Charlie Benante the drummer of Anthrax, shared the band is working on new music, “There is new music — there actually is. There’s about six, seven songs. And it’s really good.” However, he went on to say that release plans are still up in the air due to the coronavirus pandemic: “I don’t think anybody’s thinking anything is coming out until… The first thing I wanna see come out is a vaccine. Then we’re gonna put a record out.”

Benante recently teamed with former Anthrax vocalist John Bush for a quarantined performance of the “Sound Of White Noise” era track, “Packaged Rebellion“. Benante has been delivering a series of covers throughout quarantine. He has given Living Colour’s “Funny Vibes,” Discharge’s “Doomsday” and “The Final Blood Bath,” Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad,” The Beastie Boys’ “Check Your Head,” Rush’s “Free Will” and many more. Recently, Diaz, Scott Ian and Alex Skolnick have joined Benante on several of his various covers. Both Anthrax and Suicidal Tendencies members joined Testament to cover Rush’s “Red Barchetta.”

Recently, Benante of Anthrax and Ra Diaz of Suicidal Tendencies teamed up to cover Billie Eilish’s “bad guy.” Their heavy metal version of the song, showcases Eilish’s vocals whisper over their deep bass and banging drums. Benante plays both drums and guitar on their take of the Eilish hit, while Diaz joins him on bass. The song acts more of a remix rather than a cover, with Eilish’s vocals remaining on the track.

Benante said on Instagram, “My daughter @miiabenante would play @billieeilish in the car all the time, when I heard the song #oceaneyes I was hooked. When this song came out I knew it was going to blow up and it did. @ra_diaz and I Loved this tune and wanted to do a Remix of it. We added some crunch, some funk, some Groove. We like all different forms of music so if yeah Don’t like it, keep it to yourself.”

Anthrax was formed in Queens, New York City, on July 18, 1981 by guitarists Scott Ian and Dan Lilker. The band was named after the disease of the same name which Ian saw in a biology textbook, chosen because it sounded “sufficiently evil”. Anthrax’s lineup has changed several times over their career. The band has had a number of vocalists including Neil Turbin, Joey Belladonna, Dan Nelson and John Bush. Founding member Scott Ian and early arrival Charlie Benante, who joined Anthrax in 1983, are the only band members to appear on every album.

Photo credit: Boston Lynn Schulz