Anthrax Gets New Guitarist, Grammy Nod, Headlining Tour & Covers EP
By Empress Eve
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Sunday, January 13th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Anthrax has announced that Jon Donais of Shadows Fall will be filling in as lead guitarist for the departing Rob Caggiano on the band’s upcoming tour dates, including the Metal Alliance Tour in North America this Spring. Anthrax is headlining the tour, with supporting acts Exodus, Municipal Waste, High On Fire, and Holy Grail, and will perform their classic, much-loved 1987 album Among the Living in its entirety.
In early 2010, former lead singer Joey Belladonna returned to the New York-based trash metal band and in 2011 the reunited line-up released the album Worship Music, their first together since 1990’s Persistence Of Time. Worship Music received critical acclaim and one of its songs, “I’m Alive,” is up for a Grammy in the Best Rock/Metal Performance category. This nomination, which was announced in December 2012, marks the fourth time the band has received a Grammy nod.
Anthrax co-founder and rhythm guitarist Scott Ian recently told Billboard that the comeback album might soon see an Expanded Edition release, which would include a planned EP of cover songs called Anthems. The EP, which includes Rush’s “Anthem,” Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak,” AC/DC’s “TNT,” Boston’s “Smokin’,” Cheap Trick’s “Big Eyes,” and Journey’s “Keep on Runnin’,” might also be available as a digital download for people who already own Worship Music.
Regarding the cover tunes, Ian told Billboard the following:
“It was a lot of fun, especially because a lot of those (songs) aren’t, I guess, normal for us or like so much of our repertoire — although they are because they’re songs we all knew,” Ian explains. “Maybe on paper the idea of us doing something like that seems weird, until you hear them and then it makes sense. And Joey’s performance on the Journey song, specifically, really blows my mind. Someone mentioned that (Journey guitarist) Neal Schon better not hear this or we might lose our singer.”
On January 4, 2013, Caggiano announced his departure from the band (read his full statement here) and Anthrax released a statement regarding the amicable split as well on their official site:
“Rob has been an integral part of Anthrax for so many years, as our lead guitarist, in a production capacity, but most of all, as our close friend. His contributions to the band have been enormous. While we are sad that he is leaving, we wish him nothing but great success going forward, and hope to share the stage with him again sometime down the road.
“With the Metal Alliance Tour on the horizon, we have been considering several lead guitarist options, and will be making an announcement on that shortly.”
Anthrax consists of the aforementioned returning singer Joey Belladonna, bassist Frank Bello, rhythm guitarist Scott Ian, and drummer Charlie Benante (the “classic line-up” starting with 1985’s Spreading The Disease, minus original lead guitarist Dan Spitz). There were no auditions held for a new lead guitarist, with the band opting instead to hire on Jon Donais as a temporary replacement for their live dates. (Read the band’s statement, with a quote from Donais on his hiring, here. According to the official Anthrax Facebook page, the upcoming concerts with Jon Donais on guitar are as follows:
Metal Alliance Tour
(India)
FEBRUARY
16 Fly Festival, Delhi (with Limp Bizkit, Mastodon)
17 Fly Festival, Bangalore (with Limp Bizkit, Mastodon)
(Australia – all dates with Metallica, Slayer, Linkin Park, more)
FEBRUARY
23 Soundwave Festival 2013, Brisbane
24 Soundwave Festival 2013, Sydney
MARCH
1 Soundwave Festival 2013, Melbourne
2 Soundwave Festival 2013, Adelaide
4 Soundwave Festival 2013, Perth
(Metal Alliance Tour/North America – all dates with with Exodus, High on Fire, Municipal Waste, Holy Grail)
MARCH
22 House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
23 House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
24 Marquee, Tempe, AZ
25 House of Blues, San Diego, CA
27 House of Blues, Los Angeles, CA
28 Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
29 Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
30 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC CANADA
31 Showbox SODO, Seattle, WA
APRIL
2 Summit Music Hall, Denver, CO
4 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
5 House of Blues, Chicago, IL
6 The Fillmore, Detroit, MI
7 Bogart’s, Cincinnati, OH
9 House of Blues, Dallas, TX
10 House of Blues, Houston, TX
12 House of Blues, Orlando, FL
13 Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte, NC
14 Fillmore, Silver Spring, MD
16 House of Blues, Cleveland, OH
18 Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
20 Irving Plaza, New York, NY
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Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
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