Dan Lilker Was Just as Surprised as We Were That He Was Asked to Play with Anthrax Last Spring

Last year had a lotta “whoa” headlines in it, but one that stands out as a life-long Anthrax fan was the fact that they’d asked former bassist Dan Lilker to stand in for Frank Bello on their South American tour (and a couple U.S. festival dates). Fans will recall that the dude co-wrote and played on the band’s debut album Fistful of Metal but then was fired in 1984.

It was a moment that many thought wouldn’t likely happen, but after personal reasons kept Bello off the road, Lilker said he got a text from guitarist Scott Ian asking to fill in. While speaking with Big Music Geek (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Lilker himself said that moment came as a surprise.

“It was definitely a surprise, but it ended up being a pleasant surprise.

“Scott had texted me in late February and said, ‘Frank can’t do these shows we’re doing in Latin America and a couple of U.S. festivals in May. Can you do them?’ That was only five weeks out from the first show, but I said, ‘Sure. What’s the setlist?’ And I practiced. Every day, I’d come home from work and run through the setlist, driving my wife crazy. But I like to make sure I know stuff and I want to know it with full confidence. I want to play it and still be able to rock out and have it be natural like second nature.

“It was fun. I went to some cool places I’d never been to El Salvador or fucking Costa Rica or Ecuador and Uruguay. I went to Uruguay, dude.

“Those guys are all real great musicians. [Anthrax vocalist] Joey [Belladonna] is an amazing singer. I never shared a stage with him.

“It was lots of fun, but I was surprised.”

With Anthrax in the studio working on and recording their follow up to 2016’s For All Kings, it seems like Lilker’s short reunion with the band is completely done and dusted. Which is a good sign because that means all of the issues that kept Bello off the road and facilitated Lilker’s return to the stage have been handled or won’t likely cause him to miss more dates in the future.

Still, it was sick to see an old friend step up for his former bandmates when he needed them, even 40 years after he was fired from the band.