ANTHRAX Guitarist Talks California 'Big Four' Show In New Video Interview

April 23, 2011

Artisan News Service spoke with ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian this past week about the significance of today's (Saturday, April 23) "Big Four" show in Indio, California, which unites Eighties thrash metal legends METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX on stage in the United States for the first time.

"I'm very excited about the 'Big Four' show [on Saturday]," Ian said. "It recently dawned on me, just this past week, that this will be the biggest show ANTHRAX has ever played in the United States. So I think that added a little extra pressure onto the whole weekend. But yeah, I'm super-excited — the first time in the United States the four of us playing together. I feel even more energy and vibe about this one than I did last summer when we were gonna do it for the first time, because this is the first time at home, and it just makes it that much better."

The "Big Four" tour first played selected dates in Eastern Europe last summer to an fantastic response, which led to the scheduling of shows this year in the U.S. and other parts of Europe. There's no word yet on whether more "Big Four" events are in the works.

In an October 2010 interview, Ian said about the significance of the "Big Four" tour, "Under the umbrella of hard rock and heavy metal, you've had so many different branches come off that tree. We're just another branch, we created something new in the early '80s. We were all influenced by the same thing, we all came from the same school, so to speak, and, you know, we created thrash metal. We started something new. And I think that's the best thing you could say about any band, or any musician or any artist... is if you create something that wasn't there before. It's just an amazing thing to be able to say that all these years later — we started this band in 1981, METALLICA formed in '81 — 29 years later, we're still doing this, because there's so many people on this planet that still love what we do and that are interested in what we do and that wanna be a part of this scene and a part of this music. It's just amazing to me that all these years later... We're on almost a second generation of fans now — 13-year-olds coming to the gigs still just love what we do so much. And that's just such a privilege that we get to go out and do this."

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).