Joey Belladonna: ‘I’ve Never Really Found My Place With Anthrax’

Joey Belladona

In an interview with Sweden Rock Magazine (via Blabbermouth), Joey Belladonna has made some revealing comments about his current relationship with Anthrax.

The singer notes that he has “never really found his place” with the band, in spite of being their singer, off and on, since 1984:

“You’re joining four guys that are friends from New York City, and I don’t live … It’s like coming into a new neighborhood and trying to get new friends.

“If I walked into Chuck [Billy, Testament singer, who was also present at the time of the interview]’s neighborhood and he’s got four of his friends, then I’m, like, this new kid. No matter what you do, it’s gonna be hard. They’re all so close, unless you actually fit in right away and they’re just that cool … They were open to me, but they weren’t doing anything either way to make me feel like it was gonna be the best thing in the world; it was more business-like. ‘You wanna join with us, man? It’d be great.’

“Of course, [Anthrax’s manager at the time] Jonny Z, was very, very encouraging, ’cause he knew more about what it would be like to have somebody in there that would help make the band right versus a bunch of guys that weren’t sitting in the band very well.”

The singer went on to note that he doesn’t talk with the other members of Anthrax outside of band activities:

“I don’t think I’ve ever really found my place with this band. I mean, as much as we do what we do, it’s so corporate in its own way. But, yeah, it doesn’t get much better than it is now, but it could be a whole lot better, too, at the same time. [I’m] only allowed so much friendship.

“I don’t even talk with [the other guys in the band] right now. I mean, there’ll be a few e-mails, but they’re so short. It’s not like I sit on the horn [telephone] and talk with Charlie [Benante, Anthrax drummer] all day. He don’t have time for me. I do, but they just don’t, you know?! It’s only out of necessity [that they keep in contact with me]. So even back then, I don’t think it was anything really that cool. Part of me might not have joined it because it wasn’t as open as when I jammed with friends at home and they’d always come over my house all day and play for hours. And we’d go out together and we’d hang out together. Anthrax wasn’t like that, you know?!”