JOEY BELLADONNA: I Found Out ANTHRAX Reunion Was Over Via Internet

BLABBERMOUTH.NET spoke to singer Joey Belladonna on Wednesday, January 31 about his departure from ANTHRAX and his future plans. A transcript of the chat follows:

Q: Scott Ian [ANTHRAX guitarist] said in his statement that was released on January 24 that ANTHRAX was offered a direct-support slot on a major tour and that you decided that you did not want to move forward. He also said that they tried to make it work, but that it just could not work out. He also mentioned that "the problems that were there could not be fixed no matter how hard we tried and in the end Joey made the decision." So he basically said that in the end, it was your decision to leave the band and that they wanted to carry on. In Charlie's [Benante, ANTHRAX drummer] statement (issued on January 31),he says, "I tried so hard to make things work and put in hours and hours or phone calls or as I'd like to call it 'therapy.' Certain people have 'issues,' had 'em in the '80s/'90s and still have them to this day. I think it's true that some people are best at what they do worst..." Basically, they both pretty much make it appear as if you were the one that kind of put an end to this reunion whereas I think everybody was sort of expecting this lineup to go ahead and do a new record and try to continue. Is it fair to say that you were the one that made the decision to put an end to this? Did you quit ANTHRAX?

Joey Belladonna: "Dude, all I know is that they wrote a letter and I got a call. Whether they wanna believe we had an opportunity to continue or not, they just wrote the letter and that's all. I don't care what they say at this point. You have to remember — it's their band, it's their call. They make the call. I don't care how they wanna phrase it. It's been like that since day one. And if it doesn't go their way, then that's the way they make the decisions, you know."

Q: When you say you got a letter…

Joey Belladonna: "That letter I'm talking about — that one [from Scott Ian that was posted] on Blabbermouth. I didn't even know anything was done officially at that point until I saw that. That's when I assumed, 'OK, now we're completely done.' If I can backtrack, really, we went longer than I thought we were gonna go, as far as the reunion. I thought it was just gonna be… you know, we're gonna do what we could do and I figured that they wanted to resume with their band. Everybody wanted to do baby steps, kind of thing, when you first start, when you're doing that stuff. No one came in and said, 'Alright, how long are we gonna do this, 'cause I've gotta know, because I've gotta make plans or I'm not gonna be able to do this unless I know for sure.' It's like dating somebody — 'I've gotta know if you're gonna be with me forever.' It wasn't like that — nobody knew what was going on. God, just before these letters came out, I read something that Charlie, in one of the magazines [referring to a Metal Edgeinterview that was published in August 2006 — Ed.], was saying, 'I miss John [Bush, former ANTHRAX vocalist],' and how he wanted to play with him [again], and I'm like, 'God, what the hell are they talking about?' You get all kinds of stuff. It's just nice to have an effort when you can work together about things. It's not like we were confirming anything in particular — we fulfilled as much as we could, and we went a lot longer than anybody thought we would, I think, maybe. Again, I didn't know if they were opening up a new door to be a brand new band — no one really went into it with that; we just wanted to go out and do a great job and play as a band, and if something [more had] happened, it would have been great."

Q: So what is Scott referring to when he says, "The problems that were there could not be fixed no matter how hard we tried?"

Joey Belladonna: "I have no idea what problems he's talking about. I mean, hell, their problems could be other problems. My problems could be problems that aren't problems. I don't know…"

Q: Were there issues with songwriting input [for the new material that the band was working on]?

Joey Belladonna: "We didn't even get there. I didn't even go there. I wasn't even really officially talking to these guys at all [about writing a new record] during that time. The only time you heard something about [new] songs, it was like, 'Yeah, it would be great to do a record.' Or, 'We'll come out with a record.' Of course, they'll come out with a record. ANTHRAX is a band, regardless of if there's two other guys or three other guys, they're gonna come out with a record. Like they're doing right now. It's like, 'If you're not in, then he'll be in. And 'If he's not in, he'll be in.' Look back for just a second, if you think about it… Where's Danny [Spitz, guitar] in all this stuff? I mean, forget about me…"

Q: Yeah, actually, I wanted to ask you about that as well…

Joey Belladonna: "Well, that's a mystery. Where is he? What's going on with him? Forget about me. Let's look at him first. 'Cause he is part of that reunion. So what happened? It all fell apart…? Or there's problems…? It's like… When you're a band, you've got all kinds of things you have to make sure that are in your place and in your favor, and [you have to consider] your needs, too. And if it's all about other things, you have to work them out."

Q: When Charlie says, "I tried so hard to make things work and put in hours and hours or phone calls or as I'd like to call it 'therapy,'" what is he talking about?

Joey Belladonna: "I don't know what he's talking about."

Q: Have you guys spent hours and hours on the phone trying to work things out?

Joey Belladonna: "I haven't. I mean, he's talked with me, he's talked with my wife, he's talked with everybody. I mean, that's just part of being in a band anyhow. We don't nearly talk that much, believe me. I mean, there's not that much talk. I mean, if I talk with you and you wanna talk about things, but if it doesn't go your way… well, if it doesn't go a certain way, that means you just… that's it? I mean, c'mon… You always work through things if you have to — if you can. I don't get into airing all kinds of shit out, I'm not gonna get into all that crap — I just don't do it; I never have and I never will. I mean, if you wanna look back, I never harbored any old shit; I don't really care about all that. I mean, if you wanna get into that, there's a lot of stuff that wasn't in my favor long ago, but you think I cared when I got back with those guys? It's got nothing to do with that, really, at all."

Q: I'm just puzzled as to exactly what the issue was. 'Cause it just seems very odd that they would…

Joey Belladonna: [interrupting] "You'll never know. And if you do know, it'll be one-sided, so…"

Q: Is there anything you can think of that might have been an issue? Has anything been brought up to you that you guys needed to work on before this could go ahead? 'Cause Scott's saying that there was a tour offered…

Joey Belladonna: [interrupting] "There [were] tours offered all the time. Look, we've done a bunch of tours. We were done doing the [ROB] ZOMBIE thing before October, before we went to Japan, and we weren't offered pretty much anything. At that point I thought we might have been on a hiatus — I didn't know what was going on until the Japan show came in. I mean, whether you get a show or not, we're trying to… You wanna make sure you know what the hell you're doing before… You don't just do things all the time. And that's all we did — just jump on, and jump on, and jump on. You have to evaluate things a little bit, too, when you're doing stuff. You just don't… People knock on your door and say, 'Come on, our car is running. Let's go.' You've gotta think about what you're doing all the time. When it's not your band, you need to know a lot. You need to know what you're doing. You just don't do it blindfolded."

Q: When was the last time that you actually had a conversation with Charlie or Scott about your status in the band?

Joey Belladonna: "I only talked with Charlie and I talked with him maybe… I don't know, maybe a month ago…? Two months? A month and a half ago."

Q: And when you last spoke with Charlie, was it basically, "That's it, we're done," or was that not even raised at that point?

Joey Belladonna: "We didn't really know. There were just things we were trying to figure out what we could do and how we could things. You don't know things overnight. It's not like it's cut and dried. I suppose if you were together… Remember, I was with those guys for eight, nine, ten years, and I was out for 13, so here I am coming back in, and it's just… you wanna know… People would say, 'Why'd you go into it in the first place?' And I go, 'Why not? What did you think, I wouldn't do it? Certainly I'd do it.' I think I did quite well with them. Everything went well. So I can't complain."

Q: So you're saying there was never any discussion about you actually getting in there and writing, or helping to write, material for the new record?

Joey Belladonna: "He [Charlie] brought it up on that one phone call, but it's not like we sat around and [I was] assured that I would be doing a record. I mean, there was hypotheticals that we'd possibly do a record. But who's to say that I would even be there when they were doing it? We don't know. We never really got into all that kind of stuff really deeply. I mean, there's no way possible… I don't know what would happen. I had no recollection of any kind of scenario to paint for you for that. I mean, they were at the beginning stages [of the writing process] as it is."

Q: So when Scott says that you decided that you did not want to move forward, is that not true?

Joey Belladonna: "Scott wrote that — you never heard it from my mouth that I didn't wanna move forward. I was doing other things. I mean, if he says I didn't wanna move forward, I guess I'm not moving forward. They can say whatever they want."

Q: These solo gigs that you are doing right now, I know some of them were booked a few weeks ago…

Joey Belladonna: "I get 'em whenever. Like, they called me tonight with a gig. I just get calls. Sometimes you don't get a gig because you're still waiting on another one so you wanna put 'em together so you can drive from one to the other. Like I said, I was done for a while, and I wanted to do something. I mean, I sat around for so long."

Q: So you were planning on doing solo gigs even while you were still in ANTHRAX?

Joey Belladonna: "Not necessarily, no. I just felt like there was gonna be an opportunity for me to play, so I just got the itch to do it. I had fun doing it. God, I've been doing it since I've been gone [from the band the first time]."

Q: Was that an issue with the other guys?

Joey Belladonna: "No, I don't think so. And if it was, I'm sorry about that, but that's…"

Q: [interrupting] But they never raised that with you, as far as doing solo gigs while you were a member of ANTHRAX?

Joey Belladonna: "No. I mean, c'mon. I don't tell people that they can't do clinics, I don't tell people that they can't do radio shows or TV shows… I mean, nobody's telling anybody what to do there… I mean, that's not an issue."

Q: So if it were up to you right now, you would be doing a new ANTHRAX record with these guys and you would try and make it work?

Joey Belladonna: "If everything was kosher in all aspects? If everything was lined up, you're saying?"

Q: Yes.

Joey Belladonna: "Well, yeah, I would think so."

Q: When you say "if everything was lined up," is there anything in particular you are referring to?

Joey Belladonna: "You've gotta have everything in a row. If somebody says you're gonna go somewhere and do something, you've gotta know what you're doing. You've gotta know and you wanna know for sure what's going on. Like they said, they wanted to go in steps, [and] the steps have to be right. Again, it's not my band, I don't really call the shots. So I can't begin to dictate what's gonna happen. And in order for you to dictate what's going on, you have to listen and you have to understand what's going on to decide what you're gonna do. I think after the third time you deserve all the right to figure those things out. I don't know about you, if you do things, if you just go there and just show up and assume."

Q: No, but the reason I think this is kind of confusing is basically you guys had a certain way of working back in the late '80s, early '90s, and then 13 years later, you guys came back together and I'm assuming that the way that these guys went about certain things pretty much has stayed the same — people don't really change all that much once they're kind of set in their ways. So I'm assuming that everybody kind of knew what they were getting into and that once you got back together, you would sort of pick up where you left off.

Joey Belladonna: "I think we did in some portions, but I think when people move on, they get older, they grow wiser and smarter and they have different ways. I mean, [I don't think] anybody is doing things exactly the same. 'Cause they've had another band, too. I'm sure they ran their other thing a little bit different. They probably had different scenarios per person."

Q: Yeah, it was a different dynamic, different person involved.

Joey Belladonna: "There's no way to be… It's not gonna be the same. If anything, everybody's gonna be a little more cautious of how they run… Hell, if you wanna watch the DVD [that was released of the reunion], you'll see that everybody's like, 'Well, we'll see what happens. We don't know. I wanna make sure… this and that.' If you watch it closely, you'll see that some people are a little hesistant at first."

Q: Were there any demands that you made in terms of what you needed in order to proceed that these guys would not satisfy that you think might have led to them calling this thing off?

Joey Belladonna: "I don't make any demands. I'm not into that. I'm not sitting around dictating anything."

Q: So you cannot think of anything — anything that you might have done that might have caused these guys to basically assume that you did not want to move forward?

Joey Belladonna: "I'm sure if it isn't in their favor, they're gonna move. And I don't really care to figure that out."

Q: Was it a financial issue?

Joey Belladonna: "No. Financial? I mean, c'mon. People, when they go 'financial,' just think for a minute. Read about this huge tour that I'm supposed to be doing. Wouldn't anybody just get in and go for that? I mean, that's a good sign of not about financial [issues], that's for damn sure. It's nothing to do with that. And I don't even know what that is and if that was even really, quote, positively true, or if it was… See, I don't know that stuff. So, no, it's not financial. It's just everything. You just need to know what you're doing. I mean, you need to be in control… to be in control of what you're doing."

Q: You mentioned Danny's name earlier? Have you spoken to him at all?

Joey Belladonna: "I've talked to him before, yeah…"

Q: But I mean in the last week or so since this news first broke?

Joey Belladonna: "Yeah, he called me. He was surprised. He found out through the Internet, somebody said that it was over. 'Surprise, surprise,' I said to him. And then we just started talking about other things. What do you do? You just sit there and go, 'Wow. That was interesting.'"

Q: Both of you guys [you and Danny] found out through the Internet [that the reunion was over]? When Scott put out a statement, that was the first you guys heard of this?

Joey Belladonna: "Yeah, I had a friend of mine call me. He said, 'Did you read that thing on Blabbermouth? Scott said it's over.' I was like, 'Wow! Really? Where'd you see that?' And of course, I'm not online that much — I don't really go on the computer at all."

Q: So that was the first you heard of you no longer being part of this?

Joey Belladonna: "Yeah. I mean, officially — right out, straight out…"

Q: And Danny expressed to you that he was equally surprised [to hear about this]?

Joey Belladonna: "He just… I guess he was saying he would have liked to… I don't really wanna speak for him. He just happened to call and said, 'I see something online. What's going on?' I said, 'I don't know, man. Maybe we oughta find out.' [Laughs]"

Q: This all seems very, very strange.

Joey Belladonna: "Yes, it's a very strange thing. It'll always be a strange thing. It's hard enough. It's gonna remain confusing. I mean, if you wanna go way back, it's still confusing. I still, to this day, don't even know why we even had to come to this yet. We could have been… Of course, everybody's like, 'Well, we've gotta move on. Do something new. Get a new singer. Let's be different. Let's try something current.' Obviously when I got back in there, things were pretty decent. I mean, it's like you said, it's as if it wasn't any different, it was just as good as it was long ago, and here we are, and you really have to have that middle piece that took place that changed everything that we used to do — everything. Nothing against what they did — great, you tried it — but you know, man, hey, we had something that was really pretty good. But I guess that's part of being in a group that likes to experiment."

Q: I just think it's very odd. I think a lot of people were looking forward to at least seeing this lineup record a new album.

Joey Belladonna: "But that's tough to hang that over my head or anybody's head."

Q: Well, they're kind of making it appear as if you made that decision.

Joey Belladonna: "I don't think we officially made any decision. I mean, I couldn't tell you if we got four songs in that they were like, 'Well, we were really hoping for you to do something a little different, so I don't think this is gonna work. Thank you very much.' You don't know that. We don't know that. It's not like… If I'm doing my own thing, I know what's gonna happen and I'm gonna work it to the end, but I mean, I'm in their band and if, for some reason, they don't like what I'm doing, or something stupid, or if the tunes aren't coming together the way they wanted, you don't know anything. So there was no official… They don't even have any songs themselves that much yet to know what they're looking at yet. I mean, of course, I'm sure they have high hopes in everything they do, but you're never gonna figure that out."

Q: So you guys never got together or spoke, once they had some songs written, about actually starting to work on some stuff?

Joey Belladonna: "Charlie, when I spoke to him, he said he had some songs, but I haven't heard 'em. I couldn't tell you what they're all about. I couldn't tell you what direction it's at."

Q: It's not clear that John Bush is gonna come back, and there is speculation that he may not want to…

Joey Belladonna: "That's what I hear, but even then, it's like, you've still got that hanging over your head. That gets boring after a while. I mean, it's like, 'Who cares?' It's great that he's in the wings. It's like we're both being back-up quarterbacks, and it's bullshit."

Q: Well, that's kind of why I wanted to get to the bottom of this. 'Cause it seems to me almost like there's two singers involved and now neither one is actually gonna front the band.

Joey Belladonna: "Well, maybe that could give you an idea that there's a little bit different ends that are going on that somebody can't enter anyhow. If you think of… even with those guys, how confusing is it that all of a sudden there was a reunion thing, whether we know for a fact that they wanted to do it for real and all the way, or was it a part-time thing, was somebody gonna come back in? We don't know that — we'll never that until somebody tells you the full story of why they went and did it. Maybe it is only because of a reunion. Or is it because of this? 'And we weren't really gonna do it this way and when we got done with that…' I wouldn't even know what they're gonna do. It's tough. It's a tough situation. All I know is that I did more than we thought we were gonna do, and I think we really were really successful enough to at least say we didn't do one month and go, 'Hey, man, it was really cool to get back together. Man, those shows were great,' and that's it. We did a hell of a lot more than that. That's one thing I say that was really positive that I dug — we played well and we had a really good run. If I was to take anything out of it, I think that was good."

Q: Do you think their intentions were pure when they decided to get back together with you?

Joey Belladonna: "I would think so. I mean, I think there was the 20-year anniversary, there was this, there was that. I'm not even gonna speculate on all kinds of possibilities why. I'd always say 'Why not?' too. I'd say, 'Maybe there'll be a day, maybe. How cool would that be?' And that's what we did."

Q: Did you guys get along on the road? Were there a lot of fights?

Joey Belladonna: "No, no. We really didn't have that much stuff. It was pretty similar to long ago. Everybody's individual, everybody's different, everybody's grown up and moved into different friends and activities and habits, and this and that. It's a business, man. That's what it is."

Q: You are now doing a few solo shows.

Joey Belladonna: "Yeah, like 10. I guess, like 10 or so."

Q: Someone told me that you are actually playing drums [as well as singing]?

Joey Belladonna: "No, I'm actually [just] singing. It's a four-piece band."

Q: Is this a brand new lineup?

Joey Belladonna: "Brand new. I was literally doing it in the last month or so."

Q: And you're playing mostly ANTHRAX stuff?

Joey Belladonna: "No. In fact, the other night I did mostly all originals and one ANTHRAX [song], but I do a lot of ANTHRAX stuff anyhow, but I just never got around to it the other night, 'cause the set was shorter 'cause it was a support slot with OVERKILL and METAL CHURCH and MELIAH RAGE there, so we just kind of went in and slammed out mostly originals and one ANTHRAX [song]."

Q: So are you comfortable with what you're doing now? Is that what you plan on doing for the foreseeable future or do you have any other plans?

Joey Belladonna: "At this point, it's so early on, [but] I guess since one door shuts, you kind of roll through it and get into a new thing and you take that on. I dig doing it [the solo thing]. I have plenty of songs that are really comfortable to sing and I like the direction that I've had put together. As far as other projects, I get occasional e-mails here and there like I've always gotten and we talk about all kinds of things, but a lot of it's a difficult situation 'cause you've gotta plan and find out what people are really up to. Are they really into playing or…? But I mean, I like doing one thing, if I can do it… ANTHRAX, when I did that, I was doing that — I wasn't off doing seminars and voiceovers and this crap, all this kind of stuff — it was ANTHRAX all the way. Now that I'm not doing that, I guess I'm doing this all the way. It takes enough time for me to do this 'cause I'm doing a lot of it myself."