For many fans, the prospect of John Bush doing a live set of his Anthrax material has been a tantalising dream. First mentioned in a chat with this very site back in 2017, the Armored Saint front man has always skirted around the idea, until now. Set to play three historic shows in December 2025 where he'll delve deep into 'Sound of White Noise', 'Stomp 442', 'Volume 8' and 'We've Come For You All', the singer is as excited as the fans are. "I love those tunes, and I want to play these songs live", he tells us as we sit down for a chat over Zoom; "I've been practicing them, and they sound pretty awesome". Telling us what to prepare for - and hinting at some former bandmates joining him - as well as going deep into his Anthrax history, we caught up with John Bush. In a zone; Eamon O'Neill.
Photo; Press.
John, how are you doing?
What's up, brother? I am good. Well, I spent the morning at the dentist, so that's not that exciting, and I found out I have an abscess. I didn't even know, so that's annoying, but I got my teeth cleaned. I should be able to smile because I have nice, clean teeth.
You'll want to have that cleared up for December because you're doing three dates performing your Anthrax era material. Now, I want to rewind January 2017 was when I asked you in an interview if had you ever thought about that; is it my fault that this is happening?
Well, you could be a contributing force, for sure. I've been talking about it and wanting to do this for a long time. It was just a matter of finding the right time to do it, and I don't even know this is the right time, but I had some free time in December to do it, so I was like; "why not?" But, yeah, I love those tunes, I want to play these songs live. I've been practicing them, and they sound pretty awesome, just in my bedroom singing to myself. It's exciting! I think people are fired up, and yes, we're only doing three shows for now, but we'll see what happens. Of course, I would love to bring this to Europe at some point and do some shows on the European continent and maybe elsewhere, but for now, this is what we're doing.
You've played a few Anthrax songs with Metal Allegiance including 'Only' and 'Room For One More', but you've not sang most of them in years.
Yeah, in Metal Allegiance I've done 'Room For One More', and 'Only' primarily, and I did 'Hy Pro Glo' the last time we actually played, which was cool. I did 'Safe Home', I think at Pearl, Scott's wife's 40th birthday party, maybe, but that was a private party, so I haven't sung that song live in years. Most of these songs I haven't played in a long time, and certainly the band hasn't either. I know they played 'Only' sometimes but, yeah, it's going to be real fun to sing these tunes. The lyrics are coming back to me, and I was surprised about that. I want to play some deep tracks, ones that maybe the band hasn't played maybe ever, or at least maybe only on the tour of that record. I don't want to overload the guys who are playing with me too much, or myself, because I want it to be great. We're trying to figure out these songs here, because there's just a lot, but maybe twenty. Maybe twenty to know, and not play every night.
Across the four albums, there's about forty-five songs, so that's close to half the catalogue.
Then, even people have been saying; "why don't you play 'Celebrated Summer?" [Anthrax covered the Hüsker Dü track in 1996], and I was laughing; "I'm not playing a cover tune!" There were some great covers that we did, but I'd rather just play the ones that are actually songs that the band wrote.
It's funny you should mention the Pearl's birthday because you recently played at that and covered a Meat Loaf song along with Scott Ian. What is Scott's opinion on you going out and doing this? He must have given you his blessing.
Scott asked about being the third guitar player on one of the shows. He had said; "would you like a third guitar player?", and I was cracking up, but I don't know how completely sincere he was about it. I think it was, but he has a conflict with the date in Los Angeles, and that's where Scott lives. He has a wedding in New York, so I was saying; "well, maybe New York?", but I don't know if he's going to be there that long, so who knows?
But, you know, my opinion is with those guys, it's their music. It's their songs; they wrote them. They can do whatever they want; if they want to come out for a song, great, if they don't want to come out for any, great. You know, it doesn't matter. If they want to play ten songs, great. The door is open, and they could do whatever they want in conjunction with it, or nothing. As we get closer to the shows, we'll see where people's are at with scheduling.
And I do want it to feel celebratory. I have a few other people in line to come up maybe and do some songs. I just want it to feel kind of like a party, almost, a celebration of those songs and those records. It's not a competition with Anthrax. I want it to just feel like a fun event to be at.
Something that people might not actually get is that your good friend and band mate Joey Vera is playing bass at these shows, and he actually played with you in Anthrax on the 'We've Come For You All' tour [2004 - 2005].
Right, yeah, Joey is playing because Jack Gibson had a scheduling conflict. He did do that tour, well, some of that tour for a while, when Frankie [Bello] left the band for a little bit. He actually even played some shows after I left the band with Joey Belladonna [2008], and even, I think, a show with Dan Nelson [2012], believe it or not. So I'm not sure how many of these tunes that Joey played, because he was playing with Anthrax as the band, and probably playing a lot of old material, but he knows a few of them, and he's learning some of them as well.
I love the artwork for the gigs that has been produced, because you're using the 'Sound of White Noise' skull print, and you've got the logos for the album titles.
Yeah, and I've been working on some ideas for artwork and for more t-shirts and a backdrop, and I have some cool stuff that I think is going to be really fun to look at, and hopefully sell some merchandise and get people fired up for it. But yeah, it's going to be really cool. You know, I've had a fun time taking part in helping create this, of course, and like I said, I'm just taking it one small step at a time, and the small step here is doing the three shows here in the United States. I think people are fired up. Ticket sales have been really good, and I think a lot of people are real enthusiastic, and it's going to be exciting.
What's up, brother? I am good. Well, I spent the morning at the dentist, so that's not that exciting, and I found out I have an abscess. I didn't even know, so that's annoying, but I got my teeth cleaned. I should be able to smile because I have nice, clean teeth.
You'll want to have that cleared up for December because you're doing three dates performing your Anthrax era material. Now, I want to rewind January 2017 was when I asked you in an interview if had you ever thought about that; is it my fault that this is happening?
Well, you could be a contributing force, for sure. I've been talking about it and wanting to do this for a long time. It was just a matter of finding the right time to do it, and I don't even know this is the right time, but I had some free time in December to do it, so I was like; "why not?" But, yeah, I love those tunes, I want to play these songs live. I've been practicing them, and they sound pretty awesome, just in my bedroom singing to myself. It's exciting! I think people are fired up, and yes, we're only doing three shows for now, but we'll see what happens. Of course, I would love to bring this to Europe at some point and do some shows on the European continent and maybe elsewhere, but for now, this is what we're doing.
You've played a few Anthrax songs with Metal Allegiance including 'Only' and 'Room For One More', but you've not sang most of them in years.
Yeah, in Metal Allegiance I've done 'Room For One More', and 'Only' primarily, and I did 'Hy Pro Glo' the last time we actually played, which was cool. I did 'Safe Home', I think at Pearl, Scott's wife's 40th birthday party, maybe, but that was a private party, so I haven't sung that song live in years. Most of these songs I haven't played in a long time, and certainly the band hasn't either. I know they played 'Only' sometimes but, yeah, it's going to be real fun to sing these tunes. The lyrics are coming back to me, and I was surprised about that. I want to play some deep tracks, ones that maybe the band hasn't played maybe ever, or at least maybe only on the tour of that record. I don't want to overload the guys who are playing with me too much, or myself, because I want it to be great. We're trying to figure out these songs here, because there's just a lot, but maybe twenty. Maybe twenty to know, and not play every night.
Across the four albums, there's about forty-five songs, so that's close to half the catalogue.
Then, even people have been saying; "why don't you play 'Celebrated Summer?" [Anthrax covered the Hüsker Dü track in 1996], and I was laughing; "I'm not playing a cover tune!" There were some great covers that we did, but I'd rather just play the ones that are actually songs that the band wrote.
It's funny you should mention the Pearl's birthday because you recently played at that and covered a Meat Loaf song along with Scott Ian. What is Scott's opinion on you going out and doing this? He must have given you his blessing.
Scott asked about being the third guitar player on one of the shows. He had said; "would you like a third guitar player?", and I was cracking up, but I don't know how completely sincere he was about it. I think it was, but he has a conflict with the date in Los Angeles, and that's where Scott lives. He has a wedding in New York, so I was saying; "well, maybe New York?", but I don't know if he's going to be there that long, so who knows?
But, you know, my opinion is with those guys, it's their music. It's their songs; they wrote them. They can do whatever they want; if they want to come out for a song, great, if they don't want to come out for any, great. You know, it doesn't matter. If they want to play ten songs, great. The door is open, and they could do whatever they want in conjunction with it, or nothing. As we get closer to the shows, we'll see where people's are at with scheduling.
And I do want it to feel celebratory. I have a few other people in line to come up maybe and do some songs. I just want it to feel kind of like a party, almost, a celebration of those songs and those records. It's not a competition with Anthrax. I want it to just feel like a fun event to be at.
Something that people might not actually get is that your good friend and band mate Joey Vera is playing bass at these shows, and he actually played with you in Anthrax on the 'We've Come For You All' tour [2004 - 2005].
Right, yeah, Joey is playing because Jack Gibson had a scheduling conflict. He did do that tour, well, some of that tour for a while, when Frankie [Bello] left the band for a little bit. He actually even played some shows after I left the band with Joey Belladonna [2008], and even, I think, a show with Dan Nelson [2012], believe it or not. So I'm not sure how many of these tunes that Joey played, because he was playing with Anthrax as the band, and probably playing a lot of old material, but he knows a few of them, and he's learning some of them as well.
I love the artwork for the gigs that has been produced, because you're using the 'Sound of White Noise' skull print, and you've got the logos for the album titles.
Yeah, and I've been working on some ideas for artwork and for more t-shirts and a backdrop, and I have some cool stuff that I think is going to be really fun to look at, and hopefully sell some merchandise and get people fired up for it. But yeah, it's going to be really cool. You know, I've had a fun time taking part in helping create this, of course, and like I said, I'm just taking it one small step at a time, and the small step here is doing the three shows here in the United States. I think people are fired up. Ticket sales have been really good, and I think a lot of people are real enthusiastic, and it's going to be exciting.
The dates are happening just ahead of the Christmas period.
Well, that was a little concern, as it's in December, and it's a tough time to tour and play. A lot of bands stop playing after November, at least the first week or two of December. I was a little concerned with that. I talked to my agent, and he said the promoters weren't concerned at all, and so I was like; "why not? Let's do it!" It's New York on December 20th, and people go to New York for the holidays and stuff. I wouldn't want to play like Christmas day, of course, but it's getting a little close, but we're feeling good about it.
I wanted to rewind right back to the beginning of your joining Anthrax in 1992; how did it how did it all come about? Was Joey already gone, or did they come straight to you? Was there an overlap?
No, I think Joey was already let go at that point, and they needed a singer of course, so they contacted me. Actually it was Jon Zazula [Anthrax's Manager at the time] who contacted me, which is funny, because he also contacted me ten years before that to talk to me about [joining] Metallica. So it was a funny voicemail message that he left on my answering machine, which is what I had then because we're talking 1992, but yeah, we had a interesting conversation.
And that led to 'Sound of White Noise', released in 1993.
The important component was just making sure that I was being able to be a contributing factor. I write all the primary lyrics in Armored Saint; I always have for the most part, and I wanted to be involved, so that was an important part of me joining. Also making sure there was a cool camaraderie and vibe with everybody, because I really didn't know those guys at all. I knew Scott a little bit here and there, but I just really never had been around them for any length of time, so it was important to say; "hey, do we have a vibe?" You could put it on paper and go; "this could work", but what about personality-wise and making sure that all blends? Once we got in the room and we started working and hanging out, it felt like everything was great, so that was the big step. Then we just started writing tunes, and the songs that eventually became 'Sound of White Noise' were obviously very good tunes, because it's a great album.
I wanted to talk to you about some of those tracks. We've mentioned 'Only' and 'Room for One More', but there's also 'Black Lodge', which is a criminally underrated. Talk to me a little bit about some of those deeper tracks.
'Potter's Field' is an awesome track, of course, first on the record. I love 'Black Lodge'. I'm going to play it live. We really didn't play it many times live back in the day, so it's going to be really cool to play that. I've always loved '1000 Points of Hate', which is always a great tune. I think 'Invisible' was one of the first songs I actually wrote a lot of lyrics to, and 'Hy Pro Glo' is always a great live tune, and was a cool video. It's a great record. I think it felt very right for the time, but even looking back, it almost felt like it was still a little ahead of its time. It was a great introduction to the '90s for Anthrax and for me to be part of it. 'Sound of White Noise' is the only gold record that I have to my name, so I'm proud of it.
Do you still have your gold records and all that kind of stuff?
I do. I have my gold record. It's sitting in my garage, and I'm real proud of it.
Dave Jerden produced that, and you worked with him on Armored Saint's 'Symbol of Salvation' [1991] too, didn't you?
Yeah, Dave is great, he's awesome. It's funny because my wife has a casting studio and we live and we work directly across the street from Dave Jerden's studio, right here on Sunset Boulevard, so I see it every day, and I'm like; "there's the studio; we made two back to back records there!", so it's pretty funny. But it was a great time, and Dave was an awesome producer and real funny guy. Brian Carlstrom was the engineer, along with Annette [Cisneros], and Brian actually passed away a while back, which was really a shame, but I made great records with him, and he was a great person to be in the studio with. Dave Jerden has now passed away as well, but yeah, Dave made the Alice in Chains records, he made Janes Addictions records, The Offspring; he was red hot at that time, so to work with him, especially on back to back records, was really a joy. He made two great sounding albums for me, and 'Symbol of Salvation' is arguably Armored Saint's cornerstone record, as people say. It's an awesome record as well.
Then you got to 'Stomp 442' [1995], and everything had changed; Elektra Records didn't want to do Anthrax, Dan Spitz was gone; what was it like for you in the band at that time?
Well, I mean, I think we believed in the record. I think 'Stomp' is a killer record. It has some great tunes on it; 'Random Acts', 'Fuelled', 'King Size', 'Riding Shotgun'. Lot of people love 'In a Zone'. 'Nothing' was a cool video that we made with Marcos Siega, who was a guy who did a couple videos with - he did 'Fuelled as well. I think the label problems were the biggest issue at that point, because they fired Bob Krasnow, who was the head of the label for years and years, they brought in somebody new. She wasn't really too keen on Anthrax, so going in we were like; "okay, we don't really feel like we have the largest endorsement from the label, and they may not quite know what to do with us", and yeah, we had a couple internal changes by Dan leaving and not really hiring a fifth member, a guitar player for sure. Paul Crook worked on some of those songs. He played those songs live, both on 'Stomp' and also on the 'Volume Eight' record too. Paul toured on both of those records, but he wasn't really an official member of the band, so it was a little different, and there were a lot of changes going on. But the record, I think, is awesome, and it stands very strong.
It's got these two very different bookends; you start with 'Random Acts', which is so heavy, and then closes on 'Bare', which is kind of heart wrenching. It's an album of extremes.
Yeah, it was cool that Anthrax was willing to take those chances and do a song like 'Bare' and even 'Black Lodge', but yeah, Anthrax was always willing to take chances, whether I'm in the band or whether I wasn't in the band, and before I was in the band, and after I left the band. They're always willing to take chances, always willing to stick their neck out and say; "let's do this. We believe in it", whether it's 'I'm the Man' or a song like 'Bare' or who knows what? You know, it doesn't matter; they're always very open minded on the artistic level of just trying things, and as long as they believe in it, then they feel like it can work. Like I said, that is something I experienced while I was in the band, and I see it after I left the band, so I really think it's a big feather in their cap. There's lot of heavy metal bands that sometimes are reluctant to take those kind of chances, and they never were and never have been.
I have to ask, what is the first word you say in 'Random Acts'?
It's 'puto', which is kind of a derogatory term in Mexican slang. It's something I heard a lot growing up in Los Angeles, so it just sounded appropriate. Maybe I did it jokingly and everyone said; "keep it!", I can't remember how it originated, but it was a little, like I said derogatory, but kind of funny. People call each other that if they're busting chops on them and with Mexican slang, and it's obviously Spanish.
Well, that was a little concern, as it's in December, and it's a tough time to tour and play. A lot of bands stop playing after November, at least the first week or two of December. I was a little concerned with that. I talked to my agent, and he said the promoters weren't concerned at all, and so I was like; "why not? Let's do it!" It's New York on December 20th, and people go to New York for the holidays and stuff. I wouldn't want to play like Christmas day, of course, but it's getting a little close, but we're feeling good about it.
I wanted to rewind right back to the beginning of your joining Anthrax in 1992; how did it how did it all come about? Was Joey already gone, or did they come straight to you? Was there an overlap?
No, I think Joey was already let go at that point, and they needed a singer of course, so they contacted me. Actually it was Jon Zazula [Anthrax's Manager at the time] who contacted me, which is funny, because he also contacted me ten years before that to talk to me about [joining] Metallica. So it was a funny voicemail message that he left on my answering machine, which is what I had then because we're talking 1992, but yeah, we had a interesting conversation.
And that led to 'Sound of White Noise', released in 1993.
The important component was just making sure that I was being able to be a contributing factor. I write all the primary lyrics in Armored Saint; I always have for the most part, and I wanted to be involved, so that was an important part of me joining. Also making sure there was a cool camaraderie and vibe with everybody, because I really didn't know those guys at all. I knew Scott a little bit here and there, but I just really never had been around them for any length of time, so it was important to say; "hey, do we have a vibe?" You could put it on paper and go; "this could work", but what about personality-wise and making sure that all blends? Once we got in the room and we started working and hanging out, it felt like everything was great, so that was the big step. Then we just started writing tunes, and the songs that eventually became 'Sound of White Noise' were obviously very good tunes, because it's a great album.
I wanted to talk to you about some of those tracks. We've mentioned 'Only' and 'Room for One More', but there's also 'Black Lodge', which is a criminally underrated. Talk to me a little bit about some of those deeper tracks.
'Potter's Field' is an awesome track, of course, first on the record. I love 'Black Lodge'. I'm going to play it live. We really didn't play it many times live back in the day, so it's going to be really cool to play that. I've always loved '1000 Points of Hate', which is always a great tune. I think 'Invisible' was one of the first songs I actually wrote a lot of lyrics to, and 'Hy Pro Glo' is always a great live tune, and was a cool video. It's a great record. I think it felt very right for the time, but even looking back, it almost felt like it was still a little ahead of its time. It was a great introduction to the '90s for Anthrax and for me to be part of it. 'Sound of White Noise' is the only gold record that I have to my name, so I'm proud of it.
Do you still have your gold records and all that kind of stuff?
I do. I have my gold record. It's sitting in my garage, and I'm real proud of it.
Dave Jerden produced that, and you worked with him on Armored Saint's 'Symbol of Salvation' [1991] too, didn't you?
Yeah, Dave is great, he's awesome. It's funny because my wife has a casting studio and we live and we work directly across the street from Dave Jerden's studio, right here on Sunset Boulevard, so I see it every day, and I'm like; "there's the studio; we made two back to back records there!", so it's pretty funny. But it was a great time, and Dave was an awesome producer and real funny guy. Brian Carlstrom was the engineer, along with Annette [Cisneros], and Brian actually passed away a while back, which was really a shame, but I made great records with him, and he was a great person to be in the studio with. Dave Jerden has now passed away as well, but yeah, Dave made the Alice in Chains records, he made Janes Addictions records, The Offspring; he was red hot at that time, so to work with him, especially on back to back records, was really a joy. He made two great sounding albums for me, and 'Symbol of Salvation' is arguably Armored Saint's cornerstone record, as people say. It's an awesome record as well.
Then you got to 'Stomp 442' [1995], and everything had changed; Elektra Records didn't want to do Anthrax, Dan Spitz was gone; what was it like for you in the band at that time?
Well, I mean, I think we believed in the record. I think 'Stomp' is a killer record. It has some great tunes on it; 'Random Acts', 'Fuelled', 'King Size', 'Riding Shotgun'. Lot of people love 'In a Zone'. 'Nothing' was a cool video that we made with Marcos Siega, who was a guy who did a couple videos with - he did 'Fuelled as well. I think the label problems were the biggest issue at that point, because they fired Bob Krasnow, who was the head of the label for years and years, they brought in somebody new. She wasn't really too keen on Anthrax, so going in we were like; "okay, we don't really feel like we have the largest endorsement from the label, and they may not quite know what to do with us", and yeah, we had a couple internal changes by Dan leaving and not really hiring a fifth member, a guitar player for sure. Paul Crook worked on some of those songs. He played those songs live, both on 'Stomp' and also on the 'Volume Eight' record too. Paul toured on both of those records, but he wasn't really an official member of the band, so it was a little different, and there were a lot of changes going on. But the record, I think, is awesome, and it stands very strong.
It's got these two very different bookends; you start with 'Random Acts', which is so heavy, and then closes on 'Bare', which is kind of heart wrenching. It's an album of extremes.
Yeah, it was cool that Anthrax was willing to take those chances and do a song like 'Bare' and even 'Black Lodge', but yeah, Anthrax was always willing to take chances, whether I'm in the band or whether I wasn't in the band, and before I was in the band, and after I left the band. They're always willing to take chances, always willing to stick their neck out and say; "let's do this. We believe in it", whether it's 'I'm the Man' or a song like 'Bare' or who knows what? You know, it doesn't matter; they're always very open minded on the artistic level of just trying things, and as long as they believe in it, then they feel like it can work. Like I said, that is something I experienced while I was in the band, and I see it after I left the band, so I really think it's a big feather in their cap. There's lot of heavy metal bands that sometimes are reluctant to take those kind of chances, and they never were and never have been.
I have to ask, what is the first word you say in 'Random Acts'?
It's 'puto', which is kind of a derogatory term in Mexican slang. It's something I heard a lot growing up in Los Angeles, so it just sounded appropriate. Maybe I did it jokingly and everyone said; "keep it!", I can't remember how it originated, but it was a little, like I said derogatory, but kind of funny. People call each other that if they're busting chops on them and with Mexican slang, and it's obviously Spanish.
Following that, in 1998 you did 'Volume 8: The Threat is Real', which, to me, is a dark horse album that doesn't get the respect it deserves.
Well, I think it's a great record too. There's a lot of cool songs and there's a lot of unusual songs like '604', and 'Toasted the Extras' and a 'Cupajoe', which were, those two songs were like, forty-five seconds long or whatever it was. Again, it was a lot of taking chances, and Dimebag [Darrell] played on a couple of leads. We even had Phil Anselmo sing on 'Killing Box', so it's really a diverse record. It's kind of all over the place, Again, the label thing was a mess. We took a chance with this indie that was a startup label, and it didn't really pan out, and that was a big drag. Luckily, Megaforce has re-released all these records, which I'm very grateful for, and so a lot of people are able to discover, not only 'Volume Eight', but 'We've Come for You All', which again, it's a kind of record that maybe didn't get the appropriate attention at the time, but certainly looking back, I think a lot of people dig a lot of those tunes, and we will be playing them live.
After 'We've Come For You All' [2003], which was seen as a bit of a comeback album came 'The Greater of Two Evils' [2004] which was a rerecording of the older Joey Belladonna material; did you think it was a misstep?
Well, let me just say 'We've Come For You All' was kind of like a resurgence because we put it out through Nuclear Blast, which was a great record label, and they certainly know how to market metal. That was the right label for Anthrax at that time to come out on. As far as 'The Greater of Two Evils', at the time, I think I was interested in doing it. It sounded fun. We did most of it live in the studio, so maybe a one take, two takes as a group, which was really fun. The idea was to kind of say; "well, this is what the songs have been sounding like lately, because John's been singing them", so the philosophy, I think, was good, in retrospect. If I was to look back and knowing that I was leaving the band shortly after that, then probably I would have said; "let's not do that", but whatever. as that wasn't really in the mindset of the band at the moment because, again, I probably would have said; "let's reconsider doing that". But there's some cool stuff on it, and some people dig it. And I was never trying to take a chance and make this sound better than Joey; it was just a different approach to it. Everyone's going to really be more commonly associating old songs like 'I Am the Law' and 'Indians', of course, 'Madhouse' whatever, with Joey, and as they should, because he originally sang those songs.
'We've Come For You All' is, as you say, a great album.
There's a lot of tunes that you could play, without a doubt; 'What Doesn't Die', 'Refused to be Denied' is a great tune. Yeah, I want to play a lot of them. As a matter of fact, I think the song that's gotten the most request of all the songs throughout the four records is 'Strap in on', which is funny, because we never played that song, I don't think, ever when I was in the band. So I might have to pull that one out just for the old schoolers and learn it. I'm having fun with all that and learning songs and and just kind of seeing what gravitates and what doesn't. There's the obvious choices that we have to play, but there's always the deep tracks that I do want to play, because I think it'll be fun to play songs that we didn't play a lot.
I suppose that confounds the expectations, finding the songs that people are going to predict so easily.
Well, I always like keeping people on their toes. I do the same thing in Saint; I always want to play different tunes. We have the obvious choices too, but I want to play songs that maybe we haven't played a lot, and ones that are fan favourites, but maybe weren't hits. I'm proud of all of the songs I've written or been part of writing. I want to play them because I like them.
Going back to the period prior to 'We've Come For You All', and with the release of the 'Return of the Killer A's' compilation [1999], there was talk of a Joey and John tour; was it a case of "I don't think that's the right move for me"?
Well, actually, when that record came out, that was when we were talking about doing it, and I was supportive of doing that. I thought it was a cool idea, because it wasn't something that anybody had really had ever done. It might have even been prior to Helloween doing it, which they've done since then; they have the three singers, which is really cool, but at that time, it was something that was kind of unusual and different. So I was supportive of it. It was later, I think maybe after 'We've Come For You All' was actually out, and we'd toured for it, that the idea came back up, and then that was when I said; "look, I already gave this an option, and it fell through", so my feeling was at that point, if the idea was to kind of do a reunion, why don't you do it without me? Because, you know, I've already entertained the idea of doing the tour with the two singers, and it didn't happen, so at that time, I guess I was less interested in doing it, but the first time, when it was brought to our attention and discussed, I was totally in favour of doing it.
That late '90s period was hard for all metal acts, not just Anthrax.
Like you said, it was a tough time for a lot of bands, and a lot of bands made changes. It was the '90s and there was a lot of amazing bands that were out there that were taking the mantle - as they should have been - Soundgarden Alice in Chains, they were incredible bands and they deserved all the recognition they were getting.
It's hard to stay at the top of the heap when you're twenty years in, let alone forty, so changes happen and you just roll with them, and that's what we were doing. We were still touring the world on every record, and playing a bunch of shows, and still had a rabid fan base, and people were very excited to come out and watch us perform. Maybe the numbers were smaller, but we were still a very busy band. During those lean times you've just got to keep hammering and just do your thing and be proud of the music that you're making, and be convincing in the records that you're releasing and let people know that you believe in it. It's really no different. And so here we are, all these years later, me and a bunch of my peers; the guys in Anthrax, Armored Saint, we're now forty years in, which is insane. A lot of us are still doing it. People older than us are still doing it; Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and so it's a feather in a lot of people's cap that everyone's out there, still rocking in, kicking butt live, and making some really cool music.
Well, I think it's a great record too. There's a lot of cool songs and there's a lot of unusual songs like '604', and 'Toasted the Extras' and a 'Cupajoe', which were, those two songs were like, forty-five seconds long or whatever it was. Again, it was a lot of taking chances, and Dimebag [Darrell] played on a couple of leads. We even had Phil Anselmo sing on 'Killing Box', so it's really a diverse record. It's kind of all over the place, Again, the label thing was a mess. We took a chance with this indie that was a startup label, and it didn't really pan out, and that was a big drag. Luckily, Megaforce has re-released all these records, which I'm very grateful for, and so a lot of people are able to discover, not only 'Volume Eight', but 'We've Come for You All', which again, it's a kind of record that maybe didn't get the appropriate attention at the time, but certainly looking back, I think a lot of people dig a lot of those tunes, and we will be playing them live.
After 'We've Come For You All' [2003], which was seen as a bit of a comeback album came 'The Greater of Two Evils' [2004] which was a rerecording of the older Joey Belladonna material; did you think it was a misstep?
Well, let me just say 'We've Come For You All' was kind of like a resurgence because we put it out through Nuclear Blast, which was a great record label, and they certainly know how to market metal. That was the right label for Anthrax at that time to come out on. As far as 'The Greater of Two Evils', at the time, I think I was interested in doing it. It sounded fun. We did most of it live in the studio, so maybe a one take, two takes as a group, which was really fun. The idea was to kind of say; "well, this is what the songs have been sounding like lately, because John's been singing them", so the philosophy, I think, was good, in retrospect. If I was to look back and knowing that I was leaving the band shortly after that, then probably I would have said; "let's not do that", but whatever. as that wasn't really in the mindset of the band at the moment because, again, I probably would have said; "let's reconsider doing that". But there's some cool stuff on it, and some people dig it. And I was never trying to take a chance and make this sound better than Joey; it was just a different approach to it. Everyone's going to really be more commonly associating old songs like 'I Am the Law' and 'Indians', of course, 'Madhouse' whatever, with Joey, and as they should, because he originally sang those songs.
'We've Come For You All' is, as you say, a great album.
There's a lot of tunes that you could play, without a doubt; 'What Doesn't Die', 'Refused to be Denied' is a great tune. Yeah, I want to play a lot of them. As a matter of fact, I think the song that's gotten the most request of all the songs throughout the four records is 'Strap in on', which is funny, because we never played that song, I don't think, ever when I was in the band. So I might have to pull that one out just for the old schoolers and learn it. I'm having fun with all that and learning songs and and just kind of seeing what gravitates and what doesn't. There's the obvious choices that we have to play, but there's always the deep tracks that I do want to play, because I think it'll be fun to play songs that we didn't play a lot.
I suppose that confounds the expectations, finding the songs that people are going to predict so easily.
Well, I always like keeping people on their toes. I do the same thing in Saint; I always want to play different tunes. We have the obvious choices too, but I want to play songs that maybe we haven't played a lot, and ones that are fan favourites, but maybe weren't hits. I'm proud of all of the songs I've written or been part of writing. I want to play them because I like them.
Going back to the period prior to 'We've Come For You All', and with the release of the 'Return of the Killer A's' compilation [1999], there was talk of a Joey and John tour; was it a case of "I don't think that's the right move for me"?
Well, actually, when that record came out, that was when we were talking about doing it, and I was supportive of doing that. I thought it was a cool idea, because it wasn't something that anybody had really had ever done. It might have even been prior to Helloween doing it, which they've done since then; they have the three singers, which is really cool, but at that time, it was something that was kind of unusual and different. So I was supportive of it. It was later, I think maybe after 'We've Come For You All' was actually out, and we'd toured for it, that the idea came back up, and then that was when I said; "look, I already gave this an option, and it fell through", so my feeling was at that point, if the idea was to kind of do a reunion, why don't you do it without me? Because, you know, I've already entertained the idea of doing the tour with the two singers, and it didn't happen, so at that time, I guess I was less interested in doing it, but the first time, when it was brought to our attention and discussed, I was totally in favour of doing it.
That late '90s period was hard for all metal acts, not just Anthrax.
Like you said, it was a tough time for a lot of bands, and a lot of bands made changes. It was the '90s and there was a lot of amazing bands that were out there that were taking the mantle - as they should have been - Soundgarden Alice in Chains, they were incredible bands and they deserved all the recognition they were getting.
It's hard to stay at the top of the heap when you're twenty years in, let alone forty, so changes happen and you just roll with them, and that's what we were doing. We were still touring the world on every record, and playing a bunch of shows, and still had a rabid fan base, and people were very excited to come out and watch us perform. Maybe the numbers were smaller, but we were still a very busy band. During those lean times you've just got to keep hammering and just do your thing and be proud of the music that you're making, and be convincing in the records that you're releasing and let people know that you believe in it. It's really no different. And so here we are, all these years later, me and a bunch of my peers; the guys in Anthrax, Armored Saint, we're now forty years in, which is insane. A lot of us are still doing it. People older than us are still doing it; Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and so it's a feather in a lot of people's cap that everyone's out there, still rocking in, kicking butt live, and making some really cool music.
To quote one of your Anthrax songs, is this tour then about taking the music back?
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they just don't play them too much live. If they were playing these songs live it probably would be a little different - and I understand why they don't, let me be clear about that - but if I don't play them, then they just kind of fall into the obscurity area. I don't want it to do that; I want to be proud of these tunes. I'm sure they're proud of them.
It's got a shelf life because these are records are twenty, thirty years old, so it's old material. But look, nostalgia is 'in' for music, for movies, and it's an understatement to say. There's a Spinal Tap new movie, you know what I mean? So, yeah, nostalgia is always red hot, and people are excited about it, and people like to go back and remember where they were when those records came out, or whatever nostalgic record they're acknowledging. System of Down is touring playing stadiums, and they haven't made a new record in years, so I think people just are excited about seeing music that was a part of their youth. Remember, a lot of people discovered Anthrax in the '90s, so it's all in a positive outlook. It's all looking at it a very bright light and just thinking it'll be fun to play these songs live again. How long this happens? How many shows will I do? I'm really not thinking past December 20th, to be perfectly honest, because I just want to do these shows and focus on this for now, but I'm open minded.
Until then, Armored Saint are playing with W.A.S.P. in the UK in September.
Yeah, we're stoked we're playing the Hammersmith Odeon. Armored Saint has never played Hammersmith Odeon, and I know it's called something else now, but we're super excited about doing it. I mean, come on, that's where the Motörhead record ['No Sleep 'til Hammersmith', 1981] was made, and every legendary band has played there. And we're playing Newcastle, which we've never played in the history of the band, and the shows in Manchester have been really off the charts for Armored Saint, so we're excited to come there with Blackie and the boys and do these three shows.
Back on the subject of Anthrax albums, and without giving too much away, what would you say is your favourite album?
You know, I don't like having a favourite record of anything I've done. People ask me that, and I feel like it's picking a favourite child. I think that all the records are different. Some I find myself enjoying more at different times, but there's songs throughout all those records that I think could be some of my most favourite tunes. I mean, I love 'Inside Out', certainly, a song like 'Cadillac Rock Box' is special for various reasons. You can't beat 'Only', of course, because it's probably the most popular song I ever made with Anthrax, although I love 'Potter's Field' and look forward to playing that song. And I always was fond of playing 'Fuelled' live; it was one of our favourite, best songs of the night when we played as a band back in the day. And 'Riding Shotgun' is really cool, just an underappreciated tune. So, you know, there's a lot of them.
It sounds like there's going to be a really great set list and a lot for people to be excited about.
I just want them to be fun, and I want to really enjoy it. I don't want it to be too much pressure. Of course it's going to be a little daunting. I'm going to play two sets; one with Category 7 which is going to be a little shorter, of course, but it's going to be really cool playing those tunes, because that's a great record that I'm really proud of. So playing with those guys, and having those guys play these tunes, because I know they're incredible musicians, I'm really excited. I think that's the thing that's going to be most exciting, is to hear songs that haven't been heard in a long time live, and having fun with it. Again, there will be some pressure, which is okay, because that makes you rise up, but I think more importantly, it's just to go out and and have a good time doing it.
Don't miss John Bush & Category 7 this December, Get your tickets on the links below.
Sat. Dec. 13, Los Angeles, CA @ Whisky A Go-Go
TICKETS HERE:https://www.ticketweb.com/.../john-bush.../13908604...
Thurs. Dec. 18, St. Charles, IL @ Arcada Theatre
TICKETS HERE: https://www.etix.com/.../john-bush-celebrating-the-songs...
Sat. Dec. 20, New York City, NY @ Racket NYC
TICKETS HERE: https://www.axs.com/.../john-bush-celebrating-the-songs...
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they just don't play them too much live. If they were playing these songs live it probably would be a little different - and I understand why they don't, let me be clear about that - but if I don't play them, then they just kind of fall into the obscurity area. I don't want it to do that; I want to be proud of these tunes. I'm sure they're proud of them.
It's got a shelf life because these are records are twenty, thirty years old, so it's old material. But look, nostalgia is 'in' for music, for movies, and it's an understatement to say. There's a Spinal Tap new movie, you know what I mean? So, yeah, nostalgia is always red hot, and people are excited about it, and people like to go back and remember where they were when those records came out, or whatever nostalgic record they're acknowledging. System of Down is touring playing stadiums, and they haven't made a new record in years, so I think people just are excited about seeing music that was a part of their youth. Remember, a lot of people discovered Anthrax in the '90s, so it's all in a positive outlook. It's all looking at it a very bright light and just thinking it'll be fun to play these songs live again. How long this happens? How many shows will I do? I'm really not thinking past December 20th, to be perfectly honest, because I just want to do these shows and focus on this for now, but I'm open minded.
Until then, Armored Saint are playing with W.A.S.P. in the UK in September.
Yeah, we're stoked we're playing the Hammersmith Odeon. Armored Saint has never played Hammersmith Odeon, and I know it's called something else now, but we're super excited about doing it. I mean, come on, that's where the Motörhead record ['No Sleep 'til Hammersmith', 1981] was made, and every legendary band has played there. And we're playing Newcastle, which we've never played in the history of the band, and the shows in Manchester have been really off the charts for Armored Saint, so we're excited to come there with Blackie and the boys and do these three shows.
Back on the subject of Anthrax albums, and without giving too much away, what would you say is your favourite album?
You know, I don't like having a favourite record of anything I've done. People ask me that, and I feel like it's picking a favourite child. I think that all the records are different. Some I find myself enjoying more at different times, but there's songs throughout all those records that I think could be some of my most favourite tunes. I mean, I love 'Inside Out', certainly, a song like 'Cadillac Rock Box' is special for various reasons. You can't beat 'Only', of course, because it's probably the most popular song I ever made with Anthrax, although I love 'Potter's Field' and look forward to playing that song. And I always was fond of playing 'Fuelled' live; it was one of our favourite, best songs of the night when we played as a band back in the day. And 'Riding Shotgun' is really cool, just an underappreciated tune. So, you know, there's a lot of them.
It sounds like there's going to be a really great set list and a lot for people to be excited about.
I just want them to be fun, and I want to really enjoy it. I don't want it to be too much pressure. Of course it's going to be a little daunting. I'm going to play two sets; one with Category 7 which is going to be a little shorter, of course, but it's going to be really cool playing those tunes, because that's a great record that I'm really proud of. So playing with those guys, and having those guys play these tunes, because I know they're incredible musicians, I'm really excited. I think that's the thing that's going to be most exciting, is to hear songs that haven't been heard in a long time live, and having fun with it. Again, there will be some pressure, which is okay, because that makes you rise up, but I think more importantly, it's just to go out and and have a good time doing it.
Don't miss John Bush & Category 7 this December, Get your tickets on the links below.
Sat. Dec. 13, Los Angeles, CA @ Whisky A Go-Go
TICKETS HERE:https://www.ticketweb.com/.../john-bush.../13908604...
Thurs. Dec. 18, St. Charles, IL @ Arcada Theatre
TICKETS HERE: https://www.etix.com/.../john-bush-celebrating-the-songs...
Sat. Dec. 20, New York City, NY @ Racket NYC
TICKETS HERE: https://www.axs.com/.../john-bush-celebrating-the-songs...
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