ANTHRAX Continue Work On New Album, Comment On “Behind The Music” Special

ANTHRAX have finished recording the drums, bass, and rhythm guitars, and are currently tracking the vocals for their as-yet-untitled ninth studio album, which is due to be issued during the summer. Although it is certain that the forthcoming CD will receive a European release through Nuclear Blast Records, it now appears that the album will not be issued in the US through Beyond/BMG Records, as previously thought, and will instead be coming out through an as-yet-undisclosed label that guitarist Scott Ian has referred to as “the label we've wanted to be on.”

In other news, Ian has offered his opinion of the much-anticipated VH1Behind The Music special on ANTHRAX, which premiered on the cable music channel this past weekend. According to Scott, “I loved it—with one exception. Let me explain. I thought the story played out really well. They really gave you a lot of info in 44 minutes (that's how long the show actually is without commercials). Our story was different than the usual 'drugs, rehab' story line. Most BTMs are focused on one or two people in the band and their problems. Ours was a group story of adversity, challenge, fighting and persevering. I had forgotten how much sh.t we'd been through until it all started to come back during the interview process for the show. We've fought for everything we've gotten over the last twenty years. That's just us. Like [bassist] Frankie [Bello] says in the show, 'we're not gonna cower down, f.ck that, we're gonna fight.' Or something close to that. ANTHRAX, the eternal underdog. There was a lot of music too. They used a lot of different songs and they used them well. I loved the pieces of 'Horror Of It All' cut to the Chernobyl footage.

“My one gripe comes early on and it's personal. It may not affect the story for most people, but to me it means a lot. The narrator say's how I started the band right out of high school. What he should have said was: 'High school friends Scott Ian and Danny Lilker started a heavy metal band called ANTHRAX named after......etc etc.'

“They left Danny out. That sucks. There would be no ANTHRAX if it wasn't for Danny Lilker. Can you hear me? THERE WOULD BE NO ANTHRAX IF IT WASN'T FOR DANNY LILKER.

“Like I said, it's personal. We started the band together. Now I know they only had 44 minutes to tell the story and it's not a 'Rockumentary'. That one line would've made all the difference. It would be accurate. I'm just setting the record straight.

“One gripe out of a possible who knows how many is very good. I thought all the guests were great. My mom was hilarious. Jonny Z was perfect. I love when he disses our first demo. Lonn was insightful. He was there with me at Ground Zero. That's how he knows that story. Kirk was good. And tan!

“Chuck D was awesome. Just having him be a part of the show was so big for us. Still to this day I trip out over what we did together. To see it, on film, it's surreal. Who knew? And when Chuck says 'ANTHRAX never got the due respect they deserve for making that first big bold step into the world of rap', that puts a smile on my face. Thank you Chuck, that's huge.

“I thought the way they were able to tie our story together with 9/11 and the anthrax scare without it being gratuitous was done really well. It's 2002. To quote John Bush, 'WE ARE THE REAL ANTHRAX NYC!!' We aim to reclaim what was and still is ours. All in all, a great job.”