ANTHRAX Drummer: 'The Core Of This Band Will Blow It Up Once Again'

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has commented on the band's split with singer Joey Belladonna, which took place less than two years after the group's classic lineup reunited for a "25th anniversary" tour.

In a statement issued via the band's official fan club site, CDC, Benante writes, "By now I'm sure you have questions about what's going on. My problem with all this is that most of it is very personal. I really don't want to air our dirty laundry all over the Internet. I know what happens when people get a hold of something like this, they make a mockery of it and take away the human element.

"I tried so hard to make things work and put in hours and hours or phone calls or as I'd like to call it 'therapy.' Certain people have 'issues,' had 'em in the '80s/'90s and still have them to this day. I think it's true that some people are best at what they do worst...

"I just want OUR FANS to know that I live and breathe this band called ANTHRAX but certain others could give a shit about you. Don't let em tell you different, this is the TRUTH. I don't want to hear or read, 'Well, he said this or he said that...' I know the truth as to how it all went down.

"Hang in there with us. The core of this band will blow it up once again and you won't remember what happened before this.

"My goal is to make the best music we can make, but we want to do it with people that WANT TO DO IT!

"...No time for losers, 'cause... you know the rest."

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian stated in an online posting last week, "We were offered a direct support slot on a major tour this spring and Joey decided he did not want to move forward. The reunion is over. We tried to make it work but I guess that's the problem, you can't 'make' something work. It's gotta be natural and at least becoming a band again and playing live was. . . Maybe we could've forced something and cashed in on a new record but that's not the way we operate. . . My reality is I feel we have some unfinished business with the 'We've Come for You All' lineup and I will do my best to finish it."

ANTHRAX's most recent studio album, "We've Come for You All" (featuring John Bush on lead vocals),was released in May 2003 through Sanctuary Records in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe. The CD shifted just under 10,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week of release to debut at No. 122 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The 2005 reunion of the "classic" ANTHRAX lineup of singer Joey Belladonna, guitarists Scott Ian and Dan Spitz, bassist Frank Bello and drummer Charlie Benante was followed by the release of the band's most comprehensive "best of" collection ever issued, the two-CD retrospective "Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (1985-1991)", which shifted just over 2,700 copies in its first week of release back in September 2005. Meanwhile, the group's first video compilation, the DVD "Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (1985-1991) The Videos" (both on Island/UMe),sold less than 950 units in its initial week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Similarly, the band's live CD and DVD packages, "Alive 2 (2005)" (on Sanctuary Records),which document the group's summer 2005 reunion tour, opened with less than 1,100 and 1,700 copies, respectively.