FRANK BELLO: 'ANTHRAX Is In A Really Good Place As A Band' Right Now

In a new interview with the BREWtally Speaking Podcast, ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello addressed the often-repeated quote that being in a band is like being married to multiple people at the same time — there are plenty of ups and downs, plenty of disagreements, and for every new step and stage, the band's bond grows stronger.

"Oh, it's a total marriage. It's a total marriage," Frank said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "You know what it is? It's a family. What happens is it's a family. You have brothers and sisters — some people do, some people don't, but if you do, you understand. Or even cousins, whatever it is. Occasionally, look, some shit goes on, and that's the bottom line. You have to weather the storms. I mean, like everything else, man. It's, look, life."

He continued: "People have different personalities. People get married to different people. All that stuff happens within this whole process of being a band for 40-some-odd years, we're together. And you know what? The one thing that we do know that this works, and what makes it all work for us when we get together as a band, that step onto the ANTHRAX stage, there's no feeling. To this day, I could tell you, honestly, dude, there's no feeling like stepping onto an ANTHRAX stage for me. I think the other guys feel the same. There's an energy that I can't explain that there's no other part ... I don't have it anywhere near in my life that the energy going on an ANTHRAX stage, because it just goes from 1 to 10 immediately, and you're on. And everything, everything for me is fulfilled. It's just the audience, and you're one with the audience, dude, and that is the drug you keep going after. And all the other shit goes away. Everything else goes away. Whatever. You had a bad day, whatever. You had an argument with one of the bandmembers, whatever, and that shit happens. Every band has arguments. It doesn't matter. The idea is that you have to get over it and move on because it's for the good of the band and the good of the music, and that's why I think we're still around."

Asked "how cognizant" of all of those things he is now after being in ANTHRAX for more than 40 years, Frank said: "Always. And I'll tell you this: after all this time, what you learn after a while, take the step back instead of being right away, without thinking it out, just being in attack mode. No, you gotta pull it back and listen to everybody's view. I think that's really important. That's what you learn after... Maybe it's wisdom after a long time. You get to know everybody's vibe. And it's really [about having] respect for everybody in the group. It really is that. It's just taking that step back. And look, I haven't always done this, other people in my band haven't done this, but we know this works. So, we all know we'll get over it at the end of the day. But there isn't a lot of that anymore, honestly, because I think we're so into what we're doing. That was the growing stages."

Frank continued: "ANTHRAX, as we speak, coming out with this new record, ['Cursum Perficio', on] September 18th — shameless plug — after 10 years, dude, I can honestly say we're in a really good place as a band. I just feel like everybody knows this works, and we made what we think is a great record, and the reaction for the first three singles has been insane. We're so humbled. Humbled is seriously the word. I can't believe the reaction we're getting, the great reaction, and we can't wait to play this stuff. So, yeah, it's been 10 years for a record, and you know what? It's paying off for us because we're feeling the vibe from the people. And I think ANTHRAX is in a really good place as a band, and from what fans and newer fans are showing — we're getting a lot of new fans now, which is awesome. It's turning over. I didn't see that coming, to be honest with you. But the demographics are changing, which is awesome, along with our normal fans that have stayed with us through this whole time. It's great, dude."

ANTHRAX's long-awaited twelfth full-length studio album, "Cursum Perficio", will be made available via Megaforce in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe. It marks the band's first record in ten years since 2016's "For All Kings", which debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200. The phrase "Cursum Perficio" is Latin for "My journey has come to an end," "My journey is over," or "I complete my journey."

ANTHRAX has released three singles so far from "Cursum Perficio": "It's For The Kids", which came out in May, "The Edge Of Perfection", which was made available in July, and "Everybody's Got A Plan", which arrived in early August.

ANTHRAX will celebrate the release of "Cursum Perficio" with a late-night in-store signing in Louisville, Kentucky. Immediately following the band's September 17 performance at the city's annual Louder Than Life festival, ANTHRAX will meet fans at Louisville's Guestroom Records (1330A Bardstown Rd). Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on September 18, the multi-Grammy Award-nominated New York hard rock titans — Scott Ian (guitar),Charlie Benante (drums),Frank Bello (bass),Joey Belladonna (vocals) and Jonathan Donais (guitar) — will be signing copies of the new album. Space for the event is limited. To attend this special release event, fans must pre-order the album directly from Guestroom Records here. Only albums pre-ordered via the link will be eligible for the signing.

"Cursum Perficio" will be available as a standard CD; Target-exclusive CD with a fabric patch of the album cover; standard black double LP with pop-up gatefold; Target-exclusive double LP, red zoetrope with pop-up gatefold; Amazon-exclusive double LP, purple zoetrope LP with pop-up gatefold; merch-exclusive lilac vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Metal Injection-exclusive white vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Talk Shop Live-exclusive signed with red ripple vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Indie-exclusive red, orange yellow vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold.

The band dove into recording "Cursum Perficio" in earnest during 2022, working out of Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Los Angeles. They carefully pieced together what would be this magnum opus, mining their history with reverence, delivering on fan expectations tenfold, and broadening the scope of their signature sound. Produced by Jay Ruston and ANTHRAX, the result is an album that's as angry, aggressive, and alive as their most celebrated fare.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn