ANTHRAX has tapped former TESTAMENT/SLAYER and current ANIMETAL USA drummer Jon Dette (pictured below) to sit behind the kit for the veteran thrash metal band’s Australian tour, which will kick off on February 21 in Brisbane. Dette is “an animal” who is “going to make history” as a temporary replacement for longtime ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante, who “is dealing with personal issues right now and can’t leave” the U.S., according to ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian. “[Charlie is] really bummed about not being able to head down there,” says Ian.
Dette previously filled in for Benante on ANTHRAX‘s European tour last fall as the support act for MOTÖRHEAD.
Fan-filmed video footage of ANTHRAX‘s November 21, 2012 concert at Zénith in Paris, France — featuring Dette on the drums — can be seen below.
Dette joined SLAYER in 1996 when Paul Bostaph left to work on his side project, THE TRUTH ABOUT SEAFOOD. Dette performed with SLAYER at the 1996 Ozzfest to promote the band’s covers album, “Undisputed Attitude”.
Prior to joining SLAYER, Dette appeared on TESTAMENT‘s “Live At The Fillmore” album, which came out in 1995.
Benante and his wife were arrested on July 27, 2012 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Elkhart, Indiana for domestic battery in front of a child. The drummer later issued a statement through his attorney claiming that he “was assaulted several times during an altercation that sent him to the emergency room with a gash at the back of his head that required several staples to close.”
Charlie and ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello (who is Benante‘s nephew) missed several shows on ANTHRAX‘s North American tour in February 2012 in order to spend time with Charlie‘s mother, who was terminally ill. On February 4, 2012, Benante informed fans via his official web site that his mother passed away.
More recently, Benante was forced to miss a number of shows on last summer’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival while he was recovering from a minor hand injury. Filling in for him was SHADOWS FALL drummer Jason Bittner.
While on tour with ANTHRAX, bassist Frank Bello will appear at an exclusive Hartke clinic, co-sponsored by international Hartke distributor Electric Factory, as well as the ESP guitar company and international ESP distributor CMI Music & Audio, at Guitar Factory in Parramatta, Australia. Frank will demonstrate why he uses Hartke and ESP gear live and in the studio, as well as hold a meet-and-greet/signing with audience members at the following location:
Tuesday, February 26
7:00 p.m.
Guitar Factory
255 Church Street
Parramatta, NSW 2150
Australia
(02) 9635 5552
In a recent interview with Full Metal Jackie‘s nationally syndicated radio show, Bello said about ANTHRAX‘s comeback 2011 album, “Worship Music”, “After eight years, first off, it was hard enough to get the record out, just because getting management, lawyers out of the way all that garbage that gets in the way of music and personalities. We knew what we wanted ANTHRAX to be again — the real deal. ‘Worship Music’, we knew we had something special. We got Joey [Belladonna, vocals] in on it, and that was the cherry on top of it all. We’re fans of this music, so we knew we had something good. Thankfully, the people, the fan base, has taken on this record — this is our biggest-selling record in a long time. It’s just done really well, thank God, and thank the fans out there [for their] great support. That’s why we’re still on tour. In three weeks, we leave for a MOTÖRHEAD tour — pretty much all sold out in Europe, which is crazy. Think about it, 30 years in, Jackie, who would have thought we’re still around — ANTHRAX, MOTÖRHEAD in Europe, selling out places. We’re very lucky, we’re humbled. It’s a really nice thing that’s going on and we couldn’t be happier; we’re stoked.
Asked what has been the best thing about being in ANTHRAX in 2012, Bello said, “Well, right now it’s nice to be back, and being accepted by not only our audience but there’s a new audience out there: 15-, 16-year-old kids. I got 15-year-old kids coming up to me saying, ‘You’re an influence.’ You don’t realize how good that feels — it’s something I’ve done right in my life and I’m very proud of it. It that kid could pick up a bass and feel the way I feel about it and make his day be a little bit better, that’s what it’s all about. It’s like passing the torch a little bit. We’ve been lucky, we’ve had a great time, if I could make somebody feel as good as the bass and music has made me feel, that’s what it’s all about at this point.”
“Anthems”, ANTHRAX‘s long-awaited, eight-track EP that pays tribute to the classic songs by some of the band’s favorite acts from the 1970s, will be released in North America on March 19 (MRI/Megaforce), and on March 22 in Europe (Nuclear Blast).
The video for ANTHRAX‘s cover of RUSH‘s “Anthem” can be viewed below.
Said ANTHRAX vocalist Joey Belladonna, “These are all bands I grew up with and have listened to forever. It’s just great music. I had fun singing these songs and I was happy recording together with ANTHRAX, doing classic rock songs. Fun stuff!”
On BOSTON‘s “Smokin'”, ANTHRAX brought in a special guest to play keyboards — Fred Mandel, who has played with ALICE COOPER, QUEEN, ELTON JOHN, CHEAP TRICK, SUPERTRAMP and on PINK FLOYD‘s “The Wall”. About the track, drummer Charlie Benante said, “If ever there were a perfect first album, it’s BOSTON‘s first album. The harmony leads they did would later be heard by IRON MAIDEN, which, of course, would lead to thrash metal.”
“It was a lot of fun, especially because a lot of those [songs] aren’t, I guess, normal for us or like so much of our repertoire — although they are because they’re songs we all knew,” guitarist Scott Ian told Billboard.com. “Maybe on paper the idea of us doing something like that seems weird, until you hear them and then it makes sense. And Joey‘s performance on the JOURNEY song, specifically, really blows my mind. Someone mentioned that [JOURNEY guitarist] Neal Schon better not hear this or we might lose our singer.” ANTHRAX also also laid down a cover version of BLACK SABBATH‘s “Neon Knights” for the upcoming Ronnie James Dio tribute album which is being assembled by the singer’s widow and longtime manager Wendy Dio.
Asked how the band selected which songs to cover, Ian said, “Like everything else, it’s kind of like someone says a song and everyone else is like, ‘Yeah, that’s a good one.’ It’s really as simple as that. It’s songs that in some shape or form we’ve been playing or jamming on for our whole lives. Because you really don’t wanna have to work too hard on these things, although the RUSH song is a bit of a bitch; I can’t say that’s an easy one. But it’s a song we all know and we’re all familiar with, so then, of course, you take on the challenge of just really trying to nail it and do it justice.”
According to ANTHRAX, they paid particular attention to the cover of RUSH‘s “Anthem” in order to recreate the nuances of the original song.
“I have to get every little part of Geddy [Lee, RUSH bassist/vocalist] down, ’cause I’m a fanatic with that stuff, and I have to,” bassist Frank Bello said. “It’s great. I love it.”
Added Scott: “Charlie [Benante, ANTHRAX drummer] bumped into [RUSH drummer] Neil Peart at the [Revolver] Golden Gods Awards a few months ago, and Neil actually said to Charlie, ‘Yeah, we heard you guys are covering ‘Anthem’. That’s so cool. We put the clip of you playing drums [to the song] up on our web site.’ And Charlie, I swear to God, he was like, the light, the glow that was coming off him after that was… I’d never seen anything quite like it.”
The “Anthems” EP will be available on CD as well as digitally via iTunes and other online retailers. In addition to “Anthems”‘ cover art, Benante and artist Stephen Thompson have subtly redesigned each track’s original album cover art to “Anthrax” it. The “Anthems” EP will first be housed in one of the “re-imagined” digipak covers, and then inserted inside the main CD cover sleeve. The main cover sleeve has been designed in such a way so fans will be able to see which one of the six “re-imagined” covers is inside.
“Anthems” was produced by ANTHRAX, Jay Ruston and Rob Caggiano and recorded for the most part throughout 2012 literally all over the world: at Benante‘s home studio, in Ruston‘s New York studio, on the band’s tour bus while on last summer’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, in hotel rooms, and backstage at their Berlin show last December.
The Grammy-nominated ANTHRAX will hit the road in support “Anthems” on February 16 with dates in India and Australia, and then return to North America to headline the Metal Alliance Tour that kicks off March 22. For all of these dates, ANTHRAX will be joined by SHADOWS FALL guitarist Jon Donais.
Former ANTHRAX guitarist Rob Caggiano earlier in the month joined Danish metal rock ‘n’ rollers VOLBEAT. Caggiano served as producer on VOLBEAT‘s latest album, “Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies”, alongside longtime production partner Jacob Hansen, who produced and mixed the band’s prior four albums. Caggiano‘s other producer credits include THE DAMNED THINGS, BLEEDING THROUGH and ANTHRAX, and he was a member of ANTHRAX for two tenures — from 2001 to 2005 and again from 2007 to 2013.
Speaking to U.K.’s Metal Hammer magazine, VOLBEAT singer and guitarist Michael Poulsen stated about Caggiano‘s addition to the band and the upcoming CD: “When you get to the point in your career where you’re making a number of albums, I don’t really see the point in putting out the same record twice. So I felt it was time to change some of our habits, because in the past we’ve tended to work in the same way, at producer Jacob Hansen‘s studio… So this time around, we’ve come to PUK studios in Denmark and Rob Caggiano has become involved, working alongside Jacob. The result is a new sound for VOLBEAT, a new vibe, although that’s not to say the songs aren’t still typical of what we are known for; it’s still 100 percent VOLBEAT, but everything has been taken to a higher degree, and I can honestly say I’ve never heard the band playing so well. Everyone has been truly inspired by the new surroundings and the new team — so much so that I’ve even re-written some of the songs in the studio; there were so many great ideas flying around, that it made me want to push myself even harder… and the recordings are sounding great. Nothing is mixed yet, but it’s really strong already, so my main concern is that whoever mixes the record doesn’t fuck it up! Having said that, we just heard a test mix from Chris Lord-Alge — it was amazing, so he’s now confirmed to mix the whole thing.”
He continued: “I know everyone says this, but this IS the best album VOLBEAT has recorded — at least until the next one! I set myself a number of goals for this record, and all of them have been achieved, so I couldn’t be happier, and having Rob on board has really worked out well.
“You know, I was really impressed with the sound of the new ANTHRAX album, which he worked on, so we discussed maybe working together in the studio on a couple of songs, but it’s now gone way further than that! Rob really knows what he’s doing…
“One of the things I’m most happy about this time is the contrast in the material, the range of the music; on the one side, you have the western motifs, the rockabilly/country songs, and the real emotional melodies, and on the other, some of the heaviest — actually, THE heaviest — songs we have ever recorded. There was a record company guy in the studio the other day, and he was absolutely blown away by the ultra-heavy stuff. He said he wasn’t even sure he was listening to VOLBEAT! [laughs]”
VOLBEAT‘s fifth album, “Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies”, will be released on April 9 (one day earlier internationally) via Spinefarm/Universal Music.
VOLBEAT will embark on a North American headlining tour in the spring. The trek, which will feature support from DANKO JONES, will kick off on March 6 in Dallas, Texas.
ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian and FOZZY frontman and WWE wrestling superstar Chris Jericho will team up for two nights of spoken word in Australia at the end of February. Dubbed “an evening of stories from 30 years of metal, wrestling…and drinking!” the event will see Ian and Jericho delivering “a no-holds-barred question-and-answer session [where] absolutely nothing will be off limits.”
Commented Ian: “This is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. I’ve been travelling the world in the company of and hanging out with the greatest people on the planet for 31 years and I’ve got to tales to tell.”
Jericho is one of the greatest showmen of the modern era, and Melbourne and Sydney fans will get to hear first-hand uncensored tales from the roads travelled as both WWE champion and with FOZZY.
Tickets are strictly limited and available from tomorrow (Tuesday, Febraury 12) at 9 a.m. AEDT.
Anthems, ANTHRAX‘s long-awaited, eight-track EP that pays tribute to the classic songs by some of Anthrax’s favorite bands from the 1970s, will be released in North America on March 19th (MRI/Megaforce), and on March 22nd in Europe (Nuclear Blast). Anthems’ tracklisting features RUSH’s ‘Anthem’, THIN LIZZY’s ‘Jailbreak’, ‘TNT’ by AC/DC, BOSTON’s ‘Smokin”, ‘Big Eyes’ by CHEAP TRICK, JOURNEY’s ‘Keep On Runnin’, as well as the album version and a special remix of Anthrax’s ‘Crawl’, from the band’s critically-acclaimed 2011 album, Worship Music.
The EP will be available on CD as well as digitally via iTunes and other online retailers. In addition to Anthems’ cover art (above), drummer Charlie Benante and artist Stephen Thompson have subtly redesigned each track’s original album cover art to “Anthrax” it. The Anthems EP will first be housed in one of the “re-imagined” digipak covers, and then inserted inside the main CD cover sleeve. The main cover sleeve has been designed in such a way so fans will be able to see which one of the six “re-imagined” covers is inside. Check Benante holding the six covers below:
Said the band’s vocalist Joey Belladonna, “These are all bands I grew up with and have listened to forever. It’s just great music. I had fun singing these songs and I was happy recording together with Anthrax, doing classic rock songs. Fun stuff!”
On Boston’s ‘Smokin”, Anthrax brought in a special guest to play keyboards – Fred Mandel, who has played with ALICE COOPER, QUEEN, ELTON JOHN, Cheap Trick, SUPERTRAMP and on PINK FLOYD’s The Wall.
About the track, drummer Charlie Benante said, “If ever there were a perfect first album, it’s Boston’s first album. The harmony leads they did would later be heard by IRON MAIDEN, which of course would lead to thrash metal.”
Listen to the cover of Rush’s ‘Anthem’ below:
Anthems was produced by Anthrax, Jay Ruston and Rob Caggiano, and recorded for the most part throughout 2012 literally all over the world: at Benante’s home studio, in Ruston’s New York studio, on the band’s tour bus while on last summer’s Mayhem Tour, in hotel rooms, and backstage at their Berlin show last December.
The Grammy-nominated Anthrax – Belladonna, Benante/drums, Scott Ian/guitar and Frank Bello/bass – will hit the road in support Anthems on February 16th with dates in India and Australia, and then return to North America to headline the Metal Alliance Tour that kicks off March 22nd. For all of these dates, Anthrax will be joined by SHADOWS FALL guitarist Jon Donais.
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