If you lived in the New York/New Jersey area, and were discovering metal, probably on 89.5 WSOU, there was one voice that grabbed you by the throat, and tore a hole in your soul in the most positive way possible. That voice was John Bush of Anthrax.
Bush joined Anthrax in 1992 after fronting Armored Saint, and was the voice of Anthrax for the albums Sound of White Noise, Stomp 442, Volume 8: The Threat Is Real and We’ve Come For You All. Bush beautifully blended a ferocious, punishing voice with savage harmony, reinterpreting what metal would sound like in the ’90s. The 1992 anthem “Only” perfectly crystallizes the pure artistry of what Bush and Anthrax could create together. It was unmistakably metal, but it was so unique as it was filled with grooves and harmonies without ever sacrificing its brutality.
Anthrax and Bush would part ways in the early ’00s, but this week, the music of John Bush-era Anthrax returns as the singer returns to New York City on Saturday December 20 at Racket to perform cuts from all the records he made with the band.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we spoke with John Bush about what inspired him to hit the road and perform the songs from Anthrax days, the reactions of the Anthrax guys to the tour, opening for himself on the tour with his band Category 7, new music from Armored Saint and more.
What was the inspiration to be like, “Hey, I’m I’m gonna do a little mini-tour of the songs from Anthrax that I was involved in?” Some people play full albums, and you’re going for a very specific time in your life, so what was the inspiration for that?
Well, for one, I’ve been talking about it for a while now, probably anywhere from five to even 10 years at this point. And so I kind of got tired of me talking about it all the time. Every time I’d do an interview, somebody would ask me, and then next thing you know, it’s a big story on Blabbermouth and it’s like, “John Bush talks about doing a tour doing the songs that he did with Anthrax.” It’s getting kind of tiresome for me to talk about it all the time and not do it.
Plus, on top of that, the main reason is because I want to play these tunes. I miss these songs. I think there were some killer songs and records that I made with Anthrax back in the ’90s into the zeros. They’ve kind of been, I don’t want to say eliminated, but for a while, the records actually were pretty unavailable. And the fact of the matter is that they really don’t play the material much. I get it, I totally understand. They have a lot of material from the ’80s, which is when Anthrax really became the powerhouse that they became, and then they’ve made a couple records since Joey’s been back in the band. They’re doing a new video, and I know they made a new record that’s coming out next year. So they got plenty of material to play, without diving into my stuff.
As much as I would like them to play these songs, they played only here and there. So, for a while, my mindset was, well, if I don’t do something, then they just kind of go into this abyss to some degree. I don’t want that based on the fact that I spent almost 12, 13 years in this band, making records, promoting records, touring for those records, doing countless interviews, and I’m really proud of those tunes. So, my thought process was, well, I’ll go play them, when I can, when I’m available, not doing stuff with Saint.
All that being said coupled with the fact that I’ve said it and talked about it and it was finally this [the time] to do it. My agent, Dan DeVito, who’s a good buddy of mine, he books Armored Saint among many other bands, he’s like let’s just do three dates. We’ll break it up into different sections of the country, and we’ll tackle three, and we’ll just see what the response is. Kind of dip my foot into the river a little bit, and see what happens. And so, here we are.
Do you ever wish that Anthrax would do what Van Halen did when they did a tour with one set having David Lee Roth singing his VH tunes, and the second set was Sammy singing his. Was there ever a conversation about this?
Well, there was, actually. We entertained that idea back in the late ’90s/early aughts, when we put out something [1999’s Attack of the Killer A’s] to kind of keep the name out there. It was after the record Volume 8: The Threat is Real! came out in ’98. Then we put out this, because we were in between record deals. So we ended up doing this deal with Beyond Records, which I think has come and gone, which happened to us a couple times while I was in the band. They were associated with Motley Crue. Correct. [Allen] Kovac is the gentleman’s name who started the label.
In any case, we did, like, the greatest hits of both eras, and then Joey and I actually did a song together where we did “Ball of Confusion” which is a Temptations cover, great tune, it was real fun. We probably should have documented that a little better. We didn’t really capitalize on it, but we sang it together, and it was really cool. I thought it was a cool idea, you know, because The Temptations have multiple voices in there. We could have gotten Neil Turbin in there, really kind of had three different voices in there, which would have been cool.
So we were supposed to do a tour based on that, and then this record coming out, but for whatever reason, it never really came to fruition. This was probably pre-Helloween, because when they went on tour, they brought all three singers, or maybe Kai Hansen was singing as well. I just know that they went out with a couple singers, and they got a lot of mileage out of that. I thought it was really cool. So, on top of Dave and Sammy doing something. I always tell people you can love both eras.
You could love one maybe a little more, I understand that. I feel the same when I listen to Black Sabbath’s Volume 4 compared to Heaven and Hell. I won’t disclose my favorites, but, I mean, I love both those records. You can love both. Just, you know, that’s… that’s the way I see it. You can… you can enjoy both.
Have you talked to any of the guys from Anthrax about the tour?
I’ve talked to all of them, actually. I said you could be involved, or you could not be involved. You can come do five songs, you could come do no songs. You could just come watch, or you could not come. At the end of the day, when I finally decided to do it, I needed to do it for myself. I have to do this, I don’t want to ask people’s permission. I don’t want to see if anyone’s supportive. Of course I don’t want them against it, that’s not the mentality at all.
I had dinner with Frank Bello one night and Jerry Rustin, who’s mixed and produced the last couple Anthrax records, at Casa Vega here in LA. We had a lot of fun talking about songs. I talked to Charlie and I wished him a happy birthday. Scott lives here in Southern California, so I see him probably the most. There was a period of time where the relations got a little strained and distant, but we’ve overcome that and I’m really happy about it because I treasure those times in Anthrax. So everybody’s supportive and really behind it, or at least have no qualms about it and I’m excited about that.
It’s always a good thing to hear when a band that has members it no longer works with, are on good terms. We’re not getting any younger, and we’re in a time and age where so much is going, it’s like why be pised?
That’s a good way of looking at it. I appreciate that, Bill, because, The reality is that those are two of the real factors behind this. Number one is I’m not getting any younger. Belting these tunes out is not some easy feat quite frankly. Not to say I can’t do it, because I believe in myself, but I recorded Sound of White Noise when I was 28 years old. So, it was a long time ago. I want to play a lot of songs, and there’s going to be a lot of eyes upon me. So I wanted to kill it. I don’t want to go ‘I’ll get around to this when I’m 70’ I want to do it now.
I’ve seen bands do that exact thing.
Exactly! Every day counts, really. That’s the main real kind of instigation behind it. I want to do it when I feel like I can still do it great, and my voice is feeling great, but nevertheless, it’s challenging, without a doubt.
Let’s talk about setlists. There’s some songs we know you gotta do. Can you give us a hint on any kind of deep cuts that you might be throwing in there for people?
No, I won’t tell anybody because I just want to keep that secret. These days with Setlist.fm, which is killer, and I always consult it when I’m doing a setlist. I go, ‘Okay, what did we play last time we were here? Okay, well, let’s change that. I think that’s a great thing, but I also don’t like to look at band setlists in advance.
It was funny, because Oasis just played, a buddy of mine went to go see them and they were playing two nights at the Rose Bowl here in LA. He went both nights. ‘I was like, did they change [the setlist]?’ And he goes, ‘No, they haven’t changed the set since they started.’ He said they played the same set since they played in the first couple shows in Britain. I was like, ‘Oh, come on, man, like, they got a lot of songs you can’t just not see on the setlist especially when you play two nights in one city.’ In my opinion you have to because you know every British person in Southern California went to that show, and probably went both nights. I feel like you gotta change it up a little bit.
I saw Metallica two summers ago at MetLife over in Jersey and people there were like ‘Oh they’ll play this song this night, this one this night.’
Well, for Metallica to do the two sets per night per city that was insane. I’m flabbergasted that they were able to do that. We’re talking about, like 40 songs, it’s pretty incredible. It’s really remarkable that they were able to do that, and extremely commendable. A lot of bands they’ll just play the same set every night. When you have a long, deep catalog, you gotta mix it up, in my opinion. I actually ended up pissing the guys in Armored Saints an awful lot, because they’ll say, that was a great set, and I’d say ‘Now let’s change it.’
I kind of feel like you kind of mixed it up a little bit because you have fans who will see you in multiple cities, too.
Exactly. So, I’m not gonna talk about deep tracks. The obvious songs that I’m gonna play … the ones I have to play and want to play. But I feel like I’ve been listening to some requests. I’ve also kind of based it on just some of my personal favorites. So, that coupled with doing three shows, I’ve already prepped the guys who are playing with 20 songs. I feel I owe it to people to change it up a little bit. I’m not gonna say it’s gonna be two different complete sets, that’s just not realistic. But, yeah, it’s gonna be a little different, and I am gonna dig into a couple deep tracks, but I can’t reveal those.
Is there a song from this run that you can’t wait to play, maybe because you feel it’s a challenge to do, or you just want to get back into that headspace from all these years ago?
I’ve been practicing, prepping pretty hard for this, on my own. Basically, I’m in my son’s bedroom and I sing the songs, really kind of the YouTube versions. It was funny, the other night, I was singing in my daughter’s bedroom, because there’s some cool ambience in her closet. My next-door neighbor started screaming. She’s an Argentinian woman, and she just started freaking out. Granted, I was in my daughter’s closet, and because of the way it’s set up the widow’s right there, and my next-door neighbor’s house is pretty close.
She flipped out, and she’s screaming, and she started blasting this Argentinian singer-songwriter’s music loud. So I was like, ‘Whoa, man, what’s happening?’ I live in a duplex, and my sister-in-law and her roommate live below us. My sister-in-law’s roommate was, like, ‘Oh, she was screaming at you.’ I started cracking up because I’m pretty loud, obviously. So, I went into my son’s bedroom and that’s where I’ve been for the last couple weeks now because his room’s a little more muffled. Bathrooms are the best place for me. When I go to a venue, the first thing I do is go into the bathroom and hear the ambience in it, and that’s where I warm up.
Is there a song that you’re really amped to do? I’m not trying to dip into the others, but, on a personal level are there some you’re like “Yeah, I gotta do this one!”
I’ve been practicing, going back to what I said. I’ve been working hard on singing these songs. Some of them are ones that come right back to me, which is pretty funny. “We’ve Come For You All,” which came out in 2003. That’s still 22 years old now at this point, not to mention Sound of White Noise, which came out in ’93. So, ironically enough, some of these songs are coming right back to me, which is great, luckily, for my memory.
Some of them, not so much. But some of them I’m practicing hard to remember lyrics and try not to look at the lyrics to see if they start getting back into the memory banks. A lot of them have come back to me, which is a good thing, because there’s a lot of songs here. I just toured with Armored Saint, playing a bunch of songs, so in a nutshell, I have a lot of lyrics in my head, not to mention the Category 7 songs, which are playing at least five of them. It is fun to kind of relearn some of these songs, and ones that are feeling like, “Wow, this song is killer, I remember this one, live.” Then there’s other songs that we didn’t even play that much, like “Cadillac Rock Box.” That’s a song that I don’t think we play that often, and I think it’s a great tune. I just… you got me to reveal a song, and I wasn’t supposed to do that, Bill. Good job.
I do want to talk about Category 7, not only are they your backing band for the Anthrax songs, but they’re opening the show. So, you’re opening for yourself as you’re the lead singer of that band as well. So if people don’t know Category 7, this is a bona fide supergroup. Could you talk about them a little bit?
It’s a really cool record. I mean, the record’s actually outstanding. [Armored Saint] had a little break, and Phil Demell (Machine Head) and I were friends through the Metal Allegiance world. He’s a great guy, super awesome guitar player, and just a real creative dude. He reached out to me and said ‘We have this thing going, and we want you to sing on it.’ He told me who’s involved, and I said, ‘Well, now, send me some stuff.’ Obviously, I don’t know [if I’ll be in the band] until I hear it. In typical John Bush fashion [I was] pretty, apprehensive, just because, that’s me. But, I heard it, and it is really good, killer stuff. I was pretty blown away, and ‘I think it’s great, let me see what I can do with it, and see what I can contribute to this.’ I started writing stuff, and next thing we know we had 9 songs.
We haven’t done a lot of dates in association with the record. It’s just because of circumstances. I won’t get into the details, but there were a couple things that just didn’t happen. So, when we started talking about doing this [Anthrax tour] I actually entertained the idea of doing some dates in the summer of this year in Europe with doing some festivals with my agent. It was all pretty close to being put together, and then for some reason, it just kind of fell apart at the end. We even had dates booked and everything and it was different people performing [as the backing band].
So that’s why doing this thing in December made it a lot easier. It was just a matter of saying, let’s do this. It was about who was gonna play with me and then the logical choice was if I started a band from scratch I would want nobody else than Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall) and Phil Demell, Michael Orlando (Adrenaline Mob), and Jock Gibson (Exodus). These guys are incredible players, and so I’d be honored to have to take the stage with them and have them play these songs because I know they’ll kill it. The other thing was we should piggyback Category 7. But now I’m doing two sets, and how’s that gonna be? So we’ve worked out some of the logistics, and here we are.
I don’t know if this has ever been done, it probably has been to some degree, somewhere along the line, but it is kind of unusual that we’re gonna come out, gonna play some Category 7 songs, take a break, and then come out and do the Anthrax stuff. So, it should be funny and interesting, and that’s probably one of the reasons I didn’t want to tackle too many shows. I was telling some friends who are in cover bands that I feel like I’m in a cover band because I’m doing two sets.
Are you doing straight-up versions of the songs, or will there be room for reinterpretation?
I think it’s important to keep the songs as is on the record. That goes for me as well, as best I can do it. I want them to sound like the original recordings. These guys are different human beings, so they may be slightly different but the reality is that I want them to sound like the records, and the songs on the records.They want to pay homage to the original recordings of these songs. So every lead, and the nuances and stuff … Demel’s already reached out to Scott, and so has Benter to Charlie, which is very cool, and those guys have been helpful. I think that’s really important. Again, they’re different people, so they play a little differently, but I think it’s important to play them as the original recordings are. I’m sure they’ll play it incredibly well. I also might do these three shows and play all these songs in two sets and go. I never want to do that ever again. That’s very possible.
What about Category 7 are there tour plans for next year?
[This tour] allows Category 7 to be seen by a lot of people. We had booked a tour, and it was a three-week run, and it kind of fell apart. We’re a new band, so even though all these guys have such a history, the truth of the matter is that we’re still a new band. We can’t just roll into Starland and sell 800 tickets and think it’s a no-brainer, it’s easy to do, that’s not true. You’re competing with everything else out there. We had some days booked, and they were struggling a little bit. Then we said that to the public. We’re honest to a fault, but the reality is, I don’t care. It was the truth, but you want to do something that is going to be seen by lots of people as best you can. Let’s say this is an opportunity to play Chicago and New York. We played LA, that was the one show we did. And now we play Florida and Fort Lauderdale, and the Headbangers Boat, which is awesome. This is only going to be our fourth show playing the Whiskey-A-Go-Go again, and then we get to play Chicago and New York. So, probably we wouldn’t have had the chance to play in front of that many people if we didn’t do this, so it’s kind of working out.
And you’ve mentioned a few times, you’ve mentioned Armored Saint. We can’t not talk about this new record coming out. How do you feel this Armored Saint record is standing out from the previous record?
I believe all of them are good but I let that be determined by the public. In all honesty, I think once you make a record there’s a lot of letting go that happens. You’re so close to it, and you put everything you can into it, and your soul, and then you have to let it go. Then it’s kind of up to the public. One bad review is crushing. You’re like ‘Dude do you know how much work I put into this?’ But that’s the name of the game when you’re in the public eye.
But, I think [this new album] is amazing. We keep kind of elevating our songwriting abilities and this one feels a little different than the last couple. I’m really proud of it. I think it sounds like Saint, but it sounds like something that came out this year. There’s elements of hard rock, certainly elements of metal, the songwriting is incredible, and the playing is awesome. Joey Vera’s the maestro behind it all, and just did an awesome job producing it, taking everybody’s ideas, and constructing tunes. He actually sang a lot of vocals, backgrounds more than ever. This sounds really amazing, so I’m really proud of him. He’s awesome.
But everybody brought their A-game — Gonzo [Sandoval], Phil [Sandoval], Jeff [Duncan]., I would say, arguably, with all the touring that we’ve done in the last few years I think we’re bigger than we’ve ever been, except for maybe this stretch of 1984 when “Can You Deliver” was played on the radio. We’ve done a lot, and we’ve resurrected the band, and we’re at a level that I think we’re ready to take even another step.
I’m not suggesting we’re going to be playing the Meadowlands by any means. But if we can keep building on our popularity, and do it our way, and we’ve always had the label support. Metal Blade has been nothing but incredibly behind us. Tracy [Vera] and Brian [Slagel], and the rest of the staff … it’s just a warm home to be at. I think that’s one thing about bands. I think that when you’re in your early stages, you yearn to really have as much popularity and fame as you can. But you want to do it with your integrity behind it. You want to do it your way and control it the most you can. Sometimes when you sign record deals they take bands and go, ‘Okay, this is great, now let’s mold you.’ You’re like, ‘Wait, what?’ And that really happened to Armored Saint. We lost control of it for a while. That’s not been the case for the last 20 years, but we were able to do it our way, which I think is something that you really yearn for as an artist. So, we’re lucky.
