Longtime US-based writer Bryan Reesman spoke with ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna for his Attention Deficit Delirium blog. In the interview Belladonna talked about returning to Anthrax, musical philosophy, his cover band, and meeting former JOURNEY vocalist Steve Perry. Excerpts from the interview are below:

On the reunion: "For me, it’s nice to do a record because I would’ve liked to have done records throughout the time that they’ve been together. There wasn’t any reason in my eyes to make all these changes. I didn’t think we were doing anything wrong or something wasn’t working. When the Nineties came in and they felt they had to jump ship with something I was doing — sometimes when you have something that works like that, you should stay the course with it. It’s easy for me to say sometimes when somebody has some other opinions on what style they’re looking for. Who am I to say that even if I did stay in the band we would have been fine and dandy. I think we would’ve been personally. From what I can read now, we definitely would’ve been fine because we’re not doing anything right now that’s unusually different or harder or anything that anybody had to figure out how to persuade somebody in the band to figure out."

On singing and playing drums in CHIEF BIG WAY: "It’s a three-piece, sometimes a four-piece with keyboards. We play TRIUMPH, DEEP PURPLE, RUSH, VAN HALEN, LED ZEPPELIN, THE WHO, PINK FLOYD, HENDRIX, CREAM, all classic stuff. We also do Priest, SABBATH and DIO. It’s all older, straight up hits type stuff. I’m on the drums with the [vocal] headset. There are no props and no gimmicks. I sing the whole night. I never thought that I would sing and play 'Tom Sawyer' at the same time. Something that you think is easy to play is often not. 'Heartbreaker' by Led Zeppelin has so many different [drum] accents that have nothing to do with the song vocally. It’s a good challenge."

On his eclectic musical tastes: "When you ask me about music, I’m really reluctant to bring up names of bands like it’s something that I shouldn’t have brought up — 'Oh my god, he listens to that, how crummy is that.' It’s more weird that I’m a metal singer, so to speak. Certain music will tend to educate me in some ways and give me all kinds of depth. 'I didn’t know they could put those three chords together and make it sound like that. And those harmonies underneath, wow!' That’s why I listen to certain things, and sometimes it just makes you feel good. I don’t care if it is or isn’t heavy. I don’t think that way, but I’m afraid to say that I just listened to all of BREAD’s Greatest Hits. People are weird like that — they actually take that to heart. That’s where you’ve got that worship, which relates to the Worship Music title. 'f you’re a fan of them, I don’t like you!' Even when I’m playing my cover [band] thing, if somebody finds out that I’m in Anthrax and didn’t know anything about it, they actually like what I’m doing in the cover thing better. Not that I care because I’m not trying to sell the Anthrax thing, I’m just playing covers and having a good night out. People are funny about what they like. That’s cool, but I can’t take it that far."

Read the entire interview here.

Anthrax hits the road beginning October 14th on a coast-to-coast US tour with TESTAMENT and DEATH ANGEL. Three new dates have been added to the tour - Sayreville, NJ, Huntington, NY and Cleveland, OH. The schedule is now as follows:

October

14 - Orbit Room - Grand Rapids, MI
15 - Congress Theatre - Chicago, IL
16 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
18 - The Cotillion - Wichita, KS
19 - Summit Music Hall - Denver, CO
22 - Nokia LA Live - Los Angeles, CA
23 - Warfield Theatre - San Francisco, CA
24 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
26 - Sunshine Theatre - Albuquerque, NM
28 - South Side Music Hall - Dallas, TX
29 - Emo's East - Austin, TX
30 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX

November

1 - House of Blues - Orlando, FL
2 - Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale - FL
4 - House of Blues - Myrtle Beach, SC
5 - Fillmore Charlotte - Charlotte, NC
6 - The Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD
8 - Northern Lights - Clifton Park, NY
10 - Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
11 - Palladium - Worcester, MA
12 - Starland Ballroom - Sayreville, NJ
13 - The Paramount - Huntington, NY
15 - Town Ballroom - Buffalo, NY
17 - Stage AE - Pittsburgh, PA
18 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
19 - Rave - Milwaukee, WI