Former ANTHRAX Singer JOEY BELLADONNA Talks About His Solo Career

Former ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna recently gave an interview to the Yahoo! Group Inside_Out666 about his time with ANTHRAX and his solo career. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Inside_Out666: I believe the new album "Artifacts I" was originally recorded in 1993 and has now been remastered. Why did you wait so long to release the album?

Joey Belladonna: "Well, it was originally only going to be a demo, but after going on with a career you sometimes reach a point where you think 'Why not, it's great stuff.' It was a great session and I loved doing it. Then, Pauly Crook and I got talking and decided to put it out. It was too damned good to waste. Also, it just wasn't the right time to put it out (1993)."

Inside_Out666: How would you compare the new album to your first solo release "Belladonna"? Can fans expect to hear the old-school ANTHRAX sound on the new album or have you gone in another direction?

Joey Belladonna: "There are some songs that are the same, but the performances and players are just better by far. Everything is better by far. We all wrote the songs and it's easier that way for things to be a lot tighter. On the first record, 'Belladonna', there were some songs written by the performers, but not all of them."

Inside_Out666: After all these years of writing and recording how do you constantly come up with new fresh sounding material without falling into the trap a lot of other bands do by repeating themselves?

Joey Belladonna: "I just have an array of new ideas that are always flowing in my head. I have so many influences that the songs just keep coming along. Of course, when you play with different people you come up with different inspirations and styles."

Inside_Out666: Do you find you have a different approach writing/recording a song now as opposed to your days with ANTHRAX?

Joey Belladonna: "Yeah, because a lot of the time I'm walking into a situation that's all set up to go. With ANTHRAX, I wasn't there for the beginning of each project... the song would already be underway. Now, I do stuff from the beginning and see it through to where I want it to be."

Inside_Out666: Would you ever consider forming a new version of ANTHRAX & recording an album with Danny Spitz, Frankie Bello, Paul Crook & the aid of another drummer?

Joey Belladonna: "Anything like that is always a thought. Scenarios like that always run through my mind. You never know... time will only tell."

(Thanks: Cameron Edney / Inside_Out666)