Video: ANTHRAX's JOEY BELLADONNA Sings JOURNEY And FOREIGNER Classics With CHIEF BIG WAY

January 11, 2013

Video footage of ANTHRAX frontman Joey Belladonna performing JOURNEY and FOREIGNER classics with his Syracuse, New York-based power trio CHIEF BIG WAY — in which he plays drums and sings — on December 18, 2012 at the Clam Man Party House in Seneca Falls, New York can be seen below.

In a 2005 interview with MusicDish, Belladonna was asked about the rumor that he came to the table with a JOURNEY tune during his 1985 audition for ANTHRAX. "Actually, what happened was I went into the room and they said, 'Just go on in,' and they hadn't heard me sing," he said. "They'd heard of me and they asked me to come in, but we were going in to start tracking and stuff, to get the mic set up and all that and they said, 'Let's get you in there and get you warmed up.' I hit the mic and belted out some JOURNEY. . . I think it was [the song] 'Lights'. I didn't know what the hell I was getting into in the first place. I just wanted to lay some vocals or something. Just to kinda give an idea and that's what happened. It wasn't really anything more than that. I just kinda belched it out. I think I did 'Oh Sherrie' [written by JOURNEY singer Steve Perry], too, or something. I dunno why, but I just did. It was something off the top of my head I could do a cappella and it was kinda challenging. I thought maybe in range or something that would be kind of intriguing. It was definitely one they weren't expecting."

In a 2010 interview with Tricia Weight, Joey stated about CHIEF BIG WAY, "We're doing all 'old school' shit — like LED ZEPPELIN and RUSH and JOURNEY and FOREIGNER and BAD COMPANY and THE WHO and BOSTON and PINK FLOYD and all that stuff."

When asked if singing those different styles of music in his side projects was good for him, almost acting like "exercises" to keep his vocals in shape, Belladonna said, "Yeah, it [is]. I mean, now I've got more projects than I've ever had. Even at home I sing to records, that's how I learned to do it anyhow, I used to pull out the coolest records and sing to 'em all day long, before I went out [on stage]. And I do it now, even [on the way] to the gig. If we've got an hour drive tonight — I'm rocking the stuff on the iPod all the way there!"

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