JOHN BUSH Goes Deep Into ANTHRAX Career Ahead Of Highly Anticipated Solo Shows

By David E. Gehlke

After years of teasing it, John Bush is finally doing solo shows celebrating his era of ANTHRAX this December. His tenure in ANTHRAX from 1992 to 2005 remains both beloved and divisive — a definitive snapshot of how quickly things changed for the metal scene in the topsy-turvy mid-1990s when thrash bands had no choice but to adapt or get left behind. Bush was clearly a better fit for that decade than the smooth belting of Joey Belladonna. Yet, ANTHRAX could never quite get their ducks in a row, thanks to first an unsupportive record company, then a bankrupt record company, which were wrapped around albums that never quite resonated beyond their core fanbase.

There remains an audience and appreciation for Bush's era of ANTHRAX, that much is true. Whether the time will ever come for a HELLOWEEN-like arrangement featuring Bush and Belladonna may not be in the cards, one could only imagine the possibilities, but the fact that Bush is taking time away from his ARMORED SAINT responsibilities to do three solo dates in Los Angeles, St. Charles, Ilinois and New York celebrating ANTHRAX was more than enough reason for BLABBERMOUTH.NET to have the man take a trip back through time.

Blabbermouth: Take me into the rehearsal room the first time you jammed with ANTHRAX. What was the experience like?

John: "The original plan was that I was going to go to New York and to make sure that we had a vibe together, that I was going to go out there and play some songs and rehearse and feel like there's a camaraderie there. That was the most important thing for me. I knew, deep down, I had some ability to do something. [Laughs] And, they did, obviously. There was probably going to be something there. Really, I think it was more about, 'How are we going to create together?' Because I wanted to be part of the songwriting team. I didn't want just to come in and be told, 'Hey, this is the song. This is the melody. These are the lyrics. Sing it.' In ARMORED SAINT, I was the key lyricist and one of the songwriters. I wanted to make sure that I was part of it. I didn't want to come in and take over, per se. I wanted to make sure I was involved. That was important to me. They wanted that. I guess that's something they didn't have before. They wanted that, and they were embracing it. We got in and went into the classic Yonkers studio there, and we just started working on things. 'Only' came together in an hour. They had the ideas, then we started jamming on it. Next, we go, 'Oh, that song is done.' When I heard the music for it, I believed it sounded like this advanced metal sound. Just that riff was very different from anything that I ever heard from anybody at that time, from the '80s. I was really intrigued by that. I was excited for it. That was the beginning. I think 'Only' might have been the first song we worked on. Obviously, Charlie [Benante, drums] and the guys had a few different song ideas, but that was the one that really was the start of it."

Blabbermouth: Did any of the ANTHRAX guys say, "This is where we want to take the band next?" I'm not sure if having you sing in the vein of Joey would have worked.

John: "I don't know if it was a conscious decision. Charlie writes a lot of the music, and a lot of people don't know that. Charlie wrote a lot of those riffs back in the day. 'I Am The Law', 'Madhouse', 'In My World'. I think he was in his mindset, and I don't want to speak for him, but I think he was thinking of a forward mindset. We never had the decision of 'This is where we're going to go with this.' More like, 'This is some of the stuff that's coming out. It feels like it's moving in a different direction.'"

Blabbermouth: You also did a cover of KISS's "She" around this time, and Gene (Simmons) joined you guys onstage for the album release show in New York. Let's not forget that this was also your basketball jersey era. You usually had a Boston Celtics or Golden State Warriors jersey on.

John: "It was cool. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of pulling out a couple of those shirts. [Laughs] That was some really exciting times. We did the thing with Paul [Stanley] and Gene, 'Love Her All I Can'. It was funny, there was a connection with KISS when we did the KISS tribute record ['Kiss My Ass']. That was really cool, and there were a lot of really cool artists on it, like Lenny Kravitz."

Blabbermouth: THE GIN BLOSSOMS.

John: "How's that for random? [Laughs] Garth Brooks was on it. He did 'Hard Luck Woman', which turned out really cool. It made sense for him. Then, we did 'She' and Gene, I think, he did the record release show in New York. When we did three shows on the West Coast and three on the East Coast with Headbanger's Ball. I went to the Boston Garden. I remember going to Boston and them being, 'What do you want to do?' I said, 'Can we go to Boston Garden?' They said, 'Let us check.' Then we ended up shooting baskets. That was one of the highlights of my life. [Laughs] Those were some exciting times going on, especially for me. ARMORED SAINT, we never really got to that level. We were a band that toured a lot, played with a lot of big bands, and played some arenas, but we never hit that certain level of success like METALLICA and MEGADETH. We never made the step to the Gold and Platinum records. It was exciting to be part of all this. I knew that 'Sound Of White Noise' was a killer album. We really believed it was a great album. It was very exciting."

Blabbermouth: Not counting "Only", what are some of the songs you like from "Sound Of White Noise"? "Hy Pro Glo", "Black Lodge", "Packaged Rebellion" and "1,000 Points Of Hate", those are great songs.

John: "You pretty much named all of them. 'Room For One More', 'Only', we did a video for 'Hy Pro Glo'. We also did one for 'Black Lodge', which is a song we didn't play live much. The video was a little too advanced for people. We weren't really featured in it; there's one clip of us. Mark Pellington, the director, had just had success with [PEARL JAM's] 'Jeremy', so it was really creative. It's funny because Jenna Elfman was in it. That was before she was a star. It was cool, but it was probably too much for people. That was a great song live, but we didn't play it that much. We're going to play that live. It's going to be really exciting. 'Potter's Field', the first song off the record. I think all of the songs are going to be entertaining to play live. Now I'm giving it away!"

Blabbermouth: How much of "Stomp 442" is clouded by Elektra going through an organizational housecleaning, then telling the band that they didn't know what to do with you?

John: "A lot. We had a meeting with Sylvia Rhone, who was the new president of the label. In a nutshell, she sat there and said, 'I wouldn't have signed you guys.' We were like, 'What? Why are you telling us this?' It was at the listening of the record. That was very concerning, of course. We just made the record and thought it was great! We thought it was a follow-up to what we did, but it had its own identity. It had some killer tracks, like 'Random [Acts Of Senseless Violence]', 'Fueled', 'Riding Shotgun', and 'King Size', both of which Dimebag [Darrell, PANTERA] played on. The 'Nothing' video was pretty inventive. Marcos Siega, who also did 'Fueled', was a really cool guy. 'In The Zone' is another song people like. It's very heavy; almost industrial. There were some really cool tunes on it. There was a little bit of a change in the way the band was viewed. I cut my hair. I was finally contending with my hair loss. [Laughs] I shocked the guys when I did that. They were like, 'What?' I'm like, 'Man, I got a bald spot! It sucks, but it's the reality here. This will look better.' Even Frankie [Bello, bass] cut his hair a bit. Charlie cut his hair years before. He was one of the first metal dudes to cut his hair. Then, Danny [Spitz, lead guitar] left the band. It was weird because we never replaced him. Paul Crook toured with us and played some leads on the record. Paul gave a lot to ANTHRAX during those times. We believed in what we were doing. We thought it was a really cool record and powerful. We had to go out there and say, 'Well, we don't have the label behind us. We're going to go out there and do what we do and tour and trudge on.'"

Blabbermouth: A few things are working against that record in addition to what you said about the label. Metal was in a tough spot in the mid-'90s, then you had the album cover for "Stomp 442" with the naked dude on it. What was your reaction when you first saw it?

John: "Storm Thorgerson did the cover. He was cool. He did a lot of rad stuff, like 'Wish You Were Here' [PINK FLOYD], 'Houses Of The Holy' [LED ZEPPELIN]. We were into him doing it, but it was kind of weird. I don't know why [the man on the cover] was naked. [Laughs] There is a reason the man is showing how big this ball of metal is. Storm did a really cool thing where it was all photography. He never did, this was way before AI and Photoshop, he wasn't doing any of that. He was making things; he was building things, like the guy on 'Wish You Were Here', he was on fire. They made this ball of metal. It was cool; I thought it looked rad. It was a different logo, so that was a question mark. That didn't help matters. It was the only time we did that, so I guess it was because we're talking mid-'90s here; there were probably a lot of people questioning identity and how you can stay true to yourself while still feeling like you're part of this generation and decade. What's funny is, looking back, when I decided to do these shows and talked to a lot of fans, so many people discovered ANTHRAX in the '90s. Those were the records they discovered. They didn't think about those things. They didn't think, 'Why are you doing this? This is different from 'Among The Living' or 'State Of Euphoria'. They didn't think of that. They thought, 'This is a cool band. I've seen them on MTV. They have a little history, but they're really cool. The music is powerful, and I dig it.' They weren't caught up in the whole, 'Are you part of the '90s? Or are you an '80s band?' A lot of people have told me that. Maybe, internally, there were questions about what we were doing and maybe some decisions that weren't the right ones. We definitely made some mistakes. We definitely had some issues with record companies that worked against us."

Blabbermouth: You come off record company issues for "Stomp 442" and then "Volume 8" never really got going for a different reason, but also related to your record company.

John: "It's as bad as it was for Elektra; it's even worse for 'Volume 8'. We went to a label called Ignition. A lot of people were going indie, but it didn't work for us. The company went under almost immediately after we put the record out. There's a lot of good songs on there, like "Crush", the opening tune, "Catharsis", "Inside Out" is a great song, great video, which was fun and creative. Marcos did that one, too. There are a couple of really short songs, like 'Piss'n'Vinegar', which is fun. We had Dime play on a couple of tunes, including 'Born Again Idiot' and 'Inside Out'. Phil Anselmo [PANTERA] sang on 'Killing Box'. We did 'Toast To The Extras', which was really outside of the box, but ANTHRAX was always willing to do those different things, starting with 'I'm The Man'. Sticking our necks out, going, 'We're going to do a country song.' This was way before anyone was thinking of doing a country tune. It was 30 years before anyone thought of merging these things. It was pretty funny. That was an album that took some chances; there's a lot of adventure. Some things were unusual for the band. 'Big Fat' was another cool song. 'Hog Tied' is another really cool one. I think that album, with the uncertainty as to what we were going to do with this label that collapsed, I think we were just going to go back and do what every heavy metal band does, which was go on the road, tour, do everything we can to promote the new record, even if we have to do it ourselves. That's what our mindset was. We were with Walter O'Brien, who was our manager. He worked with Andy Gould, who did WHITE ZOMBIE and PANTERA. We had some cool people in place on that front, but now we're in 1998, and this label has no money. We had a lot of cards stacked against us, quite frankly."

Blabbermouth: PANTERA really helped you guys out by taking you on the road. Aside from the shows, how did your liver hold up?

John: "Yeah, my liver didn't do too great. [Laughs] I was drinking way too much at night and eating at Taco Bell and going right to sleep. I got acid reflux lashing on my throat and Black Tooths for a day, but the shows were spectacular. COAL CHAMBER was the opening band, so it was a lot of fun. We had a great time bonding with those guys. We did two legs—one at the end of '97 and the beginning of '98. You'd think all that touring would have propelled the record, but it didn't. We even made posters of 'Sound Of White Noise' and 'Stomp', and this new record is coming out, so we put them all over the venues. I don't know why it didn't help get it in the first few weeks of sales. I don't think the record company had the muscle, quite frankly."

Blabbermouth: Are you of the opinion that "We've Come For You All" is stronger than "Volume 8"?

John: "I think 'We've Come For You All', there was a conscious effort to reestablish ourselves as a heavy metal band. We wanted to feel good about that. We were with Nuclear Blast in Europe, which was a great label there. They knew how to market metal bands; that's what they did. We really had a great re-establishment in Europe, which was really strong. It was Sanctuary here in the States. They were also not really too strong. Not as weak as 'Volume 8' and Ignition, but they were still kind of going through some financial circumstances and didn't quite have the muscle, especially in comparison to, say, Nuclear Blast in Europe. But we did what we did here in the States. It was still a good amount of touring and a lot of just releasing videos that got a great response. 'What Doesn't Die' had Brian Posehn in it and all the zombies. It was a really cool video. Then we had Keanu Reeves in 'Safe Home', which was cool. That generated a lot of exposure. We definitely had those things going for us. Then we were touring a lot, as I said. We felt good, got Rob Caggiano, and finally got the fifth guy to reestablish everything. Rob's great, and he had a lot of energy, was very enthusiastic, and he was crazy. It helped us to have some new blood in the band. His antics were entertaining, and so it rejuvenated the band."

Blabbermouth: Have you started digging into the songs? How are you feeling about the set?

John: "I've created a long list. The CATEGORY 7 guys are going to be my band. I sent them a lot of songs. They're like, 'Dude! That's a lot of songs!' [Laughs] It's only three shows, but I'm a person who doesn't like to play the same set every night. You can ask the ARMORED SAINT guys. I drive them crazy because I'm always changing the set around: 'Let's put in this song. Let's change this song around.' They're, like, 'Wait. The set had a great flow. Now you're changing it?' [Laughs] I like changing songs. In this day and age, you can go to Setlist.fm and see what the band played an hour after the show. Everyone knows everything. You have to keep people on their toes and change things up. What I tell people is that this is not a Broadway musical. You're not going to see the show exactly the same way every night for a month. This is rock and roll, man. It should be unpredictable. Every city should get its own version of the show. If that means changing a couple of songs, then you should do that. You can feel that Chicago is getting something different from L.A., and New York is getting something different, Toronto and El Paso are getting something else. To me, it's important. It drives my band a little crazy, but I think it's important. I told the [CATEGORY 7] guys: 'I don't want it to be the same set for every show. There are a lot of songs.' I asked the public: 'What do you want to hear?' Some songs are surprising. 'Strap It On'. We never played it! It probably got the biggest response. I was like, 'What?' My wife is helping me with Instagram. She said, 'You got another vote for 'Strap It On'. I'm like, Really? We never played that song. I'm like, 'Fine. I guess I have to learn that one.'"