Recently, notoriously outspoken former Anthrax frontman Neil Turbin was kind enough to take a break from his decidedly hectic schedule to speak with us regarding, among many other things, the recording process of A Fate Worse Than Death, the full-length debut from his latest project Deathriders…

Todd: How did you initially become involved with Anthrax? Did you have a hand in forming the group or did you join after the fact?

Neil Turbin: “I didn’t start the band, but when I joined the band, I significantly boosted their position. I was someone who was an experienced singer. Anthrax was not my first band. In fact, at my first gig, I played for five hundred people. …At my first professional gig, I played at (legendary New York City club) CBGB’s with my band New Race. That band was together for three years before anything happened after that… …Anthrax had actually called me first. In Good Times magazine, I had taken out a “singer available” type ad and they had called me up somewhere between June or July of 1982. It actually may have been much earlier than that. …These guys had their own PA, had some pretty cool songs…but there was never that great bond there. It just never happened. …I tried to dedicate myself to the opportunity because I thought it would be pretty cool because of the songs. Unfortunately…for whatever reason…it didn’t work out. …So later on, I looked in Good Times and there was an ad in there that looked pretty good. They were into Judas Priest and Iron Maiden…sounds pretty good, right? …So I got a hold of (Anthrax rhythm guitarist) Scott (Ian). I called the number from Good Times and it turns out it was Scott. So I talked to him and told him I hadn’t been interested a few months back, so that was kinda weird. I had gone to school with Scott. We had actually been in the same class in the tenth grade. …I knew I wasn’t his favorite person, even then. …At that point, I talked with them and we agreed to get together after some deliberations on the phone. So we got together at my house in Queens and we played demo tapes for each other. We shared thoughts and what are experience levels were and what was on the plate for Anthrax at that time. They actually had a show in two weeks. They already had it booked, but what they didn’t have was a singer. They had been using Scott’s brother Jason Rosenfeld. …He did one or two gigs with them and I guess they weren’t exactly overjoyed or thrilled with the outcome because he was a fourteen year old kid. …The band, at that time, had a very Iron Maiden sound going on. …Not a very original sound. It was a sorta Hard Rock meets Heavy Metal band. …The material, to me, was kinda weak. There were some cool ideas, but it was weak in sense that it just wasn’t quite there. …I’m not trying to take anything away…it was just kinda getting there. It needed development. …My intentions were to write songs with the band. I was an experienced writer as well. I had been writing for years. …Writing songs is great, but if you’re not writing for that particular singer, it’s like pissing in the wind, ya know? …So I think it’s very mission critical that you write for your singer. …Just the way things evolved, during my time in Anthrax, we were never writing for the singer. I just kinda wrote the song and hoped that I could sing it. They didn’t say ‘…here is the key we are writing in…’. There just wasn’t that level of songwriting.”

Todd: That must have been frustrating…

Neil: “Well, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was just where we were at. …Back then, it was a lot more hit or miss. There was a lot less intelligence about how to go about things. And a great deal of that comes from experience… …So I ended up joining the band and we did our first show two weeks later at Great Gildersleeves in September of ’82 and the rest was history, I thought. I stayed in the band through thick and thin. I wasn’t gonna fall out because I got wishy washy or something. I hung in there as bad as things got. It wasn’t my intention to jump ship, but it was definitely at a point where things were pretty much at an impasse. Things were pretty bad before we went on tour. There was this photographer that was a friends with some of the band…there were people that were jealous, let’s just put it that way. People were saying stuff and basically adding fuel to the fire. There was already animosity within the band and a very bad lack of communication. One of the things that was prelevant was that there were people in the band that wouldn’t say things to your face. They’d rather say it on the phone. …Back then, we didn’t have E-Mail (laughs), but I’m sure if we did, it would have been used as an alternative to picking up the phone. …The band didn’t like me. That’s what it really came down to. There was behavior that was just disrespectful. …There was basically all these people talkin’ smack all the time. How much fun would that be, ya know? …These guys weren’t much into letting me have my peace or rest or anything. It was the opposite of being a team. It was more like every man for himself with all these egos running wild. Unfortunately for me, I was in the position of being the frontman. I was getting attention…I was pretty intimidating, so people would give me attention, ya know? I didn’t have to ask for it and I didn’t have to demand it. It just came…it was just there. I guess some people might have been jealous and I think some people might have been jealous that I had my own ideas. …I wasn’t a person that was going to be told what to do. I was part of the team, but I wasn’t taking any orders and that’s what that band really became. There were a lot of things going on at that time and the songwriting had changed. (Future Nuclear Assault/S.O.D. bassist) Dan Lilker wasn’t in the band anymore and the songwriting team had been myself, Scott and Danny. When Danny was out, I tried to start writing with (formed Anthrax lead guitarist) Dan Spitz, but that wasn’t happening. Every song came out sounding like like Van Halen or Dokken or something (laughs). It wasn’t a style that was complimentary or in the same vein. …(Anthrax drummer) Charlie B. started comin’ up with the guitar parts and he’s the drummer…he wanted to be very involved in the songwriting process. They basically wanted to change the direction of the band. They wanted to do this Hardcore Punk type sound so they brought it to the rehearsals… …I had seen the first wave of Punk bands come from England and I didn’t wanna copy them. I had no interest. I liked the Ramones, but I had no interest in copying their thing. …I thought I could maybe aspire to something that a little more dynamic vocally and a little more dynamic musically. …That’s when I wrote “Armed And Dangerous”, “Gung Ho” and “Raise Hell”. The next generation of songs came out of me. The rest, of course, is history. I was out of the band a week after our August 3^rd 1984 show at the Roseland Ballroom. It was premeditated. The band never communicated anything with me before. They knew it was a dying ship. …The fact that I was getting thrown off of the ship before the second half of the tour was already predetermined. …There wasn’t a whole lot of integrity in that band. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Todd: What are your feelings regarding the group’s recent failed reunion attempt with Belladonna?

Neil: “It doesn’t concern me. …What does it have to do with me? I’ve evolved over the years and have been involved in a lot of different musical endeavors. …If people didn’t hear about them, who’s problem is that? I’m sorry if people weren’t keepin’ up on me. I didn’t disappear, I didn’t die and get resurrected…I’ve always been pursuing what I believe in. …I haven’t had to look back in a long time. Granted we’re not in a signed situation or out doing major tours, but Deathriders is a force to be reckoned with. Other bands that play with us know what we bring. …We’re only upping the ante from here. I think it’s very exciting where we are because we don’t have to go out and do cover songs, ya know? I don’t have to do this. I do it because I want to. …Don’t believe everything you read. There’s a lot of rumors and B.S. out there. …As far as Anthrax is concerned, I could have hung on no matter how bad it got because that was my mental state of being. I helped bring the band a very far way. At the point where a new singer stepped in, the skids had already been greased. All the palm trees were already aligned. All ya had to do was march down the aisle, ya know? All they had to do was put out another album, but everybody already knew about the band by then. People talk about it like there was some big thing that happened and it’s like ‘…yeah, the band got another singer and became a lot more well known because of all of the work that had been put in…’ At that point, the band moved to the next level because they had that momentum. …More power to ’em for what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished, but at that point, it stopped being a concern of mine. Why would I care about the reunion? It’s not even relevant to me. To be quite honest with you, Deathriders is in a bit of a different musical direction than Anthrax. ...Deathriders is in a more Power Metal and Neo Classical Thrashing vein."

Todd: What can you tell us about the recording process for your new record?

Neil: “…Well…as you know, obviously when you have a deadline, you have a record company and the business that’s a part of that and the expectations that are out there. …Fans wanna hear more new stuff, but with a lot of the experience I have with doing things less than the right way, you have to try and learn from some of your lessons well learned, take it with a grain of salt and move forward with it the best way possible without taking too long. There’s a lot of things that can happen than can cause problems on the business side, but this time around, we don’t have any of that to get in our way. It’s just a straight focus on making the music sound great…taking the time to write it very thoroughly…spending the time. …I’ve collaborated with some key people, both inside the band and outside of the band, one person in particular. We’ve worked very fastidiously to zero in on the sound of the band and really take it to that next level. It’s all about that next level, ya know? …What that means is that we’ll be able to compete with bands that are on a higher level. When you get your music out there, you’re really competing with all the groups like Iron Maiden and Metallica. If people can buy their music, why should they buy yours? …And we wanna make something that the fans can buy for a low cost. Why would they buy the CD when they can just download it if it cost too much money? You wanna make it low cost enough so there’s an interest to buy it. Obviously it’s been the death of a lot of record companies. …But a lot of those companies were very political and weren’t very friendly towards the artists themselves. …Regardless, there’s never been a thought in my mind where I’ve been like ‘…oh gosh, I need to get signed so I can make it…’. I could care less. And that’s no disrespect to the companies that are hard working and do a great job. They obviously serve a purpose with the promotion and the backing of the bands for tour support…these are important things. …The record companies pay certain special attention to the bigger names and with the lesser known bands, they’ll even withhold royalties. They’ll collect interest on the money and pay it much later that what the agreement is. …And of course their primary artists will get paid right when they’re supposed to get paid. …Fuck those people, ya know? Why should I deal with them? They should be paying me, not the other way around. I shouldn’t have to beg them to get my money. …For me, it’s not all about the money. It’s about the quality control of the product. It’s not just about performance, either. Having the greatest players in the world is great but look at a band like Black Sabbath. They may not play the most complicated songs and solos you've ever heard, but they put out a lot of hit songs as a team. …That’s just something we thought about. We were like ‘…hey, we gotta write great songs…’ …If people like it great, if they don’t, that great. It’s more about what sounds good to us. …We’ve found our sound, we’ve found ourselves and we understand our sound. I think one of the advantages of this band is that we have people that are all on the same page. We’re all in the same place, ya know? And I think that’s important because I’ve gone through a lot of changes with this band. It’s been together in different formations since 2003.”

Todd: What musicians are you currently working with?

Neil: “…As far as the band itself, I’m working with some great guys. A great group off guys that I’ve know for a long time. Kurt James on lead guitar and we’re also working with Steve McKnight on lead guitar. Of course Kurt comes to us from Steeler, Driver and Black Sheep. Kurt replaced (guitarist) Yngwie (Malmsteen) in Steeler back in the old days. Actually, when I jammed with Project Driver, which was Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge…I thought it sounded pretty good. It was a sorta Iron Maiden vocal that I took. I guess Tommy Aldridge had a different idea in his head because he kept telling me to sing differently. Obviously I didn’t get the job, but that’s okay. It was a cool experience. …As fate would have it, those two guys went on to join Whitesnake and Kurt and I went on to start his band. Kurt and I played together for about thirteen months. We worked with (legendary Jazz/Rock guitarist) Allan Holdsworth on an album that sorta fell by the wayside, but that’s okay, too. You can chalk it all up to experience and lessons learned. …Steve McKnight comes to us from (former Ozzy Osbourne/Alice In Chains bassist) Mike Inez. Mike Inez had a recording project which was a band with (late Ozzy Osbourne/Motley Crue drummer) Randy Castillo. It was Steve McKnight, Mike Inez and Randy Castillo. They had been working together for a number of years…like five years. Steve also used to be the lead guitar player in a band in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s called Cry Wolf. They were on Headbanger’s Ball and all that. …He’s a great singer and a great guitar player. A great asset all the way. …Both of these guys are just monster guitarists and I like playing with guys that can challenge me and I like to challenge them. We like to push the envelope, so to speak. …On top of that, I have a great rhythm section…a great group of guys as well. I have Sandy K. Vasquez on bass who comes to us from a band called Blood Lust, who he’s still a member of. They’re a legacy band that was a Power Metal band before there even was a Power Metal genre back in the ’80’s. Back in ’85, I went and jammed with those guys and have been good friends with him ever since. Actually, Kurt, Steve and Sandy all played on my solo album a few years back, so these are all very familiar people. …We’ve also got an amazing drummer. Chris Moore…he’s just an awesome drummer and I’m used to playing with guys that can keep up, ya know? My track record is that I’ve played with some drummers that can play some double fuckin’ bass. Deathriders is in writing and recording mode internally and is also collaborating with Swedish master guitarist Jonas Hornqvist of the band Treasure Land.  …What we’ve assembled is a great deal of expertise as well as just a really solid team that’s on the same page. I think that’s what’s necessary for a band…a team that’s pushing in the same direction without any hidden agendas and stuff like that where people are really out there to promote themselves. …They (these guys) believe in the band and that’s how you win. It really boils down to one single common denominator: you have to have strong material. And of course you have to have people that can play it next to you. …I sing better now than I ever have before. Whatever I do know, I do it much better than I did before. I’m not worse, I’m not slowing down. I play faster songs. I play songs that have more beats per minute and have more rapid fire vocals and are faster songs with a higher degree of difficulty than I ever did when I was in bands that I was in years ago.”

Todd: At this point, do you have any idea when the new disc might be released?

Neil: “…To use analogy, you have to go to the grocery store before you can start cookin’ the food, ya know? When are we gonna have dinner? Hopefully soon because everyone's hungry for new material and they all want it now!  …As far as a release date, I could tell you tomorrow or I could tell you December 1^st, ya know? Realistically, I don’t wanna go there. Why set an expectation? Setting any expectation just puts on pressure and believe me, I put more pressure on myself than anyone else could ever put on me. …We’ve gotta take these songs and record them the right way. …On the fortunate side, I have a great deal of advantage because I have my own studio, so I’m able to track a lot of my own things on my end. …I’ve got all of the converters and the equipment that you would find at the Record Plant to record vocals and guitars. …Mine’s not as pretty and I don’t have hundred thousand dollar tuned wood rooms, but…it’s all self-taught and I got it where I needed it to get to. …Of course I leave some things to the high end audio equipped…but this way, when you go into the studio, you’re able to be a lot more efficient. I’m not tryin’ to do a whole lot. I’m just trying to record my vocals and what we can do efficiently before going into the studio to do the rest of it. …Vocals don’t have to go last and drums don’t have to go first. Of course it’s nice to do things traditionally, but I’d say that we’re very non-traditional. We’re a very progressive and forward-thinking band and we’re definitely different than you’re average band that rehearses five nights a week and does things that way. There’s a lot of things that you can do to practice and there’s a lot of things that you can do to practice perfect. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. If you’re practicing and making mistakes, you’ll learn those mistakes really well and make them over and over. And that’s with anything and not just music.”

Todd: What are your current touring plans? Will you be doing any shows before the new album is completed?

Neil: “…We’re actually getting ready for some shows…south of the border. …We’ve also got some shows that are being worked on for South America as a matter of fact. …We love playing for people that appreciate what we do. We wanna play places where people appreciate Metal… What we don’t wanna do is go out and play cover songs, ya know? We don’t do that. …We can write better songs, so why should we do covers, right? There’s not gonna be a single cover song on this album because there’s no room for one. We’re got too many of our own songs. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t re-record some songs or do some songs in the future, but for right now, we need to establish ourselves out there so people can appreciate us for what we do. Personally, these songs are so great, who wants to go out and play some old boring shit? (But at the same time) kids wanna hear some of that old shit, so if I wrote it, why shouldn’t I play my songs, ya know? …We’re lookin’ forward to playing out heavily once we put the record out. I think it’s important to establish the material that represents this band. I think that’s the key, ya know? …I don’t need to live off of the past glories of past legacies, ya know? It’s just not something I need to do, but it’s something that people will still associate me with. …It’s some thing that I did, something that I created and whether people like it or not, it’s something that I’ve done. My intention is to not go backward, but to absolutely blaze trails forward. I don’t need to trace back through the trails that I’ve already carved.”

Todd: What type of set list will you be working with when you do eventually tour?

Neil: “We’re gonna play songs that people wanna hear…and we’ve got a lot of strong songs. …I won’t say that we’ve gone out and done a massive amount of touring or anything. The opportunity hasn’t really presented itself because for one thing, we don’t have an album that’s out and you need that. You need to have that product and the business behind it… But we’re not too concerned with that. We love what we do and we love playing out live. That’s what it’s all about…but we haven’t over saturated ourselves out here in California. When we play out, come see us because you might not see us again for a while. We don’t have to play the Sunset Strip ten times a month. We’re just not doing it. And there’s not really an interest for it. I’d rather play in places less traveled like Idaho and Alaska or something where they actually appreciate a band that sounds great and plays Metal. I love California, but there’s a lot of choices. …If you’re the only game in town, then yeah, people will come to see you, but when you’ve got a million Metal bands in town playing every single night… …And another things that’s out there is this pay-to-play nonsense. …To me, that’s disgusting…that should never even be a question, but the grim reality is that these people wanna make money. They could care less about artists. So I don’t deal with those people because I’m just not interested. I’d rather pay someplace else, ya know?”

Todd: Does that mean we won’t be seeing Deathriders touring with the next OzzFest?

Neil: “…On OzzFest? Personally, (I think) OzzFest is a great buzz word and I hung out with my good friends from Dragonforce at the last one. …And I went to the ugly one before that. They wouldn’t let me in the door with the chains that I wore around my neck or my arm, but they let a fuckin’ crate of eggs in there. How do you get a pallet of fuckin’ eggs in there when they’ve got people at the fuckin’ security door with wands wanding everybody and not letting anybody in with a chain around their arm or their neck? And they made you take off your shoes. I felt like I was going through fuckin’ secondary screening at the airport. …It was disgusting. By the time I got in there, it felt like they had touched every part of me. I was pissed. And then to see that show…with all these guys in their vests hitting Iron Maiden with fuckin’ eggs… I was right there and it was pretty fucked up, ya know? It just made you want to go and do something about it. …It’s disgraceful that we’ve lowered ourselves enough as a society…that someone can jump up on stage and start hurting someone. …It’s just like throwing something at a sporting event or some other event where you’re in the audience. …With a band like Iron Maiden, it unfair because they signed some stupid fuckin’ paper work that said they couldn’t do something or say something…and Sharon Osbourne tries to play it off like it’s no big deal. I think it would be interesting to see…if Ozzy was onstage and someone starting hitting him with eggs…what she would think of that. Would she thinks it’s so cool then? To me, that’s a serious issue. I’m not gonna wait around for someone to come up on my stage, ya know? …Anyone that jumps up onstage with me is takin’ their life into their own hands.”

Threatcon Delta (2003) *****

A Tribute To Limp Bizkit (2002) ****

DC To Daylight (2000) ***

Masque (1986) **

Armed And Dangerous (EP) (1985) *

Fistful Of Metal (1984) *

Soldiers Of Metal (Single) (1983) *

* as a member of Anthrax

** with Masque

*** featured on the tracks “Still Burning” and “Inside Information”

**** featured on the track “Faith”

***** as a solo artist

deathriders.com