It’s Just About Making It Work

Former Anthrax‘s frontman – and lifelong Armored Saint singer – John Bush has opened up once more about the potential for a special tour celebrating his tenure with the band. In a recent interview with Eonmusic, Bush shared his thoughts on possibly performing material from his era in Anthrax, either with the current lineup or alongside a select group of musician friends.

“I have some ideas about it, some more recent ideas about it, and in conjunction with, for players, we could even maybe do something in conjunction with my new project Category 7, although I don’t know about that yet, which means we could play some of these songs, but then we could also play some of the songs from everybody’s other projects, right? I don’t know yet. Now I have this other thing with Category 7 and Armored Saint and like, how do I make it work? I do want to do that one day, I really do,” said Bush.

He reflected on his contributions to Anthrax, citing tracks from Sound Of White Noise, Stomp 442, Volume 8, and We’ve Come For You All as having strong potential for live performances. Bush expressed a preference for selective shows or festival appearances over an extensive tour, adding: ” I don’t necessarily want to go out and do sixty dates, quite honestly, but I do want to go out and play maybe some specific shows, maybe some festivals. I have some ideas, newer ideas in conjunction with it. It’s just about making it work.”

At 60, Bush acknowledged the challenge of timing, emphasizing his desire to make the project work while maintaining his health and vocal strength. “Time is not on my side with a lot of things. I’m 60 years old, but I’m still doing pretty good — I did Pilates yesterday and held my own. I still try to be physically active, and I feel great, the voice is good, as long as I stay healthy. I want to make this work,” he explained, also acknowledging the inevitable speculation that might arise from his comments. I don’t know; next thing I know, it’s going to Blabbermouth tomorrow, because they’re gonna be, like, ‘He said that before, but he hasn’t done it, so, like, shut up already!’ So I want to. I just don’t know when.”

Earlier this year, Bush told Nikki Blakk of San Francisco’s 107.7 The Bone about his enthusiasm for revisiting his Anthrax material in a limited capacity. “It wouldn’t be some long tour; it would probably be like a handful of shows of doing my era in Anthrax,” he noted, recognizing the extensive catalog Anthrax has developed over the years. While Bush understands the band’s focus on their current projects, he sees the value in revisiting songs from his tenure for the fans and himself provided the timing aligns.

“‘Cause they don’t play too many of the songs — they play ‘Only’, and they just don’t play too many. And I get it because there’s a large catalog that Anthrax has, not only from the beginning but now they’ve made — they’re about ready to make their third record, I believe, after that. So, I understand. I really do. I totally get it. But there are some songs that would be fun to hear, I think, for fans and for myself. It just has to kind of work with time, really; that’s the key component.

“But it would be fun, for sure. I just don’t know at this point when that would happen. And I don’t know — they’ve kind of got their own thing going on, too. They’re busy, they’re making a new record. One day maybe something. Maybe it’ll be me with various musicians doing it. Probably not with the band, actually. Or if they ever wanted to say, ‘Hey, you wanna come out and sing a couple songs?’ Yeah, I’d be into that. But I always say it’s something that Joey Belladonna should be wanting to do. If this is something that he’s not into and he’s uncomfortable, then it shouldn’t be done, because there’s no point. But who knows?”