Does anyone know for sure what happened with Dan Nelson and Anthrax?

[Spongie]

Not sure why this popped into my head, but all I can find online are conflicting claims… he said, she said.

I do remember hearing something about Dan leaving the guys an upper decker in the bus toilet. Hilarious by any standard.

[joey78]

What I read years ago is ….

Dan was drunk and came on to Pearl . Scott was livid and made the decision to fire him . Charlie tried to intervene but Scott was adamant

[Psychobolia.com]

Just wanted to say that I'm one of the few to have seen Danthrax, at Hellfest, opening for Heaven and Hell. Was a good show!

[ijwthstd]

What I read years ago is ….

Dan was drunk and came on to Pearl . Scott was livid and made the decision to fire him . Charlie tried to intervene but Scott was adamant

After throwing Frank out for fighting with him, right?

This band is a total joke.

[Anthrax442]

What I read years ago is ….

Dan was drunk and came on to Pearl . Scott was livid and made the decision to fire him . Charlie tried to intervene but Scott was adamant

After throwing Frank out for fighting with him, right?

This band is a total joke.

I dunno about throwing Frank out. There was definitely a fight between the two, but seemed like Frank left on his own accord rather than deal with Dan.

All the poop jokes/stories aside, the Dan being shitty to Pearl while drunk is the most believable. He apparently was a raging alcoholic, and I don't think the band realized how bad it was when they hired him originally.

But as far as who really knows what happened, I think that's limited to the band members and the lawyers. They've done a good job of keeping that quiet, I'm sure NDAs all around. There wasn't a second of mentioning that era when they did the 40th anniversary documentary, and they even whitewashed the first Joey reunion, by basically just stating that things had kind of run their course after We've Come For You All, and that when the Big 4 opportunity came calling, it was time for them to get their shit together.

Little insulting to Danny Spitz to ignore that part, if you ask me, but I understand why they did it.

[AliceManson]

What I read years ago is ….

Dan was drunk and came on to Pearl . Scott was livid and made the decision to fire him . Charlie tried to intervene but Scott was adamant

After throwing Frank out for fighting with him, right?

This band is a total joke.

Bello was part of the band at that time, unless they never announced it. Bush was the singer when he left to join Helmet. He came back when Joey and Dan did.

[Deege]

What I read years ago is ….

Dan was drunk and came on to Pearl . Scott was livid and made the decision to fire him . Charlie tried to intervene but Scott was adamant

After throwing Frank out for fighting with him, right?

This band is a total joke.

I dunno about throwing Frank out. There was definitely a fight between the two, but seemed like Frank left on his own accord rather than deal with Dan.

All the poop jokes/stories aside, the Dan being shitty to Pearl while drunk is the most believable. He apparently was a raging alcoholic, and I don't think the band realized how bad it was when they hired him originally.

But as far as who really knows what happened, I think that's limited to the band members and the lawyers. They've done a good job of keeping that quiet, I'm sure NDAs all around. There wasn't a second of mentioning that era when they did the 40th anniversary documentary, and they even whitewashed the first Joey reunion, by basically just stating that things had kind of run their course after We've Come For You All, and that when the Big 4 opportunity came calling, it was time for them to get their shit together.

Little insulting to Danny Spitz to ignore that part, if you ask me, but I understand why they did it.

Frank actually left the band while John Bush was still the singer, and Joey Vera did The Greater Of Two Evils tour opening for Dio. Frank went on to join Helmet for a period of time. But he rejoined Anthrax when the Joey Belladonna/Dan Spitz reunion happened in 2005.
That reunion fizzled out soon after and John wouldn't come back (but Caggiano did) so they started working with Dan Nelson. I think that all went off the rails, I remember an interview that Dan and Charlie did together and Dan Nelson was embarrassingly drunk. I am sure his alcoholism probably played a huge part. I also heard a story about him trying to put the moves on Pearl and pissing Scott off and that was the end of it. People kept joking about him shitting on someone's back or doing an upper decker on the bus and I think that was literally someone on this forum joking around and people kept repeating it to the point where a lot of people think that's the reason and it's probably just a funny made up story that people took seriously for some reason because it was repeated so much.

[ijwthstd]

I can only see the teaser on google, can't get page to load but I definitely remember this

https://thegauntlet.com/article/29/1299 ... thrax.html

According to our sources, Charlie Benante and Frank Bello were arguing over publishing money and Frank hit vocalist Dan Nelson. Charlie Benante fired Frank on the spot.

[Deege]

I can only see the teaser on google, can't get page to load but I definitely remember this

https://thegauntlet.com/article/29/1299 ... thrax.html

According to our sources, Charlie Benante and Frank Bello were arguing over publishing money and Frank hit vocalist Dan Nelson. Charlie Benante fired Frank on the spot.

Frank left in 2004, while John Bush was still the frontman. He rejoined by the time the first Belladonna reunion occurred. Frank was in the band the entire time Dan Nelson was in the band.

[Anthrax442]

Frank actually left the band while John Bush was still the singer, and Joey Vera did The Greater Of Two Evils tour opening for Dio. Frank went on to join Helmet for a period of time. But he rejoined Anthrax when the Joey Belladonna/Dan Spitz reunion happened in 2005.
That reunion fizzled out soon after and John wouldn't come back (but Caggiano did) so they started working with Dan Nelson. I think that all went off the rails, I remember an interview that Dan and Charlie did together and Dan Nelson was embarrassingly drunk. I am sure his alcoholism probably played a huge part. I also heard a story about him trying to put the moves on Pearl and pissing Scott off and that was the end of it. People kept joking about him shitting on someone's back or doing an upper decker on the bus and I think that was literally someone on this forum joking around and people kept repeating it to the point where a lot of people think that's the reason and it's probably just a funny made up story that people took seriously for some reason because it was repeated so much.

Correct, it wasn't Frank's first time leaving, which is also why it wasn't too surprising when he had issues during the Dan era.

I hadn't heard that John specifically wouldn't come back when the 05-07 reunion ended, but I'm also completely not surprised (honestly, I didn't even realize they asked him then, because that was also when they had those fever dreams of getting Corey Taylor).

The fact that they had JUST dumped John for the money grab tour after he recorded all those Joey era songs with them, and they were not committing to Joey as well for anything beyond touring should have been two giant red flags for him.

The only time I knew that John definitely said no was when the Dan thing blew up, and he just did those few festivals they had booked before the Big 4 took shape.

[Anthrax442]

I can only see the teaser on google, can't get page to load but I definitely remember this

https://thegauntlet.com/article/29/1299 ... thrax.html

According to our sources, Charlie Benante and Frank Bello were arguing over publishing money and Frank hit vocalist Dan Nelson. Charlie Benante fired Frank on the spot.

Frank left in 2004, while John Bush was still the frontman. He rejoined by the time the first Belladonna reunion occurred. Frank was in the band the entire time Dan Nelson was in the band.

Nope, he left twice. Basically, Dan and Frank got in a fight, and Frank was like, "I'm done". They were working on what would eventually be Worship Music at the time, and Vera played a handful of shows with them again in 2008.

Then when Dan got fired a few months later, Frank came back.

[HueyRamone]

I can only see the teaser on google, can't get page to load but I definitely remember this

https://thegauntlet.com/article/29/1299 ... thrax.html

According to our sources, Charlie Benante and Frank Bello were arguing over publishing money and Frank hit vocalist Dan Nelson. Charlie Benante fired Frank on the spot.

Frank left in 2004, while John Bush was still the frontman. He rejoined by the time the first Belladonna reunion occurred. Frank was in the band the entire time Dan Nelson was in the band.

Nope, he left twice. Basically, Dan and Frank got in a fight, and Frank was like, "I'm done". They were working on what would eventually be Worship Music at the time, and Vera played a handful of shows with them again in 2008.

Then when Dan got fired a few months later, Frank came back.

This cant be right, solely because the whole "Dan was fired for shitting on Franks back in the tour bus" wouldnt have gotten off the ground if Frank wasnt in the band at the time.

That's all I got.

[Rocker4Real]

The podcast hosts need to track him down to get his side!

[Anthrax442]

Frank left in 2004, while John Bush was still the frontman. He rejoined by the time the first Belladonna reunion occurred. Frank was in the band the entire time Dan Nelson was in the band.

Nope, he left twice. Basically, Dan and Frank got in a fight, and Frank was like, "I'm done". They were working on what would eventually be Worship Music at the time, and Vera played a handful of shows with them again in 2008.

Then when Dan got fired a few months later, Frank came back.

This cant be right, solely because the whole "Dan was fired for shitting on Franks back in the tour bus" wouldnt have gotten off the ground if Frank wasnt in the band at the time.

That's all I got.

Yeah, you're right. Frank definitely left for a bit during the Dan era, but I guess they must have patched things up, and then when whatever happened the second time was the final straw. Like, somehow Scott was okay with Frank being fucked with, but Pearl was over the line.

Sorry, it's been almost twenty years, shit gets hazy.

[ijwthstd]

The podcast hosts need to track him down to get his side!

Terms of the lawsuit may prohibit him from doing so. So maybe they can ask him why he beat up that old man in a hotel lounge.

[Grendel]

Frank left in 2004, while John Bush was still the frontman. He rejoined by the time the first Belladonna reunion occurred. Frank was in the band the entire time Dan Nelson was in the band.

Nope, he left twice. Basically, Dan and Frank got in a fight, and Frank was like, "I'm done". They were working on what would eventually be Worship Music at the time, and Vera played a handful of shows with them again in 2008.

Then when Dan got fired a few months later, Frank came back.

This cant be right, solely because the whole "Dan was fired for shitting on Franks back in the tour bus" wouldnt have gotten off the ground if Frank wasnt in the band at the time.

That's all I got.

^^^This. Me remembering the name "'Frank ' Ole Shitback' Bello" is not some example of the Mandela Effect.

[Vince Neil Eats]

Nelson lives on Long Island. A few years ago he was arrested for punching two elderly men.

[Tymaster]

Nope, he left twice. Basically, Dan and Frank got in a fight, and Frank was like, "I'm done". They were working on what would eventually be Worship Music at the time, and Vera played a handful of shows with them again in 2008.

Then when Dan got fired a few months later, Frank came back.

This cant be right, solely because the whole "Dan was fired for shitting on Franks back in the tour bus" wouldnt have gotten off the ground if Frank wasnt in the band at the time.

That's all I got.

Yeah, you're right. Frank definitely left for a bit during the Dan era, but I guess they must have patched things up, and then when whatever happened the second time was the final straw. Like, somehow Scott was okay with Frank being fucked with, but Pearl was over the line.

Sorry, it's been almost twenty years, shit gets hazy.

He missed one gig in Montreal that Vera filled in for but I don't recall Frankie being out for long during that "era." Seems like something happened major happened at Rocklahoma 2009. We have the interview where he's wasted and Benante looks pissed and he was gone the next day.

[Tymaster]

You can do John and Joey stuff.' And I was, like, 'Wow! Cool.' And they were, like, 'You wanna do ANTHRAX instead? And we'll get a bass player.' And I said, 'What about the bass player you've got?' And they were, like, 'We'll talk about that.' And then one thing led to the next, and it became ANTHRAX with me singing and Rob back on guitar."

OK, this does lend credence to the notion that Frankie was out of the band for a bit. THis is Nelson talking about his first days with the band which wouldv'e been 07.
Also, FWIW, I'd always heard it wasn't Dan just "hitting on" Pearl but that he was laying pipe and had been but Scott didn't catch them until Rocklahoma, which would explain the instant firing.

[Sebastian’s Codpiece]

Since we’re talking Anthrax singers, why did they originally shit can Joey, and why were they hesitant to bring him back full time?

[VinceLeeRose]

Since we’re talking Anthrax singers, why did they originally shit can Joey, and why were they hesitant to bring him back full time?

Because they’ve been wanting to sound like Pantera since 1992.

[HueyRamone]

Since we’re talking Anthrax singers, why did they originally shit can Joey, and why were they hesitant to bring him back full time?

Because they’ve been wanting to sound like Pantera since 1992.

This. They couldn't deal with having a great clean singer in the band, so they replaced him with a mediocre Anselmo-type singer.

[Anthrax442]

This. They couldn't deal with having a great clean singer in the band, so they replaced him with a mediocre Anselmo-type singer.

In all seriousness, they WERE really close with Dimebag. He had played on the last three records at that point.

As far as canning Joey goes, the story goes that they did the reunion tour solely for money and to get them out of hole in the walls like the Double Door. Then after touring for two years, Joey was like, "This is great and all, but when are we going to do an album, I'm not really interested in just going through the motions." To the point to where they were booked as the opener for Heaven and Hell in 2007, and he decided to sit out, which is when they talked to Rob, who knew Dan from the New York scene.

Dan actually wasn't a terrible frontman, he did a good job with both eras, but even if he wasn't a drunk, promoters were never going to take them seriously without Joey.

[Rocker4Real]

Anthrax was bigger than Pantera when they were recording SOWN. Stomp 442...well that's obvious they were trying to be Panteraish.

[HottKarl777]

People kept joking about him shitting on someone's back or doing an upper decker on the bus and I think that was literally someone on this forum joking around and people kept repeating it to the point where a lot of people think that's the reason and it's probably just a funny made up story that people took seriously for some reason because it was repeated so much.

You are not taking this away from me. It absolutely happened. Fuck.