Interviews - Live 4 Metal

Interview with Joey Belladonna of Anthrax
January 15, 2006 By: Ryan Ogle

Outside the historic Granada Theater in Lawrence, KS, I stand clutching my trusty recorder, waiting for my most anticipated moment of 2006. I am going to fucking meet Anthrax. As road crew, managers and venue employees dart in and out of the door I am treated to bits and pieces of the sound check. Hearing one of my all-time favorite bands perform dry runs through timeless classics (I swear I even heard a verse of Pantera’s “A New Level”) made my mouth water for the moment when I knew I’d be shoulder to shoulder with over 600 raging fans, singing along to the sweet sounds of “Caught In A Mosh” and “I Am The Law.” Minutes later I was shaking hands with the man that fronted, arguably, one of the most influential bands in the history of thrash, Joey Belladonna. In between signing autographs from eager fans waiting out back, brief hellos to crew members and a tongue bath from the world’s friendliest Rottweilers I’ve ever met, I managed to tap Joey’s brain about the reunion tour, the old days, and all other things Anthrax.

What was your initial reaction when you were asked to come back?
To me, I’m very, very happy. I enjoy playing with these guys and I didn’t want to end it in the first place. For me to pick up pace with another project, it was challenging. It was very nice to be able to try it, but I was so into what we were doing and after time I was hoping that maybe they would want to do it again. It was definitely overwhelming. And it’s a great band and we play great together.

So did it surprise you when you got the call? I have read comments over the last few years…
Meaning.

Just things that were said that led me to believe there might have been some animosity between you and the band.
I never had any animosity. I think they just wanted a different singer. They wanted something different and there’s nothing I could have done to make that come true for them.

What was that first rehearsal after you came back like?
Oh man, it happened so fast. We ended up fooling around within the hour. We busted through the set quick and the second day we basically went over all the endings because we had some new things we wanted to throw in the songs. The third day we basically blew through everything and again fooled around. So it was pretty quick. Hell, we came out on this run and we added two songs we have never played before, not since ’85 or ’87. We didn’t even rehearse them, we just came in and played them. The first night, sound check, boom, “Skeletons (In The Closet)” and “Aftershock.” It was like, bang! And that’s the thing, we have a hell of a combo when we get together.

The chemistry is there.
There’s just something about it. I mean, unfortunately they had another lineup, you know it was different. But this lineup, we have a way to make it happen together. It’s so hard to explain. It’s hard to find people that can really gel and not think about anything.

Were all the songs still etched in your memory when you stepped back in?
Well like I said, “Skeletons” and “Aftershock”, I hadn’t rehearsed any of the words in a long time so I had to go back and touch base with them. There were a few more, “Belly of The Beast” I hadn’t done in a while. “Keep It In The Family”, I was doing but dropped when I was doing my own project. I can’t think of anymore that I didn’t do, “Panic”, I hadn’t done that in awhile either.

What was the feeling like when you stepped onstage together for the first show of the reunion?
That was fast man! As soon as the lights went down it was like bang, bang, bang. It’s almost like that night was a blur because it was so overwhelming. It was kind of like a pre-production live. But it went good man; the people were electric right away. Then we did two nights sold out in Chicago right afterwards. It was pretty instant.

Where was that first show?
That was in Detroit, at Harpos.

How much work went into coming up with the set list? Were the choices pretty obvious?
Yeah most of the stuff. You get a good consensus of what really works. Digging deep, I mean stuff like “Aftershock”, people are kind of looking at you, I mean they’re digging it but it’s not like “N.F.L.” where everybody is singing along. So you’ve got ones that are cool, the music is just great. “In My World” is a great song, but there isn’t a whole lot people can do other than fist-bang or do their thing. But there’s a great bunch of songs we have to play.

Same questions regarding the Anthrology disc that came out a few months back.
Well that was a hard choice because of all the songs. We just passed e-mails back and forth. We dropped some stuff. I think we left off “Got The Time”, one of those. It was a cover.

“Got The Time” was on there.
That was there? “Antisocial”. No.

That was there, and the French version too, which I thought was really cool.
[Joey ponders for a moment] “I’m The Man” we left off.

No, that was there too.
Oh wow, we left them all on there. I could have sworn we wanted to take something off, but then we decided to keep them. That was one of things that was a lot like a set list. It almost became a set list [deciding] what was strong enough to put on there. I thought it would have been cool to put out a box set.

I really thought the (Anthrology) disc was the perfect collection of material from your years with the band.
I do too. There are definitely plenty of good songs to put on there.

What are some of your personal favorites to play?
I like “Indians”. I like “N.F.L”. I like “Caught In A Mosh”. “Medusa” is cool. I really like a lot of the songs. I don’t dislike playing anything. They’re all great. I can’t stand to hear someone say ‘Oh I hate doing that song. I can’t stand playing it.’ People have their favorites because some are harder or less hard to play, but overall I like everything we do.

As far as your vocals go, were there any songs that presented a challenge to sing again?
Not really, right now we’re on our 6th in a row so it tends to be a bit of a drain. It’s hard work going an hour and forty minutes a night. Everybody seems to have a bit of a cold. And on that bus, it’s like being in a box. We’re just passing it around. But I’ve gotten better over the years, these guys have gotten better over the years. So it seems that you develop better and get stronger abilities.

How have the crowds been so far?
Awesome. Just killer. A lot of the shows have been selling out so you can’t complain there. You can feel it in the air. There is just so much in the air.

Are you seeing a good mix of the old-school fans versus the younger kids who may have just recently discovered the “classic” lineup?
Yeah man, there’s all kinds of different age groups there. Which is good because its been a long time since we’ve been apart, since we started and then now. Over time word gets around there’s Anthrax, the old, the new and now the old. So it’s a good thing.

Back in the day Anthrax was known as one of the “Big Three” of thrash. Are there three bands out there today that you would put that title on?
I don’t know man. When somebody says it to us, I mean it’s flattering and all, it’s just so hard for me to say that we were one of those bands. I feel that we were strong and we stood on our own and we have a name and everything. I mean Slayer is great. And Megadeth and Metallica, even though there have been lineup changes and some are not there anymore, they still withstood the test of time.

You guys toured with Megadeth last summer.
Yeah we did, the Gigantour, we did five shows.

How was that for you?
Awesome. We’re going to do it again next year.

Really?
Well we have been asked. It depends on what we’re doing.

How would you compare the metal scene of today versus the way it was in your heyday?
Well there’s a whole lot of music going on now so it’s hard to say it’s the same, but it’s pretty damn close. I still see everyone being very animated, with the excitement of being here and seeing the band and liking the music and everything. There is so much, with the Internet and stuff. Things have changed. There are a lot of new bands and a lot of new styles. But again, we stand on our own, we have our own niche, our own style. So it gives people a chance to come see a different type of band. But overall I see a lot of similarities.

I’m sure a day doesn’t go by that someone doesn’t ask you this. I read recently that Scott, Frankie and Charlie have been working on new material. Have they asked you to be a part of that yet?
I haven’t had a chance to be a part of it yet. What happened was they all met up in Chicago, for different engagements, whatever it was it was all good because they finally had time to do it because we’ve been busy. So for us to be able to have time to do it, it’s awesome.

So is that the plan, for this lineup to record again?
I hope so. I mean that’s like a baby step from point A. You write, you finish. And then you think about, ‘Okay, what is the song going to be, you put vocals on it. Where are you going to record it? When are you going to record it and when will you be done with it?’
And then you gotta think about when you’ll put it out. You can sit on a record for five months because of delays in the label or the band isn’t ready to release it because of whatever. But hopefully it will be sooner and hopefully it will come into play. For me to say yes and not know for sure… It looks good. It’s only a matter of time before we should do something. I’d hate to sit around and do old stuff forever. We could because we haven’t really played that much.

So how long will this tour go on?
Until April. We have four weeks in Europe, headlining. Between there are some obligations for a couple of the guys. So we’ll sit for two months and then go back out again.

The band asked you back five or six years ago, to do a split set with you and John [Bush] but you backed out. Why?
I didn’t even really, formally, get to that point. I was asked, but there was obviously some preparation to take place. It was kind of late in the game for me to do it. It was one of those situations where there wasn’t enough time. It just never came into play. Now that I look at it, this thing probably made more sense. It was just meant to be that we were going to go out and do this lineup versus John and I going out and fighting for pole position of material and all that stuff. Who the hell knows what it would have been? It just didn’t work out. And then supposedly they asked John to do this and he didn’t want to do it. He totally didn’t want to do this. I wanted to do the other thing, but getting into negotiations, it was too quick and too hard to really get down and make it work.

I remember when news of this reunion first broke, you guys were supposed to play OzzFest but never did.
There were a lot of rumors. A lot of rumors. I never even heard of a formal invite, on paper or a phone call. I don’t even know of anything. It just seemed like we would go on there, but there are so much politics involved and there is only room for so many bands. Even with this year, there’s no way to know if we could get on. If we were on that I think it would be cool. I think it would be nice, we’ll see.

I’d like to throw out a few song titles and have you tell me what comes to mind.
Okay.

“Armed And Dangerous”
My first song in the studio. It was a really cool song to do right out of the box. Because it was slow in the beginning then I get to fucking let loose. It was a nice start and I still dig it even though we don’t play it.

“Caught In A Mosh”
That song man, it’s got the attitude, it’s just so fun to play. It’s off the wall and in your face. The title we got from one of the road crew guys, before we even did the record. He fell in the crowd, he came out, and we said ‘Are you all right man?’ He said ‘I was caught in a mosh.’

“Indians”
My mom is part Indian. Charlie used to call me Injun Joe. Early on, on Spreading The Disease, I’m holding that goofy sign up on the drawing. That song, it’s neat. It’s just one of those cult tunes that we have. And it goes over so well.

How about “Be All, End All”, that one was always one of my favorites.
I don’t know what to say about that one. It’s long. It’s gotta cool sing-a-long. I remember bringing that guy in with the cello down [at the studio] in Miami. It was real quick. He played then he was gone.

What would you say is your favorite Anthrax album?
I’d have to go with those first two. Spreading and Among because there’s something about those two records. It was in the beginning, I had a chance just to do what I was gonna do and make it happen. Nobody had any idea what was going to happen. The second one comes out, really good songs. Bang, it was tight. Those were two statement records. Even thought Spreading wasn’t as big, but what are you gonna do. When you get songs like that are so good, I can’t refuse those records. There’s some other good stuff. State Of Euphoria [nods to a fan waiting to get said record autographed] talk about a record. A good record, a strange record. We had some time off and we came back in and the songs weren’t quite the songs we were looking for, but it was real cool. Then you have Persistence of Time, which was totally dark. And I liked the position we were in at that time. Of course then it was done. It was over.

If you could name one or two highlights of your career, what would they be?
Well definitely joining these guys was a moment in time for me. We had three nominations for Grammys, which was really odd for a thrash band. Because there’s only two or three categories, there are only two or three bands that even get picked. So to get picked three times in three years is strange. Even when I was out we got picked for that that live album. Here I am out for a year and another Grammy comes up. That was pretty strange.

If someone just getting into the scene came to you for advice, what would you say?
Some of these guys would say don’t even get into it. I don’t believe you have to think that way. I’ve been in bands that haven’t done anything and I had the best time. You don’t have to be big or anything; just have a good time. There’s something about plugging in and watching people react and sing a long. If you go with your heart and you feel what you’re playing and you want to be good then something may come out of it. It’s a hard business to be in, but I love playing. I’d say if you really want to do it, there are people that only do it for hobbies, but for a full time gig you really got to stick with it. You have to strip away everything on the outside and stick with it. I can’t do it for a hobby. If I did I would never be here. If I would have done it over the weekends, I would have decided ‘This is fun but I got kids, I wanna go on vacation. I’ll do it when I feel like it.’ But that wasn’t for me. Whate ver works for you but you really gotta practice enough. I hate to hack it; some people like to wing it. If you want to get past that rehearsal is a big thing. I’d rather rehearse more than we ever did, but everybody seemed to come in prepared, which a lot of bands aren’t prepared. All that stuff really has to come into play. Go with your heart man, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. I remember my parents would say ‘You’re doing the same shit, you play the same clubs. You gotta get a job.’ I said ‘No, no, no I’m gonna do this.’ Believe me, if I would have listened to my father I would have been done with this a long time ago. I would have been playing hockey, ya know. It’s so hard for anyone to tell you what you want to do.

So do you have any plans of going back to your solo stuff if things here don’t work out?
Belladonna, that was something, being a musician, I’m out of the band and I wanna play. I’m gonna find some people, we’re gonna write some music and go play. Right now, being with these guys [Anthrax], I’m pretty swamped. But who knows, I’ve got a lot of songs. I’ve recorded a whole bunch of stuff. I’m not shy of any material and I love doing my own stuff. But I think doing that and this at the same time isn’t really needed. But I hate not playing with the guys I was playing with too sometimes just out of fairness. It’s like ‘Yeah, I’ll be back in a couple of years. Do what you gotta do and I’ll see you.’ But it happens, look at these guys. I was in, I was out, these guys come in. Now the guys that were with them are gone and we’re back. People are always changing hands. But I did like what I was doing. It was a long stretch to get where we were going and I was just starting to get ahead. But that’s okay because this is a great band and I’ll wipe all those other things I was doing away for now. I’m glad that they’re not into doing a whole lot of other shit because if I wanted to be with these guys, but they said, ‘This is cool but we’re gonna go do this now.’ It’s like ‘No, I was just getting into this.’ So I’m hoping for it to be longer just because I want to be in the band. I like being with these guys.

Any final words?
Hey, it’s just good to be out here man. It’s nice that people get the chance to see us and are sticking by us. It’s like coming to people’s house and saying, ‘We’re here and we’re gonna do a show for you. I hope you enjoy it and we’ll be crackin’ as long as you want us around.’ That’s why we’re here. We wouldn’t come if nobody wanted to see us.