ANTHRAX Guitarist: I'd Been Waiting Four Years To Have JOHN BUSH Back In The Ranks

In the first installment of the Kerrang! Awards 2009 podcast, Simon Young takes you behind the scenes at what the U.K. magazine calls the "biggest and best rock 'n' roll awards show on the planet" and speaks to this year's hosts SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor and ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian. Watch the eight-minute clip below.

The following is an excerpt from the conversation with Scott Ian:

On how ANTHRAX's one-off performance with singer John Bush (ANTHRAX's singer from 1992 to 2005) at U.K.'s Sonisphere festival on August 1, 2009 went:

Scott Ian: "It went better than I even hoped it would go. I'd been waiting four years for that moment that we had on Saturday to have John Bush back in the ranks, and it was an unbelievably, magnificently emotional hour of my life; it was really amazing."

On whether he shed any tears following the Sonisphere concert:

Scott Ian: "I did. I broke down, like, twice during the show and then, literally, after the show, had a physical collapse in the dressing room where I almost fainted. It was a huge release of anxiety and tension and stress of the last four years of being without John Bush. I'm not making a joke out of it, either; I'm absolutely serious. It was an amazing moment."

On many rehearsals they had prior to the Sonisphere performance:

Scott Ian: "We had one rehearsal. It was seamless. It was just like we had just jammed the day before. You could just tell... Look, John was in the band for 13 years, and we got back in a room here in London to jam and no time had passed. It was just instant; it's the way the band's meant to be."

On the likelihood of John Bush rejoining ANTHRAX full-time:

Scott Ian: "It's obviously what we want, and I think this is just hopefully the first of a couple of steps to make it happen. The show went great — we all had a great time; John had a fucking blast — and hopefully this is now... the foot's in the door to make this happen again. But it's absolutely what we want to happen. I don't really see any other possibility."

ANTHRAX parted ways with singer Dan Nelson last month due to what has been described as "personal differences." As a result, the band canceled 10 European shows and pulled out of a U.S. tour with SLIPKNOT which was scheduled to take place in August and September.

ANTHRAX's manager, Izvor Zivkovic of Split Media, told BLABBERMOUTH.NET on July 21 that the band's new album, "Worship Music", which was previously due in Europe on October 23 via Nuclear Blast Records, will now be "pushed back to a later date." According to Ian, Dan Nelson's tracks will most likely be erased from the CD, which was recently mixed at a New Orleans studio by Dave Fortman (a former member of UGLY KID JOE who has also worked with artists such as MUDVAYNE, EVANESCENCE).