innocent people you know we're a metal band we have an evil sounding name but that it that evil became real that was the hardest thing for the first time in 20 years the name of the band really wasn't ours anymore unsure of what to do late one night in mid-october Scott Ian went to ground zero to survey the devastation it was late about 2:00 in the morning and a National Guard guy comes running across the street and he comes up as like hey Scott what's going on and it was so important that he got across to Scott you know something man you guys are the best don't you change your name man don't let them win don't let them live and it meant a lot to Scott because they are so much a New York blue-collar band reenergize Scott and anthrax decided to put their angst into action November 28 2001 they performed the Steel benefit concert for New York firefighters and policemen again you talk about the New York mentality again I think that's the fight that's the fight in us I think it has never never shaved I kind of odd and they decided to capture that newfound fighting vibe with the help of new band member Rob Caggiano he just gave the band a real kick in the ass energy wise you know he's just got a real aggressive way about his playing and his attitude it also helped that he was a producer and could help them come up with their sound especially for the album would come through all he's not afraid to say you should do that again because I think you could do it better here's the young kid you know joining the band was a bunch of us old men you don't go out and have fun anymore also on board and having fun was anthrax regular Dimebag Darrell Abbott in the who's Roger Daltrey we've come for you all was released on May 6 2003 and reached 122 on the Billboard 200 coming up a fatal tragedy overtakes one of the very musicians who had helped bring the band back from the edge then I got a call from a friend it was at the show something bad happened something bad happened but there's no possible way I'm I'm singing what I'm saying here when behind the music continues producer in guitars Rob Caggiano it driven at backs hard to give their very best on their new album we've come for you all the band was back on track in 2003 humph you all put us back on the map and put us back on the path that is like enable us to get back to where we belong that's a bad it's real Bullis all mix of a conventional flash and really intense heavy metal it's just the absolute right thing for anthrax to do at the time there's a lot of people by that stage had written them off which just has this lion's roar you know when he's singing these songs but in their moment of new glory tragedy was about to overtake one of the very people who had helped bring anthrax back from the brink he came in and deletes like nobody could ever do Leeds he helped us out a lot with our records you know dime had a really strong relationship with the guys in anthrax for years Darryl was the sixth member of anthrax a late night concert by heavy metal band Damageplan had just started about 10:15 last night fans watched as a man dressed in a hockey jersey and hooded sweatshirt walked from the back of the stage to guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott goes in Millbrook recording studios in oberg New York I was on tour with a band called helmet I was in Europe I was with my wife pearl driving from New York City to Lancaster Pennsylvania I talked to him probably about two days prior then I got a call that night from from a friend it was at the show something bad happened something bad happened he was playing the guitar it just went right up to he brings out basically next thing you know he's on the ground bouncer grabs the guys shooting and it was devastating I couldn't even believe it made me really really angry just completely stunned shocked stunned disbelief did you think that it was a part of the show I absolutely one other percent and you know all the way even when I could hear nothing but the whine of the guitar I was still under the impression that there's no possible where I'm I'm seeing what I'm saying here and I just wouldn't believe it you know right away the flooding floating of the tears was devastated you know Dimebag had been shot dead by a mentally unstable metal fan four others also died does the band now feel they are in danger you know you never really think about you might be risking your life but making eASIC and playing music it's it's so crazy it still scares me to this day if somehow someone does get on the stage these days I'm just wondering there's a dude running behind me now and it could be the most innocent thing in the world but how can I not think about what happened to Daryl the spirit of dime is alive it'll always be alive just like I do my brother you know I don't believe in when you're dead you're dead I don't believe that dime bag was dead but anthrax was firmly among the living as individuals and as musicians now it was this album from 1987 that they decided to take on tour with the original lineup reuniting the beds Wow that whole thing came together so quickly and it went from like Charlie and I and Frankie talking about it to all of a sudden we're in a room in New York City with Joey and Danny blood unders I don't like you a day so you know when he said I wanted to do it as a chioce you know so we I don't hold any grudges and I never did you know it's like we talked about it and like some wizard behind the curtain like snaps fingers and it was happening the wizard may have snapped his fingers but for some the magic certainly wasn't happening it felt forced just old habit started to come up again and the end of it it just wasn't good no they definitely seemed like they were ready to go and they were excited about it but something seemed a little bit off about it it seemed like there was some unfinished business between us and and Joey and Danny and and certainly Frankie it was kind of heartbreaking because I was like madness is just falling from our fingers you know they are not the unluckiest man in the world but just seemed like at some point so we decided to call it a day they look back at this is the worst nightmare like Charlie Benante has said that I don't want to talk about this anymore I wish it never happened the reappearance of old personality clashes had left the band in disarray and once again without a singer same old different - I think the thing about anthrax is when it comes to singers you actually need to be rocket scientist and decipher the history so why had Joey gone according to the band I think he felt comfortable with it all and she can't keep it together with all of us I think it was like a personality thing quite honestly I don't think was ready but according to Joey I'm not sure that Heather I am someone else or they're still trying to figure out what kind of vocals they were looking for they didn't like him anymore and they wanted to move on and how did they break the news to Joey somebody told me it was on the Internet I guess that's the way to go you know that's the perfect place to find out you know if you want on any news let's go to the Internet next John Bush declined to rejoin the lineup Bush wrote himself out Joey Belladonna Stinson he wasn't available so they drafted band Nelson and I don't know it's just seen fated to fail to me then Nelson was in the band for about five nanoseconds I don't think Danielson was good enough frankly that's the bottom line I think the band realized it very quickly my theory is they didn't like each other it was another low point the band was now in crisis it was at literally just Charlie and I I think making the decision whether or not anthrax was going to continue being do we still have anything left to say they decided they did and in 2008 the band started recording songs for an album entitled worship music with Dave Fortman producing I think died Foreman's is an interesting choice of producer because on the one hand he's done Evanescence you know real sort of gothic band on the other hand he's had a hand in Mudvayne and Slipknot bands like that we started this record over two years ago at this point and basically finished the album with the wrong singer the band first turned to John Bush to sing on the new album this song is about finding out that you love yourself no matter what may happens here he basically never gave a straight answer he wasn't sure and he's agreed to do a couple shows so that's what we did good sonica show and a few other ones after that I was at Network and you had tens of thousands of fans going bring back Bush it's the first time those words have ever been uttered in the history of humanity but Bush wouldn't come back 2010 saw Joey Belladonna back up front I'm so psyched man God when the band played alongside Metallica Slayer and Megadeth on the same bill for the first time ever on June 16 in Warsaw Poland Metallica had a dinner for all the band's just the band's in Poland and it was a great vibe as like just high school Union again you know you know there's this whole new generation of fans out there that had never gotten to see us before now they want to see they want to see the bands from the 80s so everything started album sales were better ticket sales were better it's amazing that that these four bands are still alive and well and still make the music and still successful I'm proud to be abundant I really am so what does each band bring to the successful chemistry of the big four Slayer has always been Slayer right in your face pounding you know they're just the kind of bands of doesn't care they don't give Metallica is the beefiest you know everyone can relate to it and connect with their music Megadeth is met more guitar-oriented ripping stuff which more musicians like to anthrax is the brightest the fall forwards sound of the same loop it suck anthrax is this energetic kind of you don't know what you're going to get but you know you're gonna get a great show out of it and as far as that great show goes for Scott this is the final lineup Joey Belladonna is the singer of this band and he will be the singer until there is no more anthrax to be singing we started playing he started singing it's like I just felt like I wasn't even playing I was on a different I was somewhere else visit visit there's a vibe in the band again that we haven't felt in a long time sounds like the old anthrax to me you know now it's it's set it's locked and loaded ready to go because it's a band again and what about the long-awaited album for all intents and purposes right now we're some music is scheduled to come out this fall so we're actually on schedule for that to happen I've heard about five or six packs it was kind of like a sort of halfway 80s belladonna or a halfway John Bush here at kind of anthrax that I was hearing it was very heavy but also had this tune fullness to it as well it's from our hearts this is everything we wanted everything we've worked for is this time we have Joey back in the van we are all ready to move on and everything is looking great and I'm looking forward to everybody hearing some new music and hey let's listen make it happen III think we have a really really really bright road ahead of us the next let's say five to ten years that's kind of what I see in my brain maybe it's longer certainly for the legions of anthrax fans throughout the world it's not going to end anytime soon

Channel: TallicLizzy

Views: 944,788

Rating: 4.8244553 out of 5

Keywords: Scott Ian, Frank, Bello, Frankie, Joey, Belladonna, John, Bush, Spreading the disease, full, album, full album, song, documentary, biography, HD, public, enemy, bring, the, noise, i am the man, im the man, 2011, entire, episode

Id: jxJIizDaXRY

Length: 41min 56sec (2516 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 23 2013