John Bush says that he would be “open” to the idea of celebrating the upcoming 30th anniversary of ANTHRAX‘s “Sound Of White Noise” album by playing a special show with his former bandmates.
Bush fronted ANTHRAX between 1992 and 2005 but was sidelined when the band reunited with Joey Belladonna for a 20th-anniversary tour. When that collapsed, and relationships disintegrated with next frontman Dan Nelson, Bush returned for a time before Belladonna took the job back in 2010.
John discussed his current relationship with ANTHRAX in a brand new interview with the 80’s Glam Metalcast. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Me and Scott [Ian, ANTHRAX guitarist], I just saw him recently at [ARMORED SAINT bassist] Joey Vera‘s house. We had a lot of fun chewing the fat and talking about stuff. It’s a good relationship now with those guys. At times, it was a little bit kind of distant, but it’s not really like that any longer.”
Speaking about the possibility of some kind of a 30th-anniversary celebration for 1993’s “Sound Of White Noise”, Bush said: “Joey Belladonna is the face of ANTHRAX and the voice of it, and that’s his gig, and I’m not looking to get in there again at all. But if [there was an opportunity] here and there to kind of honor [an album anniversary], I’d be supportive of the idea. But the band is secure the way it is and doing very well as is, and I think that’s the way it should continue on. But anything is possible for a random show or a song or two. I’d be open to that, because I love those songs.”
Bush temporarily rejoined ANTHRAX for a number of shows in late 2009 and early 2010 but stepped aside in May 2010 in order to make room for the return of Belladonna. Belladonna was the lead singer of ANTHRAX from 1984 to 1992, and was considered part of the band’s classic lineup (alongside Dan Spitz, Scott Ian, Frank Bello and Charlie Benante), which reunited and toured during 2005 and 2006.
Although Belladonna did perform the Bush-era song “Only” live with ANTHRAX on a couple of occasions, the track has since been dropped from the band’s set. “We’ve got enough songs [that were originally recorded with me on vocals],” Joey explained in a 2016 interview. “We’ve got enough material; I don’t need to go back. I’d just as soon leave that alone. I mean, once in a while I get people complaining, and then after a while, it got really old too. I hate that whole thing, ’cause we’re not even the same… We happened to be in the same band, but it’s a completely different thing.”
A year ago, Bush and ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante reunited — virtually — to record a quarantine version of the song “Packaged Rebellion” to celebrate the 27th anniversary of “Sound Of White Noise”.
