Frank Bello Pens Rock Biography of the Year

Anthrax bassist Frank Bello’s new biography, “Fathers, Brothers, and Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, and Anthrax,” is the undisputed rock memoir of the year, and the past few years at that. The book, available Tuesday, Nov. 2, is not your typical music biography.

Bello is a master storyteller, as energetic in print as he is on stage. He takes readers on a particularly engaging journey of triumph over unthinkable tragedy while seamlessly interspersing band and family stories. Bello very honestly and bravely strips his emotions completely raw to heartrending effect. His family was abandoned by their father early on, and he talks much about the strong women in his life, his mother and grandmother, who gave every ounce of effort to ensure that the Bello family not only survived but thrived.

There are plenty of stories about Anthrax, of course, but it’s really about Bello’s journey through life with both his traditional family and his band of brothers. He also has the unique ability to make the reader feel as if the author is speaking to you directly given his down-to-earth and appealing writing style.

The emotional centerpiece of the story sees Bello, revealing in-depth for the first time, the circumstances and heartache surrounding the 1996 murder of his younger brother, Anthony. He shares his rage and quest for revenge by hunting down the killer, scaring himself by entering a dark side that he didn’t know existed, and didn’t like.

The Anthrax stories are personal, fun and interesting. Unlike so many other rock books, Bello doesn’t dive deep into debauchery, instead focusing on the inner workings of the band and detailing the songwriting and recording process – a lot more interesting than reading yet again about partying. He speaks passionately about the band, which includes his uncle, drummer Charlie Benante, and why he took a year off from Anthrax to play bass for another heavy hitter, Helmet. Bello also covers his love of acting and his approach to being a father to his own son.

As you learn in reading “Fathers, Brothers, and Sons,” Bello lives a multi-faceted life with energy to spare. He speaks about his attitude of “what’s next?” Speaking of which, we can’t wait to see what happens next, both in Anthrax and, if we’re lucky, perhaps a second book.

We had the pleasure of speaking with the amiable author.

You wrote “Fathers, Brothers, and Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, and Anthrax,” during the pandemic. Had you wanted to write a memoir for a long time, was it a more recent idea and was the lockdown the ideal time to write?

It’s been years that I’ve wanted to write a book but never had time. We tour so much and I couldn’t write a book on the road or in the hotel. It’s not the right mindset. When COVID happened I did write songs at home but I also thought now might be the right time to write the book. I feel so raw right now because I didn’t leave everything out. It’s very important to be honest. I give you the straight shoot. There’s no time for BS.

It’s a fantastic book. It feels very much like you’re talking directly to the individual reader. You’re not simply writing about yourself, it’s more like having a deep conversation with a friend. And everyone can exchange stories about family.

The whole idea of this book is I want it be a book where you can make believe that we’re sitting in a pub and the reader and I are exchanging stories. It’s exactly what I wanted to do. This is my story. Family, as you know from the book, is what I am and the band is my extended family. I’m revealing the backstage of my life, in Anthrax and at home. I’m at that point in my life where I want to pay it forward. A lot of people have abandonment issues and there are outlets to contend with it, whether it be music or anything else. There’s a way to find it. This isn’t a self-help book but it is a real positive ride

Let’s talk about what must’ve been the hardest chapter to write: the murder of your brother Anthony.

It’s always a tough subject. I had to take so many breaks in writing that chapter because I was crying. No one wants to lose anyone, and the way it was done was brutal. I spoke to him on the day he was killed. It was here today, gone later today. It took the wind out of my family. He was a young kid, 23, really just starting his life and taken down by a fool with a gun.

I believe in karma and that’s the only thing I don’t wish on my worst enemy. You never really get over it. You just learn to deal with it day by day. I went very dark at that time. After his murder I became a hunter, I wanted to kill the guy that did it. I didn’t know I had that guy in me. For two weeks I was hunting for the guy that did it in that vicinity, where I knew the people were going to hang out. Two weeks of constant surveillance. Anthrax didn’t matter, family didn’t matter. But I realized either I was going to get killed or go to jail and how that would affect my family. My mother would lose another son, I would lose my wife and everything that I cherished.

You have a beautiful tribute song to him named “Anthony” that came out as a hidden track on the Anthrax album, “Volume 8.”

I wrote that in tears in a hotel room in Japan. We had the tour lined up and it was three weeks after he died. I did it because I know the band would’ve lost a lot of money cancelling. So I did it but I just said can I just stay in my room and only come out for show time. In that song you hear me saying goodbye to him. That song has helped a lot of people. It’s a spiritual song.

You talk in the book about acting. Can you compare that to being a musician?

The similarity is the preparation. I feel the more you learn more about yourself the better you write songs or act. I began acting lessons because I wanted to find out who I really was because when you act you’re raw. The teachers I talk about really showed me how to be a really honest character and what bits and pieces make that character live. You’re the character. Just like in Anthrax you give birth to a song. You’re giving life to something as an actor and a musician.

You had some down times, certainly not musically at all but lean years in the business and touring wise, in the late 90s and early 2000s. Then a decade later you’re playing Yankee Stadium and have this monster of a new album (“Worship Music”)

With Anthrax it’s been 40 years and it snuck up on me. You realize how lucky you’ve been. You’re going to have peaks and valleys, but you’re very fortunate. Like in “Raging Bull,” you took the punch but never went down.