Well, fuck. I mean, it’s Anthrax. They were on The Beavis and Butthead Experience album, Married with Children and, oh yea, Their fucking Anthrax. Racketeer Kim did an interview and somehow wasn’t sacrificed she must rule pretty fucking hard.
Racket: What do you think of the state of music today?
Frankie: Music in general is pretty pathetic – it’s very corporate. It’s no longer fresh, and in order to keep it fresh, we need to get the corporate aspect out of music.
Racket: In your opinion, what are some of the most under-rated metal bands from today’s music scene?
Frankie: Definitely Kings X. They are the most underrated band.
Racket: You’ve played with some amazing bands in the
wide span of your career, are there any particular
bands that stand out to you as favorites?
Frankie: Ah…[enthusiastically] Public Enemy. We’ve had
some great times with them. Also Kiss, Iron Maiden,
they’re just great bands, we had great tours. We’ve
had a good run.
Racket: Can’t complain, eh?
Frankie: I’m definitely not complaining. We just gotta
keep going.
Racket: You’re doing a fine job, you guys are
unstoppable.
Frankie: Well, thank you.
Racket: You guys appeared on the show ‘Married with
Children’ – how was that arranged, and what were your
initial thoughts?
Frankie: Well basically we were touring, and we’re all
big fans of the show and we mentioned to our manager
that it would be cool to be on it. So the manager contacted the show to see if they had any guest spots available for a band, and they basically wrote a script around the band, and it was very funny. We had
a great time.
Racket: Did anyone try to sleep with Christina
Applegate when they were on the set?
Frankie: No. She’s been a friend of mine for years, so
I knew her even before that. And she was dating my
friend Billy at the time.
Racket: Were you guys excited to meet Beavis and
Butthead?
Frankie: Absolutely, I mean, who wouldn’t be? It’s
Beavis and Butthead, those guys are awesome.
Racket: Yeah, I think that was a great show right there.
Frankie: Oh definitely. They need to bring them back.
It’s much better than the other crap that’s on. They should get rid of everything else and just play Beavis and Butthead.
Racket: Hell yeah!
Racket: Which X-Chick (from X-Men) do you think is the
hottest?
Frankie: None. That’s just my opinion. They needed to
do some better casting.
Racket: What current fashion trends do you hate the
most, and love the most?
Frankie: Anything on E!.
Racket: You hate or love them?
Frankie: I hate trends, I wanna do my own thing.
That’s why I’m in a rock band. Music isn’t supposed to
be trendy…I hate the word trendy. Music is supposed to
be fresh.
Racket: Can you spell serendipity for me?
Frankie: No, I’m hung over – can you hear it in my voice? [laughs]
Racket: Well, you’re a rockstar…
Frankie: [laughs] Let’s see…serendipity….it’s
s-e-r-e-n-d…ipity.
Racket: Awesome! And you’re hung over even!
Frankie: That’s right, dammit. I graduated
with honors!
Racket: Just goes to show that you can
graduate with honors and still be a rockstar.
Frankie: Damn right, I made it.
Racket: In what way do you like to refer to both male
and female genitalia?
Frankie: Well I’m from Brooklyn so…dick, cock, balls –
I’m pretty much going to give it to you straight.
[laughs]
Racket: [laughs] If David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar got
in a fight, who do you think would win?
Frankie: David, he’s a 3rd degree black belt.
Racket: Oh wow, I didn’t know that…
Frankie: Oh yeah, he’s serious. Unless Sammy gave him
some of his alcohol, to kinda mess him up…but..David
is serious.
Racket: You were a guest host on Headbanger’s Ball on
MTV…
Frankie: Yeah, the other day actually, it was fun.
Racket: So you had a good time?
Frankie: Definitely, did you see it?
Racket: No.
Frankie: Oh [laughs] I haven’t either, everyone’s told
me they saw it, but I haven’t yet.
Racket: Well that’s something we’ll both have to look
into…
Frankie: Yes, we should.
Racket: What did you think of the band Throwdown
(guests on the show)?
Frankie: They were nice guys, they’re a good band. I
like their music too…I checked out their CD, the music
is very promising.
Racket: You guys have a pretty amazing website. How
much influence were you guys allowed to have on the
site, as far as how it looks, content, etc?
Frankie: Well our webmaster, Brent basically does
whatever we ask him…or he’ll come up with these
awesome ideas and we’ll tell him ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Racket: I was very impressed by it.
Frankie: Thanks! Brent is just amazing, he’s the best
thing we’ve ever done for the site.
Racket: I noticed on your site that people can donate
for Katrina Relief.
Frankie: Oh yeah.
Racket: To quote the site: "New Orleans is one of
Anthrax’s favorite towns" – do you have any memorable
experiences in N.O. that you’d like to share with us?
Frankie: A lot of drunken times..
Racket: [laughs] Well, it is New Orleans.
Frankie: [laughs] Yeah, and there’s always good
people, and a feeling of home. It’s a great town. It’s
terrible what’s happened to it.
Racket: Yeah, definitely.
Racket: You guys are supporters of the Slave to the
Metal foundation, which seems like an interesting
organization. How can fans get involved if they wanted
to?
Frankie: Yes, go to the website and click on it, it
has all of the information on what you can do to help.
It’s a good organization for our fans to get involved
in.
Racket: Are you still working with the band Helmet?
Frankie: Well, I’m off for 1 1/2 years for the Anthrax
tour and stuff. But I talked to Paige from Helmet
recently and asked him what’s up, and he asked if I’m
still interested in being involved and I definitely
said yes.
Racket: Any plans for another studio album in the
future?
Frankie: I don’t know of any today specifically, but
hopefully. I’d like to keep that going.
Racket: What kind of bass guitars do you prefer
specifically?
Frankie: The Frank Bello signature model of course – I’m glad you asked, actually. I designed my signature model with Fender, and it’s gonna be out in January.‘The Frank Bello Signature Model – ask for it at your favorite music store’ [laughs].
Racket: You could do your own commercials.
So, is the model going to be affordable, for
like…average people – fans, if they were interested.?
Frankie: Actually yes, I grew up like that, so I
understand. I grew up buying the cheaper models and
then upgrading, so I wanted to make it affordable.
There will be both types available when it comes out.
In January.
Racket: Awesome. Well I guess that’s all I have.
Frankie: Alright…nice work, good questions. Stay well.
– Kim Worpek