ANTHRAX Guitarist Says New Album Is 'Almost Done'

ARTISTdirect.com editor Rick Florino recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

ARTISTdirect.com: What is the significance of the "Big Four" to you personally?

Scott Ian: For me, it's the culmination of many years of work. It feels really great to know that people all over this planet still care so much about what these four bands do after all these years. In all modesty, the four of us are at the top of our game. We're better than we've ever been as bands. Many great heavy metal bands have come along over the years. It seems like every generation gets its own crop of bands. Since METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, and ANTHRAX started thrash metal back in the '80s, nothing really ever came along to — for lack of a better word — usurp what we did. Other than maybe the grunge movement and some of the nu metal in the '90s, I still think there's never been anything that's better as far as the music we make goes. Sure there are a ton of great bands out there that you could put under the same umbrella as us, but there will never be METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, and ANTHRAX again in the scene we started and created. With grunge, you could obviously look at NIRVANA, SOUNDGARDEN, ALICE IN CHAINS, and PEARL JAM. They were four giant bands, and they're all great in their own way. What we did was really special back then and it stands up and holds true today. There's a whole new generation of kids who are coming with their older brothers, their dads, or by themselves. Whatever it is we did really connects with people in a big way.

ARTISTdirect.com: This is the first show in America, too. Does that heighten anticipation since you're all from the U.S.?

Scott Ian: In a way, this definitely has the vibe of being even more special than the first show we did in Poland. That was obviously the first gig we were doing as the "Big Four," so there was a crazy energy ramping up into that show. With the Indio date, it's definitely even more so. Even though we played seven shows last year, this is the first show in America. The fact that we're doing it in Southern California makes sense because, outside of ANTHRAX, the other three bands got their start in Southern California. I couldn't be more excited about getting to do this at home. It's an incredible feeling.

ARTISTdirect.com: Where are you at on the new ANTHRAX album?

Scott Ian: The record is almost done. Joey's [Belladonna, vocals] been singing. He's got about seven or eight songs pretty much finished at this point. We've got some other tracking to do — some guitars and lead breaks. Overall, I would think the record will be finished and mixed before the summer and we're looking at a fall release.

Read the entire interview from ARTISTdirect.com.