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 Setting the scene of the interview that follows is about as hard as describing how surreal it was meeting Scott Ian himself. If truth be known, I'm not a massive Anthrax fan so on the tortuous tube ride to Mayfair to meet up with the axeman, at the very rock 'n roll hour of 10am on a Monday morning – with a stinking hangover - I wondered how on earth I ended up with being summoned to The Metropolitan Hotel to have said interview with him.
What was I going to wear was my first ponder on this bleak morning as being covered in tattoo's and walking through the door of such a renowned hotel already made me feel at a distinct disadvantage.
Scott walked into the reception within seconds of me being there and I immediately felt at ease with all his tattoo's on display along with his camo shorts and he promptly handed me his iPod and told me to have a listen whilst drinking my coffee.
He sat across the table from me making phone calls and looking at me listening to their brand new album, “Worship Music” (released in the Autumn). After listening to the 4 songs he informed me that I was the first person outside of the Anthrax camp to hear the album … how did I have such an honour bestowed on me? How was I going to ever comment on what I thought of the album?
Your new album 'Worship Music' is set for release in the Autumn. Can you briefly talk me through the writing and inspiration process of this album?
Scott: Hmm, the writing started as far back as when we were still on the reunion tour. I should probably get these dates straight in my head … the reunion tour ended in September or October 2006 – let me just think if that makes sense because Dan joined a year later .. Yeah so Dan joined the band in October 2007 so that makes sense – ok, so yeah, we were actually already writing when we were still out on that reunion tour. I know Charlie was coming up with ideas and I already had ideas so once the reunion tour finished and we thought we were going to get back together with John Bush, that's why we knew we weren't going to move forward with Joey truthfully because we were already writing stuff and we just really knew that the music we were writing was more of 'John Bush Anthrax' and once we realised John wasn't going to be in the band we had to find a new singer but we just kept on writing. Our attitude was stuff would just work out and we weren't going to worry about it too much, I mean, we were always thinking about it in the back of our heads, 'Fuck man, we need a singer', but we were stoked on writing and we just kept working and working and working and by the time we had Dan come out to Chicago in September 2007, we were really really happy with about 5 or 6 songs, we just felt really good about it and once we realised Dan was going to be the guy that's when things really started to jump start. Obviously he was involved in all the writing after that as well as a lot of the stuff that we had written before he was in the band. Musically some of it stayed the same but certainly vocally things changed because now all of a sudden we had a focus, we knew who our singer was.
Cool and inspiration on it?
Scott: Inspiration – I don't know. Ourselves I guess. That's the best thing I can say. I mean, we just love playing this music and I think one of the things we have come to realise after all this time is that we must really like it because were still doing it after all this time. Everyone has had an opportunity in this band to explore their own lives and do other shit and it keeps coming back to Anthrax. I don't think any of us would want to work this hard any more if it wasn't something that we truly loved and have to go through the process to finding a new singer for the 3rd time and we just love doing this. We love metal and I think that was the biggest inspiration for us – the fact that we were getting to make another metal record and its going to come out in 2009 and its 25 years into our career so I think if anything, its our career that was an inspiring thing for us.
Listening to the tracks on your iPod – 'Earth on Hell' and 'Burn The Past' – absolutely awesome tracks …
Scott: Cool
Take me through where you got the title 'Earth on Hell' from.
Scott: Well, obviously Hell on Earth is … I don't know, its just a play on that. I don't know why I was screwing around with it – it was just one of those things, being inspired lyrically by the fucking chaos of the world we live in. I don't remember what specific story was in the news that week that made me think, 'Wow, it really is fucking hell on earth' but it must have had something to do with the war and Obama wasn't the president yet – not that things are that much better but it was just the fact that that guy was running our Country and it was just one of many things that was probably pissing me off in the news – just seeing all these self fulfilled prophecy's coming true. I don't know, I just didn't want to call the song Hell on Earth because there are probably a thousand songs called that already so I just changed it around because to me, its worse than Hell on Earth now. We have actually turned our earth into hell. We don't need to be in hell – here we are already in a lot of ways so I guess that's where it came from. Lyrically its … the first line of the song, “the kids have gone wild in the streets”, you know, its kind of my optimism of the world needing change and change is only going to happen if some crazy shit starts to happen and that's when people start going wild in the streets. Its already happening in a lot of places and its probably going to happen a lot more, including in America in the next few years as the city's are crumbling and major companies are going out of business and everyone is out of work – its not going to get any better any time soon.
Sure, not in our lifetime!
Scott: Yeah totally.
You're summer tour starts imminently and culminates at Sonisphere. What can fans old and new be expecting from Anthrax at these gigs and festivals?
Scott: Everything, old and new. Festivals for us, we always look at them and know that were not going to get up there and play the whole of the new record because we would be jackasses. When you come to a festival as a fan, I don't think you want to see a band get up on stage and play a whole bunch of new stuff from a record that's not even out yet. I would be bummed if I was going to see a band … if I was going to see Faith No More at Download and they got on stage and played 10 new songs and didn't play any hits, as much as I love that band and I hope they do new material, I would probably be pissed off if I didn't get to hear anything off 'King for a Day'. We look at it the same way so festivals for us are definitely going to be a greatest hits kind of thing, lots of old stuff and atleast one new song depending on how long we have to play. If it's a 40 minute set then maybe not even you know because there is so much for us to play and obviously someone is going to be disappointed. There will always probably be atleast one new song though. Some of the headline dates were doing around Europe, in between festivals, maybe 2 or 3 new songs but festivals, we will probably keep that down to a minimum now wait for the record to come out until we really showing those songs off.
Awesome, well I'm glad I heard it first.
Scott: You were first actually!
Yes, I fucking was first! How does it feel to still be relevant in today's music scene?
Scott: I don't know. That's such a weird question because I don't know, I don't know (nervous laughter)
Anthrax 25 years ago – did you think you would be sitting here now?
Scott: No. I never thought about it. I guess that's the best way for me to answer it. I really don't worry about that kind of stuff. We cant worry about it – we just have to do what we do. We have definitely taken a less direct path over the last 25 years than some of our contemporaries who have been around for as long as us but we have all kind of gotten to the same place. The fact that I am still sitting here in 2009 talking about a new record coming out and people actually care … that's a great thing and I would never take that for granted so I guess we have done something right but like I said earlier, we just love what we do and that has always been the focus for us, it's been the kick in the ass, it's what makes us happy.
December 14th 1977 was technically the beginning of the rest of your life. Had that night never happened, where do you think you would be now and what would you be doing?
Scott: Well I probably would've seen, actually I did see Kiss the next night too so it could've just literally been the next day but I know what you mean. I think this would've happened regardless of whether it was from seeing Kiss or I would've seen another show, probably in that same time period that probably would've put me on the scene or path but most certainly I would've seen Kiss on the next tour in 1978. I think I would've ended up on this path – I cant imagine that I would've ended up doing anything else …. atleast not this part of my life anyway (laughs)
Probably not worth thinking about! What is your motivation to still do this?
Scott: I love it. I still enjoy it. I get to do a whole other bunch of stuff in my life now and its still playing guitar in Anthrax is the thing I like to do the most. Writing comics is a close second but you don't get the adrenaline rush sitting at home writing a comic book as you do getting to play Sonisphere, you know what I mean?
Yeah
So yeah, I just love being in a band and I'm just glad I still get to do it.
Cool. You might recognise this question but it was something interesting that I read and I thought who better to ask than you. If you knew tomorrow that Anthrax was never going to happen again in any way, shape or form, would you be satisfied with the legacy that you have left behind?
(There is complete silence from Scott)
(laughing) Do you recognise the question?
Scott: Its my question? Who did I ask that to?
Gene Simmons (laughing)
(laughing) Oh, ok, that makes sense.
Yeah sure, I would because I have faced that already. There have been many times already where I didn't think the band was going to go forward for one reason or another and it seemed like, oh, this is it and maybe its time to go and do something else or not do something else and then we end up moving forward. If it was actually happening right now it would be pretty frustrating to think that this record would come out and we would never tour it and get to play these songs live, I would definitely be disappointed by that. As far as a legacy goes, sure, I would be happy with what we have accomplished.
If someone came up to you and said that they had never heard any of your music before, which album and why would you suggest they listen to.
Scott: That's a tough one. Outside of this new one which they wouldn't be able to hear yet (laughs) because it certainly represents who we are right now I would probably say um (whispers) oh God, what the hell was it called? 'The Greater of Two Evils' where we recorded a bunch of the 80's stuff live with John in the studio because it really captured a great moment of energy and it always just felt that that was the way those songs were supposed to sound in the first place. By that time most of those songs were already how old? (whispers) God, when did we record that? I don't remember, early 2000? So a lot of that stuff was already 14 or 15 years old and those songs had evolved and were just as how we were playing them so I think that is a really good representation of who this band is or was.
Dan compared to Joey compared to John, fundamentally, how different are they as front men?
Scott: Dan is the guy, it sounds weird saying this but he is younger than us, a good 12 years or something younger than us so that is a big difference because he is right at the beginning of it. I remember where we were when we were 32 years old, so that makes such a huge difference to have this guy that just has that age factor on his side. I remember where Joey and John were at that point in their lives as singers and its amazing to have this guy that is just right there in his prime and ready to do this and also having his first real opportunity and its in Anthrax, one of his favourite bands growing up. We really did find that guy – you always hear the story of … its so cliché, there is someone sitting in their house right now, some kid playing guitar or some kid singing who is going to be the next so and so and we have one of those guys, we found that kid to be in Anthrax and his energy is just amazing. His instrument, having worked with Joey and John, his instrument is just a better instrument than anyone I have ever worked with as far as what he can do with his voice and its power. It's pretty amazing.
Listening to your new album, his vocals are pretty amazing.
Scott: People are going to shit and wonder where this guy has been and we are just so lucky that he contacted us. You could listen to a million singers and every single one of them is going to suck and to be able to find someone who could actually sing and have a head on his shoulders and be able to step into a situation and not be a fucking arsehole, you know what I mean? There are just so many factors involved and we are just lucky. It makes it feel like it was really meant to be, on this record and it has all worked out.
I'm just having a look at your ultimatebet shirt that you've got on. How is all going with the on-line poker?
Scott: I love playing. I'm obsessed with it (laughs). Its just so much fun for me to do and being in a band there is a lot of down time especially being on tour. Other than getting ready for the show and playing, most of the rest of the day there is not much going on so it really helps pass the time. Its fun and profitable.
Did you design your own shirts? (Scott shirt has some cool skull emblem on the front)
Scott: I designed them for us. When I first started getting involved with ultimatebet they came to me and asked if I wanted to design some shirts that I would want to wear instead of the shirts that poker players where and I said that it was cool so I have a whole bunch of different ones now. I would much rather wear something that I would feel comfortable wearing instead of some goofy polo shirt.
(laughing) Finally Scott, any last words for our readers?
Scott: Check out the record man and don't judge it before you listen to it, that's all I ever ask from myself. Believe me, I'm a judgemental prick when it comes to listening to music but I always try and shut that off when I listen to somebodies record and that is all I can ask from someone else. Check it out.
Am I lucky in saying then as a journalist that I can be a judgemental prick when I listen to records then? (laughing)
Scott: (laughing) you have got a cool job and you can be a judgemental prick.
(laughing) Scott, thank you very very much.
Scott: Awesome, thank you.
- Tazz Stander
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