A Conversation with Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna – HuffPost 9.10.10
Mike Ragogna: Joey, you were the lead singer of Anthrax from ’84 to ’92, right?
Joey Belladonna: ’85 to ’92, somewhere around there.
MR: And you’ve reunited with Anthrax. How does it feel to back?
JB: It’s always a good thing because we really gel as a band quite well, and there’s a reason why this thing developed the way it did. Many years have gone by that we could have actually made this more promising and long lasting as it was, but it’s never too late. So, I feel that the band is strong together, and we really mesh well.
MR: Basically, you guys have the classic lineup?
JB: Yeah, except for Danny Spitz everybody is still there.
MR: Are you on tour?
JB: Not yet, actually, we haven’t left yet.
MR: When does your tour start?
JB: We’ll be in Oklahoma on the 23rd of September. Then, we’ll roll to Hollywood for the last show on October 21st.
MR: Are you guys planning on any kind of a live or studio record to document your return?
JB: Yeah, well, there’s a studio record that’s in process right now. We’ve got, probably, six or seven songs or better. I’ve sung on one, so far, and things sound pretty good. So, it’s back to business.
MR: I used to work at Universal for a while, and I had the honor of producing one of your compilations. Now, remember when we were having all those, well excuse the expression, “anthrax” scares with the mail?
JB: Yeah,
MR: Well, this was a time when the security inside our building was out of their minds — you know, they thought the Taliban was going to come invade the Universal building any moment. So, I had a couple of boxes of your collection that were on their way to the vault sitting right outside my office, and of course, I wrote “Anthrax” on them in big letters. People passed by and regularly did double takes because they didn’t know exactly what to think. It always took a few clicks before they realized what was in those boxes, and it gave the office a good laugh for a few weeks.
JB: (laughs) I didn’t know how that was going to work out because sometimes, that can turn for the worse on you, you know?
MR: Yeah, you guys must have been wondering what the fallout would be, so to speak. Getting back to your music, one of my favorite Anthrax tracks was your version of Joe Jackson’s “Got The Time.”
JB: Okay, great. That’s a good song.
MR: Well, to cover a Joe Jackson song is kind of an unheard of thing.
JB: Yeah, even so, it’s nice that we could turn it into something that fit our catalog, you know?
MR: Yup. Now, you’ve had some solo records — Belladonna, Spells Of Fear, ’03…
JB: Everything I have now is on iTunes. I’ve got everything up on the Internet, so you can proceed to find it. I’m also working on a brand new one right now, it’s about three quarters of the way done. It’s definitely one of the better ones I’ve come up with so far. I think it’s going to be neat; it’s pretty heavy, and it should be interesting.
MR: You also released Artifacts which is the demos of Belladonna?
JB: Yeah, there’s Artifacts 1 and 2, then there’s Deadly Night Shade, which is a studio record that was never released.
MR: When you look back at the Anthrax years, your classic lineup, can see a progression from then to now?
JB: Well, everybody has gotten a lot wiser, and quite efficient musician-wise. We’ve just gotten better, as far as the longevity to stand any kind of touring, and everything that goes with it has all gotten better on my end, anyhow.
MR: A lot of singers take voice lessons to keep their chops up. Do you have any kind of workout regimen for your voice?
JB: Yeah, I play out every weekend with my cover band and do four hours a night. I do an old classic rock show, playing drums and singing for this cover band. We played five times last week, and we’re playing two or three times this week. I’m always doing something, you know? I’m always keeping busy as far as singing. That’s what I like to do. I don’t think there’s anything different about it, it’s just an exercise, I guess.
MR: Are they any new acts that are knocking you out?
JB: I mean, I’m a fan of a lot of things in different styles of music, I don’t even want to start naming stuff because people will be like, “Really? Are you kidding me?” I just like a lot of different kinds of music. There’s a lot of stuff, whether it be blues, hard rock, metal, thrash, progressive rock, progressive classic stuff, or even just fusion stuff. I just like a lot of music. I’m not one sided to anything when it comes to music.
MR: When one looks at the music scene right now, obviously, one sees all sorts of Internet marketing approaches and tools that one absolutely must use to promote oneself, Anthrax too, I imagine.
JB: Well, I think everybody is exhausting any kind of avenues there are to drop an opinion or to drop an insight to what we’re doing, as far as all our movements. I personally don’t do a lot of it myself, but I have some other people that will do some of that, that know better than I do and can handle it properly.
MR: Do you have a website presence?
MR: Right. So, is your website offering this, that, and the other, beyond news updates?
JB: Like I said, I’m not too big on doing everything. I’m not too good at it, so, I don’t get to thorough. I just do the basic stuff, I’m not Tweeting or telling everybody where I’m at all times. I don’t get into all that stuff, but I’m sure other people do, documenting their whole day.
MR: Do you think things like Tweeting is turning us into a culture of voyeurs?
JB: I think anybody that wants to do all that kind of stuff and it works for them, that’s cool. I don’t have enough time to get my day going. Have you ever started an email and gone, “Man, I don’t want to be doing this right now, I’ve got something to do.” So, for me, I’d just rather call you and we could take care of all this in two minutes. I don’t have time for too much of that stuff, it’s just too taxing for me.
MR: And if you do one, you need ’em all — Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube…
JB: … I know. I’ve got some buddies that are at Majorgeeks.com, and they handle a lot of stuff with me. They handle a lot of things that I don’t know about that I should do or could do, and if they have time, they’ll help me out on that stuff. Even with the cover band — it’s called Chief Bigway — I try to keep the Internet open to people so they know where we’re at and what we do. Of course, YouTube is so big now that I don’t go a gig without somebody putting up what we did the night before.
MR: Most bands are either blessed or suffering from that right now because there’s a lot of stuff going up that maybe the band doesn’t want posted.
JB: It’s too bad now, you can’t get around it. You can’t say, “No, no, no, you can’t do that.” They’ll say “Oh, yes I can.”
MR: Yeah, we’re now a YouTube culture. Twitter is so yesterday.
JB: People can just stand at the bar, and you think they’re taking a picture of you, but no, they’re already filming the song, which I think is good. I’m over it. You do whatever you’ve got to do because I’m doing my best right now, and whatever you get, if it sounds like (roars into phone), you know, sometimes, it just doesn’t sound very good on a phone. It’s just part of what’s going on now, and I think it’s kind of cool.
MR: Yeah, it’s a lot of fun if nothing else. And that brings us to TMZ, which is always fun to watch since you get to see what happens to the other guy. But if it happens to you…
JB: Yeah, of course, it’s like, “Dude, did you see him fall in the airport?” It’s tough, there’s too much information, but unfortunately you can’t get around it now, it’s way beyond not wanting it.
MR: I know, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
JB: No, not at all, at this point.
MR: So, what are your personal plans for the future? A little vacation maybe?
JB: I never vacation… I don’t recall any vacations, you know? I just don’t do it, I’m always sitting around doing stuff like chores, or I’ll go to a concert. I just do certain things, whether it be lounging or taking care of business around here, there are always things I need to do. I wish I had a little bit more of plan to do things, but unfortunately I don’t.
MR: Remember your role in Pledge Night?
JB: Yeah, it was a moment in time when somebody asked me to do something I thought was kind of cool. After seeing it back I’m like, “Holy cow, was that bad.” It was just something I felt like, at the time, was awesome. Who knew? Does anybody know when they’re getting into something like that?
MR: Still, it’s Pledge Night, a classic.
JB: I know, and I did the Spooky Fest last year in Orlando, and I never thought of incorporating that film at the festival. There are a lot of people that go to those things, and — bad or good — it is horror. So, it’s got some creepiness to it. It’s kind of neat, but it is bad at the same time.
MR: What is your advice for new artists?
JB: Well, I’d always say you just have to decide if you really want to do this for the right reasons. You get what you can out of it, the way you want to put the time in. If I did this on a part time thing, I never would have gotten very far that way. If I would have listened to my father at one time who said, “You’re playing in the same places, what are you going to do? You’ve got to get something going on,” it’s like, “Well, no. This is what I want to do, and I’m going to keep doing it, trust me.” Of course, it comes around and they say, “Oh yeah, I see what you wanted to do.” I still think you have to stay focused on it. Again, there are a lot of guys I play with that it’s a hobby for. “Oh, I’ve got to play five nights a week? Well, that’s a little too much, man. I’m working, I’ve got this going, I’ve got to take the kids here… ” Well, maybe you’re not the guy. Certain people have certain time frames to take care of business. That’s not to say you can’t be successful doing it part time, but I just think you have to put your priorities on notice to put it together and make it right. That’s just the way I look at it.
Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney