ANTHRAX's FRANK BELLO 'Loves' His Friend DAVID ELLEFSON: 'He's A Good Dude'

ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello spoke to Drew Stone of The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live! about the status of ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE, his collaboration with former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson. Asked if fans can expect to hear a new ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE album in the near future, Bello said: "Not in the near future. I'll probably put out [some solo] stuff first somewhere. But if you like ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE, to be really honest, people that have heard [my solo stuff], they said it sounds like a continuation of ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE, which I'm very happy with.

"David is my friend, just so you guys know," Frank added. "I love David. I just talked to him two days ago; we texted back and forth. He's got another band called LUCID that I wanna give a shoutout to. It's a good record. I hope he does well with it. So I'm pushing for him… He's a good dude, very knowledgeable, and he's my friend, and I love him."

ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE's latest album, "Get Out", was released in January 2019 via Megaforce. The follow-up to ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE's 2014 self-titled EP was once again produced by Jay Ruston (ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER, STONE SOUR),with Jeff Friedl (A PERFECT CIRCLE, ASHES DIVIDE) returning behind the kit.

The ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE story began in 2010, when Bello and Ellefson started touring together to lead bass clinics for the amp manufacturer Hartke. In need of backing tracks to support their demonstrations, they embarked upon some writing sessions and discovered their chemistry.

Bello and Ellefson debuted ALTITUDES & ATTITUDE in early 2014, with a self-titled three-song EP that earned the duo airplay on SiriusXM and an appearance on VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show". Those tracks — "Booze and Cigarettes", "Tell the World", "Here Again" — are included on "Get It Out" as bonus cuts, in remixed and remastered form.

Bello's comments about Ellefson come five months after David was fired from MEGADETH following the online leak of sexually explicit photos and video of the bassist along with allegations that he had been grooming a fan, which he vehemently denied. A short time after after the messages and video footage involving him were posted on Twitter, Ellefson filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of him by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, when the claim "David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile" appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.