ANTHRAX Guitarist SCOTT IAN Is 'Stoked' About New Album

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

ARTISTdirect: How is the new ANTHRAX record coming along?

Scott: Good, man! I don't know how to put a percentage on it, but we just finished with vocals, and all of the tracks are being edited in cleaned right now. We start lead guitars next week. Once the leads are done, we'll start mixing. We're getting close. There's a light at the end of the tunnel for sure. I've been getting the edited tracks once a day, and I fucking love what I'm hearing. I can't wait. It's been six years, and I'm really antsy to get this record done and out. At the same time, since it's been six years, the last thing we want to do at this point is rush anything just to get a record out. We want to make sure when we're done with this album, it's exactly what we want it to be and not have any questions after the fact. We're really taking our time.

ARTISTdirect: Would you say it picks up where "We've Come for You All" left off?

Scott: I don't know. One thing I've realized after nine albums, I don't know how to answer that question. The best thing I can tell you is: it's an ANTHRAX album [Laughs]. We've been around long enough at this point where people know what that means. If I tell people there's a new ANTHRAX album coming, I think they'll have a good idea in their heads of what it's going to sound like. That's the best description I can give. It's a fucking great ANTHRAX record. We're really stoked about what we're doing. The only reason we're still doing it is because we love doing it. It's fun for us. We love being in this band. The music we wrote for this record enabled us to stay together as a band and make our ninth studio album because we loved it so much. That's the best answer I could give you.

ARTISTdirect: You've maintained the same ferocity throughout the years, but it evolves.

Scott: That's something for me, as a guy in the band, that's hard to see. I've never been able to look at it that way. Of course I understand "Fistful of Metal" and "We've Come for You All" sound completely different, but at the same time, it's all ANTHRAX to me. It all makes sense. In a weird way, it's all the same to me even though things sound completely different, whether it's because we've got a different singer, or we've evolved as songwriters. At the same time, it's all one big catalog of work. Sometimes, it's hard for me to sit back and look at it from an outside point of view.

ARTISTdirect: What does Dan [Nelson, new singer] bring to the band?

Scott: He brings Dan! [Laughs] It's a new voice and a new sound. It's a new personality, a new attitude. He brings himself to the mix. People will obviously make up their own minds as far as what they think of Dan. As far as what we think of Dan, obviously he wouldn't be in the band if we didn't like him [Laughs]. We're going to play with IRON MAIDEN in South America, we leave on Friday. What better way to introduce Dan. It was just a great thing for us. He handled it like he'd been doing it for 20 years, and he'd never played shows on that level.

Read the entire interview from ARTISTdirect.

Video footage of ANTHRAX's March 7, 2009 performance in Bogota, Colombia as the support act for IRON MAIDEN can be viewed below.

ElEspectador.com footage (also includes LAUREN HARRIS):