ANTHRAX's SCOTT IAN: 'It's Always Odd To Me' Which Songs 'People Know And Don't Know Off Our Records'

In a new interview with Jaimunji, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian spoke about the setlist for the band's upcoming four-date headlining tour of Australia, which will kick off on March 23 in Brisbane. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We'll figure it out. I always like to take a look and see the last few times we were somewhere and what we played. There's always gonna be at least a dozen songs that are gonna get played no matter what. And then you figure out maybe there's some different ones we could play from the last time. Although if it's been that long [more than two decades] since we headlined [a tour of Australia], really, it doesn't matter what we do at this point because it's been so long. But generally, if you're in a place that you were just in, say, 18 months or two years ago, obviously I would wanna try and do at least half the set different."

Asked if he and his ANTHRAX bandmates like to try to rotate in some favorite songs that they don't get to play that often these days, Scott said: "Well, it's not a case of 'we don't get to', because we could play anything. On this last run, we started the tour. We had 'Deathrider' in the set from 'Fistful Of Metal', which hasn't been in the set very often in the last 35 years. And then halfway through the tour we said, 'Let's put 'Metal Thrashing Mad' back in, 'cause we missed playing it. So we switched up 'Deathrider' and 'Metal Thrashing Mad'. But, yeah, we were opening the show with 'A.I.R.', which, of course, back in 1985, '86, we would open our show with 'A.I.R.'. It was cool to switch out 'Among The Living' for 'A.I.R.'."

Scott continued: "It's funny, 'cause sometimes what people think are deep tracks I don't, or what I think is a deep track other people don't. To me, 'A.I.R.' is not a deep track. It's the first song on 'Spreading The Disease'. I get the big ones off that album — 'Madhouse' is a really big song, and 'Medusa' is like a hit, you know what I mean? And people love 'Gung-Ho', even though I would consider that more of a deep track. But, to me, I always thought 'A.I.R.' is one of the big ones, yet we would open with it and it was almost like people didn't know what song we were playing. And then we would go into 'Got The Time' or 'Madhouse' second, and all of a sudden the place would erupt, like, 'Oh, here's ANTHRAX. We don't even know what that first song was.' It's always odd to me what people know and don't know off our records."

After Jaimunji noted that a lot of fans' favorite songs are influenced by a system shaped by playlists, algorithms and short-form consumption curated by music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, Scott said: "I didn't even think of that. 'Cause I don't pay attention to playlists. I stream, but I'm generally playing albums and stuff like that. I don't ever go into top songs or essentials or any of that stuff. So, yeah, I never thought of it that way. 'Cause I have looked on our Apple Music, the top 50 songs or whatever, and the top 20 is always the same top 20 songs — always the same ones. And then if you're out playing a show and there's 8,000 people there, most of those 8,000 people are all gonna know those 20 songs and a lot less than 8,000 are gonna know, like, song number 73. [Laughs]."

ANTHRAX's Australian tour will kick off March 23 at Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane before moving through Adelaide's Hindley Street Music Hall on March 25 and Melbourne’s Festival Hall on March 26. The run will wrap March 28 at Enmore Theatre in Sydney.

ANTHRAX's long-awaited new studio album is tentatively due in May in North America via Megaforce and in Europe through Nuclear Blast. The mixing sessions, as well as some of the recording sessions, for the LP took place at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge, California. ANTHRAX once again worked with producer Jay Ruston, who previously helmed 2016's "For All Kings" and 2011's "Worship Music" albums.

ANTHRAX celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021 with a number of special activities and events. Formed by Ian and bassist Dan Lilker in Queens, New York on July 18, 1981, ANTHRAX was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast and quickly became regarded as a leader in the genre alongside METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.

Active over the past five decades, ANTHRAX has released 11 studio albums, been awarded multiple gold and platinum certifications, received six Grammy nominations, toured the world since 1984 playing thousands of shows, including headlining Madison Square Garden and playing Yankee Stadium with the "Big Four".

"For All Kings" was called by some critics ANTHRAX's strongest album to date. Its arrival followed a five-year period during which the group experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX's inclusion on the "Big Four" tour, and continuing with the release of comeback LP "Worship Music".