Interview with Charlie Benante of Anthrax - Oct 7, 2010

 I’ve talked to three out of the five members of Anthrax, my favorite metal band of all time.

The first was John Bush, in 2004. I’m working on restoring that one (with pictures!) because it was one of my favoruites.

The second was Scott Ian, although that was literally asking one question at a press event they were doing. I want to say it was announcing Joey Belladonna’s return? But my memory on that is shaky, to be honest.

The third was Charlie Benante. And that’s what you’ll read below. It happened right before a show they did with Megadeth and Slayer and right when they had reunited with Joey Belladonna. 

To this day, I’m dying to know what the deal was with Dan Nelson.

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Examining Anthrax: An interview with Charlie Benante

October 7th, 2010 8:18 pm ET

Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante has been with the band damn near since the beginning.  He’s seen a lot change since then - including, most recently, the band’s most notable lead singer return for the second time.

Joey Belladonna rejoined the group late in 2009, ending an almost three-year period of curious frenzy where it seemed if the band may have to go on without a lead singer.  After Belladonna left the band’s reunion tour in 2007, newcomer Dan Nelson joined the band - and was out almost before anyone could blink an eye.  John Bush filled in for a couple spot shows, leading to speculation (in some cases, hope) that Bush would sign back on.  However, Bush returned to his old band, Armored Saint, leaving Anthrax in a bind—

--until Joey Belladonna returned.  For a second time.  Since he has, the band has seemed reinvigorated, going back on the road - and back in to writing - back in classic form.

Anthrax demonstrated this in Orlando when they took the stage at Hard Rock Live on October 2 as part of a historic tour. “The American Carnage Tour”, the “Jagermeister Music Tour”...any name it went under, it was still “Clash of the Titans” revisited.  Three of the “Four Horsemen” - Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax - were back on the road together for the first time since 1991.  It all happened not too long after all four bands took the stage together for the first time ever over the summer - a show that may set record DVD sales when it’s released in November.

Before Anthrax attempted to destroy Hard Rock Live the night of October 2 (and nearly succeeded), Charlie Benante sat down with us to discuss the band’s turbulent past few years...as well as their triumphant return and what comes next for the legendary Anthrax.

Michael Melchor: Now, let’s go back a little bit to about the time Dan Nelson was lead singer.  You’d had a full album recorded, but then as soon as he was in, it seemed, he was out.  What exactly happened with him?  Did the band decide he wasn’t working out or did he decide it just wasn’t for him?

Charlie Benante: [Puts his head in his hands] I can’t even begin to tell you what happened because it’s so...you wouldn’t believe it, anyway!  Even if I told you! [Laughs]

MM: [Laughs]

CB: We’ve all taken this approach to this that, really, we’re not talking about him.  We’re not giving him any, any attention at all.

MM: Wow...

CB: I’ll just say it was a very bad emotional rollercoaster for all of us.  I never want to be reminded of that again.

MM: Okay, gotcha.  So we’ll chalk it up to “didn’t work out” and move on.

CB: Okay.  [Laughs]

MM: [Laughs]  Fair enough.  Now, after he left, you did a couple shows - a couple one-offs - with John Bush back in the fold.  Was there any talk of him coming back permanently, or was he just helping out for a minute?

CB: He was helping out for the moment.  Basically, we were trying to figure out what we were going to do.  What we wanted to do.  John was very vocal in saying he did not want to do this anymore, music-wise.  Which left us to kind of figuring out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do.  About that time, Joey [Belladonna] was in to us again.  I guess we were kind of apprehensive about the Joey thing because of the way the reunion ended.  It didn’t end on a positive note.  But I kept in contact with him and it was like, “Hey, man, you want to try and do this again?”  And that’s pretty much how it went.

MM: So he was all about coming back, then, even after all the history.

CB: Yeah, absolutely.

MM: After everything that’s happened the last few years, he seems to be the most comfortable fit for the band nowadays, really.

CB: You’ll see tonight.  [Laughs]  It just feels right now.  It feels very comfortable and now when we’re all in a room together, it’s like back to the way it used to be.  Very comfortable.

MM: Back to the good ol’ days as far as how it feels.  Everybody’s getting along and playing nice.

CB: Yeeeah.  [Laughs]  Same with all the other guys, too.  

MM: Very good.  How was the response from the outside to his return?  Like, being back together on the road now?

CB: You know, we knew there were going to be people against it.  They want to see this guy or that guy back with us, and then there are going to be people that are all for it because they want to see this guy back.  But we’ve come out and stated that, this is it.  This is the way we’re going.  This is the way it’s gong to continue until we say, “That’s it.  We’re done.”

MM: I was actually going to ask about that - that Belladonna’s the permanent guy.  This is it.

CB: Oh, absolutely.  100%.

MM: Excellent.  And the band’s been on the road a little while now.

CB: Yeah, we did some stuff over the summer.  The Big 4 show in Bulgaria.

MM: I’m sooo looking forward to that on DVD, I’m not gonna lie.

CB: Yes!  [Laughs]  You know, the thing about that - speaking from someone who was there and doing it - after we did it, we all sat back and said, “Wow.  You know, that was a moment.”  [Laughs]  It was a true moment we got to experience.  And I think when people see the DVD, they’ll feel that same way - like, “Wow, this is fucking crazy!  These guys all finally came together.”  

MM: They probably will, because it’s the first time all four of you have shared a stage.

CB: It should happen here [in the US], too.

MM: Yeah.  That’s history. You can’t get around that.  [Laughs]

CB: [Laughs]  Yeah, it was.  No other bands did that, which is a good thing.  Now it’s like its own entity - “The Big Four.”  At least here in the States, we have three.

MM: Exactly.  Very nice.  Now, have you had any chance to write any new music with Joey?

CB: Oh yeah, absolutely.  We were working on it again yesterday.  We think we’re going to have a record finished by Spring.  It’s taking so long, though.

MM: Is it a reworking of the one you did...

CB: We’re re-working about five songs.

MM: ...I’m not saying his name again.  [Laughs]  We’ll just call [the record] “that one.”

CB: [Laughs]  Right.  You have to understand, though, the music itself for that album was done before that guy was with us.  So we have all these songs.  Joey did a demo on one of the songs - he sang it with us - and, oh, God.  I got chills when he was singing it with us because it sounded like the old Anthrax.  We all looked at each other like, “This is fucking cool!  This sounds good!”  So, we’re real happy about that.

MM: So you’re keeping some of those and writing some new stuff to go with them?  And, you said you’re probably finishing next Spring, so...out by next Summer?

CB: Uh-huh.  Oh, yeah.

MM: Very cool.

CB: Yeah, just in time for the Big Four show here.  [Laughs]

MM: [Laughs]

CB: Just kidding there.  

MM: Oh, God.  Let that get out and watch people lose their minds! [Laughs]

CB: [Laughs]  Yeah!

MM: So, has there been any talk of a timeframe left for the band?  Or is it a matter of keep going until...

CB: Oh, no.  We’re finishing this run in October, then going to South America.  And then we’ve got to get this record out.  It feels like a weight on my shoulders!  But, it’s gonna be real good.  

 

Interviews with Ernie C and Ice T of Body Count - March 4 & 10, 2004

 

One of the big realizations that came while I was writing was that I now had a means to talk to people that I had admired. That I was a fan of. And there were definitely times that fandom drove what I did.

This was definitely one of them. I’ve been a fan of Ice T since The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! And was all in on Body Count when the album dropped. Watching them deal with the controversy of “Cop Killer” and emerge from the other side was a fascinating time. There was a point when I thought the project had run its course…and then the band reformed in 2004.

Being in a position to cover that return, you’re damn right I took advantage of it. And this is the result of that. Two articles, two interviews – here, combined into one piece.

Originally published on 411Mania.com on March 4 & March 10, 2004.

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Interview With Ernie C Of Body Count
Posted By Michael Melchor on 03.04.04

The Return of Body Count, part 1

The name “Body Count” was on the tips of everyone’s tongues when they released their first album 12 years ago. Unfortunately, none of it had to do with the music – an abrasive brand of metal – nor did any of it have to do with the fact that Ice T had become the first rap star to completely cross genre lines.

Most of the notoriety behind Body Count’s eponymous first album had to do with “Cop Killer”, a song born out of frustration at how minorities were treated by police in South Central Los Angeles. The controversy – including a boycott of Warner Bros. Music by several police departments and conservative groups, as well as public damnations from Charlton Heston and former President George Bush – resulted in Ice T leaving the Warner Brothers label, and taking Body Count with him.

After making a pit-stop on the Jimi Hendrix tribute Stone Free, the band returned three years later with Born Dead. With the firestorm over the first album behind them, Body Count chose to let their music do the talking for them. The album included several blistering commentaries on current issues, their reaction to the controversy, and the poignant cover of “Hey Joe” that appeared on Stone Free.

The band then released Violent Demise: The Last Days in 1997, a release that was hailed by critics who had finally “gotten” Body Count. Alas, shortly after, Body Count became a memory as no new material was forthcoming and the surviving members had seemingly disappeared. To greatly complicate matters, original drummer Beatmaster V passed away shortly before the release of Last Days from leukemia, and original bass player Mooseman was killed in a drive-by shooting in South Central Los Angeles in 2001.

Seven years after the release of their last album, Body Count is poised to make their return. Recently, we caught up with lead guitar player Ernie C to talk about what we can expect in 2004 from one of the most controversial and hostile metal bands ever and the reasons behind the hiatus.

There Goes The Neighborhood.


MM: The last time Body Count put out an album was 1997, so it’s been 7 years since your last release. What was everybody doing during that downtime?

EC: During that time, I produced a lot of bands. I went to London and lived there a while and working with bands there. Nothing really big, just doing that for a while.

MM: That’s cool; what were some of the bands you worked with there?

EC: Oh jeez, all kinds of bands. I was trying to produce different kinds of music, you know what I mean?

MM: Right.

EC: And then everybody got divorced. It was like, once the new millennium hit, EVERYbody got divorced. It was a couple of years, trying to deal with that. Ice, myself, D-Roc, we all went through it. We knew we were going to put the band back in 2001, like 3 years ago, and we were going to get the original bass player [Mooseman], but he got killed in South Central in a drive-by. So then the last 2 years we’ve been getting the band back together and went on tour. We actually toured around the US and got a great reaction, so we said, “okay, let’s do this.” So now we’re getting everything in order and we’ll have a record out by the end of the year.

Michael Melchor: So you’re working on something new?

Ernie C: Yeah, right now we’re getting all the players in line and trying to focus on the music and get everyone in to do it. Over the past year, everyone from Kid Rock and Linkin Park, these people have been like, “we want to be on your record” – and that’s definitely a good thing [chuckles].

MM: So after everyone’s been through all that, it’s been a matter of getting everyone back together.

EC: Yeah. Ice is in New York [filming “Law And Order”], and the band is in Los Angeles, so we decided Ice will fly back in, record, and go back. So we’ve found a happy medium, basically.

MM: So who all is in the lineup now?

EC: It’s me, myself – I’m on lead guitars, publisher, publicist, all that. Ice T, he’s on lead vocals; D-Roc, the original rhythm guitar player; the new bass player is Vince, and OT is our drummer. He took over for [original drummer] Beatmaster V back in ’96, so he played on all of [“Violent Demise: The Last Days”] and he’s been with the band since then.

MM: Cool. So the record now is mainly in the writing stage?

EC: We’re writing – we’re going to do a song on the new Resident Evil 2, and Ben Moody is going to co-produce the song with me. He’s going to write a song with Body Count. It sounds weird, but it’s a great hard rock record, so he’s writing us on [the] “Resident Evil” [soundtrack]. I met him, he’s a really cool guy, he wants to work with us, so we’re going to do “Resident Evil”, and that’ll be the first song. And I know that’s a big achievement; that’ll be a big deal.

MM: Yeah, because I know—I have the first soundtrack, and that was excellent.

EC: Yeah, the first one had Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Fear Factory, Mudvayne, Depeche Mode, Method Man, Saliva, Coal Chamber – that was a great record, so we want to be just as good with that.

MM: Do you know if it’s going to be on the same label, Roadrunner?

EC: No, I think it’s going to be on Def Jam; they’re still getting the record together and the movie should be out in the summer.

MM: So what attracted you to doing MetalFest? Are you looking to get your name back out there?

EC: We’ve played MetalFest over the years, since back in the early-90s. I don’t know if we’re metal – I don’t know what Body Count is. I’ve produced a Black Sabbath album, so that makes me the king of metal, actually! [laughs] I don’t think we’re a metal band, I don’t know if we’re a punk band, because we’ve played with The Ramones; we’ve played with everyone from L.A. Guns to Public Enemy. We’ve played at rap shows. I don’t know where Body Count actually fits. We go to the MetalFest years ago, and they love us! I don’t know if we’re that kind of band, but they invited us to play and we figured it’d be a great thing to play because we al love metal. So it all works out fine. I mean, Ice is a rapper; people there may listen to rap, but if here was there rapping it wouldn’t be the same. So I don’t know where Body Count fits anymore.

MM: So are any of those concerns on the new album?

EC: I know we want to concentrate on the music. People think we sold, like, 50 million records off the controversy [over “Cop Killer”], but that wasn’t the case. Before all that, we sold maybe 300, 400k. After the fact, maybe a million and a half, so we never sold as much as people think we did. And now it’s a case of, you know, did people make it too late? Are they looking for another song like that? We don’t know. But the new album, you know, we’ve got people like Kid Rock wanting to be on it and all and we’re just looking to make some good music. It probably will be a little heavier and a little darker; we want to do things like work with the B-tuned guitars and the sludgy sound. We want to make it a little grindy.

I know something I want to do, personally, is put some more guitar solos in there. That’s something that’s missing from a lot of hard rock and metal nowadays. You have some great players, but a lot of them do just rhythm, and they’re great at it, but no one really does solos anymore. People don’t understand that that’s how a guitar player expresses himself. Those are his emotions coming out of that, and it’s been missing. So I think I want to bring the old feeling of guitar playing back and combine it with the newer, heavier style.

MM: Is there a full-on tour we can look forward to after MetalFest? Have any plans come about regarding going back on the road?

EC: That’s something we’ll probably figure out more of come summertime. We may look at going to Europe and playing there. Tours in the US are very specialized anymore; you have OzzFest, the Warped tour, and it’s all just very genre-specific. Over in Europe we’ve opened for REM, Sheryl Crow, The Black Crowes; we’ve covered it all there. And if you look at someone’s record collection over there, they have everything! [laughs] It’s not as pigeonholed as it seems to be over here; there’s a real big variety of music over there.

MM: Are there any bands or artists in particular you would like to take out on the road with you?

EC: Well, we’ve always wanted to be the opening band. We’re a lot more comfortable with that than being the headliner. It’s kind of easier to chose who we want to tour with that way. Right now there’s no one in particular; we do like to have a variety of bands to play with. We recently played a show out in California, it was a festival show. It was us, Linkin Park, DMX, Cypress Hill and Obie Trice. That was a GREAT show. We had a real good time with that one.

MM: Good deal. And that looks like everything I have here.

EC: Cool.

MM: I want to thank you again very much for your time, Ernie.

EC: Not a problem.

MM: And I’ll catch up with you again at the MetalFest Pre-Party and see at the show on Saturday.

EC: All right, looking forward to it.

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Interview With Ice T Of Body Count
Posted By Michael Melchor on 03.10.04

The Return of Body Count, part 2

Articulate. Intelligent. Driven. Controversial. Invisible.

All of the above could be easily used to describe Ice T, circa 2004. One of the most influential rappers ever, Ice T came from one of the harshest backgrounds possible. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Ice T moved to Los Angeles as a child when both of his parents died in a car accident. While in California, Ice T was caught up with a new family in the Crips street gang, and was a “shot caller” by the age of 16. From that dead-end scenario, Ice worked his way to becoming a platinum-selling rapper, movie and television actor.

Ice T was also the first MC to completely cross genre lines when he got together with high school friends Ernie C, D-Roc, Beatmaster V, and Mooseman. All five of them loved metal as much as they did rap and decided to play their own hardcore music. Ice T brought the band with him on the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in 1991, where the world got their first look at Body Count.

After three albums and more than their fair share of controversy, Body Count had seemingly disappeared – and so had Ice T. Unless you’re a regular viewer of NBC’s “Law And Order”, it seemed that Ice T has dropped off the face of the earth.

Ice has been quiet, but not dead. Most of his business enterprises now start and end with his own website, icet.com. Joining many who have embraced the concept of online distribution, Ice T still maintains a more-than-respectable life without the hounding and harassment that comes with being directly in the spotlight.

That may change very soon, as Body Count is set to return this year. Before the band’s performance at the 1st annual Sun & Steel Florida MetalFest on March 6 in Pinellas Park, Ice T had time for a short interview regarding his own activities during the band’s downtime and what we can expect from Body Count later on this year.


Michael Melchor: I asked Ernie [C, guitarist] this same question when I talked to him, so I wanted to find out from you...the last Body Count record came out in 1997; what have you been up ton since then?

Ice T: I left Los Angeles and moved to New York, so we split the band up. We lost two members of the band – [original drummer] Beatmaster [V], Moose[man, original bassist] got killed. So I had to let the band really decide if they wanted to play again. I do so many other things that I almost had to step away from them like, “Look, y’all, I’ll go make a fuckin’ movie.” And then they got hungry, and we started recording again. So now - we’re working on a new album.

MM: Cool. Let me say, too—

[At this point, Ernie C approaches the both of us]

MM: [to Ernie] While you’re here, I didn’t get the chance to tell you...[to both] I’m real sorry to hear about Beatmaster and Moose.

Ernie C: [Nods]

Ice: Yeah, yeah. It’s hard because we were all childhood friends. Putting new people in the band ain’t that easy.

MM: You’ve done quite a bit online since then – you’ve got your website that has Final Level Entertainment and things like that...

Ice: Yeah, I like the internet; it’s direct to the people. I’ve always been like an underground artist, I love the underground. It’s okay to build big though, you know. I’ve got to do both. I came in contact with everybody through the internet. If you get a big record, hey that’s great, but I like to kinda keep my music raw, so I’m better off.

MM: So you’re better off keeping it that way.

Ice: Well, I like my music raw. But, that doesn’t mean—I won’t take a job as a painter to buy a car, you know? So it’s like, I’m very real with myself. So in order not to jeopardize my musical integrity – that’s why you see me doing “Law And Order” and these movies. I like that too. But it’s not “Ice T”. Now [points to the stage] you’ll see me. I’ll always do this.

MM: Let me ask also, how does what’s going on politically – has that been a determining factor in the band wanting to get back together?

Ice: It’s hard to really be angry when Clinton’s in power. That motherfucker gets high like we all do! [Laughs] But now we’ve got Bush, we’ve got the Anti-Christ back. Motherfucker came right in killing motherfuckers. Yeah, Body Count works better under pressure.

MM: And that’s where you’re at now.

Ice: Yeah. We’re going to play one new record [on stage], called “Endgame” from the new Murder For Hire album. So, it may go, it may not. It’ll either be cool, or it’ll go [makes frightening face] [Laughs]

MM: Cool. Very cool. I thank you very much and I am so looking fucking forward to seeing the band up there [on stage] tonight.

Ice: No problem.

Preservation

Jesus, it’s been a long time since I’ve been here.

I’m not going to waste time with explanations of why I didn’t touch this thing for so long. There’s no point in it.

But I do have a reason to dust this thing off and use it again. And it started by being scared that yet another piece of my history, my story, had been wiped off the face of the earth.

Because that seems to be a pattern. Just about every outlet I had written for no longer has my work available.

Some, like 411Mania.com and Blogcritics.org, have wiped me out of their archives. No, I don’t think it’s any big conspiracy or anything. Companies only have so much server space. That stuff costs money.

Some just plain went away. Examiner.com – arguably where I was the most prolific and made the most money – was bought out by AXS TV and promptly disappeared. An outlet I had been a co-owner of, TheGorillaPosition.com, was sold. And the new owner saw fit to wipe out everything I had done for it! (I apparently should have included some kind of caveat into the sale agreement.)

Others morphed into some other form of media. PanelsOnPages is exclusively a podcast with a Discord community. Hell, if you check my social media? THIS VERY BLOG morphed into shortform video presentations. So that, I definitely understand.

One outlet that morphed into another form was one that was the impetus for this (re-)visit and updated purpose. Part of my absence can be blamed on going back to school and getting a bachelor’s degree and damn near finishing my master’s (still working on that one as of this writing). As part of that journey, I was a writer and content editor for The Horizon, “The Student Publication of Indiana University Southeast.” Serving two semesters with the student newspaper there was a requirement for my degree in multimedia journalism. Makes sense.

However, I discovered today that The Horizon is now a radio station, podcast and YouTube channel. The Horizon news publication – either in print or online – is no more. Another outlet I had poured so much of myself into had disappeared.

The weird part was, when I checked the Horizon website earlier in the day, it was gone. Completely.

Hours later, after I had inquired about its existence? The website returned, which means my contribution to The Horizon is at least still available online.

But the damage had been done. It was the last straw. I keep a Google Doc that’s 62 pages long with a link to everything I have ever written for an online outlet since I started that game in 2003. And about 99% of those links are inaccessible.

And I’m over it. I’m over my history disappearing. I’m over my story being erased.

So I’m taking it upon myself to preserve my history. I’m taking it upon myself to make sure my story doesn’t get erased. And I’m doing it here.

I may post the occasional thought or missive like I used to, but I’m much more focused on publishing my old stories here. And there’s a ton of them. I told you, what, 62 pages worth of links?

As many as I can resuscitate and reprint, they’re coming here.

I’ve done it before. I made sure  “Remixing The Industry” and “Revenge Of The Nerds” were preserved because they were too important to me to let them evaporate. Now it’s time to save what I can of the rest of my history.