CHARLIE BENANTE Sitting Out ANTHRAX's European Tour Dates; JON DETTE Once Again Steps In

Drummer Charlie Benante is sitting out ANTHRAX's current European tour dates with SLAYER. He is once again temporarily being replaced by Jon Dette, who has previously played with SLAYER, TESTAMENT and ICED EARTH.

ANTHRAX's tour with SLAYER kicked off this past Sunday, October 25 at 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

Benante previously missed the first few weeks of ANTHRAX's spring North American tour with VOLBEAT so that he could undergo physical therapy in his continuing battle with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Dette originally filled in for Benante during ANTHRAX's appearance at the Soundwave festival in 2013 and at a number of European shows in 2014. Jon told "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show" how he initially got the call to step in for Charlie: "Actually, Jason Bittner from SHADOWS FALL, who was filling in for Charlie on [the 2012] ANTHRAX run, couldn't do one of the tours that was coming up and called me and asked me if I would be available to do it. And I said, 'Of course. It would be great.' And the next day Charlie called me — which, Charlie is one my biggest influences ever, next to [Dave] Lombardo [of SLAYER], so it was kind of a surreal moment for me to get a call like that, saying, 'Hey, can you help me out?' Which, of course, I said, 'Absolutely.'"

Asked how it felt to be playing with ANTHRAX, Dette said: "It's amazing, man. The first day that I started playing drums — a lot of people may or may not know this — the first album I ever got from the day I got my drum set was 'Fistful Of Metal' [by ANTHRAX], and literally, the first song I ever tried playing on drums was 'Metal Thrashing Mad'. Actually, I [was] hanging out with Charlie and I told him that this morning, and he was, like, 'Really?' And I'm, like, 'Yeah, really.' [laughs] ANTHRAX, METALLICA and SLAYER, they were such a foundation of my style growing up, and I've been privileged now to actually play for two of those bands [ANTHRAX and SLAYER]. It's a very natural thing for me to play, but at the same time, seeing the back of their heads on stage, and Joey [Belladonna] is looking at me and he's singing, and I'm just, like, 'This is great.' I guess you can say that I play with a lot of passion when I'm with those bands, 'cause it's just absolutely passion and just an amazing experience."