ANTHRAX Guitarist: 'We're All Open To The Idea' Of Writing New Album With Reunited Lineup

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian has posted the following message on the group's official web site:

"I'm sitting in a cafe in Zagreb drinking really strong coffee and watching some guy with the greatest mullet I have ever seen. It's magnificent! The anti-mullet forces have not reached this far yet. Thank God! And he's got a Ditka moustache! I would try and take a picture but he's a shady character. Every ten minutes or so, young women who look to be of the world’s oldest profession, or whores as they like to be called, come in and talk to him. He hands them pieces of paper and they leave. Croatian pimps need to watch some rap videos for lessons in bling. This guy looks like the guy you'd buy a hot dog from outside Wrigley.

"Zagreb is a cool city. Not too long ago there was a war going on here. I guess after years of war, British and American tourists are a welcome sight. The city is much like other Eastern bloc cities. Lot's of old beautiful buildings and way too many '60s & '70s ugly concrete communist architecture. And not a Starbucks in sight! Yes, I would rather take the time to savor a local espresso in a cafe any day than a cup of what the McDonalds of coffee chains have to offer. Maybe if I drank fancy coffee drinks and frappacinos and the like, but I don't. I like it strong and black like oil in a little cup. I've heard from Joey Vera that the coffee in Turkey is amazing. I hope we get to go.

"For those of you that don't care about my coffee musings, there are more interesting (maybe) topics ahead. I am patiently (not so patiently) waiting for the Yankees to start winning. No pitching. Old pitching. Giambi. They could be the first team with a payroll over 200 million to not even make the playoffs. That would be a job well done. Think they'll lower the ticket prices next season?

"The shows have been great on this tour. Once again, the Download festival was unbelievable. It was really a special one. I can't thank our U.K. fans enough. I hope these upcoming club shows in Colchester and Oxford will tide you over until the real headline tour next spring. Our set will be much longer than the Download set, that's for sure.

"The Fury Fest was our first festival ever in France. Frankie and I watched FANTOMAS play. I am an unabashed fan of Mike Patton's. FAITH NO MORE, MR. BUNGLE, TOMAHAWK, FANTOMAS, all of it. Watching him conduct FANTOMAS was like watching some mad scientist at work. He holds that insanity together with a nod or a hand raise, or maybe it's just magic. I don't know. It was sonically one of the coolest things I've ever heard. Dark, disturbing and all tempered with a sense of humor and fun. A heavy metal Spike Jones? He's a fucking genius. I can't wait to hear the PEEPING TOM record (one of his next projects). I got to see SICK OF IT ALL as well. They crushed as usual. The hardest working hardcore band in the business and they always deliver the goods. We headlined the main stage and our set was brilliant. Tres magnifique. Playing 'Antisocial' in France is always a hair on the back of the neck raiser. Joey [Belladonna] even sang the first verse in French!! Next time, we'll close with that one. We are the house band at the Graspop festival in Belgium having played there three years in a row. This year we headlined our stage. First time for that. I was excited about Graspop because I knew how great it would be. The show last year was the best of the tour and the excitement for the reunion show there was obvious. We finally got to hang with SLAYER. We kept missing each other on a bunch of festivals by one day. A lot of these fests have had us, SLAYER and MEGADETH but on different days. It's The Clash Of The Titans reunion almost. Of course SLAYER destroyed and they seemed to be in good spirits. I even caught Jeff smiling at me on stage. We tried to get Jamey from HATEBREED to sing 'New Level' [PANTERA] with us but he got cold feet. he told me how SLAYER had asked him to come up and sing with them in Munich when Tom lost his voice and he ended up singing 'Angel of Death' to 'Reigning Blood' (or the other way around)! We did it anyway with me singing and I've almost got it down. It's a really hard one to play and sing at the same time. Graspop was as good as I thought it would be. It's overall my favorite festival to be at because the vibe is always so good. SLIPKNOT ruled as well. I want to hit a keg with an aluminum bat so bad in 'Duality' you have no fucking idea. After the show it was a huge hang with all the aforementioned bands plus IN FLAMES and MASTODON (who rip!!). That's what I love most about playing these Euro summer fests. You get to see all your friends at least once a year. It's like summer camp for metal. Our schedule has been so crazy. We've taken more flights than we've played gigs. Our bus has no AC and the air that does blow is full of diesel fumes. The bathroom stinks like The Gem Saloon on Deadwood (or at least what I imagine it to smell like). It's been rough, but the shows have been so great that they wipe off the stench and keep us going everyday. It's the opportunity to play these gigs that make us all want to be here. I didn't know how great the reception to this reunion was going to be. I hoped it would be like this but you can't bet on it. Thank you for going above and beyond my expectations. We're going to play as many shows all over the world as we can and take it from there.

"Are we going to make a record? We're all open to the idea. The hard part is writing the songs. We're not just going to make a record because we got back together. The material would have to be amazing and inspiring enough for us to want to do it. It wouldn't be 'Among The Living 2'. It wouldn't be the follow up to 'We've Come for You All' (that will be made),it would be its own thing. This lineup now. What that is I have no idea. We shall see. Thanks for sticking with us! I hope you're enjoying the new site. There's not too much content yet. It's coming. It looks great though. More skins coming. We're going to have band member pages and gear pages and I am going to start a personal photo archive and add to it constantly. Pics from 1981 until now. Maybe a pic of the week thing. Stay tuned. I dig the MySpace page. I've been slowly answering emails. I like seeing what you maniacs look like.

"I've been getting good feedback on my Lyon guitar. It's the entry level guitar that Washburn made for Musicland stores. For such an inexpensive guitar, the quality is amazing. Thank you technology!!! Check out the pic of Thraxx's daughter rocking it! I will hopefully have some links soon from Washburn so you can check it out. The U.S. dates for the fall are coming together. We're putting together a slamming package. As soon as things are confirmed you'll know.

"We've got titles and art for the upcoming releases as well. Keep checking in. That should all be announced momentarily."

Check out some of Scott's pictures from the road at this location.