BELLADONNA, the band named after ANTHRAX vocalist Joey Belladonna, have confirmed a December 18th live date at Dingbatz in Clifton Park, NJ.

In other news, Birgit Haugen from Sonic Excess recently conducted an interview with Belladonna recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Sonic Excess: The new (Anthrax) album was already recorded with prior vocalist Dan Nelson and has to be redone now. I heard that five or six tracks will stay the same, and the rest has to be reworked. So are you putting the final touches on the new album now?

Belladonna: "Well, there are new lyrics being done right now and just the overall vocals are going to be brand new. Music-wise, there might not be a lot of recording. Who knows?! Again, it's open to anything at this point, because you get a whole other shot at everything. But they are really happy with what they have, so there is not a lot of finagling going on; if it can be helped, of course. I mean, if it's good and all satisfactory; why change it?!"

Sonic Excess: Who are the main songwriters in Anthrax, music- and lyric-wise?

Belladonna: "You know, it really moves in every direction. Everyone has ideas. Scott Ian (guitar), for the longest time, was doing all of the lyrics. He was coming up with a lot of things. Charlie Benante (drums) comes up with a lot of guitar parts and Frankie Bello (bass) with melodies. And I come up with my own little ideas once I finally get the drift on what's going on. You know, everyone has moments, but I don't think there is a sole writer per say, as I know of, and I am not there for a lot of it too. So I don't know who in the end finalizes which part."

Sonic Excess: Who will be producing the new album?

Belladonna: "I have never met him. I don't know who is doing it right now or before. At this point, I have not been introduced to whoever is doing it. Sorry."

Sonic Excess: Actually, just today I read an interview with John Bush (former ANTHRAX vocalist), and he was asked how he felt singing songs from your era. Now, how about you? How do you feel singing songs out of the John Bush era?

Belladonna: "The thing is they have such a great catalog that we could easily do everything and not touch any of their old stuff, but, you know, we already tried one ("Only"), and it comes off pretty cool. I don't know if it is necessary to do though. They had years of playing new stuff, so it's only inevitable that somebody would like to try something. But, if anything, maybe the new material will kind of counter some of it. Well, I don't have a problem with it. It's just getting familiar with the songs and feeling comfortable with it."

Read the entire interview here.