JOHN BUSH Releases Official Video Of His Performance Of ANTHRAX's 'Random Acts Of Senseless Violence' From Whisky A Go Go

Former ANTHRAX and current ARMORED SAINT frontman John Bush has released a live video of the ANTHRAX classic "Random Acts Of Senseless Violence", which originally appeared on the band's 1995 album "Stomp 442".

Filmed on December 13, 2025 at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California during the debut performance of Bush's "Celebrating The Songs Of Anthrax" show, the video showcases John with 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. 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".

Comments John: "Stoked to release this song from the first show I did in my hometown of Los Angeles celebrating the songs from my era in ANTHRAX. Can't wait to play this song as well as many others from the four records I made with them at the Milwaukee Metal Fest."

John and the band will be appearing June 7 at Milwaukee Metal Fest and are planning select shows in the U.S. and Europe in 2027.

In an interview with Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz conducted before the Whisky A Go Go gig, Bush stated about the fact that he had to prepare for his ANTHRAX-era shows: "Well, I've been singing to the ANTHRAX songs right now because I'm trying to remember them. Strangely enough, they actually are coming back to me, which is funny 'cause I haven't sung those songs in years. Some of 'em I have — I did a couple things at the METAL ALLEGIANCE shows that we did — but mostly just like 'Only' and maybe 'Room For One More'. Yeah, it's funny how my memory is still there. I still have a lot of work to do, but, yeah, it's good… But, yeah, this is a memory challenge, for sure."

Asked if he looks back fondly on 2003's "We've Come For You All", which marked his final album of new material with ANTHRAX, Bush said: "Yeah. I look fondly on all of 'em, really, to be honest. I think all four records are really cool — all a little different from one another. Certainly different times and different growth of the band. But 'We've Come For You All' was pretty solid. We signed to Nuclear Blast in Europe at that time, so they kind of gave us a resurgence, 'cause they're a great label in Europe and they just know what they're doing. And we really kind of re-established ourselves on that record, particularly in Europe. In America, I think it was on Sanctuary, and I think they kind of folded not too long after that. So, not as well of a job done here in America, but it was still received well and we toured and some great, great tunes on that record. Some really powerful anthems, if you will."

During an appearance on the July 31, 2025 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Bush was asked what led to his decision to play several concerts showcasing songs from his era of ANTHRAX. He responded: "Obviously I've talked about this for quite a while, and it's come and gone because of various reasons — scheduling, or maybe I was just reluctant at the time. And Dan DeVita, who I owe a lot to, because he's the agent who books ARMORED SAINT, and he's booking this, and I've known Dan for years and years. He works for TKO, and he's doing great for himself, and he's always been there for us and for me. And the thing is, he kept saying, like, 'When do you wanna do this? Let's do this.' And we had a plan to do it in the summer of this year. We had dates for Europe that were ready to go. And then for whatever reason, I don't know if I got cold feet or some of the negotiations kind of fell apart with some of the people I was talking to. And so we pulled out. And we actually had some legitimate gigs — we had a couple of festivals that were big and it was gonna be cool. For whatever reason, it didn't happen. So it's a moot point now. But the reality is, look, I am gonna be 62 [in August]. And I've been talking about this forever, and so let's just do it. Let's stop talking about it and let's do it. So we found the right dates to do it, which is in December, and it's three shows. It's L.A., it's St. Charles, which is outside of Chicago, and then New York City. And I'm gonna go out and we're gonna play songs from these records, and I think it's gonna be really exciting and fun. I think fans are gonna be stoked, and I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. There's really, really killer tunes on those records that I'm really proud of, and it's gonna be fun to sing them live."

On the topic of how he chose the musicians to play these shows with, Bush said: "It was gonna be the four guys from CATEGORY 7, and Jack Gibson just has a scheduling conflict. So that was the original plan. But it was funny, 'cause we talked about doing this and it was, like, well, here's the band. We've only played one show with CATEGORY 7 — we played the Whisky [A Go Go] just a couple weeks back — but every time we were gonna do some shows, a couple of things fell apart, a couple of balls were dropped. Whatever — that's a moot point. But I think the [CATEGORY 7] record actually is pretty off the charts; it's a killer record, [and I'm] really proud of it. And so we wanted to play some shows, and then, like I said, a couple of things fell apart. But then the idea came of, like, okay, well, wait a minute here. Here's a bunch of incredible musicians. And these guys can play these songs. Bittner played in ANTHRAX, or did some touring with them when Charlie [Benante] was having some injury issues. So he knows a lot of tunes. And it just made sense. It was, like, 'Well, wait a minute. We could piggyback this thing. It'll be really kind of interesting to have one band play and then kind of come back and play again.' So, it's gonna be a little much for not only me as a singer, it's gonna be a lot of songs. It's gonna be a lot of songs for the band to know and learn. But I think in the end it's gonna be a cool story, and it's gonna be fun. Like I was saying, if I was trying to put a band together from scratch of people that I would like to do these ANTHRAX songs, I would choose those guys 'cause they're amazing. So it just made sense. So it's gonna be a lot of fun. And like I said, a lot of these songs — I mean, 'Potter's Field' and 'Fueled' and 'Safe Home', we haven't played these songs — I haven't played these songs, and nor have they, in years and years. So, it's gonna be really cool and exciting to kind of resurrect some of these tunes that a lot of people dug and are great songs that just haven't been heard in a long time."

Asked about the possibility of playing more shows celebrating his era of ANTHRAX in 2026, John said: "Well, we're gonna take this step [by playing these three shows in December]. And for me, this was a big step. So I was, like, let's do this. And Dan, like I said, my agent, he was, like, 'Why don't we do this? We'll kind of play like three shows, strategic, and start with this.' The [new] ARMORED SAINT record is coming out in March or April, so I'm gonna be definitely wanting to do a lot of touring and association with that, because we're really stoked about this upcoming [ARMORED SAINT] album — it sounds killer — so we're gonna do a lot of stuff with that. So it's finding a way to merge some of these things together, but let me kind of get this out there, see what the vibe is. It seems like it's actually pretty awesome so far… But let's see what we get and let's see what happens. And sure, there's a lot of places that I would like to take it — certainly Europe and even South America and maybe even Japan. And the sky's kind of the limit. Obviously, there's a shelf life 'cause this is not new material. These are records that are 20 to 30 years old at this point. So it's not new music. And, of course, ANTHRAX has new music, and they're making a record and they have a new record coming out next year. But the fact is they just really haven't been playing any of these tunes. So they've been kind of almost put in a time capsule. And I get it — I really do. To just call it as it is, I understand, especially from the standpoint of [longtime ANTHRAX singer] Joey Belladonna. They're gonna have a third new record after he came back in the band. They obviously have their catalog of stuff that he did, and they probably have a plethora of material to play, not including any of the Bush songs. But the reality is I don't want these songs to just go into oblivion here. There's some really great material here, and in the '90s these songs had a lot of impact on people. So, I'm figuring, well, if you guys aren't gonna do it, then I should do it. And that's why I'm finally doing it."

Asked if he would still be doing these shows if the Belladonna-fronted lineup of ANTHRAX was performing a lot of the material Bush recorded with the band live, John said: "Well, I'd say most likely not. I used to say, 'Do songs [from my era]. I want you to do tunes.' I understand why you don't, but I wish they would. Because, again, it's something that I invested emotionally and a lot of time, as well as those guys did. So, I would prefer them to play the tunes. I understand if they don't, but if they were, then maybe not. But they don't, with the exception of 'Only'. And there's a lot of great tunes. I've been putting a setlist together, and it's probably more songs than I really wanna sing, to be honest, 'cause it could be a very long set. Plus I wanna play some deep tracks — I don't wanna just play the obvious songs, like 'Only', 'Room For One More', 'Fueled'. I wanna play 'Safe Home', whatever. I wanna play some deep tracks, because it will be more fun that way. So, would I do this [if ANTHRAX was still performing songs from the Bush era live]? Probably not. I would say probably not. But they're not, so I am."

ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Bush, 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.