Anthrax frontman Joey Belladonna presses play on his ‘Jukebox’ 4-day residency at Wally’s

IF YOU GO

Joey Belladonna’s Jukebox

May 30-June 2

Wally’s, 144 Ashworth Ave., Hampton, NH

HAMPTON BEACH, NH – Heavy metal enthusiasts know Joey Belladonna from being both the original and current vocalist for the New York City thrash metal icons Anthrax, but he’s more than just that. He also sings for the ‘70s and ‘80s cover band Chief Big Way and the Journey cover band Beyond Frontiers while exhibiting a wide range of styles. The primary representation of this is a project called Joey Belladonna’s Jukebox, which has him performing as a human equivalent of the machine while doing renditions of a variety of material. Right in the heart of Hampton Beach, Belladonna is going to be bringing this unique experience to Wally’s for a four-night run from May 30 to June 2. Each night is free admission, which is quite a deal due to the fact that Belladonna is one of the best metal vocalists of the past 40 years.

We had a talk ahead of the residency about him coming up with the idea to pursue this artistic endeavor, taking requests from fans and what he has going on for the rest of 2024.

Rob Duguay: This upcoming run of shows at Wally’s has you functioning like a jukebox while performing a set of eclectic cover songs that are selected by the audience. What gave you the idea to do this type of project? Were you just going through your record collection one day and something sparked in your mind or was it something else?

Joey Belladonna: For the last couple of years, I’ve been putting tracks together while recording, mixing, singing and just curating a killer list of music that I’ve always enjoyed. These deep cuts of bands that I never get a chance to do songs from. There’s an enormous amount of bands that nobody wants to pick up from who have enough of a repertoire that I like and I want to do, so I spent a lot of time putting together this thing with a lot of songs. I can do two hours worth of songs by Chicago, for instance. I wouldn’t play that with anyone that I know of, maybe one song here and there.

The same with Steely Dan, I wouldn’t even think of asking anyone in a band to play some of that because we’ve never gone in that direction. I can do an odd version of a song and I get to do a bunch of stuff. I get to do songs that maybe someone has never heard before or has never heard me sing in that style before, so there’s a lot to it other than me playing people’s favorite songs. There’s me being able to sing whatever the hell I want and when I feel like doing it I can turn things down while doing two or three songs by Elton John in a heartbeat and then go back into doing some Dio or something. I can flip things around and do a wide variety.

RD: For the setup on stage, is it just you with a laptop? Where are the instrumentals for the songs coming from when you’re performing?

JB: There’s an array of things I can do with iPods, iPads and computers, that kind of thing. It’s nothing elaborate, I put everything in a mix mode and it’s ready to go. It’s pretty efficient, but there’s still a lot of work in the mixing and I’m tailoring my voice to the music. It’s mainly volume and balance, which is really important. It’s not the easiest thing at times, there’s a lot going on and I’m constantly trying to flip to the next song.

I’m kind of DJ’ng it at the same time too, I’ve really come along to doing more of a bang-bang-bang type of thing. Sometimes I get caught up in having way too many songs to choose from, but I just grab as I go.

RD: It seems like a really simple approach. Like I mentioned earlier, this concept has fans suggesting songs they’d like to hear by either writing them down on cards or through social media. How do you go about picking these requested songs? Do you just pick a handful that pique your interest from the batch of songs that you have?

JB: Personally, people can request them and sometimes my wife will grab a couple people, they’ll ask her and she’ll throw me a note that has four or five songs, two songs or 10 songs. I’ll keep looking at it and I’ll grab them as I go, or I’ll read the room and if not many people are into the deep cuts, they’re into the straight up Top 40, then I’ll keep it moving in that direction. I do that with my cover band all the time, I’ll just read the room. Sometimes I’ll just do them from wherever because I’m taking on a lot of stuff with high end vocals and I’ll take on whatever I feel like. It’s not really a Q&A type of thing, if I can do whatever anybody wants to do and wants to hear then I’m ready to go.

It’s just a random thing where people ask me to play this or if I see somebody with a shirt on, like a Jethro Tull shirt or something, then I’m gonna play something by them. It’s different every day too, I don’t play the same songs every day, it’s a whole new set each day without question. Sometimes I do go back to the stuff that I just can’t refuse to play, there’s always a few songs that I don’t like leaving out.

RD: It’s really cool that you’re able to structure this in that way.  With these songs spanning different eras and styles, how do you prepare your voice so you reach the octaves and vocal range necessary and you don’t blow your voice out during a performance?

JB: I don’t usually have a problem with that. Some days I might hit a set of songs where I look back and think “Wow, I really went for them,” but it depends how I feel. I’m doing four hours and I’m doing everything in the right key so everything is really in the proper zone. I can’t rehearse everything because of the time, so I only do that with a fifth of what I know and what I have on paper.

RD: With this residency at Wally’s, you did something very similar at the venue last year, so do you plan on doing anything differently this time around that you weren’t able to do previously?

JB: Nothing really. First off, I’m looking forward to the halfway decent weather, it’s supposed to be in the mid- to high-60s, which is not really hot and not really cold, it’s right on the edge. I have no idea what I’ll have planned when I walk in and out of there. I’m going to be connected to the bar so people can hear at the bar while they’re inside eating, drinking and mingling, but there’s not going to be anything majorly different. Maybe they’ve changed the stage set up a bit and they’ll give me a different speaker, but I don’t anticipate too much of a change. It’s not like I have a light show or anything, all it is is just constant, really good and solid music.

RD: After this residency, what are your plans for the rest of the year? Are there any plans to make a solo record or to make an album with Anthrax?

JB: My wife and I just completed a brand new project that’s a tribute to Ronnie James Dio, which is going to include his music along with what he did with Black Sabbath and Rainbow. We’re doing four shows in August in Florida and I’m looking forward to that big time because it’s going to be a brand new launch. Anthrax has got nine songs at this point that I’ve sang, who knows if we need four more or five more, I’m not really sure but that’s in the midst. We have two festivals coming up in the fall, we just did a couple others already in South America and at the end of the year we’re going to do another rock cruise. I got quite a few things going on.