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Frank Bello and David Ellefson made their mark in two Big 4 thrash groups – Anthrax and Megadeth, respectively – but with Altitudes & Attitude, metal veterans explore their rock side, playing melodic songs while remaining aggressive.
After releasing an EP in 2014, the duo had a long way to go to release their first album, Get himwho arrived in January of this year. Although the music has been finished for a while, the commitments to their main bands have not allowed any window to release the record before this year.
The album features Jeff Friedl's percussion of A Perfect Circle and guest appearances from guitarist KISS founder Ace Frehley, Alice Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss and former Ozzy guitarist Osbourne Gus G.
The band begins a brief series of midwestern concerts tonight (April 2) in Madison, Wisconsin, and we recently met Bello and Ellefson to discuss the new album, including the latest single, "Part of Me," and what to expect during their next shows (dates below).
Read below our interview with Bello and Ellefson, and take the first album of Altitudes & Attitude, Get him, in this location.
On the long way to Altitudes & Attitudes, who releases his first album
Frank Bello: To say that it's been a long time since it's nice, it's nice: try to go out and out of your studio and get together to write together and record, by the way [producer] The place of Jay Rustin, his studio in Los Angeles. Let's face it, we've both been busy. We really wanted to take it out last year. But in retrospect, I'm pretty happy I did not do it, because a song like "Late" happened later. So, I'm a little happy with how it worked. It happened … there was no window open to release him. But everything is supposed to be like that. The songs are as fresh as ever. Playing all those songs after the studio is a different animal. And they liven up even more.
DE: We started working on that when we released this first EP in 2014, so I guess we started with that in 2013, when we started to expose the ideas of the original song. We had so much fun doing it. It was a really creative outlet for us, we had been working on it for four years and the album had been completed in early 2018. Frank was very busy with Anthrax during Slayer's farewell tour, and before Megadeth s 39 is busy with one [new album], we found this window to release the disc. The good news is that the songs have remained timeless. We did not feel that this album was dated or aged as we realized it.
On the musical direction and influences of Altitudes & Attitude
FB: I appreciate the fact that the reactions we receive are so positive. People are open to that – and that's all I can ask. It's not a metal disc. People know David and me among our bands, being thrash and all that. Honestly, we just say, "It's a rock record." We grew up with rock 'n' roll. This is the bottom line. So, our influences, from the late 70's, you have to think about KISS, Boston, Zeppelin, Cheap Trick – people hear a lot of Cheap Trick in Altitudes & Attitude. Other people hear different influences, which I appreciate. You can not write something that is not in you. These were my influences, and they worked a lot for me when I grew up. With all the difficulties I had growing up – my father took off – everything the family went through, music was a very important thing for me.
DE: It contains heavier and harder stuff, probably the [songs] that I started. What I liked with what Frank brought, it was very good three-minute songs as a singer-songwriter. They have all this acoustics storytellers kind of mood, up to Cheap Trick. And you can hear our clbadic rock influences from KISS, 70's rock'n'roll rock, but of course that sounds very modern too. We call it "modern clbadic".
On the way Bello worked to strengthen his voice in Altitudes & Attitude
Look, I do not think I'm a great singer. I just want to adapt the songs. It's a learning process. It's a great compliment for me to hear that people like the sound of my voice. It's like another instrument, like the guitar or the bbad. It's just to get the song you have inside of you – the best way for me to do it. I just felt that it had just come out of me, directly from inside me to the microphone.
I'm studying with an excellent singing teacher in New York, who is teaching me to breathe and all those good things – just so that the energy continues to actually use my voice. Again, it's a learning process, but I'm grateful that people are digging it.
On the title track, "Get It Out"
FB: I write a lot of things in my living room with the television in mute mode, it's an acoustic or electric guitar. I have a small amp right next to my lounge chair and when my wife and son go to bed, that's what I do. It's so ridiculous, but it really works for me. This riff [on “Get It Out”] just kept sticking. I was just bading a day and it kept building. This song has almost a punk-rock vibe.
And then, honestly, this Altitudes & Attitude project is something different from what people know me, what I wanted to do for a long time. This has an impact on David and myself. it comes out of you – in a good way. And it really opens the record nicely. I think that makes a statement for the rest of the record.
DE: Frank brought this riff, and we quickly turned it into a melody. I love this rock energy frenzy. Frank and I have been playing thrash metal in two of the best thrash metal bands for over 35 years, and it's fun to live a moment that might be illegal in your main group, but it's perfectly legal in a new setting. We discovered years ago with Megadeth that we could not go too far. When it is written "Megadeth" on it, it must have some sound and some style, and we found that it was a good thing. But as writers, we constantly explore and propose new things, and that's good with Altitudes & Attitude, we have a home where we can really help these ideas to be fully realized.
On the song "Late" featuring the legendary Ace Frehley on guitar
FB: It happened later … on an acoustic guitar, sitting in the same living room. One piece led to another piece that led to another piece. I had the whole song ready musically – and I could not believe that I had been touring for so long, that my son had grown to a half-inch. I'm like, my god, I've missed you so much. And it's just about taking advantage of what you have now. You'd better enjoy life now, because before you know it, it will be too late, because you will not be able to recover those moments. It's not just your child growing up, it's all in life. This is part of the lyrics: "What you see in life / is gone before time". Never say, "I should have done it," go ahead now.
DE: Now we can officially say, "Ace Frehley on guitar!" – as KISS Alive. Frank brought that to the guitar, and it was a nice dirty guitar. When Frank is sitting and playing the guitar, it's very understandable, and it's a great platform for me, because it allows me to play more melody on bbad. My theory as a bbadist is that when the guitars are complex, keep the bbad simple, but when the guitars are simple, the bbad can be busy.
On the song "Part of Me" featuring Alice Cooper's guitarist, Nita Strauss
FB: Dave Ellefson has come up with an excellent piece of music for "Part of Me". He wrote a lot of this music. I just add a few guitar parts later. The lyrics speak of where you want to express yourself, no matter what you can in your life. Do not be held back by anything. I have this part of me that … I certainly have an inner anger, a part of me that I do not want to let out, but if you keep pushing me, it'll come out. I think everyone has that in them.
DE: It's a song that I imported. I think it was originally a guitar idea, but we had an 8-string bbad in the studio and we connected it to a Kemper [amp]and just the tone of this thing, I just started writing parts left and right. So I started writing songs for "Part of Me". Frank helped me finish the lyrical idea, and it became this song.
What to expect from Altitudes & Attitude concerts
FB: There will be no songs from our main bands [Anthrax or Megadeth] but we're going to put some blankets in, "because you can not forget where you're coming from, so we're going to pay tribute to some of the bands we love, and a lot of people are going to have fun with that. you know David and me, what we grew up, we put together funny things, I love to throw those songs, we can go to the left and bring something out of nowhere, I remember, for no reason at from a show in Chicago, I started playing U2's "Bad", and we played a good piece of that song and the audience liked it, it's all about energy, I want people to forget their problems when they are at our show.
Indicates if Altitudes & Attitude will continue to play music in the future
I think so. It takes a lot of time to bademble these records, especially because of our schedules. It's a lot of time and energy to do it. At the same time, this record is a work of love. It's a real pbadion for me and Frank – and I think that must always be at the heart of our concerns. It must be a work of love.
Dates of the American Altitudes and Attitudes Tour of Spring 2019:
04/02 – Madison, WI @ The Majestic Theater
04/03 – Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club
04/04 – Ft. Wayne, IN @ Sweetwater
04/05 – Dayton, Ohio @ Oddbody's Music Room
04/06 – Fremont, OH @ Midwest Rhythm Summit
04/07 – Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop
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