Drummer Gets Last-Minute Call as Fill-In for Anthrax, Plays in Front of 50,000 People

Imagine getting a call to play drums for a legendary metal band at a massive stadium concert just hours before showtime? That’s exactly what happened to Mike Heller, formerly of Fear Factory and currently of Raven.

For reasons undisclosed, Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante couldn’t make the band’s gig opening for Iron Maiden at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Tuesday night, so the thrash veterans had to scramble for a drummer at the last minute. Dirk Verbeuren, drummer for Megadeth, who were also on the bill, gave Heller a call that afternoon, and within hours Heller was playing in front of tens of thousands of metal fans.

Heller told the whole story in a Facebook post after the show:

“So I woke up today thinking that I was gonna spend a nice day with my cats and my drumpad… then out of absolutely nowhere at 2:00pm I get a call from my buddy Dirk Verbeuren… he asks me if I’m in town tonight, and if I might know any Anthrax songs, and if I can fill in for Charlie Benante at 6:30pm tonight on the Maiden/Megadeth/Anthrax tour….

Well… I didn’t know any Anthrax songs on the drums, but I quickly charted two out, raced down to the Alamodome… sat in traffic and got thrown to the wrong place to park.. finally got inside, sat down with the guys in Anthrax for less than an hour… charted the other songs as they told me how the versions they play live are different from the album… and then went on stage in front of 56,000 people or whatever, and did my best… Holy crap! How the HELL did I get here?!?!

I have to thank Jon Donais, Frank Bello, Scott Ian, Joey Belladonna, Armando Aguirre, Paul Collis and all the Anthrax crew for having faith in me to be able to pull this off… and of course Dirk and Chris Jericho for vouching for me!!

I still have no idea what happened! Next time, I hope I get more than a few hours to try to learn the songs… and hopefully I would actually be able to move the drums into a comfortable playing position for me… but this is a night I will never forget!”

There’s one more date on Iron Maiden’s North American “Run for Your Lives Tour,” a show in Mexico City this Friday, October 2nd (tickets available here). There’s no word yet on whether Benante will rejoin Anthrax for that gig or if the band will need a replacement drummer once again.

Anthrax recently released their long-awaited new album Cursum Perficio, their first LP in 10 years. Check out our video interview with bassist Frank Bello about the album, the tour with Iron Maiden, and more.

See Mike Heller performing with Anthrax, as well as his aforementioned Facebook post, below.