Frank Bello

Frank Bello (born July 9, 1965) is an American musician who plays bass for the thrash metal band Anthrax. He was also a member of Helmet from 2004 to 2005 and was the touring bassist of Norwegian black metal band Satyricon in 2024.

Bello is the nephew of Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. He had a younger brother Anthony, who was murdered in the Bronx, New York City, in 1996. His murder was never solved. Bello has a tattoo on his right upper arm with a design of Anthony's face, with the words 'In Memory of Anthony' below it.

Bello was originally a roadie and guitar technician for Anthrax, but later replaced Dan Lilker soon after the release of the band's 1984 debut album Fistful of Metal, and has held this position ever since, excluding a brief departure in 2004, during which he was a member of Helmet – another New York City-based metal band. His stint in Helmet was brief, as Bello reunited with Anthrax the following year, and has remained in the band since.

Bello has referred to Paul McCartney, Steve Harris, Gene Simmons, Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Tom Petersson and Jaco Pastorius as influences and inspirations to his bass playing. He mostly plays bass fingerstyle, but also uses a pick on certain songs. For example he can be seen using one in the videos for "Room for One More" and "Fueled". He also used a pick most of the time during his stint with Helmet.

In May 2021, Bello announced the forthcoming publication of his autobiography, Fathers, Brothers, and Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, and Anthrax. The book's co-writer is British author Joel McIver and it includes a foreword by Gene Simmons of Kiss.

In 2024, Bello joined Satyricon as a touring member.

Bello played Richard Hell in Greetings from Tim Buckley, a film on Tim and Jeff Buckley, which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. He also played a small role as a stick-up man in Joe's Apartment, and appeared in the intro scene in the Law & Order episode "The Brotherhood", credited as "Rocker". He also played himself in an episode of Married... with Children and Newsradio.

In the early days on Anthrax, Bello used an ESP Precision-styled bass, possibly a 400 series, that had EMG P-bass and J-bass pickups. ESP released this bass as a signature model, available only in Japan, in the mid-to-late 1980s. Sometime during the late 1980s, he switched to an ESP Surveyor P-bass, which had nearly all the same specifications of his previous basses, but with a finished headstock. He began using Fender basses during the beginning of the 1990s, due to a falling out with ESP which, according to ESP Vice President Jeff Moore, was due to miscommunication. He began using Fender P-basses around the time of Persistence of Time until the release of his signature model. Bello had a signature model Fender Jazz bass. The model combines a Fender Aerodyne body with a Precision Bass-width neck, Alder body wood (as opposed to the Aerodyne's Basswood) and a mix of Precision and Jazz bass pickups along with non-standard custom-chosen hardware. Pickups used on the bass are Seymour Duncan SPB-3 precision bass pickup in the neck position and a Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Jazz Bass pickup in the bridge position, although Bello's personal bass now is equipped with EMG HZ Passive pickups which Bello prefers "as the output is... a lot louder" and he gets "a lot more punch". Bello also had a signature Squier electric jazz bass. It features P/J style pick up combination and a skull inlay/body graphic.