ANTHRAX Drummer CHARLIE BENANTE: 'I Miss JOHN BUSH A Lot'

Alexi Front of the FourteenG e-zine recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante. An excerpt from the chat follows:

FourteenG: What is the latest with John Bush?

Charlie: "Honestly, we have not been saying a word about what is going on. I did read something about Johnsaying some stuff. And whatever, that is cool. He is speaking on behalf of himself, how he feels and that is cool. I don't want to comment on it right now. I need to ask John a couple of things but that is between us. Again, John was asked to do this thing and he decided not to."

FourteenG: How do you think it would have ended up had John Bush been on the tour?

Charlie: "I don't know really. It is hard to say. I wish, in perfect world, everything would be great. We don't live in a perfect world. I miss John a lot. He is a great person. That is the truth."

FourteenG: What do you think about the legacy that ANTHRAX has with the fans and with thrash metal? What are some highlights?

Charlie: "I guess for one thing we started this 'thrash' movement. We were one of those bands that came out and didn't have real video or radio play, yet we were able to attract an audience. It was really independently done, which I think was great! We probably broke down a huge fuckin' door with the rap rock thing. We probably did more than we know we did. We changed the way people looked on stage. When we would go up on stage with shorts, we looked totally different from other bands. Sure enough, people dressed differently."

FourteenG: How did the "Bring the Noise" and "I'm The Man" come up as ideas? Why did you decide to go forth with rap rock?

Charlie: "With 'I'm The Man', that was our interpretation of what rap was at the time. Rap was still very new at that time. We wanted to do something completely different; we loved rap music, RUN DMC and stuff like that. The original idea was to have the BEASTIE BOYS do the rapping on the song, but our schedules just didn't meet. We decided to do it ourselves, and what was a B-side ended up becoming a huge thing! It took us a couple of years to do something that was real and really strong, and that was the thing with PUBLIC ENEMY. After that we didn't think we could top ourselves, so there was no point in trying to top ourselves. Why would we try to force ourselves to do it when, in a sense, it was a very natural thing we did? How can you force yourself to do something like that? It would have been wrong."

Read the entire interview at FourteenG.net.