JOEY BELLADONNA Reveals He Worked In A Horse Barn During His Time Away From ANTHRAX

In a recent interview with Kati Rausch from Music Interview Corner, Joey Belladonna shared his thoughts on his absence from ANTHRAX throughout much of the 1990s and early 2000s.

“Well, for me to be out of the band for that long, it’s almost too long,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “It was unexpected and it wasn’t my idea and I wouldn’t have preferred it. But it happened. And I just maintained myself. And I was actually working in a horse barn for a couple of years. I was [in] maintenance, and Krista, my wife, we both worked at a pretty famous riders’ facility. I cut grass all day. It was so big there, I couldn’t complete all my work each day. It was a long, long day. It took me two, three days to weedy the whole place.”

“A lot of people don’t realize that you would even do that. I didn’t really necessarily have to do that job. It was one of those things that fell into place and I enjoyed it and I got a lot of experience from it. But I also had a band; I was doing some cover music and I was playing drums. And it was kind of like the old days for me. So I just continued to do that and work on some original music and stuff. I kept myself busy. I didn’t really fall apart. I kept busy and just waited for some time, and all of a sudden I’d come back. So here I am.”

Joey Belladonna served as the lead vocalist of ANTHRAX from 1984 to 1992 and was a key member of the band’s classic lineup, alongside Dan Spitz, Scott Ian, Frank Bello, and Charlie Benante.

He rejoined ANTHRAX when the classic lineup reunited for tours in 2005 and 2006. However, he later discovered online that he had been replaced by Dan Nelson.

Belladonna’s vocals are featured on six studio albums and several EPs, collectively selling over eight million copies worldwide. During his initial run with ANTHRAX, the band earned three Grammy nominations, and Belladonna was named the No. 1 metal singer for two consecutive years by Metal Forces magazine.