Born in Oswego, New York back in 1960, Joey Belladonna started his musical career in 1984, joining Anthrax during that same year. He was part of all their classic albums like “Spreading the Disease” (1985) and “Among the Living” (1987) until he was fired in 1992. He was replaced by Armored Saint’s John Bush until he returned in 2005. But he became an official member again in 2010.
In an interview with Music Interview Corner (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), he recalled that he actually worked in a horse barn during his time away from Anthrax.
Joey Belladonna recalls he worked in a barn after being fired from Anthrax
“Well, for me to be out of the band for that long, it’s almost too long. It was unexpected and it wasn’t my idea and I wouldn’t have preferred it. But it happened. And I just maintained myself. And I was actually working in a horse barn for a couple of years. I was [in] maintenance, and Krista, my wife, we both worked at a pretty famous riders’ facility.”
“I cut grass all day. It was so big there, I couldn’t complete all my work each day. It was a long, long day, it took me two, three days to weedy the whole place. A lot of people don’t realize that you would even do that. I didn’t really necessarily have to do that job. It was one of those things that fell into place and I enjoyed it and I got a lot of experience from it. But I also had a band; I was doing some cover music and I was playing drums.”
“And it was kind of like the old days for me. So I just continued to do that and work on some original music and stuff. I kept myself busy, I didn’t really fall apart, I kept busy and just waited for some time. All of a sudden I’d come back. So here I am,” Joey Belladonna said.
Since Belladonna returned to the band, they recorded two praised studio albums. They are “Worship Music” (2011) and “For All Kings” (2016).