interview by Rick Florino/photos by Wayne Dennon
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Looking back, the 1980’s were a strange time for music. The heyday of 1970’s classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin had ended and the mainstream became overrun by the likes of Michael Jackson, Boy George, and Bon Jovi. God that’s an extremely scary thought, but it worked for the day when “Greed was good” and Stallone was at the top of the box office. However, iconic Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian’s recent presence on VH1’s I Love the 80’s proves that Anthrax have weathered the 80’s, remaining a keystone of heavy metal today.
While Thriller blasted through everyone’s brand new MTV above ground, Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Venom, and many of the other classic thrash bands sparked a revolution of brutal, punk-infused speed metal underground. These bands established the foundation for the future of metal as they capitalized on the anger of a disillusioned youth, through a raw and fast approach to heavy metal. That was just the California scene. On the other side of the country, a metal monolith was born in the form of Anthrax.
These five individuals played a style of metal so unique that they couldn’t even truly fit in with their thrash peers. Anthrax even rejected the established thrash metal trends, eschewing the typical dark satanic imagery and spikes and leather for lyrics with a keen sense of humor and comfortable stage attire. Anthrax created one of the more timeless metal releases of the 80’s in the form of Among the Living, a thrash masterpiece with their signature riff work and Joey Belladona’s now classic vocals.
After an amazing run with Belladona fronting the band, vocalist John Bush replaced Belladona in the early 90’s. The group went on to make some brutal albums with Bush, adopting a heavier bludgeoning metal assault, culminating with their most recent masterpiece, 2003’s We Have Come For You All. However, 2005 has provided a treat for all true metalheads as Anthrax re-united this year with their legendary Among the Living lineup and they returned with a thrash fury, channeling the same energy of their influential early releases Spreading the Disease and Among the Living.
Joey Belladona provides an insightful perspective on the band’s reunion and their current tour with Metal Icons Judas Priest. Joey exclaims, “The tour’s just fine, you know? We’re fucking having a great time, and we’re playing great. The fans are excited about all of it. You can’t beat it. It’s a good thing.” He continues, “We’re long time fans of Judas Priest. Those guys are really nice and very enthusiastic about having us. Even though it’s almost done and all, it’s been great.” What more could metal fans want? Two legendary masters of the genre on the same package, playing with a reinvigorated fervor for their classic tunes.
Even though the scene has drastically changed since this incarnation
of Anthrax last toured, they still manage to win over new fans at every
stop. About the crowds of today, Joey ruminates, “There’s
definitely a lot of young kids. It’s cool and it’s very challenging
to play to so many people and see new faces. There are plenty of old fans
there as well. So the crowd’s split up nicely.” Joey continues,
“It’s a different crowd. When we have general admission, it’s
quite cool because everyone can move around a little bit more. However,
it’s definitely a mixed crowd on the Priest tour. You don’t
know what you’re up against, but it levels off. On this tour, people
aren’t coming to solely see us. We’ve got a wide range of
fans and it’s different than when you’re playing on your own.
Now with the original lineup again it’s really good and challenging
to win over new fans. However, it’s a lot of fun because it’s
fresh and that’s what it’s all about.”
Anthrax always kept things fresh with their keen sense of humor coupled with technical guitar work and ripping leads. In order to bring this old school show to more metal heads, the band even did a few dates on Megadeth’s Gigantour this summer, proving that the old metal guard has returned. Joey comments, “There were five dates on the Gigantour also, and that was awesome. They were a little short, but everybody was really happy to get together. All of the bands were having a good time together we hung out a lot. So it went over really well.”
With Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, and Anthrax all back on the road again, the true titans of metal regained control of the genre and the road. However, Joey states, “I don’t think of it any other way except just being happy and being a part of it. It’s nice to finish something that I didn’t really get to finish.” Concerning the band’s split in the early 90’s and current reunion, Joey proceeds, “I don’t know if there has to be any closure. It’s just something I’m in now, doing it, and that’s part of it. It’s like taking a long walk and getting dropped off somewhere and realizing I really needed that ride to get where I wanted to go. It’s just one of those things where you kind of resume where you left off and that’s a good thing.”
This reunion stands out as one of the best things to happen to metal in a long time. Joey now reassumes the helm of Anthrax’s voyage, stepping into his original position singing Anthrax classics for arenas filled with fans everywhere. Joey states, “For me it’s a no-brainer, it’s easy. I’ve actually been doing it for many years since I left so it’s kind of an easy transition. As we’re playing, it gets a lot easier and a lot better because the guys and I wrote these tunes together. It’s easy to play together as a group versus me doing it with new people who are just learning it and had learned it for the first time. It’s tight as hell, heavy as shit, and everything’s good.”
Anthrax rekindles the flames that set heavy metal ablaze in the 1980’s with classic albums such as the aforementioned Spreading the Disease and Among the Living. In addition such, an important comeback like this revives old memories. Joey proceeds, “Oh yea, there’s plenty of that going on. Every night that goes on there’s something that passes through my mind, in that context. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
In the current heavy music scene, Anthrax’s influence has a presence within in almost every subgenre of metal. About their powerful stamp on the genre, Joey says, “It’s always nice to be one of the bands that have any influence. Also it’s always cool meeting someone that has influenced us. I’m really happy when anyone takes notice of that kind of stuff.” Anthrax always remained on the cutting edge of metal, even influencing the rap metal movement with their comical crossover “I’m the Man” and tour with Public Enemy.
Joey can even still be surprised where Anthrax’s influences pop
up. Joey states, “Sometimes you don’t even know it until you
encounter it from someone else. It’s flattering and nice that you’ve
actually accomplished something that people really acknowledge. Gotta
be happy about that. I don’t take too much into that though. If
someone gets something out of it, that’s a great thing, but the
main thing is just to stay focused, keep it fresh, and play well. As long
as we do what we do and keep it real, everyone will take notice.”
Even though Anthrax’s live set remains centered on the band’s songs from almost two decades ago, Joey states, “It feels fresh and it still stands up to whatever is going on. It’s way fun. I always have fun anyway, so it’s a little extra fun. It’s quality though and it’s done with the best intentions. There’s no horsing around as far as not being focused and not having everything done properly. It’s hard to find that and some people don’t take it all that seriously.” Anthrax maintains that solid focus though and Joey comments, “That’s why it’s lasted so long.”
The material for the current tour mainly remains culled from the band’s earliest offerings. Joey describes the set, showing that “A lot of what we’re doing is stuff from Spreading and Among The Living, “Indians,” “Medusa,” and a lot of other cool classics like “Caught In A Mosh.” We’ve got a list of quite a few things that we didn’t even get to. It would be cool. It just depends.” Joey continues, “I like the first 2 Anthrax albums. There was just something about them. We were just right out of the box. You couldn’t ask for much more after that. It was quite focused to go so quickly and smoothly from then.” Joey goes further back, thinking about his place in the band early on. Remembering the beginnings of Anthrax, he states, “Not even knowing who they were and what kind of music they were doing, it was just very surprising and very emotional just to be able to take it on.”
The current tour will end with an appearance in Long Beach the night before Halloween with Rob Zombie at the Priest Feast. No better way to end such a solid comeback then with other legends such as Rob Zombie and Judas Priest. Joey comments, “It’ll be the last show. It’s always different once that last show hits. Then, we’ll move onto the next chapter.”
About that chapter, Joey continues, “After this tour we’re
taking a couple of months off right now and then we’ll take a couple
of weeks in January. That’s all we have right now. We’ll see
what happens from there. We’re taking it little by little. You can’t
get too far ahead from there.” Whatever happens, the band already
has an extremely powerful legacy cemented. The future certainly remains
bright as long as Anthrax always stays Among the Living.
