Anthrax’s drummer Charlie Benante has teamed up with his significant other Carla Harvey, the frontwoman of Butcher Babies and Ra Diaz, the bassist of Suicidal Tendencies for a cover of Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad.” This song originally appeared on Tom Petty’s album Full Moon Fever back in 1989.
The trio performed this song remotely, with Harvey taking over the lead vocals and guitars for this song, Diaz taking the role as the bassist, and of course Benante providing the drums. The cover stays true to the jangle folk rock inspired classic, with jangly acoustic guitars, and soft electric guitar lines, which are a departure from the trio’s typical music styles.
“We miss you, Tom Petty! One of the American greats! Not only a stellar multi instrumentalist but the king of story telling through his lyrics. His songs are familiar, yet they never sound dated,” Benante said in a statement. “Hearing them after awhile just reminds you of how good he was! What you may not know about Petty was that he was an advocate for fair treatment of musical artists and fans alike.”
Diaz and Benante had previously covered the 1978 Ruch song “La Villa Strangiato” alongside Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick earlier this year. Benante also recently teamed up with his former Stormtroopers of Death bandmates Scott Ian and Dan Lilker for cover of the track “Chromatic Death.” Ian is Benante’s band mate for the thrash metal outfit Anthrax, where he plays guitar, while Lilker currently serves as the bassist for Nuclear Assault.
Read their full statement on Tom Petty below:
“We miss you, Tom Petty! One of the American greats! Not only a stellar multi instrumentalist but the king of story telling through his lyrics. His songs are familiar, yet they never sound dated.
Hearing them after awhile just reminds you of how good he was! What you may not know about Petty was that he was an advocate for fair treatment of musical artists and fans alike.
He fought the record industry to avoid his contract be transferred, saying he didn’t want to be “bought and sold like a piece of meat,” and later fought to keep the prices of his albums down so that everyone could afford him.
This song has always been a favorite of mine, the lyrics, the Jangly guitars, his voice… he and the Heartbreakers wrote some catchy stuff .
This one features the beautiful Carla Harvey of the Butcher Babies and Ra Diaz from Suicidal Tendencies, they rule! Thanks to Andy Lagis for mixing and Dima Levanchuk for video editing – I 💜 tom Petty“
Photo Credit: Marv Watson
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