Anthrax’s Charlie Benante Teams Up With Suicidal Tendencies’ Ra Diaz and Testaments Alex Skolnick To Cover Beastie Boys’ “Check Your Head” And Rush’s “Freewill”

In a series of quarantine covers, Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and Suicidal Tendencies’ RA Diaz jammed out with covers of the Beastie Boys‘ Check Your Head’s  “Jimmy James.” The cover comes shortly before the release of the new Beastie Boys documentary ‘Beastie Boys Story‘ via Apple TV+ Aril 24th. Benante played keys while Diaz played bass then joined by Testament‘s Alex Skolnick on guitar and  Crobot‘s Brandon Yeagley on vocals to perform  “Freewill,” originally recorded by Rush.

“Dear friends: Once again, the three of us (Alex , Ra and myself) were completely knocked out by the responses to our latest video. As if your appreciation of the music wasn’t enough, it’s been humbling to hear from so many of you who’ve let us know how much this has been helping during this difficult period of quarantine and isolation. This brings us to the following conclusion: “We can’t stop now, can we?” Benante states in a statement provided by the PRP.

Skolnick, Diaz and Benante recently covered Rush’s song  “YYZ” earlier this month and have performed songs from fellow band Stormtroopers, most recently covering “Chromatic Death and “La Villa Strangiatto.” They also collaborated with Benante’s wife Carla Harvey, who is also the frontwoman of Butcher Babies, for cover of Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad” from Petty’s 1989 album Full Moon Fever.

In the same statement, Benante continued to discuss their newest cover. “Freewill” is about thinking for yourself, accepting difficult truths and avoiding superstition, magical thinking and herd mentality (most pertinent during these times). We now have a @rush trilogy. When we “made a choice” (as the song says) to take on this tune, we had a new challenge on our hands: Our previous two are both instrumental and doing this one would require a vocalist who is up to the task (sadly that excludes the three of us). Fortunately, we know just the guy. On vocals, we proudly present Brandon Yeagley @brandoncrobot of @crobotband.”

Anthrax is still scheduled to play Slipknot’s Knotfest At Sea, which is still to set sail August 10 from Barcelona and end in Naples, Italy on August 14th. Other bands scheduled to play include a 2-night Slipknot set, DevilDriver, Sevendust, Skindred, Ho99o9, Higher Power and Sleep Token. More artists will be announced at a later date if the event continues as planned.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat