ANTHRAX previously called off shows in continental Europe as part of its fall 2022 touring activities, citing “ongoing logistical issues” and “costs that are out of our control.” The pioneering thrash metal band had been due to play numerous shows across Europe following their run of dates in the United Kingdom, which still took place between September 27, 2022 and October 8, 2022.

In an interview with Neil Jones of TotalRock, bassist Frank Bello elaborated on ANTHRAX‘s decision to scrap the European gigs and forge ahead with only the United Kingdom dates. Asked if it was “a Brexit thing” that caused the cancelations, Bello responded: “It’s a human thing at this point, my God. I mean, it’s a budgetary thing.

“When we originally planned everything, as we do — ANTHRAX has been in the U.K. and Europe forever, we have toured there; we have a great big fanbase there, and we love playing for them — we did a budget, as we do, the year before and before we put the shows on sale. After COVID, when everything went crazy, money-wise, financially it wasn’t feasible to do it anymore,” he explained. “When I saw the numbers, they were literally triple — triple to what they originally started at. We would be coming home at such a loss — you don’t mind a little bit of a loss just to play to the fans — but such a loss, we would have been really bad off for a while. So it didn’t make sense. When (we) looked at it, we said, ‘All right. There’s better times ahead.’ And that’s the way to look at it now. Look, heating costs and everybody’s gotta put food on the table. I get it right now. So it’s just a really hard time for everybody.

“I know we’re gonna be back, and with a vengeance,” Frank added. “So it’s gonna be a lot of fun the next time around. I look forward to playing to all U.K. and Europe. We did a great U.K. run. I felt it was a little short, even though we did a lot of places. But I wanna come back and just play the way we should be playing.”

Prior to scrapping the European shows, ANTHRAX had just wrapped a U.S. tour with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. HATEBREED served as special guests.

When the European cancelation was first announced on social media, one fan in the comments section suggested that the cancelation could have been a result of low ticket sales. ANTHRAX replied: “Rest assured, there were zero issues with sales. Check out the news over there for a few minutes. We absolutely adore the European fans and love playing there and are very sad not to come. It doesn’t work ‘example’ when tour buses double and triple in cost.”

ANTHRAX‘s latest album, “For All Kings”, came out in February 2016 via Nuclear Blast.

ANTHRAX celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021 with a number of special activities and events. Formed by guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, New York on July 18, 1981, ANTHRAX was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became regarded as a leader in the genre alongside METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.

Active over the past five decades, ANTHRAX has released 11 studio albums, been awarded multiple gold and platinum certifications, received six Grammy nominations, toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with the “Big Four”.

“For All Kings” was called by some critics ANTHRAX‘s strongest album to date. Its arrival followed a five-year period during which the group experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX‘s inclusion on the “Big Four” tour, and continuing with the release of comeback LP “Worship Music”.

ANTHRAX released a live album called ‘XL‘  in July 2022.