ANTHRAX Guitarist: 'People In Europe Are More Passionate About Music'

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian recently spoke to Schwegweb.com about the differences between heavy metal fans in Europe and in the U.S.

"I think people in Europe are more passionate about music," he said. "Maybe it has to do with the kids not being so bombarded with the media over there like they are here. It's not as radio driven as it is here. The kids here when they first start listening to radio are bombarded with pop music and boy bands and whatever else is out there right now. In Europe it's not like that. You get people who have more of an opportunity to use their own minds and figure things out for themselves. They will buy a record because it has a cool cover and that doesn't happen over here. It just makes it harder for some one that is eleven years old to discover a band like ANTHRAX or any kind of hard rock and heavy metal band. Where are they going to see it or hear it?

"Things are definitely more categorized over there," Ian added. "Over there metal has always been huge and has never gone away. Look at bands like MANOWAR, which really in the States mean nothing but in Europe are huge. Their fans remain loyal and will stay with them forever. They're like IRON MAIDEN over there. That's what is so great about Europe. Things don't come and go people get into something and they stay into something. It's not like here in the States where people are like, 'Yeah I used to go to shows,' or 'I used to be into that.' It's not like that in Europe."

When asked why he thinks ANTHRAX wasn't approached for the Ozzfest this year, Ian said, "I can't tell you why. You would have to interview Sharon Osbourne about that. The problem over here in the States is that it is so fucking closed-minded. The promoters and the people that organize like Lollapalooza are a perfect example. You put ANTHRAX on Lollapalooza and we would go over fucking awesome. We could play with all those bands and we would go down great but not in a million years because they have such a fucking closed-minded attitude. They're alternative and we're metal and it amazes me that after twelve years that shit is still going on. We tried, we were submitted but they turned us down. We were really hoping on getting on Ozzfest in the second-stage headlining slot and it looked like it was going to happen but then it fell through. We know how great it would be for us but it's like this fucking door we can't get past." Read more.