Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Former Fear Factory and current Raven drummer Mike Heller stepped in behind the kit for Anthrax during their September 29 show at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, as per Blabbermouth. The local San Antonio resident filled in for longtime Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, who was unable to perform for undisclosed reasons. The high-profile concert saw the New York thrash metal legends sharing the stage alongside heavy metal icons Iron Maiden and Megadeth. This is Heller’s statement after the show.
So I woke up today thinking that I was gonna spend a nice day with my cats and my drumpad… then out of absolutely nowhere at 2:00pm I get a call from my buddy Dirk Verbeuren… he asks me if I’m in town tonight, and if I might know any Anthrax songs, and if I can fill in for Charlie Benante at 6:30pm tonight on the Maiden/Megadeth/Anthrax tour…. Well… I didn’t know any Anthrax songs on the drums, but I quickly charted two out, raced down to the Alamodome… sat in traffic and got thrown to the wrong place to park.. finally got inside, sat down with the guys in Anthrax for less than an hour… charted the other songs as they told me how the versions they play live are different from the album… and then went on stage in front of 56,000 people or whatever, and did my best… Holy crap! How the HELL did I get here?!?!
I have to thank Jon Donais, Frank Bello, Scott Ian, Joey Belladonna, Armando Aguirre, Paul Collis and all the Anthrax crew for having faith in me to be able to pull this off… and of course Dirk and Chris Jericho for vouching for me!!
I still have no idea what happened! Next time, I hope I get more than a few hours to try to learn the songs… and hopefully I would actually be able to move the drums into a comfortable playing position for me… but this is a night I will never forget!
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