NATRA AND RIKK'S POPGEAR AND BEER FUCKIN' DRINKIN' FEST

[MAX]

I'm lonely.

The woman went to Cali and we just made up over two years of bickering.

Heh, we'll survive.

[Rikk]

Okay, free drinks for CARMINE in celebration of Belladonna returning to ANTHRAX. One of the great metal bands will be back.

What you drinking?

[Carmine]

Originally posted by Rikk
Okay, free drinks for CARMINE in celebration of Belladonna returning to ANTHRAX. One of the great metal bands will be back.

What you drinking?

You know me Bro...Jack/Diet....

This is AWESOME news too friends! Joey is from Oswego, NY...so this hits home literally for me....

I'll take this first one Rikk....then I got em!

[Rikk]

You got it, bro.

Did you ever meet the dude?

Man, they were great back in the day. But funny enough, when I was a kid, it was their two big EPs that I got off on more than anything. I loved the I'M THE MAN EP and then the ATTACK OF THE KILLER B's collection. As a 12-year-old, I heard their version of SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH before I heard BLACK SABBATH'S!!

PERSISTENCE OF TIME and AMONG THE LIVING are both classics.

If you're getting the next ones, I think I'll pour myself a vodka and redbull.

[Carmine]

Originally posted by Rikk
You got it, bro.

Did you ever meet the dude?

Man, they were great back in the day. But funny enough, when I was a kid, it was their two big EPs that I got off on more than anything. I loved the I'M THE MAN EP and then the ATTACK OF THE KILLER B's collection. As a 12-year-old, I heard their version of SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH before I heard BLACK SABBATH'S!!

PERSISTENCE OF TIME and AMONG THE LIVING are both classics.

If you're getting the next ones, I think I'll pour myself a vodka and redbull.

Yeah...we used to hang out when he came home from touring or whatever. He had a buddie that lived across the street from my best friend. The first time we heard that he was coming home and going to visit his friend, we all made a huge sign on a bed sheet and waited for him...I was probably 15 then...He gave us all advance copies of Among the Living, T-shirts etc....we actually became good friends. I was the first to get a car when my buds and I all turned 16, and Joe NEVER had wheels, so he always was with me, so he didnt have to walk anywhere! One time, he had Charlie Benante and Frank Bello with him...those dudes are WILD!!!

[Rikk]

WOW!! Holy shit.

Scott Ian used to bitch about him all the time after he left. Did you ever see Joey after the break-up? Or do you know anything about the break-up itself?

[Carmine]

And I don't care who says what...ANTHRAX is responsible for the emergence of "Speed Metal" period!

Spreading the Disease
Among the Living
Persistence of Time

...need I say more????

[Carmine]

Originally posted by Rikk
WOW!! Holy shit.

Scott Ian used to bitch about him all the time after he left. Did you ever see Joey after the break-up? Or do you know anything about the break-up itself?

Heres the deal: Anthrax was on MTV doing a promo gig (around the time they were on Married w/ children) and Joey was asked who his influences were. Joey...honestly never liked the anthrax "music: style and answered truthfully..He loves Steve Perry. Charlie and Scott cringed when he said that. That was where it all started...the song armed and dangerous...you have heard it right? Joey at his absolute best!!! Anyway...after P.O.T. they were starting on the next album. Joey had NEVER written a tune the whole time he was in the band and wanted to start contibuting more, as in writing. They refused...he quit!. He built 2 huge houses in Oswego right after that..one for him and his SMOKIN HOT WIFE, And the other for his folks. I think, Rikk, he is in Florida now. I have not talked to him in about 4 years. His band, Belladonna had a gig in Syracuse back then, that was the last time I saw him. BTW...his real last name is Bellardini....and he was THE best hockey goalie in history here!

[academic punk]

all righty, guys...where's me lap dance?

[Rikk]

Originally posted by Carmine Raguzza.
Heres the deal: Anthrax was on MTV doing a promo gig (around the time they were on Married w/ children) and Joey was asked who his influences were. Joey...honestly never liked the anthrax "music: style and answered truthfully..He loves Steve Perry. Charlie and Scott cringed when he said that. That was where it all started...the song armed and dangerous...you have heard it right? Joey at his absolute best!!! Anyway...after P.O.T. they were starting on the next album. Joey had NEVER written a tune the whole time he was in the band and wanted to start contibuting more, as in writing. They refused...he quit!. He built 2 huge houses in Oswego right after that..one for him and his SMOKIN HOT WIFE, And the other for his folks. I think, Rikk, he is in Florida now. I have not talked to him in about 4 years. His band, Belladonna had a gig in Syracuse back then, that was the last time I saw him. BTW...his real last name is Bellardini....and he was THE best hockey goalie in history here!

Wow.

Those guys are fucking pricks, huh? One thing that made that band so unique was that he wasn't a typical thrash metal singer. It was a weird pairing, and that's what worked. Right now I'm listening to PERSISTENCE OF TIME. God, KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY is such a heavy track.

Have their been any other reunion rumors in the past 15 or so years?

[Rikk]

Originally posted by academic punk
all righty, guys...where's me lap dance?

Jen's doing double-duty today. Here she is to serve you in every way...

[Carmine]

Originally posted by Rikk
Wow.

Those guys are fucking pricks, huh? One thing that made that band so unique was that he wasn't a typical thrash metal singer. It was a weird pairing, and that's what worked. Right now I'm listening to PERSISTENCE OF TIME. God, KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY is such a heavy track.

Have their been any other reunion rumors in the past 15 or so years?

A few...I think they ALL realized what they lost when Joey left the band. Belladonna was a carbon copy of Anthrax which proved, to me anyway, that Joey could write the heavy stuff. Anthrax( Scott and Charlie) always said that they wanted a "singer" that was why they came looking for Joe. And you're right Rikk, It DID work! They were afraid that Joey would "pussify" the band if he wrote anything. He used to tell us how much of a strain that "type" of music was to "sing" and again, he really doesn't care for it. But, they were on the verge of going to the top when Joe left. IMO, they would be as big as say Metallica now had Joe stayed in. And Let me know when "Belly of the Beast" comes on...we'll headbang together....

[Rikk]

I was just reading that on their Greatest Hits album in 1999, he sang one song as a duet with John Bush. But he then backed out of a two-singer tour over monetary reasons.

ANTHRAX did exactly what VAN HALEN did... They lost a flamboyant lead singer and thought the name would suffice for the band. They ended up becoming a lot like a lot of other bands. It was also what Motley Crue did in 1994. I know some fans like that album, but it will always be my favorite. To go from PRIMAL SCREAM, one of their greatest tracks, to songs like UNCLE JACK...echh! And it's not that I'm a metal-head or anything...punk, grunge, etc. are my favorite kinds of music. But Motley Crue was great as the original band. With Corabi, they just became bluesy and retro-sounding. I wasn't big on DR. FEELGOOD or GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS...but albums like TOO FAST FOR LOVE or even GENERATION SWINE epitomized hard rock.

[Rikk]

Originally posted by Carmine Raguzza.
And Let me know when "Belly of the Beast" comes on...we'll headbang together....

Absolutely.

[Rikk]

BELLY OF THE BEAST is on now. God, what a rhythm section on this one. Just a fucking great track!