Anthrax Preparing Next Album

"We've got an unusual luxury of hindsight," Ian explained. "We finished an album more than a year ago, we've lived with those 12 songs since then, and we can look back on them and see what we really love and what we can make even better, especially with Joey back in the fold. On these U.S. dates, we'll have a portable rig with us so we can work on the songs during any down time, and get everything to the point where we'll be ready to get into the studio as soon as possible."

Added Benante, "There are five or six songs from a year ago that we don't want to change, we love them the way they are, other than having Joey making them his own with his vocals. Then there's another five or six that we may want to rework, and then there are a bunch of other tunes that are still in the early stages, that we want to finish."

Anthrax will join Slayer and Megadeth on the Jagermeister Fall Music Tour set to kick off September 24 at Superpages in Dallas, TX. The 20-date concert trek will mark the first U.S. tour Anthrax has done since vocalist Joey Belladonna rejoined the band earlier this year, and the first time the three bands have shared an American stage since the classic 1991 "Clash of the Titans" tour.

"It's great to see so many people getting excited about us being together again," said Belladonna. "Even with just one day of rehearsal before the show in Poland, we played really well and really jelled together on stage. We had a great time in Europe, and are looking forward to seeing our U.S. fans this fall."

"Everything has been going so great, just like we hoped it would," said guitarist Scott Ian. "We wanted Joey to say yes to coming back to the band, we hoped all would go well, and everything couldn't be going any better."

For the Jagermeister Fall Music Tour, fans can expect an Anthrax set packed with some of their all-time favorite songs - "Caught In The Mosh," "AntiSocial, "Madhouse," and "Indians," are just a few that the band knows HAVE to be played.

"There are a lot of songs to fit into 50-minutes," laughed drummer Charlie Benante, "so we'll probably change up the set list a little from night to night, and we might debut a new song from our upcoming album as well."

SEPTEMBER
23 Diamond Ballroom, Oklahoma City, OK (headline show)
24 Superpages.com Center, Dallas, TX
25 AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
26 Verizon Wireless Theatre, Houston, TX
28 Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, LA
30 Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN