This is Crobot.
They play a greasy, dirty, brand of groove rock that both bites back with a retro-sound while simultaneously carrying the flag of rock forward.
This is Frankie Bello. He plays in Anthrax, one of the ‘big four’ of thrash metal.
Add them together, and you get a song called, “Mountain”. This will be the first track to drop from Crobot’s forthcoming four-song EP, “Rat Child”.
Crobot singer Brandon Yeagley commented, “We’ve grown to know the Anthrax dudes pretty well through touring and developed a working relationship in addition to our friendships. We’ve always talked about writing with Frankie because we have a lot of the same influences and that definitely shines through in ‘Mountain.’ Frankie has always lent us his ear and has been a big supporter of ours – it was a treat to work with him on something.”
Of the four new songs, three have guest appearances. Along with the aforementioned Anthrax alum, Howard Jones (Light the Torch, Killswitch Engage) throws down some vocals on “Kiss It Goodbye” and Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia punches the skins, plays some bass, and piano on “Everybody Dies”. The title track, “Rat Child” will the the sole offering here that is 100% Crobot… and that’s OK.
The rap world is really good at cross-pollinating and promoting each other with lots of guest appearances on tracks. It’s good for the music, it’s good for the fans. Metal and rock could put some of their ego’s aside and adopt this tactic to much success.
Check out what this kind of collaboration produces… witness… “Mountain”.
Concerning the other collaborators on this EP, Yeagley says of Jones, “Howard was introduced to us through mutual friends. We have always been huge fans of his melodic footprint and his unique melodies. When we heard he would be interested in writing with us, we were beyond excited. He flew down to Austin and spent a few days in a studio with us. We had a such great chemistry with him and wrote ‘Kiss it Goodbye.’ We thought it was a shoe-in for being a track on Motherbrain but for whatever reason, it didn’t make the cut. It seemed like such a travesty to let such a great song sit on the shelf. So, we’re pumped to let the world hear it!”
As for Zadinia, who plays piano, drums and bass on “Everyone Dies,” the vocalist adds, “One of the last tours we did was supporting Steel Panther. We hit it off with all of the guys. Stix even got tattooed by Bishop! We kept in touch and he sent us a bunch of ideas he had for songs. We really gravitated towards this piano instrumental he had called ‘Jimmy’s Piano Song.’ We don’t know Jimmy, but Stix must really love that dude… cause that shit brought tears to our eyes. Through a couple of Zoom sessions, we were able to work everything out and that’s how we wrote ‘Everyone Dies.’ We really wanted to venture somewhere different with this one but still pump it full of our personality. This is our attempt to sit at the dinner table with Queen whilst eating a healthy portion of Meatloaf.”
