Known as one of The Big 4, Anthrax was a band that helped launch the thrash metal genre of the 1980s. Vocalist Joey Belladonna was there for the classic recordings and rejoined the band a decade ago creating modern Anthrax classics. Recently, Joey took time out to talk about a new project he has, a band called Beyond Frontiers, the 40th Anniversary of Anthrax, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On why he started Beyond Frontiers, a Journey tribute band \u2013 I\u2019ve always liked the band long before they even had Steve Perry. I love the whole vibe, the whole music, the writing, and Neal (Schon)\u2019s playing and just the whole thing. I loved everybody in that band, and then Steve came along and I was like a total Journey fan forever I\u2019ve been following it right up to today. So I always wanted to put a band together, or at least I have been doing Journey songs throughout the years in an array of cover bands that I\u2019ve had, but not a whole night, so I just wanted to take on more music by a Journey. I thought it\u2019d be great to just have a band that was awesome that wanted to play that kind of music\u2026Well, I have, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re familiar, I\u2019m sure you are, with Lee Greenwood, I guess you wanna call him country, I have (his) band later, Doug Carter that I met on a cruise, and we decided to ask him if he would be willing to put a Journey band together and he was all for it. We did an actually unplugged show on the boat, and it went great. It was just us and two keyboards and me singing, and it was a 45-50 minute set of just unplugged Journey, the whole boat was there and they enjoyed it. Then when I got done, I said, \u201cYou wanna do a full band?\u201d He goes, \u201cI can put a band together in no time, I have the band already and we\u2019ve been playing together for a while\u201d, and it\u2019s been that since then. But we only did one show because of Covid and stuff, so we just kinda put it on a hiatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On playing live with Beyond Frontiers \u2013 We\u2019re actually gearing up and put it together for real. That show we did, I didn\u2019t even know what some of the guys even looked like because I just haven\u2019t had any time to play with them or anything. We showed up, I picked him up at the airport and we all drove together, of course, I knew Doug, the keyboard player. At that point, once we started playing together as it was awesome to play the night, but a bit of rehearsal would be really kind of a happy thing for us. So that\u2019s what what we\u2019re gonna do is start rehearsing a little bit and get it up to snuff maybe put some videos to gather some clips, people can see a little bit of what we\u2019re about, there\u2019s really no frills there either, there\u2019s not a thing where I\u2019m gonna try and dress up like Steve Perry. I want it to be a band that just kicks butt and some good music. My wife, she\u2019s helped me take care of the whole thing, and she\u2019s a part of it too, because she does all the work, so I can\u2019t take credit for it. I always have to remember that sometimes it\u2019s just people don\u2019t realize what work it takes to put things together, there\u2019s a lot of preparation. Right now, we\u2019re still working on maybe getting some people to videotape it and also record some stuff too. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll release anything in particular, but maybe have music that\u2019s at least online, so you can at least get a sound and connection to the band as we don\u2019t have that right now, it\u2019s pretty dormant in a way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his classic rock influences \u2013 I\u2019ve been following all that stuff from the Beatles to start, and I jumped right into anything from Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Chicago, and then I\u2019d start leaping over to Aerosmith and The Who, and then it would be Queen and Rush, and then Yes, and Kansas and all that stuff. So I\u2019m plucked into that system and I\u2019m leaving 30 or 40 bands out who I dearly loved and still do. But at the same time, I just love that kind of melodic rock. Unfortunately, sometimes of being in a thrash band you can\u2019t cross that road and vocally, it\u2019s a \\vocal thing, and it\u2019s a music style that I like. I know the band does too, Anthrax, they follow stuff that I probably wouldn\u2019t have followed. Some guys might like Depeche Mode, I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just a whole lot of stuff, The Cure, some of those lanes are not my expertise, should I say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On if Anthrax would have done a 40th Anniversary tour if not for the pandemic \u2013 Oh yeah, I believe we would have geared that in high gear, it really would have been a cool moment. The only thing we really had a chance to do to celebrate that, other than these shows that we\u2019re doing, we did a live stream and that was successful. Hopefully, you\u2019ll get to see that if you hadn\u2019t got to see it, maybe on a Blu-Ray, a great package with some great back story footage, all that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On if he knew of Anthrax when he joined the band \u2013 No. I\u2019ve never even heard of that. Let\u2019s say Juda Priest might have been a cross, not comparing any of it, but a style of rock, Obviously, they had some power metal there, there was some good double bass, and was fast, that whole record (Fistful of Metal<\/em>) wasn\u2019t, but I had no idea who they were. I didn\u2019t even know that album existed. I had no clue who I was going to meet or see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Anthrax introducing Rap to Metal \u2013 I know that Charlie (Benante), Scott (Ian), and Frankie (Bello) were living in the city, and even Danny Spitz when he was in the band on guitar, I think me and him were maybe the least of the rap side of it. It wasn\u2019t like we didn\u2019t like it, I wasn\u2019t following it as much, some of the guys were. That was something that everybody felt that they wanted to take on and collaborate on together. That\u2019s what we did, and we put a nice package together like that and made people feel good about some good guitar and drums and stuff, some extra singing going on. It\u2019s just that whole collaboration, it was really cool, but not as much on my end. I love it even more now that I get it and I understand it. But at the time, I was a little unfamiliar with a lot of it. I wasn\u2019t listening to it as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the evolution of Anthrax with Persistence of Time<\/em> \u2013 I think a lot of that is just natural. You\u2019ll get in to start writing, we really take our time on making a good record and something that works riff-wise and all the parts fit. Obviously, our stuff is not that straight ahead, easy, 4\/4, and sometimes I wouldn\u2019t even come in for minutes singing. There really wasn\u2019t any kind of script for us. Obviously, that record was decent, it was great. It was an awesome, awesome record, a lot of good pieces on there, and just the elevation or evolving and the way we were. That\u2019s the cool thing about us, you\u2019re always gonna get something a little different, but we didn\u2019t really kinda go off of and then a lot of to la-la land and lose everybody. That\u2019s just my take on it. I felt pretty comfortable, I think we were just starting to get a groove at that point, even though we had great records beforehand, but you really start to feel good about what you\u2019re writing now\u2026There\u2019s a conglomerate of style from starting to that point, all that mixed in. It takes time to really develop and God, you can write 30-40 songs and find you only really had a great six to 10, and some find their way into people\u2019s like and playlists at times. We can never predict. I think when I do a record myself and I start singing, I have a pretty good idea what songs are gonna be really strong. As soon as I start singing, I\u2019m thinking, \u201cI got something here. This is a good key. This has got a great setup for me to sing, there\u2019s a little bit of room or there\u2019s room for a lot for melodic pieces to fit in\u201d because I love layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On if Anthrax is working on new material \u2013 The last two records, I\u2019m proud of those two myself, there\u2019s a lot of work involved. At the same time was a real natural transition to get right back in, it was like I never left. If anything was better. There were a lot of things happening as I did them and the quick process with good ideas right away and continue on to something new for sure. There are ideas there, it\u2019s just a matter of time and the process of actually pulling those days when you finalize these pieces and you go, \u201cYou know what, I\u2019m good with this\u201d, you get that green light and go, We\u2019re done with this\u201d. Once you get whatever, 6 to 10 or 12 songs and you go, \u201cAlright, let\u2019s go in and start tracking\u201d, so you gotta get to that point so that there\u2019s a little bit of time involved to get to that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On how the creative process works in Anthrax \u2013 There are definitely people bringing ideas together for sure, and then there\u2019s also just a matter of getting together in a room. There\u2019s that vibe when you turn it up and you play along with each other. There\u2019s something about sending ideas, but when you do get in a room, things start to happen, a lot of ideas start to come about for me when I\u2019m in a room, I\u2019ll come up with stuff immediately and have ideas, and even if they send me stuff, I still have ideas all throughout it. I never stick to them until I go into the studio, because once they go in the studio, I have all kinds of ideas, and there\u2019s a lot of room for me to just take on all these ideas and then start feeling really good about it because you start to get the groove. A lot of times I don\u2019t even really go in and do any pre-production, I\u2019ll come later and it\u2019s just been working great like that, even though I\u2019m sure I could have more ideas along the way, but as far as in the studio, it\u2019s fun there. Although things are kind of buttoned-up in some way, so you have to work around that. It\u2019s like you got a certain pave of the road, you gotta stay within those lines sort of. So that\u2019s some of the drawbacks. I can\u2019t say that they\u2019re a full drawback, but those things tend to limit you in little ways, whether it be the key or the words or whatever that may be, but I make it work. Give me anything, I find a way to sing something on every record, and to me, that\u2019s the magic of what I feel, what I do to the band because you can\u2019t really teach that, you can\u2019t show someone that you have to achieve it. You have to be able to do and feel good about it, so that\u2019s the fun part of it for me. I\u2019ll take anything on. I may say, \u201cJeez, we only could have or we should have\u201d, that kind of stuff all day, but I\u2019ll hem and haw a little bit, it\u2019s just difficult, you have to squeeze it all in with the speed a lot of times\u2026It\u2019s a frenzy of a pattern for me. I love just (when) the whole day is just jamming and then sing it over something like, \u201cMan, I think I got something right now\u201d, and then you sit with it for like 8, 10, however many days and you go, \u201cYou know what, I don\u2019t know, I think I got something here that sounds good enough to me, I\u2019m good\u201d. Because you can just nickel and dime something all day long. Sometimes you just never know and what you thought was good maybe isn\u2019t as good for someone else or what you didn\u2019t like is awesome to someone else. So that\u2019s really, really a crapshoot sometimes too, but I think we have a good feeling of what we like, so least by the time we\u2019re done, we have a good idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Anthrax\u2019s place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame \u2013 I\u2019ve never had a discussion with anybody, I don\u2019t think anybody\u2019s been. Maybe on their own time, they may have talked to someone or they had a discussion, I\u2019ve never had any. Once in a while, I might have said it, somebody, \u201cYou wonder if by the time your time is up are you gonna get it?\u201d At the same time, what is the Hall of Fame now? Sometimes, I don\u2019t know, when they pick stuff, sometimes you got the Four Tops in there or an R&B band, there are all kinds of different genres. It\u2019s like, \u201cWho\u2019s next?\u201d There\u2019s a lot of bands that we both can name who should be in but are not, and we\u2019re not. Who is more worthy of it? That kind of stuff. I hate even thinking about that stuff, I mean, how Rush just got in there not too long ago. I wouldn\u2019t wanna put myself in that position to compare anything. I don\u2019t know how they pick, I\u2019d love to sit around and listen to the round table, how they figure out who could be and what time is their time or whatever. We\u2019ve done some cool stuff, if we were to get in by any chance, I think there\u2019s a nice story there. There\u2019s some cool stuff there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On if he\u2019s heard from former guitarist Dan Spitz \u2013 I have way back before I got back in the band, we talked. At that point, he just kind of vanished. I know he was working through the watch company. He\u2019s quite skillful at actually making a watch, like building an actual watch. I give him all the credit for the time and effort to go through school like that. But musically? Nothing, I don\u2019t know, I have no idea. Of course, Anthrax has had great guitar players along the way that just came in. John Donais is awesome, Rob Caggiano, no shortage of guitarists that have come in. But me and Dan and the band, we had a great, great run together, that\u2019s for sure, and I\u2019m glad that we have a pretty good full core of the same lineup. Which I think is neat, when we go out nowadays, people get to see the band, so many younger people come out and they go, \u201cWow, this is the band, and they\u2019re smoking, they\u2019re not just kinda mailing it in and limping through the set\u201d, We haul ass through that whole set, every time. 20:10<\/p>\n\n\n\n On upcoming Anthrax plans \u2013 Next week we go to Fresno to a state fair, headline, and then we have Sacramento of the night after, which is Louder Than Life, which is up in the hills somewhere. I know the location, it\u2019s with Metallica and plenty of others you can easily see online what I actually haven\u2019t even looked at the lineup. I kind of like looking at it later and go, \u201cOh wow, Devo\u2019s there\u201d. In Chicago, we did Riot Fest and Devo was on, was kinda need to see that. That bumper to bumper with Body Count before us, so you never know with that, and then we got Daytona again, actually, that week also after Sacramento, we\u2019re doing some signing and we\u2019re gonna be at ComicCon Saturday in New York City, which is new for us the first time I\u2019d ever done anything like that. We got the comic book out or comic out, that\u2019ll be cool. Then Daytona in November, from then on I don\u2019t know until next year, we have something October, like a Europe and run and stuff, but that\u2019s the next year of October, so we\u2019ll talk about that some other time. Mostly recording, and then some shows, it\u2019s not like we can\u2019t get up and don\u2019t go do some shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Known as one of The Big 4, Anthrax was a band that helped launch the thrash metal genre of the 1980s. Vocalist Joey Belladonna was there for the classic recordings and rejoined the band a decade ago creating modern Anthrax classics. 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