ANTHRAX Frontman: 'We Have Been Asked' To Play This Year's GIGANTOUR

Ryan Ogle of Live 4 Metal recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Live 4 Metal: You guys toured with MEGADETH last summer.

Joey Belladonna: "Yeah we did, the Gigantour, we did five shows."

Live 4 Metal: How was that for you?

Joey Belladonna: "Awesome. We're going to do it again next year"

Live 4 Metal: Really?

Joey Belladonna: "Well, we have been asked. It depends on what we're doing"

Live 4 Metal: How would you compare the metal scene of today versus the way it was in your heyday?

Joey Belladonna: "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"

Live 4 Metal: 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?

Joey Belladonna: "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."

Live 4 Metal: So is that the plan, for this lineup to record again?

Joey Belladonna: "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."

Live 4 Metal: What would you say is your favorite ANTHRAX album?

Joey Belladonna: "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."

Read the entire interview at www.live4metal.com.