JOHN BUSH Says He 'Would Like To' Play Special Shows With ANTHRAX Featuring Him, JOEY BELLADONNA And NEIL TURBIN

In a new interview with Jimmy Kay of Canada's The Metal Voice, former ANTHRAX and current ARMORED SAINT frontman John Bush spoke about his three December 2025 "Celebrating The Songs Of Anthrax" shows where he performed songs spanning all four albums he recorded with ANTHRAX: "Sound Of White Noise", "Stomp 442", "Volume 8: The Threat Is Real" and "We've Come For You All". John was joined by 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 if he was happy with how the "Celebrating The Songs Of Anthrax" shows went, John told The Metal Voice (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, it was awesome. The shows were amazing. All three of 'em were great. It was a lot of fun. I got pretty favorable reviews from people. It was cool for me to hear those songs live as well as to hear all those guys in [CATEGORY 7] play them so well. And I think for the fans, a lot of those people probably felt like they may never hear those songs live again. And so there was a lot of emotion in the crowd from hearing those tunes. It was really, really cool. So it was all a big giant plus, and I'm glad I finally did it. And I wanna do more. It's just gotta fit in with my schedule. I am playing Milwaukee Metal Fest with it, and so is ARMORED SAINT the day before, so that should be fun. But there's a lot of territories I would like to play with. It just has to coincide with my life right now. I'm kind of focused on SAINT, and we have a new record coming out. So, I'm kind of distracted, but, yeah, we'll see."

Bush continued: "It's old material, so it's not going anywhere — let's face it. And I don't think there's an urgency to have to do it, because I waited so long to do it. So, I think if there's any urgency connected to it, it's mostly just because the songs are demanding, so they're not easy to do. And, unfortunately, with every passing minute. I'm getting older. So it's more about just being able to do it. And if I'm able to do it physically, then I don't really have to feel like I have to do it or else I can't."

Asked if all the preparation for the three shows was it worth it at the end of the day, John said: "It was worth it. It was worth it, for sure. I mean, this isn't just some big cash cow that I'm making a bunch of money on. I didn't wanna lose money, of course. It paid for itself. And I think that was the key thing. And I sold a lot of records. I actually contacted Megaforce and [ordered copies of the ANTHRAX albums to sell at the gigs]… I sold all the vinyl — all of it. 'Cause Megaforce re-released those records. So I sold all the vinyl, I didn't sell all the CDs, but I ended up buying them anyway. And I have 'em because I signed them. Eventually I'll sign 'em [and] I'll sell 'em somewhere. But, yeah, it was pretty amazing that I actually sold all the records."

Asked if he would be open to embarking on a special celebratory tour that would include him, former ANTHRAX singer Neil Turbin and current ANTHRAX vocalist Joey Belladonna performing a short set of songs from each singer's era of the band — similar to what HELLOWEEN has been doing for much of the past decade — Bush said: "I think it was really cool what HELLOWEEN did with all that. I think it's a very creative, and it was something that I think I would like to do that. I think that probably the person that would have to be convinced would be Joey, quite frankly. And I understand whatever his perspective is on it, whether he doesn't or does wanna do it. It's up to him, really. And the band, of course. But I think everybody would have to feel like 'I'm in'. Or not. And if you're not, then don't do it by any means."

ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Turbin, Belladonna, Dan Nelson and Bush — over the last 45 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.

Several years ago, Ian was asked by "The Jasta Show" if ANTHRAX could ever embark on a special celebratory tour that would include Turbin, Belladonna and Bush performing a short set of songs from each singer's era of the band. Ian responded, in part: "Could we? If everyone's alive, yes, the answer would be we could. But — and that's a huge 'but' with two Ts — do we want to? That's more the question to ask.

"I'll admit — that thought, in my lifetime, has crossed my mind, this idea of imagine doing a career retrospective kind of a thing," he continued. "And, of course, it's possible, but I don't know that's something — me, personally; speaking specifically for me, not anyone else in the band or any other singers that aren't in the band anymore — it's not something I would wanna do.

"Depending on the scenario and how we did it, where maybe — let's just say, could you imagine, so you start with 'Fistful' and you do a short set of that, and then maybe there's, not an intermission but there's a break with some kind of a set change. Maybe in the set change, there's some type of video montage showing what happened between 'Fistful' and 'Spreading The Disease', if that footage even exists; I'm just totally spitballing here. Then we come out and we do that era, and so on and so on. And, of course, it could be an unbelievable thing if it was produced properly and it all worked, and from a creative standpoint, it could be something amazing and I'm sure the fans that got to see it would be blown away. I don't necessarily see it as something that could be done as a tour. That sounds like something you set up in one spot and you do maybe multiple shows at a theater somewhere in New York, and then you move it to another city and do a few. But it's not something you can schlep around on a tour bus."

Turbin later addressed Ian's comments in an interview with The Metal Voice. Speaking about the possibility of sharing the stage with Bush and Belladonna, Turbin said: "John Bush is great; I love John Bush. It was really super cool of John to give me an interview [for The Metal Voice] the first time I met him in person [in 2020]. I've met other members of ARMORED SAINT and they've always been cool; we've always been friendly with one another. And having the opportunity to meet John and speak with him was really quite awesome. He's a great singer and a great guy — very cool. We discussed about some things off camera as well, so it was really cool to meet John. I'd love to do shows with John. He is a super dynamic person and, obviously, a great singer. And, obviously, ARMORED SAINT is a very well-respected, legendary band. And personally, I'd love to have the opportunity to do shows with John and with ARMORED SAINT; if that opportunity arises, I'd certainly be open to that."

Turbin went on to bring up MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST and HELLOWEEN as examples of bands who have been able to tour and record in recent years with two or more singers performing alongside each other.

"As far as what MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST did and what HELLOWEEN did, I think what those bands have done and the way they approached things, I think they've done things with class and with respect for the bands," he said. "So, yeah, there is certainly a value to presenting something like that. However, I think it really boils down to, what do the fans want? It's what the fans want that matters. If that's something that would bring the fans out, I think it's something that's interesting about a band.

"People are gonna have differences in life," Turbin added. "That doesn't mean people are gonna agree, especially on issues or personalities or whatever it might be. To me, it just shows a side of the band that they're capable of doing that. And I respect MICHAEL SHENKER FEST, I respect the fact that Graham Bonnet and Michael Schenker would even set foot back on stage [with each other considering their past issues]. I think it's great, 'cause these are strong personalities, and to get 'em to come together, I think it's great that they were able to do that. Not everybody on this planet is gonna play nice together."

Neil circled back to the idea of him performing with ANTHRAX again, saying: "If that's something to consider, I would be open to considering that. But there's a lot of moving parts, and there's a lot of things to consider." He then clarified: "Not to be misinterpreted by the media, I have my own bands that I'm involved with, I have musical things that I'm working on and songwriting that I'm working on in different genres, so I'm not really looking to join any band that I used to be in — I'm not really looking for that; that's not my expectation. And in fact, I've not been approached and I haven't had a conversation or a discussion or heard anything about anything like that. So it's not really something that is a plan of any sort. However, just making that statement, I think it would be up to the fans."

Turbin performed and recorded with ANTHRAX on the original demo recordings and "Fistful Of Metal". He wrote the lyrics to all songs on that LP with exception of the cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen", and also has writing credits on five of the seven songs on the band's "Armed And Dangerous" EP, as well as two songs on "Spreading The Disease".