JOEY BELLADONNA: 'I Would Have Loved' To Have Recorded New Album With ANTHRAX

Mark Carras of RockMyMonkey.com conducted an interview yesterday (Jan. 24) with ex-ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Rock My Monkey: Okay, so I guess Scott Ian [ANTHRAX guitarist] has made an announcement saying that basically you guys were preparing to record, they wanted to record a new album, and basically he says that he doesn't make any specifics, but he said that you made the decision not to record the album, and not to continue with it.

Joey Belladonna: I haven't really done anything really, to be honest with you. It's really not my group so I don't, I really don't want to comment on any of that, really, to be honest with you. I think it's all insane what's going on. It's not my band.

Rock My Monkey: But was there talk of recording a new album?

Joey Belladonna: They want to do a record regardless. That's been the whole plan. They have to have a record sometime. They need a record, right?

Rock My Monkey: Right, right. Absolutely.

Joey Belladonna: Regardless they would do a record sometime. Whether it was with me or somebody, ANTHRAX was going to do a record, I would assume.

Rock My Monkey: Was there any choice by you, was there any decision by you, or even an offer made to you to record that new album?

Joey Belladonna: I'm sure there's possibilities for me to do a lot of things. It's just — there's always a lot of circumstance that they place when you're doing it, When you do that stuff. I don't think that you just make a record, you know? Unless you're in a situation, you've been, you know, it's a just an ongoing thing, you've been doing it for years. Like the old days, you just kind of go in and do one. It's obviously a little different, because I wasn't in a band for quite awhile. Likewise thing with same Danny [Spitz, guitar], too. I'm not even the only one to be considered, but I don't think it's all about me.

Rock My Monkey: But you're saying that you would be… Would you be excited to record a new ANTHRAX album?

Joey Belladonna: Oh, absolutely. I would have loved to do one, yeah. I mean, but again, and all due respect, there's a lot of circumstances that take place to do that kind of stuff. There's a lot of things involved. Just think about it, you know. You have to have material, you have to have a reason. You have to have everything. You have to have a place to do it, the circumstance. All the basics have to be there. Again, it's not for me to decide any of that stuff. So I don't decide it. It's not my band. And you have to know that I was not there. I wasn't in that band. They asked me to come back and do a reunion. So that's about all I know. It's hard for me to really answer anything specific here.

Rock My Monkey: Now, it sounds like, I mean, there's a communication problem, because you're sounding like you… it sounds like Scott Ian put out an announcement before everything was really talked over with you. It sounds like you really aren't aware of this.

Joey Belladonna: Yeah, I mean, regardless of how aware of things I am, if they want to move forward regardless of things in place for them they're going to do that. They can do whatever they want. Likewise, really. That's what it boils down to. Again, I really, it's too hard to make light of everything that needs to be done, and anybody's case, really, unfortunately.

Rock My Monkey: Would there be, for you, is the door always open, is the door always open to return to ANTHRAX? Did the reunion, did the way that this ended this time, did it put any kind of bad taste in your mouth? Are you always open and excited to return to that microphone?

Joey Belladonna: Well, I always will. I mean, god, it didn't take me five minutes to say yes to something. It's just, when you're doing that type of thing, it takes a lot of people to put it all together, I think. It's not just me. There's other people involved, and they have to enjoy the circumstances, and have to know they want to go ahead. I think when they first started, I think they were trying to be real careful, of doing it how much they were going to do it, and how long it was going to take place. And I think, with all due respect, I think we did a good run. Eighteen months was a nice chunk of run. It was pretty lengthy. Some bands maybe would have done two months, and then they end it. They do that one run, and that was cool. Then again, it's not a problem. I just can't predict anybody's path and what they want to do, and how they want to do it, and whom they want to do it with, you know? It goes with anybody's band, I think.

Rock My Monkey: Is there going to be a full solo Joey Belladonna solo tour coming up? What can fans look forward to hearing from you over the next year?

Joey Belladonna: Just right now, I'm just in the beginning stages of doing something. Just carrying on musically. So I'm just going to keep busy as much as I can. I don't know right now what I'm doing, or what's happening. I am, there is a band in place, and I am trying to take it on the road for sure. Everything is open. It's all open.

Check out the entire interview in text and MP3 format at RockMyMonkey.com.