Part 1: Metal Rap to the Masses / Soul Vaccination / Remixing the Past
What? Another metal group doing rap? Not so fast. In 1991, long before kids dined on Korn and Bizkit, there was one of the more historic hardcore rock/rap collaborations featuring two of the most revered groups in both genres-- Anthrax joining Public Enemy on their anthem "Bring The Noise." "I got this riff and we got the idea to have Chuck D come over and rap," says guitarist Scott Ian. "We called Chuck up and told him what we did. His initial reaction was that he felt it would be redundant. They'd already done it on a record and a single, so it was already out twice for him and at the time it wasn't even one of his favorite tracks, but I was like, 'Just check it out, you have to hear this.' We sent out a tape and the next thing we heard was Chuck saying, 'Let's do it,' and the track came out great."

Such is a day in the life of New York-quartet Anthrax, venerable survivors of unloving (Elektra) and defunct (Ignition/Tommy Boy) record labels, as well as the precipitous drop of metal music from it's '80s heyday. But after 18 years, eight studio albums and numerous EPs, the group defies the trends and odds with their recently released greatest-hits package, The Return of the Killer A's, featuring re-mastered versions of classics like "Indians" and "I Am The Law," and a curious cover of the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion."

Musician.com caught up with Bronx-native Charlie Benante to talk skins, warm-up routines, and ambitious crossovers.

Musician.com: First Public Enemy, now this-- what's with the Temptations cover, "Ball of Confusion?"

Charlie Benante: There's nothing really special about that as far as drum playing, it's just pretty much straight ahead.

Musician.com: Songs such as The Temptations' "Ball of Confusion" or Public Enemy's "Bring The Noise," which was a crossover way before this rap-metal genre became mainstream, how do you put together the drum part for that? Do you try to pretty much stay true to the original song?

Benante: The thing about those songs, at first I tried to play them close as I could to the original. And in rehearsals when we did it, I got my personality more into it. I'd say, "This to me is kind of stale," and just kind of went for it a little more and tried to lend more of the Anthrax style to those songs. And then when you get comfortable with it, you have some time to fill in here and there. I want to keep that groove going, but still put in some of the metal aspect.

Musician.com: Whose idea was it to do the Temptations track?

Benante: Actually John [Bush, vocalist] has been wanting us to do it for a couple years now, but we didn't want to do it. Let's put it this way, when we were going to do it with our ex-singer [Joey Belladonna, who parted with the band in 1991] then it made sense to do it, because there's two voices in the song. But now, we're not on the same page anymore-- we did that song, and that was it. He [Joey] never did the tour with us.

Musician.com: You remixed a lot of older songs for the new album.

Benante: Yeah, I put the whole thing together. I sat in the mastering room with George Marino. It was great hearing the old songs come to life. They haven't been re-mastered or anything, so we just added some lows and highs and EQed them to make them fit with the other songs. The original mixes were really thin, so I wanted to beef it all up, including the drums.

Part 2: Building the Double Bass Beast / Developing Hands and Feet / Warm Up Routines
Musician.com: The double-bass chops are something you're really known for. When did that come together for you, and who influenced your technique?

Benante: To be honest with you, the double-bass stuff just happened. It was like Motorhead and this Judas Priest record called Sin After Sin that featured Simon Phillips on it. When I heard that I was like, whoa. Amazing. And that's what I wanted to do.

Musician.com: How has your technique developed over the course of the band's career?

Benante: You know what? Drumming to me is not... this is going to sound really, really, really stupid. Doing an interview about drumming and me saying that, drumming to me has always just been fun. I never got into the technical aspect of it. Whatever I'm doing, or have been doing, has always been just me. Figuring it out, stumbling upon it. I wouldn't say I tried to perfect something, but I went with it, and if it felt good and it was comfortable for me then I just did it. Sometimes I would worry if my hands were as good as my feet were, and vice-versa. There'd be some tours that I'd be doing more with my hands than my feet. But for this tour [Maximum Rock], we play 40 minutes and just go for it.

Musician.com: How do you warm up for this type of intense drumming?

Benante: I definitely warm up for 45 minutes before we play, because I have to. Otherwise my arms get all tight, and my hands get numb.

Musician.com: What do you do specifically?

Benante: I practice on a pad, sit in the corner and do what I've got to do. And then Gene Provincia from Tama, he turned me on to this Gyro Ball. It's like this ball in this plastic casing. And you start it up with a rope and you just move your hand and your wrist in a circular motion, and it pulls at you. The faster you go, the more it pulls. And it helps the blood flow and it helps get your wrist in that motion, and just getting the muscles worked up. So that's been helping out a lot. And sometimes, if I feel kind of sluggish or something I'll put these weights on my legs, 10 pound weights and work out with those. So when I get on stage I'm just flying.
Part 3: Muscle-bound or Mincemeat? / Ringo, Buddy & Bonham / Drums, Tuning and Setup
Musician.com: Do you work out?

Benante: No, I don't do that. The other guys do, but I don't. [laughs]

Musician.com: And you haven't had any back problems or carpal tunnel or anything like that?

Benante: Well, here and there I get an ailment. But really, no. Nothing. I'm glad about that.

Musician.com: When did you start playing drums?

Benante: When I was four years old. I totally come from a big background of musicians and artists. No one really played drums in the family, but everybody was very musical. I grew up with four older sisters, and my mom was always playing music in the house. And I just came out doing it, since I was four.

Musician.com: Who were you into at that young an age?

Benante: The first person I saw play drums was Ringo. Him and Buddy Rich, on TV. That was it for me. Then I took lessons from when I was five to seven. Then I stopped and I started again when I was like 10 or 11, and then that was it. Then I just wanted to play.

Musician.com: What were you studying? Rudiments and reading?

Benante: Yeah, basic rudiments and learning how to read-- which to this day I do not remember! I just got possessed by rock music, it just took over.

Musician.com: Did you play in school bands?

Benante: Some school bands, and then I got into some bar bands. I was too young to be in the bars at the time, I had to sneak in the back. But that was cool.

Musician.com: Have you been writing tunes on the road?

Benante: I've been trying here and there, but I can't do it on the road. It's very hard. I need some time by myself to just sit and write.

Musician.com: Do you play guitar, write on guitar?

Benante: I'm pretty much the one that writes a lot of the songs. I enjoy it.

Musician.com: Do you think that lends to how you write some of your drum parts?

Benante: Absolutely. I just hear the whole song in my head most of the time. It's like if I think of a guitar riff, I know exactly what beat is going to go behind it. So I pretty much eliminate going to someone else, because I know exactly what it's going to be like.