In a recent interview with The Metal Voice , Frank Bello of Anthrax answered some questions about his biography, Fathers, Brothers, And Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, And Anthrax , released on November 2nd.
During the conversation, Bello recalled the painful episode for him and his family that was the murder of his brother in 1996. Anthony Bello was killed with three shots in the Bronx neighborhood, and the experience not only scarred Frank, but affected him so deeply that the musician began hunting the killer in search of revenge.
“I lost it,” Bello says. “Two weeks after my brother’s murder, I snapped to the point of becoming the hunter. I kind of lost track of who I was, I saw everything in black. I didn’t care about Anthrax or my family, I only had one goal and that was revenge.”
According to Frank Bello, a moment of clarity made him think of his mother before committing any act of violence. After the episode, he sought help through therapy.
“Thank goodness I thought about my mother,” he recounts. “[I thought] ‘What am I doing here? Why am I holding a gun?’ I was thinking about my mother and wondering what would happen if I did that. She would lose two sons. Then I thought about my brother who died and that kind of snapped me out of that trance. I went home and threw myself into therapy.”
A witness to Anthony Bello's murder appeared for the pre-trial hearing, but could not be found afterward, according to Frank, so the case of his brother's death was closed.
In the same interview, the Anthrax bassist recalled another tragedy that marked his youth: the death of Cliff Burton . Frank Bello was one of the last people to see Burton alive and remembered the last words he spoke to his friend before the bus accident that killed him.
READ ALSO: Frank Bello recalls the last words he said to Cliff Burton: "It still haunts me"
