ANTHRAX Guitarist: I Can't Wait To Be Able To Play BUSH-Era Songs Again

Shawn Macomber of The Nashua Telegraph recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian. Several excerpts from the chat follow:

On the different reactions to the reunion of the group's "classic" lineup:

"We're not U2. Everyone doesn't love us all the time. I'm not surprised by any of the reactions. Music comes down to two things: You either like it or you don't, and everybody has an opinion. It's a very volatile thing. If we spent our time listening to people outside of the band about everything we do, ANTHRAX never would have even made our first record. So I have to go with what my heart, my gut and my soul are telling me."

On touring with JUDAS PRIEST:

"The only way I can look at this tour is from the point of view of myself as a 16-year-old kid going to JUDAS PRIEST shows. That's how I feel whenever I'm around these guys, even though I've known them for years. It's a win-win situation for us. The shows are killer, and we get to hang out with our heroes."

On the relationship with his bandmates:

"Well, the only way it’s really progressing is on a personal level. We haven't really tried to move forward musically or creatively in any way. I can honestly say we're in a better place, personally, than ever before. I just basically attribute that to the fact that we've grown up. Things that seemed important 15 years ago definitely aren't as important now."

On the John Bush-era material:

"I absolutely miss those songs from 'Sound of White Noise', 'We've Come for You All' and the other records we did with John Bush. I can't wait to be able to play those songs again."

On the band's future:

"Believe me, it’s as confusing to me as anyone else. I feel like I'm living in this alternate reality where I'm somehow in two different versions of ANTHRAX at the same time. The only thing that's going to define it for me is the music we come up with, and we'll just have to take it from there."

On playing their greatest hits from their 1985-91 halcyon days in their original form rather than the shortened, altered arrangements of recent years:

"I understand why we did what we did to these songs in the '90s because we had this huge catalog to play from, all the old stuff as well as all the records we did with John Bush, so it made sense. Our attitude going into this reunion was 'Let's play these songs note for note how we played and recorded them in the '80s. Truthfully, they're so much better this way."

On the band's early days:

"People so often look back with rose-colored glasses and say those were the good old days, but back when we first signed our record contract in 1985, those really were the good old days. We've seen it go from a business run by music lovers at all these different labels to two or three corporations run by lawyers and accountants.

"In the '80s we had to fight for everything we got. Nobody knew how to market a band like ANTHRAX at Island Records in 1985. We basically learned together and had huge success together. That couldn't happen today. There is no such thing as a label giving bands a few records to develop their careers. If you don’t go gold or platinum on your first record, you're done, over. Next.

"If that had been the case in the '60s, '70s or '80s, every great band everybody loves and listens to today wouldn't exist. They never would have made it."

Read the entire interview at NashuaTelegraph.com.