Some news has happened that I have to announce before we get to this.
A while back, I mentioned I was writing a Masters thesis on the use of social media in pro wrestling.
That
has evolved. Into a book for beginning independent wrestlers to create /
maintain / observe best practices for their digital profiles and grow
their careers.
A publisher is already lined up.
This isn't here as a flex or to brag. It's here as motivation.
This will easily be the biggest challenge I've ever taken on. And, if successful, my biggest professional achievement.
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That out of the way, I'll keep this (as) short and sweet (as I can). I've posted one interview with a member of Anthrax here already, but this one came first.
Anthtrax - specifically 1990’s Persistence of Time - is what made me a heavy metal fan. My dear friend Sandy let me borrow a cassette (he says, betraying his age again) of Persistence of Time and made me wonder why the hell I hadn’t listened to them sooner.
In 2003, Anthrax was on tour supporting We’ve Come For You All. Our man in Amsterdam, Grimmy Acosta, and I couldn’t miss this opportunity so we were off to the House of Blues venue in Orlando. We’d arranged for passes to the show - but before that, we would be speaking to (then-)lead singer John Bush.
This was my first time backstage at an arena. I kinda felt bad that John Bush sat on a coffee table while I took up a couch, especially considering how worn out he was after a full run on the road. But he was such a great guy that took it all in stride as we talked to him for quite a bit before their last show on this leg of the tour.
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For nearly 20 years, Anthrax has stood strong as one of the founders of speed and thrash metal. Beginning with 1984’s Fistful Of Metal, Anthrax has pummeled fans worldwide with breakneck riffs, a bludgeoning rhythm section, and topics ranging from abortion and war to Stephen King and Judge Dredd.
Recently, the band released We’ve Come For You All (Sanctuary Records) – a violent return to form that has been hailed as the best Anthrax record since Sound Of White Noise. From the opening double-kick drive of “What Doesn’t Die” to the soulful salvation of the current single, “Safe Home”, WCFYA is a critical favorite and a brilliant backdrop for a raging road show.
It is a good time for the band, especially considering what Anthrax has endured over the last several years. Three label changes, two due to the companies folding out from under them. A lead guitar slot left vacant for years, only recently filled. And of course the emergence of the disease that shares their name as a terrorist threat. Through it all, Anthrax has surfaced from under a vicious mess of circumstances that would have shattered most bands. They live not only to tell the tale of survival and rage, but to blast it all over the world.
Since the CD’s release, the band – currently consisting of lead singer John Bush, rhythm guitarist Scott Ian, bassist Frank Bello, drummer Charlie Benante, and new lead guitarist Rob Caggiano – has been across the country, tearing down venues great and small on the “Taking The Music Back” tour.
In this exclusive interview, we caught up with John Bush on the last night of the current leg of the tour. The fatigue of life on the road was visible, but Bush was still spirited and prepared to tear down the House Of Blues in Orlando, FL. Make no mistake – Anthrax is still one of metal’s dominant forces, and they have come for us all.
Interview with Anthrax lead singer John Bush – 10/29/2003
Michael Melchor: Alright, looks like the recorder’s running. We’re here with John Bush—
John Bush: Is this for radio, or – no, this is for a magazine, right?
MM: Yeah, this is for the magazine. BackStage Pass.
JB: Okay. I wasn’t sure if I should be in my “radio vibe” or what I was supposed to be.
MM: Not a problem.
[Grimmy Acosta]: Would it be alright I get a couple of pictures during the interview?
JB: Yeah, sure. You can get me in my Cubs shirt that I’ve worn for 3 days now. Starting to smell pretty good.
[GA]: [Laughs] Ahh, you can’t smell a picture.
JB: That’s right. Unless it’s scratch and sniff. You can write that, though – John Bush was pretty ripe as we were doing this interview.
MM: [Laughs] Excellent. Well, this tour’s just about over. I think you’ve got one more date in Puerto Rico, and then that’s it, right?
JB: Yeah, it was really just kind of a quick jaunt, about 3 weeks. In all honesty, it was a way to get to Puerto Rico. That show was confirmed, it’s a big gig, and we needed a way to get from New York to Puerto Rico. Taking nothing away from all the places we’ve played, of course, but we needed it to get down here. We’re flying out of Orlando, actually, to get to Puerto Rico. And it’s been – kinda grueling, quite honestly. We haven’t had that many days off. It’s been really fatiguing for everybody.
MM: Yeah, looking at the schedule, it looks like it’s been one right after another, pretty much.
JB: We kinda did, like, 10 shows in a row if you add the [Last Call With] Carson Daly show. That was kinda like our only day off, but it wasn’t really a day off because we needed to focus on playing live and acoustically, so we needed to be really on top of our game. So it’s just been a little rough. With all due respect here, everyone says the South is just a rough area, it kinda always has been. Some of the shows have been hit and miss. Some have been good, and some of them haven’t, quite honestly. Tonight’s the House Of Blues, so if there’s 2 people out there, it’s still gonna look right. [Laughs]
MM: [Laughs] Right. Well, I can pretty much vouch for the venue. I’ve seen—so far this year, I’ve seen Ministry here, and also Queensryche and Dream Theater. So it’s always been a decent show with a decent crowd.
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| With John Bush at Orlando House of Blues. Photo by Grimmy Acosta |
MM: That’s true. I can see that.
JB: We’ve been selling a lot of records on the road, and that’s an important thing. We’ve been doing “meet-and-greets” after the shows every night and we sign the record and say hello to the fans. That’s been awesome, actually, so that’s been a really big positive.
MM: Excellent. Speaking of [We’ve Come For You All], I’ve noticed it sounds a little more intense, maybe, than the last couple have been. I don’t know if that’s been a reactionary thing? I’ve heard it called a comeback album—
JB: We didn’t say that.
MM: No, not at all. And, quite frankly, neither have I, but there were a lot of things that happened, with the name scare and post-9/11, which – I thought Scott’s Alpha Male [web post] about changing the band’s name to “Basket Full Of Puppies” was just hilarious.
JB: That was a joke, and CNN just happened to pick up on it, and then didn’t say that it was a joke.
MM: Lovely. They didn’t bother reading the rest of it.
JB: Exactly, yeah. And they put it out in the news and made it seem like it really was the truth. “Excuse me, you didn’t read the article, it was a joke” - and they just put that part on. It was really lame. It was bad journalism, and it makes me wonder what other shit that they say that is not true.
MM: Definitely. Going into this one, was there anything else that was going on – what with the label switch from Ignition and what not, that little extra fire going into this one, or was this like making any other one?
JB: There may have been a little extra. Obviously, the last several years of this band – probably since Stomp 442, really because that’s when everything fell apart with Elektra [Records]. There’ve been a lot of things that we could probably use as motivation, in the world of primarily business, that would spark a lot of anger and a lot of ferocity on record. I’m sure we used that subconsciously. I don’t think we necessarily sit down and go, “We’re very fuckin’ pissed off; let’s make an even angrier album.” We should be able to just – we’re a heavy metal band, we’re experienced and we know what we’re doing, so we should be able to do that on our own. I don’t know if we necessarily need that as extra inspiration, but when it’s there and it’s prevalent and you’re dealing with it on a day-to-day basis, and everyday you find out that, the label went under, or the label isn’t willing to let you out of its deal, or who knows? Over the last 6-7 years, if there’s been a situation in the music business, we’ve dealt with it, including the whole anthrax scare happening. So I think that, obviously, we could probably use all those things as motivation. I don’t think that that’s the sole reason for this record sounding the way it does; I think we just wanted to…you always try and out do yourself. You’re always trying to make a better record, a better sounding record.
MM: And in dealing with everything, it’s just a matter of all that spilling over from everyday life into what you’re doing in the studio.
JB: Yeah, yeah. You always think that the last record you make is the best record you make. Then I think about a year later is when you can have a really fair evaluation of it. So right now, since it’s only been out about 7 months, it’s still the best record we’ve ever made, you know? [Laughs] But, you know, come May, we may look back and go, “Well, this didn’t work, this worked, that part didn’t work,” and I think that’s how you look back on it. That’s the best way to say it.
MM: This is definitely one of the best, I think, overall. Period. I’ve about worn this thing out since I got it.
JB: It’s a great record, and it’s up to us to try and get out and let everyone know that it’s a great Anthrax record worth purchasing.
MM: Yeah, it is great – especially with [drummer Charlie Benante] doing double-time on songs like “What Doesn’t Die” just – oh, good Lord.
JB: Charlie out did himself on this album. And it all kinda starts with the drums and the rhythm. And he’s the catalyst, so it started with the crazed drumming. I don’t know, maybe he had to re-establish himself as the greatest drummer in metal. I don’t know if he did or not; he’d be able to answer that. But if it starts with that – you have the beat of “What Doesn’t Die” or “Nobody Knows Anything” and that’s so amazing, it’s hard to put something that’s not going to be equally as heavy on there, vocally or musically, to go with that. So it all starts with the drums and the rhythm and the rhythm was amazing on this one.
MM: Very nice one. So how did it come about that you wound getting Keanu Reeves in the “Safe Home” video?
JB: Scott is friends with Keanu, and we had this idea originally of a bunch of people doing a cameo in the video, and it turns out that he was the only one we really got. [Laughs] He was really cooperative and excited about doing the part. And everybody else that we asked…some of it was schedule conflicts, some of it was, “Oh, yeah, yeah, I’ll do that,” and never really came down to do it. But he did it and it was great and it turned out to be good because it made it seem like he was the only one in the video other than the band, so that worked out actually good. It was fun. He was really enthused, and then he actually came to see to see us play at the House Of Blues in L.A. and was blown away. He’d never seen Anthrax play and it was cool.
MM: Made a good first impression, that’s cool. So when did you go with Sanctuary Records? It wasn’t too long ago, was it?
JB: It was actually about 2 months before the record came out here. The record was actually released in Japan in February and in March in Europe on Nuclear Blast, and America was the only territory that was undetermined. We were able to fix things. We had a really bad record contract with the company we were with, Beyond, who fell apart, and they were making it very difficult for us to get out of it, even though they were not going to put out the record. But they had our rights, so we had to be patient and, thankfully, at the very end, Sanctuary was able to get us out of the contract.
MM: So you were on Beyond right before that, then…
JB: We were on Beyond in America. They had licensed a deal through Nuclear Blast in Europe and we were always with JVC in Japan. But they weren’t a company anymore. But yet, even though they weren’t a company anymore, they still had the rights of the contract. So it was a nightmare, quite honestly. And luckily, Sanctuary got us out of it. And yeah, deep down, probably, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to set up the record with Sanctuary, and I think that hurt us a little bit. We’re still trying to fix that, because there’s been some cracks in the floor, I think, because of probably a little bit of that – having to deal with the fact that they just didn’t have a lot of preparation. And setting up a record is really important; probably the most important thing. You just don’t put it out there – you’ve got to prepare people for it—
MM: Let them know it’s coming.
JB: Right. Exactly. Promote it. So we’re trying to make up for that and do what we can do to let people know.
MM: Right. And Sanctuary seems to be a pretty good label, too. I’ve dealt with them before. I’ve noticed that they do quite a bit with what they have. More than some others I’ve seen, anyway.
JB: Well, we’re not super thrilled yet, to be honest with you. I mean, we think they can do more. But we’re working with them. They have a lot of bands and a lot of bands that are similar to us like Ministry and Queensryche and Iron Maiden…bands that had a history. And it’s a new generation, they’re still trying to remain cutting edge and stay very current, you know. It’s up to them to inform people beyond the Anthrax fans. The average Anthrax fan is going to be somewhat aware that we have a new record, but we’re still trying to reach newer people. That’s what the record company’s job is, to let people know that, “Hey, you’re not a huge Anthrax fan? You should get this record because of A, B, C, and D.” I mean, the Anthrax fans, they’ll know. They’re on it. But it’s up to them to find the outer reaches. And I think they still have a little more work to do in that area, but we’re staying behind it and we’re trying to be all unified.
MM: Well, I’ve seen that– (to [Acosta]) In fact, you were telling me on the way here that, up in Chicago, that “Safe Home” is #1 in that market on the all-request shows.
JB: Yeah, on that station up there we’re doing really well.
MM: So it seems to be doing well, especially with all the new kids out there. I’ve heard a lot of it in the media that there’s always the concern of keeping up with them, but you’ve managed to have done pretty damn well, I think.
JB: Yeah, and there’s two different ways to look at it. On the other hand, this band’s been around 20 years, and you’re not going to probably stay on top for 20 years. That’s asking a lot. About the only band that’s able to do that is Metallica and they’ve faltered a little bit. They still didn’t sell what they sold on The Black Album on [St. Anger]. That’s probably pretty much impossible to do that. But then, I was reading an article on Led Zeppelin the other day and Zeppelin, as amazing as they were, they were around 10 years. So we’ve doubled that – this band’s been around 20 years. It’s not going to be easy to always be on the top when you’re there. The best thing to do is to try to make all the right moves and try to make the least amount of mistakes. And hopefully that will keep this balance to sustain a certain level of popularity. Because people are going to come and go, let’s face it. Older fans, they – who knows? They get married, they have children, they stop listening to hard rock music. They just do. I don’t know if they start buying pop records or if they just stop buying records. But they do. We’ve heard it. We’ve heard it numerous times – where people go, “Oh, Anthrax, I used to listen to you.” Well, why not anymore? “Well, I’ve got kids…” What, you don’t listen to music? What’s with that, did you stop listening to music? But some people do. Therefore, when those people start to fade away, the objective is to get newer fans to replenish that. That’s the job, and that’s the difficulty in what we’re trying to do. But there are a lot of new fans. Strangely enough, last night we played a show and it wasn’t one of our best on the tour, but there were a lot of younger people there, so it was encouraging. You said you’ve never seen the band, so, in a sense, you’re new to the band. So it’s a good sign. We just need, maybe larger numbers of people coming in.
[GA]: And I’m married with a kid, too.
JB: [Laughs] Well there you go! How old are you?
[GA]: 26.
MM: And I’m divorced with a kid, and I turned 29 this year, so…not all of us disappear, thank you!
JB: [Laughs] No, I’m not saying that. Why people think that I don’t know, necessarily. And we want all fans to come – I don’t give a fuck if you’re 70! [Laughs] Serious, bro, I don’t care how old you are and how many years you’ve been with the band or how few years. Please come. Please come rock out to us. But this is the reality is what I’m saying. But that’s okay, because that’s life. People have to do what they’ve got to do in life. For me, music is a thing that drives me as a person. I love music. I’m always going to listen to music. That’s what we are is musicians. I’m always going to buy records.
MM: Exactly. We talked earlier about the label changes and the 9/11 thing – that’s an awful lot to stand strong through and still survive after almost 20 years now.
JB: Yeah, and that shows persistence and endurance, and that’s something this band definitely has, so that’s a good thing. It’s not always easy, but on the other hand, I would rather be doing this than digging ditches.
MM: Yeah, this is true. I know, on quite a few albums since Stomp 442 – well, I know Dimebag [Darrell, guitarist, Damageplan, ex-Pantera] has been on all of them.
JB: He was on Stomp, Volume 8, and now this one.
MM: Yep, and Phil Anselmo [lead singer, Superjoint Ritual, ex-Pantera] was on one—
JB: Right, he did a guest appearance, and Roger Daltery [lead singer, The Who] is on the new one.
MM: Right, and I was going to ask about that one, because that – wow.
JB: [Laughs] Yeah. Scott’s girlfriend is friends with Roger and his family. They had dinner one night, and Roger said he wanted to sing on the record, so we just had to find a song that would be best appropriate for his voice and that one [“Taking The Music Back”] seemed to be the right one.
MM: Yeah, that one worked out well.
JB: It has almost like a classic rock feeling to that song.
MM: Yeah. And Dime, is he just good friends with the band?
JB: Yeah, Dime has just always been there, you know, Since Danny [Spitz] left until Rob, now a really solid lead guitar player in the band. For a couple years it was still really unsure. Paul Crook toured with us and played leads on record, but it wasn’t really a solid situation. But Dimebag, he has a lot of fire when he comes on record. It’s cool to have him there. He’s awesome.
MM: And Rob [Caggiano], he was with the Scrap 60 production team.
JB: Yeah, Rob was with the Scrap 60 production team. Rob and Eddie are partners. They have that company called Scrap 60 and they produce a bunch of records, and it was fun. They did a lot of eating on the recording. They take long breaks to eat [Laughs], but at the end of the day the record turned out to be really, really awesome.
MM: Excellent. Now, have they produced a couple of other ones also?
JB: Yeah. They’ve produced Dry Kill Logic; Rob mixed the Cradle Of Filth Record. He’s done a lot of things on his own; I can’t think of them now off the top of my head but you can ask him and he can give you a rundown on all the stuff he’s done.
MM: Cool. I thought that Scrap 60 had worked a couple of Anthrax albums, including Stomp 442—
JB: No, that was the Butcher Brothers.
MM: Ahh, okay. That’s what I’m getting confused.
JB: Yeah, and then Paul co-produced Volume 8 with us – and now he’s touring with Meatloaf.
MM: Oh wow. Nice. So, anything in particular planned next? Are you doing another road tour or—
JB: We’re going to do another video – for the song “What Doesn’t Die”. It’ll be fun. Supposed to be a bunch of zombies in it. It’ll be really creepy. We’re looking forward to it. The guy, Brian Posehn, who’s a comedian and actor, will be directing. He’s the guy who’s in Just Shoot Me – he’s the blond, tall, balding guy. He’s a friend of the band and he’s going to direct it. We’re also going to do a recording of a bunch of old Anthrax songs – stuff from the Joey Belladonna era. Do kind of a live recording of it, just in the studio, and the DVD of that and that’s going to surface in different ways. There’s going to be a boxed set next year, too, that Island [Records] is putting out throughout the career of the band. So there’s a lot of cool stuff coming up, and then I’m sure we’re going to continue touring. I don’t know when we’re going to come back down here…we’re going to do another run in November and December and then we’ll take a break for the holidays. And then we’re hoping to go to South America, Japan, Australia – we haven’t been to any of those places in a while. Well, we played the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan this year, but we haven’t done a legit tour there since ’98. And, who knows? I’m sure touring is going to be a big aspect of it because that’s what it is.
MM: Hitting the road and building the fan base, that way you’re luring in the new fans and keeping everybody else around.
JB: Right.
MM: I think I’ve about touched on everything I have—
[GA]: The cover art [for We’ve Come For You All].
MM: Yes! Thank you. [Comic artist] Alex Ross—
JB: Yeah—
MM: How was it that you wound up getting a hold of him for that?
JB: Our webmaster actually just contacted him. It was kind of like a pipe dream. He just threw [Ross] an e-mail, said “Would you be interested in doing Anthrax’s album cover?” And he said, “Yeah.” It was really that simple.
MM: So did it turn out he was a fan, then?
JB: I don’t think he was really that much of a fan; I mean he was, of course, aware of the band. I guess maybe it sounded interesting to him, so we took a bunch of pictures and we gave him a general idea of what we were thinking and he ran with it. He had some of his own ideas also.
MM: (unfolding inlay of CD and pointing to icons inside) It looks like he did a lot of these also—
JB: Our webmaster, Brent, actually did all of those icons. He did an awesome job on all of these. [Ross] only did the cover. [Brent] did a good job, he and Alex. Our back drop is up [on the stage]. You can see it. It’s amazing. The artwork is really, really cool. He made us superheroes, which is nice of him.
MM: Yeah. And I like that everybody is reaching in and all of you’re reaching out to them.
JB: It’s cool. Really came out amazing.
MM: Excellent. Well after he reminded me of that, I think that may be everything.
JB: Alright, guys.
[GA]: Thank you, man.
MM: Yes, thank you very much.
JB: Thank you. Good meeting you guys.
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