CHARLIE BENANTE Says ANTHRAX Is 'In The Process Of Regrouping With JOHN BUSH'

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has told AOL's Noisecreep that the band is "in the process of regrouping with" singer John Bush following the departure of Dan Nelson in late July. "We played two shows with [John] [Sonisphere festival in the U.K. in early August and Loud Park festival in Japan earlier this month], and we are looking forward to proceeding with this lineup."

Regarding why the band doesn't try to reunite with Joey Belladonna, the singer during ANTHRAX's heyday and part of the band'most commercially successful lineup, Benante said, "It's a difficult thing to talk about.

"I watched this movie last night, and it was basically a two-hour documentary, called 'Rock the Bells', about a promoter in California trying to put together a show with the headliner being the WU-TANG CLAN with all nine members, which is unheard of. At the end of the night, the last member showed up and it came together. I watched that, and thought, 'It can happen!' But I've read on message boards and stuff where people think we can't just get it together and do it. Believe me, man, it's harder than you think. I wish it would all come together. But I am happy with John Bush. If we move forward with him, that, to me, would make my life complete. It would be perfect."

Video footage of ANTHRAX — featuring vocalist John Bush (ANTHRAX's singer from 1992 to 2005) — performing the song "Only" at this year's installment of the Loud Park festival on October 17 at Makuhari Messe, a convention center in Japan located in the western region of Chiba Prefecture, close to Tokyo, can be viewed below.

ANTHRAX (featuring John Bush) is confirmed for the 2010 edition of Austrlia's Soundwave Festival, which will kick off on February 20 in Brisbane.

The dates are as follows:

Feb. 20 - Brisbane, AUS - RNA Showgrounds
Feb. 21 - Sydney, AUS - Eastern Creek Raceway
Feb. 26 - Melbourne, AUS - Melbourne Showgrounds
Feb. 27 - Adelaide, AUS - Bonython Park
Mar. 01 - Perth, AUS - Bassendean Oval

In a recent interview with Kerrang! magazine, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian stated about the band's recent appearance at Sonisphere, "It went better than I even hoped it would go. I'd been waiting four years for that moment that we had on [August 1] to have John Bush back in the ranks, and it was an unbelievably, magnificently emotional hour of my life; it was really amazing."

When asked about the likelihood that John Bush will rejoin ANTHRAX on a permanent basis, Ian replied, "It's obviously what we want, and I think this is just hopefully the first of a couple of steps to make it happen. The show went great — we all had a great time; John had a fucking blast — and hopefully this is now... the foot's in the door to make this happen again. But it's absolutely what we want to happen. I don't really see any other possibility."

ANTHRAX parted ways with singer Dan Nelson in July due to what has been described as "personal differences." As a result, the band canceled 10 European shows and pulled out of a U.S. tour with SLIPKNOT which was scheduled to take place in August and September.

ANTHRAX's manager, Izvor Zivkovic of Split Media, told BLABBERMOUTH.NET on July 21 that the band's new album, "Worship Music", which was previously due in Europe on October 23 via Nuclear Blast Records, will now be "pushed back to a later date." According to Ian, Dan Nelson's tracks will most likely be erased from the CD, which was mixed at a New Orleans studio by Dave Fortman (a former member of UGLY KID JOE who has also worked with artists such as MUDVAYNE, EVANESCENCE).