Frank Bello Celebrates New Music, Reflects on Grammy Award + More

“I can’t wait, as a fan.”

Anthrax‘s Frank Bello joined Loudwire Nights on Friday (May 15) to celebrate the release of the band’s new song, “It’s For the Kids,” and the news of Anthrax’s next studio album, Cursum Perficio.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“This is the album we need, I can’t be more happy,” Bello shared with Loudwire Nights‘ Chuck Armstrong.

“I’m saying this as a fan, because I’ve been listening to this record a lot. I can’t wait for the fan experience. That’s what I can’t wait [for], because so many people like the last two records we’ve done. This is the next stage. This is the next complement to that and I really feel that … I’m just really psyched to have my fellow fans listen to this.”

Cursum Perficio marks Anthrax’s 12th studio album and their first since 2016’s For All the Kings. The new LP will be in fans’ hands on Sept. 18, and Bello seems as excited as he’s ever been to have new music from the band.

“We love what we do, we’re very fortunate to do what we do,” he said.

“We have this fanbase that I can’t believe is still growing. We just did a tour with Megadeth in Canada. We just came back from Japan and Australia. You see young people as well as the people that have been with us forever all in our crowd. It’s really, really humbling … I know it’s been 10 years and we thank everybody for waiting patiently.”

The first taste of Cursum Perficio is the single, “It’s For the Kids,” a blistering culmination of decades of thrash coming together for one powerful kick in the teeth. Beyond the music, the chorus is a crystal clear condemnation for the state of things in our society.

“I could bite my tongue for a second here, [but] look, put on your TV and see what the fucking world is doing right now,” Bello said.

“I’m not going to get political here, I don’t do that, but my thing is, I do have a family and I’m tired of the people in charge — I don’t care who you follow, I don’t care what team you’re on, I’m on no team, I’m on the human team. Thoughts and prayers, for me, when I hear that line, I’m tired of hearing it on the news from politicians. I’m tired of it.”

As he put it — and as singer Joey Belladonna belts out — hearing “thoughts and prayers” from anyone in charge isn’t enough.

“That ain’t going to cut it for me.”

Back to the Beginning + Back to the Grammys

Bello is no stranger to the Grammys. Since 1991, Anthrax has been nominated six times for various albums and songs, but it was this year that he finally got to receive a trophy.

But this time, the nomination came from his performance alongside Yungblud, Nuno Bettencourt, Adam Wakeman and Sleep Token’s ii for their cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Changes” at Back to the Beginning.

“I still don’t believe it,” Bello admitted.

“I’ll give you a quick thing about the Grammys. You get in, everybody is not assigned seats for that portion of the Grammys, right? So I go in, of course I come off the red carpet late. I’m running and [Adam Wakeman] said, ‘Look dude, we have 10 minutes before our thing is going to be announced. You better get in here.’ So I run, because I didn’t know where the hell I was. I was asking, ‘Where’s the show? Where’s the show?’ I finally get in there, I’m profusely sweating. I look fucking gross, but I have this suit on — yeah, my wife dressed me, I’m pathetic, I have no life — I run into this thing, I’m sweating, I ask the lady, ‘Look, I think I’m up soon, can I get a seat?’ It’s packed, somebody finally gets up, she goes, ‘Go sit there.’ So I’m sitting there next to some dude, he’s in a rap group I don’t know, I think it’s a famous rap group, but I didn’t know him, right? And we’re talking about five minutes and he goes, ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I’m nominated for best rock performance,’ and we’re talking and I didn’t even hear it, dude. He goes, ‘Dude, you just won.’ That’s how I found out.”

Bello said the whole experience was completely surreal, but it was a beautiful moment that was completely in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.

“For me, it’s not about the Grammy, it’s that I played a tribute to Ozzy,” he shared.

“We won a Grammy. Ozzy won the Grammy and the world saw it. The world and Black Sabbath. It was my thank you to them. It’s just another thing that they did for me — not only inspire me, but Ozzy and Black Sabbath gave me a Grammy. We’re playing one of their most beautiful songs. I don’t know what to say except, thank you. I’m humbled … I still don’t understand it and how it happened, but I’m really grateful and thankful.”

What Else Did Anthrax’s Frank Bello Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

The meaning behind the album title, Cursum Perficio, which is a Latin phrase that can be translated as “the journey is complete”: “It could mean something different to me than my friend Chuck. That’s what I have to say. I’m being a little facetious here, but the truth of the matter is we don’t know. We don’t know. It could be, maybe not. There’s no answer to that. What I do know is that we’re having a fucking blast right now … I’m fucking confident and I’m feeling really good. If this is it, talk about leave it all on the table. That’s what we do. I’m not patting our fucking backs or whatever. The truth of the matter is we care. We’re fucking fans. It has to pass us to get to you, know what I mean? Because we care. And it’s been a long time and we took a long time writing this record for a reason and we wanted to make it right. So I can honestly say, if we walked out that door and said, ‘Thank you,’ I’m happy. But I don’t know … We don’t know about an hour from now what the hell’s going to happen. That’s the kind of life we’re living right now, so I’m just here to fucking enjoy the ride. We have a great record that I’m psyched about.”
What runs through his head when he thinks about playing alongside a band like Iron Maiden: “It’s ridiculous. I have to say this to you guys while you’re listening, Frank Bello, 13, 14-year-old fanboy, got his ticket to Greece to go play with Iron Maiden at the Olympic Stadium. Isn’t that ridiculous? Truth be told, I’m still excited as hell to get out there. I’m friends with the Maiden guys and they’re just as excited to do it, too. And to be able to go out and play another song, a new song, and hopefully get into this thing and ease into it, I just feel very fortunate. I’m psyched that we’re ready, pumped and ready to go.”
Running into Metallica‘s James Hetfield at Back to the Beginning: “I’m sitting on the side, getting my bass stuff together. I feel a tap on my back and all of a sudden, hands out, James Hetfield, who I haven’t seen in a couple of years — we came up together, obviously Anthrax and Metallica, we’ve had a long history. It was just so nice. ‘Frankie!’ Big hug. The hug lasted what felt like forever because we both wanted to fucking say, ‘We know. We know.’ It was one of those things. We talked for, I swear to God, 20 minutes to half an hour, introducing me to his son, catching up. [That was] the vibe backstage. There was nothing like egos and stuff. You see Slash, you see Axl [Rose], Duff [McKagan], everybody’s hanging out. It was just [so] great, I wish everybody could get a taste of it … It was a beautiful moment.”