Quiet Riot guitarist Alex Grossi has opened up about the band’s decision to continue without late drummer Frankie Banali.
Speaking on the Talking Metal podcast (via Blabbermouth), Grossi revealed it was “business as usual” up until Banali’s death from pancreatic cancer in August last year.
When asked whether Quiet Riot carrying on was discussed with Banali prior to his passing, Grossi said: “It was never flat-out discussed, but he just kept accepting dates. And he told me, ‘Look, when I can’t play, you have the trademark sewn up,’ this and that.”
“It was always just business as usual, like it’s gonna keep going. Let me put it to you this way: one of the last conversations we had, he emailed me about a show that was booked for August of 2021. He said something like, ‘I won’t be there, but you’re playing in Wyoming on the 21st of August’ — something like that; kind of making a little joke about it,” he said.
Grossi added that Banali handled his cancer battle “so bravely and so well” despite his “gnarly” diagnosis.
“I don’t know too many guys who could have fought the way he fought that thing. The kind of cancer he had was gnarly. Stage four pancreatic is no joke. And he was given three to six months to live, and he did 18 months. And he was still playing drums after 12 months — still banging on the drums. Amazing,” he said.
Grossi also confirmed that there are still plans for the band to release new music featuring Banali’s drumming.
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“We were always recording, we were always working on new music. And, yeah, there’s a lot of tracks in the vault that were being worked on. We’re a rock band — we always have stuff going on. And yes, there will definitely be new music by Quiet Riot, and it will have Frankie on drums. And it wasn’t like we planned it or anything,” he said.
“Most of the time, you’re always working and recording ideas, and Frankie loved to play drums — he was always recording stuff. “We’re trying to figure out exactly what to do. I mean, it’s such a weird time with the pandemic right now, and we do have some tour dates coming up to kind of wipe the cobwebs off, but in the next two months, there’ll probably be some more solid news on that front, for sure.”
Check out Alex Grossi discussing Frankie Banali on Talking Metal:
