Joey Belladonna records vocals without 'interference' of Anthrax bandmates

Joey Belladonna
Joey Belladonna (Image credit: Getty)

Anthrax frontman Joey Belladonna has revealed that he prefers to record his vocal parts without the interference of his bandmates.

The singer insists on being alone in the studio with producer Jay Ruston and sending his vocal takes to the band via email for approval, rather than having them around while he works.

Belladonna tells Metal Wani: “It’s just me and Jay Ruston in the studio and it’s awesome to be able to do a record that way. With nobody there, that’s my favourite thing. No-one interjecting what I’m doing.

“Long ago I never even got to the next thing that I could have without having someone interfering. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but a lot of the time it’s tough.

“It was almost like getting beat down. Like, ‘What do you want me to do? I’ve tried.’

“The producer’s cool, me and him don’t push each other to a point where it’s frustrating. But the band, there was a lot of opinions around. It was a lot of hours and it was tough. It’s not easy to sing over this stuff, it’s very challenging.”

Anthrax released their 11th album For All Kings earlier this year. Belladonna says the results show that the band are still evolving, partly thanks to the addition of new guitarist Jon Donais.

He adds: “We’re evolving musically too. We’re writing some really interesting, newer Anthrax style but the same vibe. We have more room to be explorative. We have the capabilities of playing a wider range of music versus that one style. I like that.”

Drummer Charlie Benante recently said the band might have recorded their last album in For All Kings, but mainman Scott Ian moved quickly to assure fans that wasn’t the case.

Anthrax have a number of tour dates still to come in 2016.

Anthrax remaining 2016 tour dates

Jul 02: Tuska Open Air, Finland
Jul 03: Wroclaw Stadium, Poland
Jul 05: Bergen USF Verftet, Norway
Jul 06: Alesund Terminalen, Norway
Jul 07: Oslo Parkteatret Scene, Norway
Jul 09: Jalometalli Festival, Finland
Jul 11: Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark
Jul 12: Cologne Live Music Hall. Germany
Jul 13: Munster Skaters Palace, Germany
Jul 15: Gavle Gefle Metal Festival, Sweden
Jul 16: Dynamo Metalfest, Netherlands
Jul 17: Barcelona Rock Fest, Spain
Jul 19: Vigo Catrelos, Spain
Jul 20: Madrid Sala Arena, Spain
Jul 22: Majano Area Concerti Festival, Italy
Jul 23: Bagnatica Fosch Fest, Italy
Jul 24: Rock In Roma, Italy
Aug 11: Villena Leyendas Del Rock, Spain
Aug 14: Bloodstock Open Air, UK
Aug 21: Auburn Pain In The Grass, WA
Sep 09: Cleveland Jacob’s Pavilion, OH
Sep 10: Detroit Freedom Hill Amphitheatre, MI
Sep 11: Travers City Ground Zero, MI
Sep 12: Toronto Sound Academy, ON
Sep 13: Montreal Metropolis, QC
Sep 15: Pittsburgh Stage AE, PA
Sep 16: Rochester Anthology, NY
Sep 17: Mashantucket Revolution Rock Fest, CT
Sep 18: Chester Rock Allegiance Festival, PA
Sep 20: Indianapolis Egyptian Room, IN
Sep 21: Chicago Concord Music Hall, IL
Sep 22: St Louis The Pageant, MO
Sep 24: Houston Open Air Festival, TX
Sep 25: Knotfest, CA
Sep 27: Orlando Hard Rock Live, FL
Sep 28: Miami Fillmore, FL
Sep 29: Destin Club LA, FL
Sep 30: Tunica Horseshoe Casino, MS
Oct 01: Louisville Louder Than Life Festival, KY
Oct 03: Norfolk Norva, VA
Oct 04: Ashveille Orange Peel, NC
Oct 05: Atlanta Tabernacle, GA
Oct 06: Baton Rouge Varsity Theatre, LA
Oct 07: Dallas Gas Monkey Live, TX
Oct 08: Austin ACL At The Moody Theatre, TX
Oct 10: Denver Fillmore, CO
Oct 11: Salt Lake City The Complex, UT
Oct 12: Boise Rev Hall, ID
Oct 13: Missoula The Wilma Theatre, MT
Oct 14: Idaho Falls The Hill Event Center, ID
Oct 15: Garden City Revolution Concert House, ID
Oct 16: Spokane Knitting Factory, WA
Oct 17: Lethbridge Enmax Center, AB
Oct 19: Penticton South Okanagan Events Centre, BC
Oct 20: Abbotsford Centre, BC
Oct 21: Portland Hawthorn Theatre, OR
Oct 22: Elverta Discovery Park, CA
Oct 23: Reno Events Center, NV
Oct 24: Sacramento Aftershock Festival, CA
Oct 25: Flagstaff Orpheum Theatre, AZ
Oct 26: Famington Top Deck, NM
Oct 27: El Paso County Coliseum, TX

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.