In every band’s career they have that one show that stands out from the rest. Whether it is their breakthrough or their crowning glory, there is always one that stands the test of time. Be it Shea Stadium, Budokan, Madison Square Garden, or Red Rocks, some performances transcend the realms of the live concert experience. For Anthrax, their show at a sold out Metro in Chicago on December 5, 2003 will forever stand as the show to define the band’s legendary career. And it was captured on film!
One band, eight cameras, and thousands of crazed fans all came together for what will prove to be one of the most lethal live albums and DVDs of all time. Ninety minutes of pure destruction covering the entire career of this influential band. From their raw debut Fistful Of Metal through their critically acclaimed latest We’ve Come For You All its all here. Songs like Metal Thrashing Mad, Caught In A Mosh, Be All End All, Only, and Safe Home, and a slew of others were performed with all the power and passion that Anthrax has been known for throughout their 20 year career.
According to Charlie Benante, In the entire history of the band, this show was the one. From the moment we went on until the very last note we played it was on. The drummer continues, I’m really glad we documented this show, so everyone can see what I mean, it was so Metal.
Going by the title MUSIC OF MASS DESTRUCTION, this DVD will feature a vast array of bonus materials including separate band segments, a featurette on famed comic book artist/painter/creator Alex Ross (Who, in addition to his amazing cover for last years WE VE COME FOR YOU ALL, will be providing the art work for this release), 5.1 Surround Sound, two songs filmed in Hyper Angle, as well as a bunch of hidden extras.
This widescreen DVD package will also come with an audio CD that will include highlights from the show.
The DVD tracklisting contains:
Contact
What Doesn’t Die
Got The Time
Caught In A Mosh
Safe Home
Room For One More
Antisocial
Nobody Knows Anything
Belly Of The Beast
Inside Out
Refuse To Be Denied
I Am The Law
Only
Be All End All
Indians
Bring The Noise
Bonus Tracks:
Fueled
Metal Thrashing Mad
The CD counterpart contains:
What Doesn’t Die
Got The Time
Caught In A Mosh
Safe Home
Antisocial
Nobody Knows Anything
Belly of the Beast
Inside Out
Refuse To Be Denied
I Am The Law
Only
Fueled
Metal Thrashing Mad
Look for MUSIC OF MASS DESTRUCTION to be unleashed in the U. S. on April 6 through Sanctuary Records.
In other Anthrax news, the band recently completed work on their upcoming CD Metallum Maximus Aeturnus, a project in which the band re-recorded classic ANTHRAX songs originally recorded by previous line-ups of the band (circa 1984-1990) live in the studio as part of their 20th Anniversary Celebration. The songs recorded were chosen by the fans who voted online at www.anthrax.com. The recording session culminated in a very special show at Avatar Studios in NYC. One hundred lucky fans were selected from thousands of entries to this invitation only show in which the band performed many songs live that they haven’t played in nearly 20 years.
Anthrax also spent a few days in LA to film the video for What Doesn’t Die the punishing opening track off of their latest album We’ve Come For You All.
As reported earlier, the video was written and conceived by comic/writer Brian Posehn, know best for his work on Mr. Show, Just Shoot Me and his own stand up routine and directed by Michael Sarna, who has previously worked on videos for 50 Cent, Smashmouth, and Counting Crows.
A management spokesperson describes the concept of the video as the most kick-ass, zombie-filled video of all time.
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Metal legends Anthrax will attend a very special screening of their long awaited DVD MUSIC OF MASS DESTRUCTION on April 7 in Los Angeles. Filmed in December 2003 at the Metro in Chicago, MUSIC OF MASS DESTRUCTION captures Anthrax in an unforgettable performance that drummer Charlie Benante describes as one of the highlights of our career. The DVD captures the band performing to an ecstatic crowd of Anthrax faithful performing all of their classics including Caught in A Mosh, Only, Antisocial and many more! The DVD will come with a companion live CD and will be released on April 20 through Sanctuary Records.
Here are the details for the event:
Wednesday, April 7
7:30 p.m.
Laemmle Sunset Theatre
8000 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood
Fans can go to www.anthrax.com to RSVP and there will be a limited number of seats available day of show. The seating is limited so fans are encouraged to get there early. The band will also appear live that evening on KDLD 103.1 at 11pm.
As previously announced, Anthrax perform a very special show at the legendary Whiskey club on Sunset Strip on April 8 that will serve as a warm-up show for the band’s upcoming tour of Australia and Japan.
The much talked about video for What Doesn’t Die has been completed and will begin airing on Headbanger’s Ball and FUSE in April.
I am looking forward to this DVD. I was a late bloomer when it came to being an Anthrax fan. I liked a handful of songs and then last year I got the promo of We’ve Come For You All … and was blown away by it! Then I back tracked and listened to my brothers CDs and got hooked even more! I wish Anthrax and bands such as them could get on Ozzfest. That would be a better line up then some of the bands they usually have. To have Ozzy, Slayer, Black Label Society, Judas Priest, Anthrax… right there that is a metal thrashers dream! Hell even get Neil Turbin in there (original Anthrax singer)… Alot of these bands they get on Ozzfest just dont cut it for me. Thats why I have yet yo go to one… – said theloudestrock on Mar 03, 2004
looking forward to this. im counting the days! 😈 – said PAUZED on Mar 03, 2004
The cover art for Anthrax’s new DVD Music Of Mass Destruction, has been posted. The DVD will be released in the US through Sanctuary on April 20th. The artist is Alex Ross of comic book fame.. http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=3436 – said theloudestrock on Mar 03, 2004
[img:4b07e83402]http://images.comicbookresources.com/previews/covers/anthraxdvd_sm.jpg[/img:4b07e83402] – said PAUZED on Mar 03, 2004
I am really looking forward to the release of this. I am a huge fan and feel Anthrax are one of the most underrated bands out there. Their new disc is one of my top ten these days. – said Mister B on Mar 03, 2004
Yeah, Anthrax has always been overlooked for some odd reason. That last release was thier strongest effort to date. I am so getting this when it’s out… . – said Thomas Vrazel on Mar 03, 2004
[img:e676f845fb]http://anthrax.com/images/ant_logo.gif[/img:e676f845fb][b:e676f845fb] RULEZ[/b:e676f845fb] – said PAUZED on Mar 03, 2004
Yeah, Anthrax has always been overlooked for some odd reason. That last release was thier strongest effort to date. I am so getting this when it’s out… . The problem is they got lumped in with the eighties metal scene. But their stuff is as fresh as any of the bands out there. You’re right: it’s their best album ever! – said Mister B on Mar 03, 2004
Interview: John Bush of Anthrax http://www.tinfoil.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=876&mode=&order=0&thold=0 – said PAUZED on Apr 04, 2004
sweet! – said Mister B on Apr 04, 2004
april 20th the dvd come out! – said PAUZED on Apr 04, 2004
check out some ANTHRAX videos, http://launch.yahoo.com/artist/default.asp?artistID=1001077 – said PAUZED on Apr 04, 2004
JOEY BELLADONNA: Why I Bowed Out Of ANTHRAX’s 2000 Tour: Jeff Easton Interviewing Joey Belladonna Jeff: When did you start singing and who were your influences? Joey: For me, god, I started with the Beatles when I was a young kid. I mean I had all the records and then you start hearing Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest. I liked all kinds of music. There is so much to learn from, any kind of blues-rock like a Whitesnake, Scorpions type meal. I go from Foreigner to Sade in a minute. There’s just so much I like music-wise. Jeff: That Sade album, Lover’s Rock, it is great. Joey: Just listening to things that are different just gives me thoughts and inspiration. There is real style that I like though; I like vocalists with a melodic feel with some range. Not to mention all the metal stuff and there’s good pop stuff that I like. I just love listening to good music. Jeff: That’s cool. Who were your pre-Anthrax bands and was there anything released from those bands? Joey: Nothing, mainly cover stuff. God, one of my first bands we ever had was doing music from the Tubes, Hendrix, Van Halen – we did garage type of music. Nothing was released, just covers. I was in a band just before I joined Anthrax, called Bible Black, which included the first members of Elf who later became Rainbow. When I joined that band was all originals but we never really recorded anything enough in order to wind up with any kind of record. Nobody was in the mood to do anything in a fast pace so I actually went back and did some covers and again there were no originals. So Anthrax was really the original thing that I ever did and it was good because it was so fresh just coming into a band and having my on style to fit that. Most of the bands out were not having the vocal over the fast stuff. So what’s that say you know?! [b]Jeff: That’s my next question. Considering you have such a melodic voice and you do, why did you consider joining a band like Anthrax? Joey: They called out of the blue and I couldn’t pass it up. Being in covers from 1980 to 1983, a good 3-year period of doing a decent amount of good cover bands 3, 4 nights a week kind of thing meant it was a great chance to sing originals. They called me out of the blue and it was just time to check it out. They offered to fly me up from Placer, New York to Ithaca, New York, which are two small little areas and fortunately Ithaca is closer to my own original home. I went up there and I thought they were really great players, they looked really business minded and they also seemed to have everything together. I enjoyed the heaviness of everything and I hoped that I was going to fit in. It just worked out great, the timing was good, they were looking, and I didn’t have to send any tapes or anything like that. The producer, who in turn was friends with the Bible Black band, recommended it. So all that stuff worked out hand in hand and then I just went in and did a little bit and they liked what I souded like and I said why not. I was a little unsure if I should join because I didn’t know what it was supposed to be for me to be in that band. It’s just one of those heart felt things and I said, Why not?! and that worked out for the best. Jeff: I read somewhere and I don’t know if it’s true or not but did you try out for Anthrax with a Journey song? Joey: Yes, I did a couple actually. I did Lights and Sherry , if you believe that. I don’t know why I did those but in the cover band that I was in I had sung those and I had never heard any Anthrax songs before I walked into that room. I don’t quite remember the events but I know they needed me to check the mike and to see what I sounded like a little bit. They were curious and I wanted to sing something a little bit more up-tempo and something a little more voice oriented. I figured since I didn’t really know anything of theirs, I would sing an acapella of 4 or 5 bars of a song. The manager loved it because they had had a lot of metal singers come in or so they say. So when I walked in, it kind of threw them a curve ball. They thought, Hey, this guy can actually sing. Jeff: Well if you can pull off Steve Perry, of course you can sing. Joey: And actually being friends with the guys in Journey it is an amazing thing to sing their songs since I have known them for a while. They are great musicians; no matter if you don’t like the music they are just really well rounded players. They mean business when they do it. Jeff: I have the new Journey EP. Joey: Yeah, they did that at Jonathan’s house. In fact, they sent me 2 songs before it came out and it’s cool, sort of old Montrose meets old Journey meets the new. Jeff: I know the last Journey album was really formulaic and they said they wanted to do something different and that EP was supposed to be a test of what they could do. Joey: I like it. I wish Steve was still in the band. It is like with the Anthrax thing, I think if anybody does want to hear the old shit they were hoping it was with the original line up. That’s when the chemistry starts to mold and that is where they are not going to hear it. Maybe it’s not the same band but we are doing it pretty damn close. Jeff: You are the singer. Joey: Yeah, that helps I guess, for the most part. Unless people are into the John thing you know. To me I don’t like to compete because we have 2 different styles. Unfortunately, you have to be rated, per person, per style, and whose performance is better. This is different. Jeff: It is. It is totally different from the CD you were on to the first that he was on. It is a different band. Joey: Plus, they get to ride the name, where I am out on my own. I really have to do everything from the bottom, I really do. A lot of people don’t even connect the names. They are like, Is that the guy? Okay. What is that? I don’t know if anybody really knows but with the name Anthrax the buzz is still flowing, even if it is a smaller buzz than it used to be. So it is a lot easier. Jeff: They have a smaller budget than they used to have. Why was the first release that you were on, Armed and Dangerous, an EP instead of a full length with a new singer? Joey: Honestly, when I walked in there they had that done. They had Spreading the Disease done and I walked in and just bolted through all of it. Maybe because with a new singer they wanted to re-release some old stuff. All I know is they had both of those laid out and ready to be sung on. Again I think that they wanted to give some new vocals on the old songs and get a chance to re-record a little bit of it. From that point after we did Raise Hell , God Save the Queen and others. Armed and Dangerous was new too, which was cool. That is what I am thinking about doing: an EP. I think it is cool because sometimes it is just really hard to find 10 songs that you feel completely well rounded and equally comfortable. You don’t have to really press yourself to find and finish 11 or 13 songs. You can do songs a little more frequently and not be pressured to finish something quicker than you would like. I don’t take long to finish stuff, and I don’t put out stuff because the labels don’t really take a hold of it and if I did get on a label they don’t want to stick around or then they go bankrupt. Plus, you have to hope that they have a decent enough studio. Hopefully it is at least decent enough sounding where you can feel comfortable with it and then they can put out records more frequently. I figure, hell if Journey can put out an EP, then I don’t know why I can’t. They could easily put out a full-length album. I think that they have about 15 to 20 songs. Anthrax, we always had about 10 to 11 to songs and we never had anymore. I like a little bit more to choose from. Again for the question I just walked in and they had it ready to go, it was a treat to have both at the same time and be ready to do them. Jeff: On the first few records you were a part of, how much input did you have in the recording process, like writing and how it was going to sound? Joey: Well, really when I walked in they had everything ready to roll. I mean I had to come in and hear the way the structure of the song was and get the lyric context and then get the flow of what they wanted to be done.Then pretty much from there on I went in and it was almost as if somebody built the house and they said what we want in here is white paint and whatever else you can do to make it look good. Just do your best and unfortunately I don’t know if they really cared in the long run as time went on if my style was what they were really looking for, if you can believe that or not. I’m not too sure. Or if they thought I was even into it. I really think that they thought maybe by liking other music like pop, rock, whatever the hell it may be that I was not into it. I don’t know how after 8 years that I didn’t convince them enough. Again it was their band and I didn’t really have a whole lot of say. Like in the start of a song, let’s do this and if you guys stop here let me sing on that and then you guys come in after – there was not a lot of that stuff. Which was cool for them because they had a system and I didn’t want to mess with that. Part f me thought it was good the way it was. It was different versus everyone putting their input in and having a couple good ideas and a couple bad ideas just to be able to get them in because anyone made a suggestion. Jeff: On the first 2 CDs you were involved with, it seems like Anthrax had a power metal leaning and it was evident in the writing. Why did you guys not pursue that any further and for to a more thrash feel? Joey: God, Armed and Dangerous, I don’t know if it really was some of their favorite types of music to do at the time or maybe it was. After a time they just pushed it aside. I have found that on this tour people are really digging Armed and Dangerous. I mean when we break that people tell me that they cannot believe that I am performing it because it is so rare. I love that, I love dynamics like that and that is why it was one of the first songs I have sung. That was almost a one-taker when recording that thing and I love that stuff and it was right up my alley when I first did it. It’s wide open, melodic, not too fast and there is space. So that really made a lot of sense at the time. I don’t know why they just wanted to bash their heads, which was cool too. Again, not many people thought the way they did, so that was cool but it also limited me vocally. Sometimes with that kind of fast music with a lot of movements in the chorus, you can’t find the key so you are always jumping around. So it is really hard but I still found away to do it. Jeff: Jumping ahead a little bit, on I’m the Man you guys did some rap stuff, so you think that hurt or helped Anthrax in the long run? Joey: Again, something like that I didn’t have much say in. There were times I’d walk in and I would say what are we doing here, what is this and where do I come in. Am I on this? I thought I’d walked into the wrong room one day when they were doing that song. At the same time I was like this is pretty cool because I’m a kind of funny guy myself but I don’t know much about that kind of music. Whether it hurt anybody I mean I’m sure there were some people that could go without it. I had somebody say that to me last night. But you know we only get a fixed amount of people that say they liked everything but that music. Look at the Public Enemy tour, how many people didn’t show up for that, even though a lot of people did. But how many people didn’t because they didn’t want to see this versus that? Jeff: I remember when that came out; people were like what, what’s this? Joey: It was a bold move. I mean I have to give them credit for even going into that and knowing how to achieve that. For me I wouldn’t have even stepped foot into that because I wouldn’t want to make a mess of it and do something stupid. Like doing death metal, when I don’t know how to do it. I think when I do my stuff I like to do whatever feels right and not try to chase anyone’s style or try to be like someone else. It is much more important to be natural and get out and be yourself. Jeff: I totally understand. Up until that Anthrax was this powerful band and next thing you know Anthrax released I’m the Man , which was a cool song but it wasn’t Anthrax. Joey: It was just something that gave us a little bit of depth and another way of doing some fun stuff and letting loose in a different way. It was a risk I’m sure. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the success of it all but I don’t know much about it to even say that I could’ve done anything like that myself. I don’t think I could’ve to be honest, I just don’t know the ropes on that. Jeff: State of Euphoria was a really good CD, why did you guys go for the jams and that whole image? Looking back on the CD do you feel it was a great effort or was it rushed? Joey: That was a rough album for me to do. There were not a lot of great moments to actually sing on that. There were interesting cuts in there that were really not set up vocally to make a really great attempt at a song. To put that in a short way it was just harder and who knows if I might have even been blamed for that or something. Maybe it was rushed. When they put the stuff together I don’t know if they were certain that they were happy with what they were doing. I love Anti-Social ; obviously that is a Trust song. It happened to be an unfamiliar song in the U.S., so it is cool. The same with Got the Time , god we brought that to like. If you have ever heard the original and the difference to the Joe Jackson song. When they gave me that I was like what are we doing with that. But we turned that into a song that was so good that we put it on the B-side and ended up putting in on the record because it was good enough. As far as the jams, we were wearing shorts so fucking long. I actually wear shorts now, because it’s so hot and I feel comfortable wearing them. Nowadays, it is hard to try to dress up too much and I don’t want to overdo myself and it’s easy laundry right now. And it’s hot! It was so hot back then, that is why we wore the jams. Then you get a glimpse of another pair of shorts and you think, These would be cool, I could wear these since I wear shorts. And the next thing you know you have a company giving you a few things and they are a cool design. Next thing you know everybody is wearing jams and I’m sure that we got a bit of shit for that. But it wasn’t like we were trying to be clowns up there. Everybody ended up wearing stuff and I guess it got a little gaudy when you see 9 different patterns from 5 guys. I still own the stuff and I even have a couple of pair with me. As long as I’m comfortable, that is the main thing. It was really comfortable actually wearing that versus a pair of tight jeans or something when it was hot. I wear black too. Jeff: How did Japan and Europe get the Nice Fuckin EP and America did not? Joey: That’s a good question. Stuff like that makes me wonder how my first solo record got over to Japan without me even knowing. Jeff: It did? Joey: My second one too. I don’t know. People have a way of sneaking shit around. As for Anthrax I don’t know why. I’m not sure. You would think that it would circulate everywhere. Maybe it was a marketing tool, doing it that way. I have no idea why those things happen. I would have thought things like that would be worldwide. Jeff: I know the tracks ended up on Attack of the Killer B’s. Especially Parasite , that’s my favorite cover that Anthrax did. Joey: Yeah, that’s a cool tune. I thought about breaking that out but I didn’t want to do too many covers. I figured since I was playing Anthrax and my songs that I’d try to stay away from too many covers. We even had a version of Jailbreak too. Jeff: You do? Joey: Yes, it was pretty cool. I love it. I would have like to have released that because I think we did a pretty good job on it – it sounded pretty heavy. It’s not too fast. On Parasite, we slammed and that song was fast. Ever hear the original version of that it’s like whoa! Gene came down when we finished that and I was like whoa and everyone was taken back by it. Jeff: I think I remember reading about that in Metal Edge. Persistence of Time was an excellent CD and very well played and the material was above par. What do you think of the CD now and why did you guys do a cover of Joe Jackson’s Got the Time ? Joey: I don’t know where that came from. Charlie probably found that song out of nowhere and just said let’s do it and they handed it to me. I loved that album and we actually had some pre-production on that. We would make sure all parts connected and the vocals would be in the key that I wanted to sing them in. So we did spend time with that, so that was cool. Of course we had the fire there, which really didn’t stop us too much. But I do like that record, that’s a good record. There was enough time spent with that. It might be a little darker than some of the other albums, but I love it. There is some good stuff on there. Jeff: Anthrax did a major tour for the CD, Clash of the Titans, with Slayer, Megadeth, and Alice in Chains opening. How did that come together and what are some of your best memories from that tour? Joey: To be on a bill like that, hell, I was stoked. Just to see a package like that come together is I think awesome. Right now that would be awesome, with all the line ups and everyone back together and to do it again would just be as cool. Alice in Chains was definitely a sleeper on that tour because I didn’t know who they were and I’m sure a lot of people didn’t either. Jeff: Man in the Box was breaking out around that time. Joey: Before we started that tour? Jeff: Yeah, by the time your guys came to Atlanta, where I saw the tour, everyone was sitting down during their set, but when Man in the Box came on everyone stood up and freaked out. When they moved on to the next song everyone sat back down. Joey: There’s just no call for that. It was pretty brave of them to do that tour. Plus, it was really dangerous at that time because the music industry was trying to take a swing at things. It was hard for me, coming out of Anthrax and being all by myself and watching all the new music… everything… wow. It was tough just finding my way back and all alone. But that tour was cool, there were plenty of great moments out there. There were things that I cannot get into and things that I can. Paint ball moments, blowing out signs, glass, and a lot of stupid little moments. But all that stuff was fun and it was really great. That was such a good package. Jeff: From a fans point of view, that’s probably one of the top 5 tours I’ve ever seen. I was so blown away by it. Joey: I can still think of some cool ones too. Even if it wasn’t as large, with bands like Anthrax, Overkill, Testament, and Exodus. In fact Chuck Billy came down and saw us down on Bourbon Street and they got up during Anti-Social and I went over to Chuck’s for a BBQ the next day. For me that’s the highlight, to go down and hang out and just sit down and talk and have coffee and eat food. Yeah, it was great and nice of Chuck to invite us over. Jeff: How did Attack of the Killer B’s come together and whose idea was it to do it? Joey: That’s another thing, excuse me for not knowing a lot of stuff but I didn’t have much say in things. If those guys sat around a round table and said we’re doing this, this, and that; I would just hear it in passing. Like come on in at such and such time and we’re going to be cutting this, this, and this song and this is what it is going to be. Even covers and track listings and all that stuff. Sometimes it was out of reach until things started getting closer. I think collectively you just find yourself needing something to put out and you find a couple of cool tracks and you start mixing things together and all of a sudden you have Attack of the Killer B’s. It’s like the A’s, where did the A’s come from. Honestly, that record was cool and I like the way they split them up. I would have loved to have done a song with them, a brand new song, with just me singing on it. I think that would have been cool. It was cool to do one with John Bush, but I think personally it would have been great to do a brand new song together. Like something we used to do in the old days and just slammed out a new song out of the blue. Like David Lee Roth did on the Van Halen greatest hits, he did 2 songs and that was cool hearing 2 new things with him singing. Jeff: Me Wise Magic and Can’t Get the Stuff No More . Joey: Yeah, yeah awesome. I want more from that but who knows if it ever will. But that’s cool; I like to hear that kind of thing. With John and I trading you hear a lot if trade offs, but you don’t really get into the one guy enough. There’s a barrage of shit happening. Jeff: I understand. After several CDs, you were given the pink slip. Why do you think you were let go after all those gold records and major tours? Was the Electra contract signed before or after you left? Joey: I was under the impression that I was on that contract and it’s a mystery from here on in. I don’t know. Obviously we know they are not there anymore so that remains to be a mystery but I don’t know much more about it. They wanted to part ways. They called me and said they wanted to part ways and for me I think it was… This is my opinion; I believe that they wanted to get another style, something a little more like John. A little bit heavier or whatever you want to call it if you want to classify is as heavier growlier gruntier, more able to fit the style of the new music of the time. Jeff: Grunge type of stuff? Joey: Yes. A lot of people actually think I left, but I didn’t. I did not leave the band. I would still be there! There would be no problems with me because I don’t like change as far as at least if something is going well and people are digging it, I don’t need to quit. Jeff: At the time, State of Euphoria sold well and Got the Time was doing well. Joey: Oh things were going well and as good as they were going or better than they are doing now. Especially as they have had many opportunities now this time around as new bands do. Whether movie contracts or a soundtrack of this or a TV show of that. I’m sure they had plenty of opportunities to do what they wanted to do. It’s a mystery, I personally that that what I did with them was fine. As much as they say whether I was good enough or didn’t do well enough or wasn’t their style; how did they ask me to come back and sing on a tour after that? If I wasn’t good enough you know why? You can’t take away the aspects of a good thing. I’m not into pointing fingers and stuff like that. It was a tough move for them; I don’t care what they say. It was rough trying to justify that move and they had to make more out of something than it really was. Jeff: I just remember reading; I think it was in RIP, reading about how they were signing a contract with Electra and the next issue Joey’s out. Hmmm… Joey: Yeah that looks pretty fishy. I mean believe me I took pictures with Electra that night at the Grammy’s. Yeah, it was a really shady thing really. And you know what it was out of my reach. Jeff: What can you say? Joey: Yeah, what can you do? I mean the manager said they wanted to part ways, you know I said, No problem. He said wow you are taking it real well. I said what do you want me to say. It’s like a girlfriend, they want to go out with somebody else or like have time alone – well you just know enough to say all right fine, I’m not going to bug you. If you don’t want to be here, if you don’t want me, okay, cool… Jeff: Later. Joey: Yeah, later. That’s my motto. Jeff: Going back before you left, how did you guys get on Married with Children? That was a funny funny show. Joey: Actually, I don’t know how we got on it because all I know is they said we were going to be on the show and I was like okay cool that would be awesome. Going out there for me, I don’t even know what I was doing when I got that. I didn’t know what the script was, it’s not like I studied any of it. I’m sure maybe those guys might of read up on it. But once we got there on Monday and we started reading it and I’m like, Wow, why the hell am I here? Where is my part? As soon as they started reading I’m like looking through to see what page I was on, but all in all it was great. A full 5 days were spent on that, by Wednesday we started doing mini walk throughs of another set of the set and by Friday we did 2 live shows back to back of the same. Jeff: That’s cool. Joey: Yes, it was awesome. Jeff: I have the episode somewhere at home and it was funny when you guys went into the kitchen and you guys flat out refused to play because there wasn’t a crowd there. You guys were snowed in and there was no one there and the kids friends couldn’t show up. So you eat the food out of the refrigerator and I can’t remember who said it, something about Eating their food and wow there’s a crowd here, let’s jam. Joey: I had nowhere to go with that part. I remember sitting there and thinking, God, there’s no vocal in this part and you can only do it up to a certain spot. What am I going to do? So I said, I ll sit on the couch and hit myself with a bottle. The first show I gave myself a welt from the corner of the bottle, a huge bump wit ice on it and then we went back and did the show again. Jeff: That’s cool, just sit on the couch and hit yourself with a bottle. That was a funny episode. Joey: But it was good. That was such exposure, that’s the whole good thing about it. I guess they wanted to do the Simpson’s first and I guess that may have fell through. Not that it made a difference to me, either one was fine. Jeff: I think at the time Married with Children was bigger than the Simpson’s. The Simpson’s were still in their infancy. Joey: Charlie just loved the Simpson’s. Jeff: Oh yes, they are still funny. Joey: I think there are more repeats than Married with Children because the Simpson’s had so many more episodes. Jeff: Married with Children was on for 10 years. Joey: Right before I came out here I saw a 2 hour E special on Married with Children and there actually was a photo of us on the show. I sat around and watched the whole thing to see if they’d show anything with us. Jeff: That still was probably one of the funniest episodes because you guys started ragging on Kelly and Bud. He’s a rap star and she’s an intellectual. Joey: That was awesome. I was appreciative to do that. Jeff: After you left Anthrax, what did you do until you first solo CD? Joey: I worked on stuff from day 1. I have so much material, whether its 1993 or now. It’s all in one package of stuff and a lot of different people in and out. That’s the hardest part of trying to get the bands together or people together or people that are going to fit the situation. I wanted people who want to work at it day in and day out and not complain or figure that it’s a free ride as soon as they get in. Then I worked on some stuff along the way, did some odd jobs. I just kept myself busy. But I always missed playing; I did not stop. I didn’t not want to do it or give in. It’s just sometimes touring wasn’t on the plate. Again, without the musicians and without the gigs or the agency or something like that you just never find a place to do it. Of course I did the Motorhead tour in 1995/96, a couple of months on that and that was cool. Jeff: Your first self-titled solo CD was a great straightforward metal disc. Tell us about making it and going out on your own for the first time after it was released and what was the inspiration for the material? Joey: Paulie Crook and I, he played and worked for Anthrax also, wrote almost all of that record: about 26 songs versus the 13 that were on there. As for the inspiration of that, it was let’s just make some music. We were just banging melodies out at my house and we were just demoing everything. We have some really good demos of that. I just wanted to play and go out ontour with that and it was nice to get an offer to go on the road. These guys that played on it were local guys from my area that wanted to put it together and it just never really panned out. They were not quite hungry enough to do it in the long run, although it would have been nice to keep something together. I hate changing bands. I mean even after this tour, I ll still end up changing bands because these guys have better jobs then what this supplies for them and they are doing me a favor. These guys are an Anthrax tribute band that I found on the Internet, from Chicago. They came to my house for 2 weeks and we put this tour together. Jeff: I bet they were stoked. Joey: They are still stoked. It ends tomorrow so it’s definitely something that they ll remember during the 3 days back to Chicago. Jeff: On your next CD, Spells of Fear, why did take so long to come out. Looking back on your first 2 solo CDs, what do you think of them now? Joey: For me it is the material they have, its not like you can say well I don’t like what I have and I’m not going to do it. A lot of this stuff was what was happening at the time and I had a choice of a bunch of tunes. A lot of it is something that you try to make form into a situation where, I’m always trying to live up a little to the heaviness of Anthrax without stretching my abilities or even needs with the people that I was playing with. Songs people don’t play the same way. So obviously its not going to sound like that, nor do I want to try to be that way. Though I did want it to be heavier than lighter. I wasn’t trying to be light at all. On Spells of Fear, I met this guy Peter Scheithaur, and he became the guitar player. He was living in Los Angeles and he sent me some demo stuff and I sent him back some ideas, sang on it, played on it, and we got a deal. He came up to my house and we banged out all the material and Stet from WASP came and played drums. We never once played live, we did it at my house at the studio and we banged it out and it was done. They were gone and everybody scattered to do their own thing and that was it. It wasn’t my ideal situation to have to put something out, but it was right at that time. I would have liked to have been able to have pushed that out on the road maybe. Jeff: Do you think the label D Rock, did well? Joey: They were gone within months and it was sad. That’s another part of it, it’s just after there was no band to play on my stuff, and I then did not have a label. A lot of times the longer the wait, is because there is no label and you think that you have to be on a label. At the most part I needed to be on a label, if I wasn’t going to use the Internet. I wasn’t going to be able to put it out by myself. Although, I probably could’ve sold some stuff without the Internet. At the time I didn’t really have the means to do it. Now I have the means to do it and unfortunately again I am without a label. Personally I don’t care if the labels are on right now. I mean if they want to sign that would be cool but every time I get on one they always fall through or there are no funds there. They don’t have the money and so I figured that I would put it on the Internet myself. Jeff: Well the way the record labels are now, it is unreal. Unless you’re on a really good indie, like Metal Blade or something like that… Joey: Nuclear Blast or Century Media or Spitfire. But at the end what do you do, I mean even if I had to sit around and wait for them, forget it I don’t want to sit around and wait anymore if I can help it. I apologize for that but sometimes without the line up situation, the people, and the label you just end up waiting. You then get a little frustrated and you also say, Okay wait I can’t rush anything, I have some time here and maybe someone else will do it. The – said PAUZED on Apr 04, 2004
This dvd is great, a must for any ANTHRAX fan or for any metal fan! 😈 – said PAUZED on Apr 04, 2004
I watched it the other day as well… really cool DVD! Loved the ’day In the Life segements as well and the interview with Alex Ross! A must have for Anthrax fans! – said theloudestrock on Apr 04, 2004
’damnit, I need money so I can buy that thing. 😆 – said Mister B on Apr 04, 2004
give some blood! 😈 – said PAUZED on May 05, 2004
The video for What Doesn’t Die that was banned by MTV for being too volent, has been lifted for undisclosed reasons. In the mean time the boys from Anthrax are trying to find out how and where their new CD Music Of Mass Destruction is doing, since Charlie went into a store and didn’t find any copies at all! Here is the post from Charlie asking for your help: In light of our recent destribution shortcomings, We need you to help us find our latest DVD MUSIC OF MASS DESTRUCTION in stores. Let us know where you found it, how many, what it cost, how it was stocked etc. You ll have to work pro bono for now but you can put your name on the form and send it back to us and we ll make it worth your while down the road. And if you don’t feel like doing that just be sure to buy one for you and all your friends. It was a hot Mother’s Day gift this year. You can download and fax these forms to Anthrax: http://www.anthrax.com/MMDtracking.xls – right click and save as http://www.anthrax.com/MMDtracking.pdf – right click and save as – said theloudestrock on May 05, 2004
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