Frankie Banali thanked fans for their messages of support after he revealed he was dealing with cancer.

The Quiet Riot drummer recently announced he had been diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer in April, but that he was “on the mend” after “several rounds of chemo and other treatments.” There was some speculation he was suffering a health issue after he failed to appear at a number of the band’s shows in recent months.

“It’s been overwhelming, the amount of love and prayers and support that everyone has shared on my Facebook page and via text messages, emails, private messages and everything.” Banali told The Metal Voice in a new interview. “I’m incredibly fortunate and incredibly grateful to have this much support from fans and friends.”

You can watch the interview below.

He went on to say that he kept working on Quiet Riot’s upcoming album, Hollywood Cowboys, which is scheduled for release on Nov. 8.

“The album was already recorded,” he explained. “And two days after I had my diagnosis, I was scheduled to start mixing that record with our engineer, Neil Citron. … I jumped right in and started mixing the record. I didn't let that situation – as dire as the prognosis was at the time – stop me. And to give you an idea of my mindset and my strength, two days after I did one of the rounds of chemo, I was on a Western set in the desert, really hot, in wardrobe for 12 hours. And a month later, three days after another round of chemo, I was on the set for the final day of shooting at a different location. So I just kept moving forward as business was usual.”

Banali added that his "doctors were very adamant to make sure that I wasn't flying to dates, and that's one of the reasons that I wasn't able to, or the major reason why I was not able to, do the shows with Quiet Riot.”

 

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