Anthrax’s Charlie Benante joins Strombo on Apple Music Hits today to talk about his new solo project Silver Linings, how the idea came about, why he chose some of the artists he covered, and his excitement for the next Anthrax album, saying, "the songs that we have so far are so angry."

On how the idea of a covers album came to be, Charlie reveals: “Basically what happened was last March, when the pandemic hit here, I was glued to the, to the news, and it started really depressed me. And it started started to kind of go downwards and my girlfriend Carla said to me, ‘You need to shut this stuff off… go be creative.” So what I did was, I set up this rolling electronic kit in my art room. And I Dude, I started just playing again, like when I was younger. So I called up my friend Alex Skolnick (Suicidal Tendencies), and I said, ‘Hey, would you guys want to kind of do something here?’ And they said, ‘Absolutely.’ So I sent them everything, and then we put it out. And then I was so overwhelmed by people who are going through the same exact thing I was, there was so much darkness. And they were like, ‘This is a light in just a really bad time.’ So that's how it happened. And it just snowballed from there.”

On some of the songs he chose to cover for Silver Linings: ”The first song was the Tom Petty song that I did with my girlfriend, Carla, because I was such a huge Tom Petty fan, same with her, but I pushed her out of her comfort zone because she never really sung like that. I just loved Tom Petty so much. And then the next one was the Massive Attack song, which was kind of difficult because there's, it's multi layered, and I’ve never made a song like that. So I had to kind of trust my instincts and, you know, teach myself how to play keyboards.”

Charlie expresses his excitement for the next Anthrax record: "I'm looking forward to the next actual Anthrax record and the approach. I mean, already the songs that we have so far, are so angry… and I think that that's the best thing for me, musically, is to get get that out. You know what I mean? We've all been suffering for a while, you know, with this (pandemic), and I think a lot of people are going to have some angry music come out, and I think the lyrics are going to be even angrier."

Listen at Apple Music Hits.

Silver Linings is available now via Megaforce Records. The album includes 14 tracks that feature an all-star cast of "who's who" in the thrash, metal, and rock worlds, with all cuts culled from Benante's acclaimed 'Quarantine Jam Video Series'.

Tracklisting:

"City Of Blinding Lights" / U2 - Frank Bello, Mark Osegueda, Charlie Benante
"Chloe Dancer / Crown Of Horns" / Mother Love Bone - Mark Menghi, Mark Osegueda, Charlie Benante
"Teardrop" / Massive Attack - Carla Harvey, Ra Diaz, Charlie Benante
"Run DMC" / Run DMC - DMC, Rob Caggiano, Ra Diaz, Charlie Benante
"Rhiannon" / Fleetwood Mac - Mark Menghi, Jennifer Cella, Randy McStine, Charlie Benante
"Yer So Bad" / Tom Petty - Carla Harvey, Ra Diaz, Charlie Benante
"Transylvania" / Iron Maiden - Snake Sabo, Frank Bello, Jon Donias, Charlie Benante
"Presto Vivace" / U.K. - Ra Diaz, Alex Skolnick, Jordan Rudess, Charlie Benante
"Bad Guy" / Billie Eilish - Ra Diaz, Charlie Benante
"Jimmy James" / The Beastie Boys - Ra Diaz, Charlie Benante
"All The Way" / KISS - PJ Farley, Joe McGinness, John 5, Charlie Benante
"Mr Speed" / KISS - Joe McGinness, PJ Farley, Charlie Benante
"Public Image" / Public Image - Hank Von Hell, Dave Brownsound, Jason "Cone" McCaslin, Charlie Benante
"Funny Vibe" / Living Color - Ra Diaz, Corey Glover, Henry Flury, Charlie Benante

(Photo - Jimmy Hubbard)