JOEY BELLADONNA
ex-Anthrax vocalist
www.joeybelladonna.com

(Summer 2004) by George Dionne

No matter how you slice it, Anthrax's most successful period was when they were fronted by New York native Joey Belladonna. Who can forget such thrash metal classics as "Madhouse", Caught in a Mosh", “Anti-Social”, and "Among the Living". Fired in 1992 and replaced with current vocalist John Bush, Joey forged ahead with a solo career. Belladonna released his self-titled debut in 1995 and Spells of Fear in 1998.

In a move that went down in thrash metal infamy, Joey returned to Anthrax in 1999 to record vocals for "Ball of Confusion" with John Bush for an upcoming greatest hits CD. Anthrax then announced a tour with both vocalists splitting the set; Joey would perform classic Anthrax material, while John covered current material. The idea turned out too good to be true. Negotiations between Anthrax and Belladonna broke down and the tour was scrapped. Joey settled back into his solo career and in 2004 released his third disc 03; available exclusively at his official website: www.joeybelladonna.com

RIL: Your new CD 03 comes out in October (available now via website). Can you describe the sound of the album? Is it more like your past solo work, or your work in Anthrax?
JB: It's got a mix of both. It's a little more roomier with different tempos up in there. Vocally I'm pretty much in line with what I normally do. I'm really finding my niche. It might not be as busy as much of the Anthrax stuff; as far as speed goes, but it comparable.

RIL: Who do you have in your band?
JB: They're all un-named people. One guy's out of Albany, New York, another guy's out of Rome; but it's been very much a revolving door. It's been difficult to find people for a number of reasons; availability, money, jobs, distance. Skills are always a problem too. They may be good at one thing, but not another. It's very hard to find a solid thing. These guys have been with me about six months now, and it's working out pretty good. They're green, but they're hungry. They enjoy playing a lot.

RIL: Are you shopping the new album to a label?
JB: I sent something out, but I won't say where because I don't expect anything from it. It was some different material just to see if anybody would take a sniff at it. That's why it takes so long, because I'll put all my cards in that deck for a while. If you wait for a reply, you can't release it. That takes time. You have to set the line-up and get together with them for the songwriting, and that takes time too. That's why it takes me so long to put stuff out. Right now I have plenty of material; I could put it out tomorrow if I wanted. With a label, I'm still interested to see if someone would be remotely interested in the music and take the band on. Then it's another situation after that to see if they will follow through with what they say they want to do.

RIL: If you're unable to get a label do you plan to self-release it?
JB: Yeah. What better option do I have at that point then to release it myself, verses holding on to it until someone ever comes around. I've had better luck right now doing it myself. It's better than not doing it at all. I have plenty full-length material that I could do. The only problem I would have is with material that has people on it that are no longer with me. I don't release stuff with if the band members are not with me now. I'd have to re-record it, and that's time consuming. Some of the stuff is pretty cool the way it is too. I will definitely release the new record on my own if I have to. I haven't been real aggressive shopping it around. I just sent one out the other day, but that was just out of curiosity.

RIL: Are you going to preview any of the new material on your upcoming tour?
JB: I play a couple of the new songs.

RIL: Were you satisfied with your first two solo albums?
JB: There's always moments there. The people that wrote it didn't play on it; the people that played on it weren’t super-prepared. I did have a nice recording on the first one, but skill wise...The did a fine job, but it wasn't exceptional. I'm not unhappy by any means. With the second one, I never really met anybody, except Stet [Howland] from W.A.S.P. The guitar player was from France. He was playing with Danny's [Spitz] brother. We had to demo stuff between us through the mail. For how fast we did it, it was kind of cool. I like a lot of the songs, but I never got to play any of them. We never rehearsed as a group. There was no rehearsal for the new one either. It was just me and the guitar player; we were just whipping stuff together. I played drums on the whole thing. I even played the guitar and bass. I wrote most everything on all three records anyhow. This is the first time I've played the drums of the whole record. I've been playing them live too. I've been playing and singing. It's just one of those things. If there isn't the right guy or any guy, I might as well do the driving until I find someone.

RIL: Are you ever asked to do any of those tribute CDs? It seems that a lot of the eighties based artists are doing them.
JB: I did one. I did "Sad But True" on the Metallica Tribute. It was Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick, and Marco Mendoza doing it. I just got asked to do another one with Eric Scolnick and I don't know who else. I turned it down.

RIL: Some of them don't sound very good.
JB: This one actually sounds pretty good. I never sang a Metallica song before. I pulled the words off the internet, did it that night, and sent it out to them. I didn't want to overexpose myself though. I don't want to run that stuff into the ground. Plus it's Metallica. I don't want to take too many risks trying to cover them. A little bit of dough is nice, but they'll make more money of it than I will. I enjoyed it. It was fun. It's not my choice if I was to do another cover. Then again, it's just higher standards to do someone else’s songs.

RIL: How did you get the gig in Anthrax back in 1985?
JB: I was in a band [Bible Black] here in Ithaca with former members of the band Elf. I somehow got a call that they [Bible Black] were looking for a singer. They weren't really moving too fast or really doing anything particular, but I still went up to live with them and rehearse and stuff. Meanwhile, because they weren't really going anywhere immediately, I continued doing work with another cover band. I just kept busy. Somehow Anthrax heard some music with my voice on it. They called me up and asked if I'd be interested in trying out or joining. I had never heard of them before. I said why not. They were professional and they sounded great.

RIL: Were you involved in the writing process throughout your career with Anthrax?
JB: Not really the main riffing or arrangements of the songs, they were pretty much laid out. Those guys lived together in the New York area and they'd just be busting out stuff on a regular basis. I would have to come in and sing it right. I'd have to do it in a way that I was comfortable with. It like if someone built a house, and they called me in to design the place. I had to put my stamp on. It worked out. We were equal members in that kind of way. They were a band before me, and this way it didn't mess up their chemistry. At the same time, I wish I was a little more involved like I am now, where I make the song work for me; key wise. You know, the starts and stops; the words could be a little more or a little less. Overall, I like the system that we had. Not many people would be satisfied with doing it that way being the singer. I think that's why it lasted so long, because I never gave them any stuff about that. I knew enough to be a team player.

RIL: In the course of my research, I discovered that you were in a low budget horror film called Pledge Night (1987). How did you get involved in that?
JB: When [Anthrax] was with Megaforce, I believe the management got a phone call from someone asking if I'd be in the flick. At that time I thought that sounded pretty cool. I'm sure [the label] checked a little bit of it out. It was filming in Jersey. I believe there was some music from the first Anthrax album in it as well. It was a cool thing to do, but I know the movie wasn't that great. It's good for a laugh. You know there's some movies that people think that are bad, but you could like them.

RIL: Do you like watching those types of horror movies? The cheesier, the gorier, the funnier for me. Films like The Toxic Avenger and Sleepaway Camp do it for me.
JB: Yeah, this one is like Friday the 13th, but worse. It's in a frat setting with a lot of hazing. There's some bad acting, but it's cool. I dig that. I'd like to do more of that, even if it's just the music.

RIL: Your character must have died. What was your death like?
JB: Yeah, I was killed. I was hazed. They called me Acid Sid. I was a hippy from the sixties that got burned to a crisp in a tub of acid. It was cool doing that scene. It was in a wet, cold basement and I had to be in the tub with all kids of crap in it. I had to keep coming up from the water screaming, and I'm swallowing that stuff.

RIL: Looking back, do you think that "I'm the Man" was a groundbreaking song, or more of a bandwagon song?
JB: I don't think it was a bandwagon thing, it was a natural thing for everybody. Those guys did that on their own. They were good at that. They had their own little stake in knowing how to do that. It was groundbreaking for us. I didn't have much to do with it to be honest with you. I'm not the first to know how to write a rap song. It was probably a lot easier for them to come up with a lot of that stuff. I enjoyed playing the drums on it. I enjoyed the humor in the song. The same with "Bring the Noise". They had gotten that one up an going. I had never heard of it before. The riff was real cool. I glad to have been a part of it. It's not what I'm accustomed to.

RIL: I think "Bring the Noise" helped Anthrax get some new fans. I was into rap music when the song first came out, and I never really heard of Anthrax. When I saw the video or heard the song, which ever it was, it got me looking into Anthrax's music.
JB: There you go. That's basically what happened. I don't think anybody sat around and tried to see if they could fit into the situation. Of course I wasn't in their minds to know what they were thinking. I think they just wanted to kick some butt on that. Hell, they're still playing it. That's one thing I don't play live. It works for them. I just don't know that much about it. If I ever play something like that, I'd probably have three people come up and do it themselves while I watched or played on it.

RIL: What Anthrax album are you most proud of?
JB: The first two (Spreading the Disease & Among the Living), absolutely. It was more free than other albums. There was no time to put the hammer down and change things, like they did with the other stuff. Of course, no one really knows much about how people try to mold you and scold you into a certain way. You just can do that, which happens to be why I'm not in there anymore; the trends, the changes, and how they wanted a different voice. I was natural [on the first two] and I had never heard that music before. It was really cool. Among the Living was cool too. It was just on the brink of being a little more thrashier for us, but it was still sharp and pristine.

RIL: When you were fired from Anthrax 1992, did they explain why?
JB: No. I honestly think they wanted something that was a little more rougher and grungy, to fit in more like they do now. There's really no comparison. It's two different styles. [John] has done stuff like that in his old band, and he just has a much more raspier voice. I was doing whatever I could naturally. I had my own style, which is really hard to do in the first place. Of course you get a lot of comparisons, whether they're good or bad, for good reasons and not so good reasons. I couldn't have been any more dedicated. I'd still be in that band for sure. I wouldn't have any reason to quit. I enjoyed being there.

RIL: Did they do it face to face, or like Van Halen did with Sammy Hagar; over the phone?
JB: It was a phone call. It was from a manager too. I'll never forget him saying, 'well your really taking it well'. I said, what are you gonna do? If I was in a band and we all wanted someone out, they you gotta do it. As time goes on, those guys can say whatever they want to justify it. They make it sound like I wasn't really worthy enough to be in the band, I wasn't that good, I never sounded that good; it's not very good for them to say that. I just recently started talking about why we didn't go on tour (in 1999), and people are asking why I waited so long. I've been talking about this subject for so long, but it just doesn't get out to the public. It doesn’t get out widespread. It's all good. I don't have a vendetta, I don't really care about that. I just wish we could have just kept going. It's a lot harder for me as a solo artist now. Times are different, and I have to always maintain some kind of comparison [to Anthrax]. It's just hard to do that. I don't really think about trying to compare [our styles]. If and when any of those guys go out on their own, there's no way they'll be able to maintain the comparison, because they won't have the accompaniment of each other. It's small steps for me. I love playing, so I don't mind getting out there and doing the old stuff. I do plenty of that.

RIL: In 1999 Anthrax called you in record "Ball of Confusion" with John Bush for the Attack of the Killer A's CD. Did they make it clear what your future with the band would be?
JB: No, there was no talk of that. At that time it was like, 'do you want to come in and sing a tune?'

RIL: Shortly after that, Anthrax wanted to go out on tour with you and John splitting the set, but they claimed that you wanted 'Metallica money'. What's your side of it?
JB: I did an interview on that way back on that. I've heard good and bad on the situation, why are you talking about it now, or making a big deal about it. I'm not at all. All I said was no one negotiated with me until way late. It wasn't anything thing out of fairness as far as I was concerned. I really wanted to do it. I know people are going to be really mad and it bothers me that they are. You have to remember that I was fired. I'm not a part of the band anymore. They made it sound like that it was no big deal if I went out with them. I don't believe that for a minute. I just think they should have taken care of me in a proper way, not just throw me a bone like I'm just cutting grass and have nothing else to do. At the time, Danny [Spitz] was at my house. We were working on some stuff. It was sad that he could do [the tour] either. We thought all [Anthrax] had to do is ask us. We can put all the stuff aside and just get out and play. I know it wasn't that easy. Danny was getting a kick out of it because he was just sitting there and they're asking me to do it. This is right at the very end. They kind of left it to the last minute like, 'take it or leave it'. I think the tour was worth a little more than that. As far as the offer being considered 'Metallica money', it was nothing out of the ordinary for what they'd be getting. There would be a lot of benefits from [the tour]. It would have lifted them more so than me, and then they would go back to doing it without me. It's not exactly easy to go out with somebody that doesn't like you so much. I don't what it would have been to go out there, but it might no have been that easy. It's a weird thing. I don't know how to make it perfectly clear, or make people happy about it. There will be people disappointed about it, but I didn't want to bow down to them after putting me in this position. If you're going to finally ask me, why don't you hook me up with something that's worth my wild. Of course they won't be happy over any of that forever, because it just didn't pan out.

RIL: Would you entertain the offer again if it came up?
JB: Absolutely! I don't know if it ever would though. They made it clear that they didn't want to do a nostalgic thing ever again. I say why not? I don't know what's so hard about that. Again, if we all did that, even if Danny got a shot at it too, it would have to be done evenly so everybody felt they were on board and a part of it; not like they were a side guy or hired hand. It kind of stinks that way.

RIL: Anthrax recently re-recorded Neil Turbin and Joey Belladonna era songs; what do you think about that?
JB: I don't know what you get out of it. If anything, it just shows that the songs with me on it are somewhat important to give back. As much as they hated that music and their moving on to better stuff, there's a little bit of your answer about the songs that they like. The other side to that is, they want to prove a point that maybe they think they'll be better at doing them now that [John's] singing them. I read a rant and rave one time that said, 'tell me one band that replaced the lead singer and was better?' The response was Anthrax, but is it actually true with that release. I guess it's another way for them to release music as well. I don't know if you're going to get anything out of it that's better, unless [John] spends certain days on the stuff and gets it as perfect and polished as he possibly can.

RIL: Did you listen to Anthrax's last CD, We've Come for You All? (Read the review)
JB: I've heard a couple of cuts from that. I've heard a good portion of Sounds of White Noise and a good portion of Stomp 442 too. I hear mixed reviews about the new one. I hear people saying it's good. They have all the reason to have good stuff, that's the band. [Anthrax] knows how to play, they know how to write, and I don't expect anything different. Although with the style of vocals, it tends to go a little bit different. Everything is a little more straight down the middle versus a lot of the ups and downs, twists and turns, and the funnies and happies that we had together. I never really hear anything that they are doing bad. I try not to compare.

RIL: I think that the fans compare anyway.
JB: Yeah they do, and it's always going to be that way unfortunately. You always have that hanging over you. I don't sit around and think about that anymore. I can't. I have no way of doing that [singing like John Bush], and I never did anyhow. My voice is going to come out the way that it is. It's like when Hagar did stuff with Van Halen; his own stuff was a bit different, but you could still hear his voice. That's what I try to do; have my own style. There's not much I can do different. There's budgets involved too. I have to do stuff out of home know. There's nothing bad about it, but it's a lower funding situation. That's not always the answer either. You can spend a lot of money and get nothing out of it.

RIL: Is there any unreleased Belladonna-era Anthrax recordings?
JB: There's only one cover song really. The only way to release it we be to redo it, but I probably wouldn't do it anyhow. I'm still flirting with the idea of me releasing either studio or live versions of the old stuff. It's very tempting, but it's been so long that I don't know if I'd do it at all. It would probably more live than studio. It would be perfect to do it, but I'm a little reluctant.

RIL: Is it frustrating when people constantly ask you about your time in Anthrax? I know that you're trying to forge ahead with a solo career, but I'm compelled to ask you about Anthrax.
JB: You can. I look at it this way, I'm really pleased that I was a part of it, and I'm pleased that people are still enthusiastic about what I did with them. I hope that it carries over. There are sometimes that it may out-shadow what I'm doing now. I hope that people put two and two together. Hey he was with Anthrax, cool. Unless I had such a bad time that I can't speak about it, then I don't mind. I don't think we ever had that kind of thing. If I can answer anything about that time; I'd love to without animosity.

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