With some free time on their hands, Scott and Charlie put together another side band. It consisted of Scott and Charlie on guitar and drums respectively, Zach Throne on vocals and Jimmy Ilevio on bass. They were appropriately named Du Husker, because they play nothing but Husker Du cover tunes. The purpose of the band was to help Charlie through some of his emotions, which included him losing interest in playing drums for a while.

On March 12, 1995, Anthrax played the Board AID Kick-Off to benefit LIFEbeat at The Palladium in Los Angeles. Anthrax preceded Helmet, the headliners. Wax and the Bosstones were the opening acts. Anthrax introduced some new songs there and had a special guest, Rob Halford formerly of Judas Priest and Fight. Scott has actually known two people who have died from AIDS, for which the show was a benefit.

Through the writing, recording and touring for Sound of White Noise, it was becoming obvious Danny was losing interest in music. By the time they began working on new material, Danny was too difficult to work with, and he was fired. Charlie says "It just seemed like Danny wasn't going in the same direction as the four of us. We're kind of a tight unit and I guess we wanted Danny to be a part of that but he sort of drifted away. I guess he was more into his family now, that probably played a part in it. On the road, it was kind of weird too. After the shows, we'd be there mingling with people, and Danny would be on the bus, sort of disassociated. That's how it started. The four of us became close ‘cause we were hanging out with each other. He just didn't have the fire we all had and that we needed. And musically, he wasn't contributing. It got to the point where I was playing guitar leads, and I had to think, ‘Why am I doing this?' So I ended up playing on the record." John says, "I don't think his heart was in it anymore... he never did any writing anyway. There's a certain amount of contribution you have to give a band even if your role is smaller than others'. To be quite honest, he's been invisible in a lot of areas beyond making music."

Some people may wonder if his loss of interest in the band had to do with Joey no longer being in the band. The answer to that is definitely NO. Danny was as much for firing Joey as anybody else. He was also as happy to have John in the band as everyone else. He had been the closest member to Joey, however, he grew apart from Joey in the end.

Instead of replacing him permanently, a few special guests were used on the next album, Stomp 442. Pantera's Dimebag Darrel played on two songs, "King Size" and "Riding Shotgun." Pantera had opened for Anthrax in 1985, and they remained friends ever since. Paul Crook, who had been Danny's guitar tech on the Persistence of Time tour and played in Joey's band Belladonna as well as his own band Crook, played on four songs, "Random Acts of Senseless Violence," "Perpetual Motion," "In A Zone," and "Drop The Ball." Mike Tempesta, who was Scott's guitar tech on the Persistence of Time tour and played in the band Human Waste Project and is brother of John from White Zombie (who was once Charlie's drum roadie), played a solo tag on "American Pompeii." Scott played the end solo on "Tester." And finally, Charlie experimented with various solos on "Random Acts of Senseless Violence," "Nothing," "American Pompeii," "Tester," and "Bare."

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Charlie would want to use his skills on guitar. Since Spreading the Disease, Charlie had been coming up with many of Anthrax's heavier-than-Godzilla riffs. All of the leads and much of the rest of the music on Sound of White Noise were written by Charlie, and then taught to Danny, Scott, and Frankie. "He's probably a better guitarist than me and Danny both," says Scott with a bit of jealousy. "I started out on drums but taught myself to play guitar when I was 17 or so," Charlie recounts. "I don't know a lot of guitar theory. I just make stuff that sounds good." Although having the typical metal influences of Iron Maiden, Slayer and Kiss, two of Charlie's favorite guitarists are Johnny Marr [the Smiths, The The, Electronic] and Robert Smith of the Cure. Previously, Charlie had played harmony guitar parts on "Intro to Reality," and "Black Lodge." He played a 12 string acoustic on the joke ballad "Dallabinikufesin," from Attack of the Killer B's. He also played the only lead on S.O.D.'s album Speak English or Die, which appeared at the end of "United Forces."

Some people may wonder why Scott doesn't do many leads, especially after the lead guitarist was fired. The answer is that he really doesn't want to. "I do one thing really well in this band and I've developed this rhythm style that somehow came out of me over the past 10 years," Scott said in 1993 in an interview with all members of Anthrax and Kiss. As a kid, Scott always admired rhythm guitarists more than lead guitarists, such as AC/DC's Malcom Young over Angus Young.

If Anthrax wanted to follow the trends that were occurring, they would have released a no-talent grunge album ready for MTV and radio to play. But that's the last thing Anthrax would want to do. Instead they recorded their heaviest and most aggressive album ever. In fact, it contained a song, "Tester," about the current trends and how they won't follow them. Elektra did not do a very good job as far as promotion goes. Stomp 442 came out in October of 1995. The first single and video was for the song "Fueled." MTV payed little attention to it, and radio was not playing metal. They toured the U.S. for a month and a half with Life of Agony and the Deftones opening. They toured the U.K. and Europe with the Galactic Cowboys opening. They then headed to Japan and then to New Zealand and Australia with Cyko Miko. They came back to the U.S. and did a co-headlining tour with the newly reunited Misfits. Later on Cannibal Corpse joined as the opening act. Life of Agony joined the three bands for the final leg of te tour. Paul Crook played lead guitar for all of the touring. He had already known the band for at least five years, and was already familiar with their old songs, which made him a good choice. He had been into Anthrax since Fistful of Metal and was a witness to Frankie's second gig. On this tour, they weren't playing to the same size crowds as they were before. Many metal bands were losing fans, and Anthrax was no exception. Many people who were upset over Joey leaving gave up hope for them when Danny was fired. These are the people who do not understand why these changes took place. It had nothing to do with Scott, Charlie and Frankie not being nice guys, but they were really honestly concerned with how their music would be with members not devoted to the band. Firing members is always a risky thing to do. Musically though, it has made Anthrax a tighter unit. The shows were still as wild and exciting as ever, though, and Anthrax kept their reputation as a great live band. In a show in Atlanta, it got out of hand. Someone in the crowd threw a beer bottle at Scott. It hurt him bad enough that he couldn't finish the show because he couldn't put weight on that leg, not to mention it really pissed him off. The band hadn't even gotten half way through their set. They were also mad at the show promoter, who wasn't following his contract by allowing glass bottles into the show.

The next single was for the song "Nothing." There were actually two singles for the song made in Europe, and a tour EP made for Australia. An EP for "Fueled" was released in Japan, which included all of the Stomp 442 b-sides except their cover of Iron Maiden's "Remember Tomorrow." Anthrax recorded the title track for the movie Bordello of Blood in the middle of 1996. Scott, Charlie, and Frankie along with Zach Throne recorded "Rip It Out" from Ace Frehley's first solo album for the album Spacewalk, a Salute to Ace Frehley. John and Scott along with former Armored Saint drummer Gonzo and bassist Joey Vera, Ugly Kid Joe's vocalist Whitfield Crane and ex-Accept guitarist Jörg Fischer formed Doom Squad to record "Burnin' Up" for the first of two European Judas Priest tribute albums. The song also appeared on the one disc U.S. version. John, Scott and Joey Vera worked together again for a song on the Queen tribute album, with Scott's brother Jason on drums and Zach Throne also on guitar. By this time, Anthrax had left Elektra Records due to their poor promotion on Stomp 442. Another problem with Elektra was that many of the people who were working for Elektra when Anthrax originally signed there had been fired. Scott Ian produced the self-titled debut album for L.A.'s Killingculture, which he described as "brutal." He was also the guest guitarist on two songs.

S.O.D. united once again on December 10, 1996. This time it was for a benefit concert at Irving Plaza to raise money to hire a detective to investigate the death of Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera's step-son.