ANTHRAX Guitarist Talks THE DAMNED THINGS In New Interview

Jon Wiederhorn of AOL's Noisecreep recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian about THE DAMNED THINGS — the new band featuring members of FALL OUT BOY (Joe Trohman, Andy Hurley),ANTHRAX (Scott Ian, Rob Caggiano) and EVERY TIME I DIE (Keith Buckley, Josh Newton). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Noisecreep: When were the seeds first planted for THE DAMNED THINGS?

Scott: The genesis of it was about four years ago. Joe and I were both endorsed by Washburn guitar and our A&R guy was a mutual friend who kept telling us individually that we had to hang out with one another. He even used to say to me specifically, "Look, I know he's in FALL OUT BOY but he's a really great guy." I was like, "I don't give a fuck what band he's in." There are plenty of bands I don't like, but I like the musicians who play in them. And not that I hate FALL OUT BOY. Truthfully, I didn't know anything about FALL OUT BOY other than they were named after a character on "The Simpsons".

Noisecreep: Are THE DAMNED THINGS the sum of their parts, an amalgamation of ANTHRAX, FALL OUT BOY and EVERY TIME I DIE?

Scott: I really don't hear anything from any of our bands in this. It sounds like something completely new to me. We haven't reinvented music or anything. It's still hard rock/heavy metal. It represents the genres of music that we all come from, but it doesn't sound specifically like any of our bands. For me, I hear a lot of elements of classic rock, I hear a lot of elements of older school heavy metal, but at the same time I hear a lot of modern rock as well. There are definitely influences coming from Rob, Keith and Joe because the three of them were really responsible for most of the melody ideas and the big choruses. Those guys are all influenced by all kinds of sh- all across the board. It definitely sounds fresh. The energy of it is amazing and I'm dying for people to hear it.

Noisecreep: Does Keith Buckley rant like a maniac, as he does in EVERY TIME I DIE?

Scott: No, he's actually singing on it. The material definitely called for singing, not screaming. There certainly are elements of what people are familiar with from Keith, but people are gonna be really surprised. He can sing his ass off; he's a rock singer. If you listen to EVERY TIME I DIE songs like "Wanderlust" or "Werewolf", where he pulls back from the full-on screaming, you get to hear a little bit of where he can go, but Rob and Joe really pushed him in the studio and he actually went and took lessons with Melissa Cross. He said, "I could scream all day long and it's no problem, but you guys have me scream for an hour and my voice is done." So she helped him build up his stamina and strengthen his voice. He was totally into it, because he wanted to grow as an artist and he's just so amazing on this record.

Read the entire interview from Noisecreep.

THE DAMNED THINGS is:

Keith Buckley: Lead Vocals
Scott Ian: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Rob Caggiano: Rhythm, Lead Guitar, Vocals
Joe Trohman: Rhythm, Lead Guitar, Vocals
Andy Hurley: Drums, Percussion
Josh Newton: Bass

Fan-filmed video footage of THE DAMNED THINGS' June 6, 2010 concert in Brussels, Belgium can be viewed below.