JOHN BUSH Hopes To Play European Shows Celebrating His Era Of ANTHRAX, Confirms Plans For Second CATEGORY 7 Album

Last December, legendary vocalist John Bush played three live concerts in the U.S. showcasing the music he helped create during his decade-long tenure singing with ANTHRAX. At the gigs, Bush performed songs spanning all four albums he recorded with the band: "Sound Of White Noise", "Stomp 442", "Volume 8: The Threat Is Real" and "We've Come For You All". Joining Bush on stage were his CATEGORY 7 bandmates Phil Demmel (guitar),Mike Orlando (guitar) and Jason Bittner (drums),along with his longtime ARMORED SAINT partner and best friend Joey Vera on bass (CATEGORY 7 bassist Jack Gibson had a schedule conflict and was unable to make the gig). CATEGORY 7 also opened the show before returning as John's backing band for the ANTHRAX material.

Asked during a June 3 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about the possibility of doing more ANTHRAX-era solo shows in the future, Bush said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "I would like to do some stuff, especially in Europe. Every album I made with ANTHRAX, I toured Europe, and it would be a shame not to go there and at least play a handful of shows. So we'll see. And nothing's booked at this point, but I'm open to it."

After "Trunk Nation" host Eddie Trunk noted that it was probably "emotional" for John to revisit some of that ANTHRAX material after so long, Bush concurred. "Yeah, it was kind of two sets, 'cause we did the C7 [CATEGORY 7] as the opening band, 'cause they were my backing band, if you will. So then we kind of piggybacked it, and then we did one set of C7. It was a condensed set. And then we took a small break, and then we came back out, and then we did the ANTHRAX stuff. And so they worked very hard, and they learned a lot of material as they're doing this weekend [on June 7 at the Milwaukee Metal Fest] as well [where John will once again play a set of his ANTHRAX-era songs]. So, it was a lot of work, but it was fun work. And it was fun to play those songs… It was weird how much they just kind of came back to me, even songs that we didn't play live many times, which we incorporated some of those in it, which was cool. We played the song 'Strap It On' in New York for one particular fan specifically, 'cause he was relentless in requesting it. And ANTHRAX never played that song, ever. So, it was fun to do that. And I was stoked about my memory banks 'cause a lot of lyrics just came back to me, which was funny. So lot of lyrics in my brain. This weekend [at the Milwaukee Metal Fest] will be no different. I'm playing a SAINT set, and then we're doing this other set, you know, doing ANTHRAX material. So lot of lyrics in my brain, but I'm doing pretty good at remembering them. Knock on wood, I won't make too many mistakes."

Asked about the status of CATEGORY 7, which released its self-titled debut album in July 2024 via Metal Blade Records, Bush said: "We talked about making a record. I think it would be cool just to make it seem like it wasn't just a 'one and done'. Mike Orlando is actually giving me a lot of material. I'm trying to kind of get to it. I needed a break a little bit because I didn't wanna go right into writing heavy metal music after writing the SAINT record. And so I just needed a break, just to get my head together and make sure that I'm not just kind of redoing ideas and stuff. It's not easy to go back and go, 'Okay, let's make some metal music again,' because I just did that. But I have some cool ideas, and it's about putting it down and making some demos, and I think on to that, hopefully, in the rest of the month of June and into July. And we'll see what happens. I mean, there's not an urgency to putting this record out, simply because that's just not the circumstance here. But I think, like I said, eventually it would be cool to make another record and show that these guys are really, really talented, 'cause they really are, all of them. Bittner, Orlando, Phil Demmel, Jack Gibson, they're all just awesome players."

ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Bush, Joey Belladonna, Neil Turbin and Dan Nelson — over the last 42 years, with guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante remaining the sole bandmembers who have appeared on every one of the group's studio albums.

Turbin sang on ANTHRAX's debut LP, 1984's "Fistful Of Metal", before getting booted and being replaced by Belladonna. Belladonna performed on four ANTHRAX albums, including the fan favorite "Among The Living" (1987) before he himself was fired over creative and stylistic differences. Bush fronted ANTHRAX between 1992 and 2005 but was sidelined when the band reunited with Belladonna for a 20th-anniversary tour. When that collapsed, and relationships disintegrated with next frontman Nelson, Bush returned for a time before Belladonna took the job back in 2010.

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