ANTHRAX's BELLADONNA Doesn't Think There Was Any Need For All The Singer Changes

Bryan Reesman of Attention Deficit Delirium recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX vocalist Joey Belladonna. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On rejoining ANTHRAX in May 2010:

Belladonna: "For me, it's nice to do a record because I would've liked to have done records throughout the time that they've been together. There wasn't any reason in my eyes to make all these changes. I didn't think we were doing anything wrong or something wasn't working. When the Nineties came in and they felt they had to jump ship with something I was doing sometimes when you have something that works like that, you should stay the course with it. It's easy for me to say sometimes when somebody has some other opinions on what style they're looking for. Who am I to say that even if I did stay in the band we would have been fine and dandy?!. I think we would've been, personally. From what I can read now, we definitely would've been fine because we're not doing anything right now that's unusually different or harder or anything that anybody had to figure out how to persuade somebody in the band to figure out."

On singing and playing drums in CHIEF BIG WAY:

Belladonna: "It's a three-piece, sometimes a four-piece with keyboards. We play TRIUMPH, DEEP PURPLE, RUSH, VAN HALEN, LED ZEPPELIN, THE WHO, PINK FLOYD, HENDRIX, CREAM, all classic stuff. We also do PRIEST, SABBATH and DIO. It's all older, straight up hits type stuff. I'm on the drums with the [vocal] headset. There are no props and no gimmicks. I sing the whole night. I never thought that I would sing and play 'Tom Sawyer' at the same time. Something that you think is easy to play is often not. 'Heartbreaker' by LED ZEPPELIN has so many different [drum] accents that have nothing to do with the song vocally. It's a good challenge."

On his eclectic musical tastes:

Belladonna: "When you ask me about music, I'm really reluctant to bring up names of bands like it's something that I shouldn't have brought up 'Oh my god, he listens to that, how crummy is that'. It's more weird that I'm a metal singer, so to speak. Certain music will tend to educate me in some ways and give me all kinds of depth. 'I didn't know they could put those three chords together and make it sound like that. And those harmonies underneath, wow!' That's why I listen to certain things, and sometimes it just makes you feel good. I don't care if it is or isn't heavy. I don't think that way, but I'm afraid to say that I just listened to all of BREAD's 'Greatest Hits'. People are weird like that they actually take that to heart. That's where you've got that worship, which relates to the 'Worship Music' title. 'If you're a fan of them, I don't like you!' Even when I'm playing my cover [band] thing, if somebody finds out that I'm in ANTHRAX and didn't know anything about it, they actually like what I'm doing in the cover thing better. Not that I care because I'm not trying to sell the ANTHRAX thing, I'm just playing covers and having a good night out. People are funny about what they like. That's cool, but I can't take it that far."

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