Michael Lello at The Weekender recently caught up with ANTHRAX vocalist Joey Belladonna. Following is an excerpt from the story.

When Joey Belladonna made his return to Anthrax a few months ago, he didn’t do it in a warm-up show or a low-key tour of theaters and clubs. No, the vocalist and his previously former bandmates played in front of hundreds of thousands of fans during a string of European dates that featured the Big Four of thrash metal — Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax — playing together for the first time in heavy metal history.

Belladonna, considered a member of Anthrax’s “classic” lineup which put out the albums Spreading the Disease, Among The Living, State of Euphoria and Persistence of Time, will join Scott Ian (guitar), Frank Bello (bass), Charlie Benante (drums) and relative newcomer Rob Caggiano (guitar) Saturday, Oct. 9 at Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain when the Jagermeister Music Tour hits Scranton. Anthrax, as it did in the Bulgarian Big Four concert recently broadcast to American theaters, including Cinemark in Moosic, will perform first, followed by MEGADETH and SLAYER.

“I’m really psyched,” Belladonna says by phone from his upstate New York home. “It’s a good metal evening, totally a nice package. Every (band) is different in their own way, too. No one’s like one another. Even though it’s all metal, we have our own styles.”

Anthrax dropped Belladonna in 1992 in favor of Armored Saint singer John Bush. In 2005, Belladonna came back for an ill-fated reunion that only lasted two years, and he was replaced by Dan Nelson. Last December, Anthrax announced that Belladonna was once again back in the fold. He says there were no hurt feelings that needed to be repaired in order for him to accept the band’s offer to rejoin this time.

“It’s a business, so you try to put everything together so it’s done equally and fair enough, just so you have a grip on what’s going on,” Belladonna explains. “Mainly, the thing is not about bad feelings or anger amongst each other — it’s never been that kind of way. It’s been their show since I joined (in 1985), and I just want to make everything clear.

Go to this location for the complete story.

Remaining tour dates are as follows:

October

8 - Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Uniondale - Long Island, NY
9 - Toyota Pavilion @ Montage Mountain - Scranton, PA*
10 - LC Pavilion - Columbus, O
12 - Freedom Hall - Louisville, KY
14 - War Memorial Coliseum - Ft. Wayne, IN
15 - DeltaPlex - Grand Rapids, MI
16 - Eagles Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI
19 - E Center - Salt Lake City, UT
20 - The Pearl - Las Vegas, NV
21 - Gibson Amphitheatre - Hollywood, CA