The “Charlie Benante misses Anthrax tour” theme continues. One day before the start of their North American tour with Volbeat and Crobot, the announcement comes out that Benante will miss the first few weeks.

Said Benante, in a statement:

“This was a difficult decision to make, especially as I had to miss dates on the last cycle because of my hand surgery. But the fact is, playing a show five or more times a week just isn’t realistic right now. I found that out when we were making our new album, and I don’t want to let the fans down by not being able to give it everything I have at every show.”

Filling in for Benante will be Jon Dette, who has played with Testament and Slayer. Dette filled in for Benante before when he missed the band’s Australian tour in 2013 because he was, “dealing with personal issues,” and couldn’t leave the country.

Anthrax 2015 tour with Volbeat:

4/24 – Denver, CO @ 1STBANK Center
4/25 – Rapid City, SD @ Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
4/27 – Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
4/28 – Missoula, MT @ Adams Center
4/29 – Seattle, WA @ WaMu Theatre
5/01 – Grande Prairie, AB @ Revolution Place
5/02 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
5/03 – Calgary, AB @ Calgary Stampede Corral
5/04 – Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre
5/06 – Regina, SK @ Brandt Centre
5/07 – Grand Forks, ND @ Ralph Englestad Arena
5/12 – Oshawa, ON @ General Motors Centre
5/13 – Ottawa, ON @ TD Place
5/14 – Quebec City, QC @ Quebec Colisee Pepsi
5/15 – Montreal, QC @ CEPSUM Montreal
5/18 – Saginaw, MI @ Dow Events Center
5/19 – Evansville, IN @ Ford Center
5/20 – Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom
5/22 – Sioux City, IA @ Tyson IBF Events Center
5/27 – Dallas, TX @ Verizon Grand Prairie
5/28 – Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
5/31 – St. Louis, MO @ Outdoors at Pop’s
6/02 – New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom

(via)