ANTHRAX's SCOTT IAN On METALLICA: 'Our History Goes Back To Literally Ground Zero With Those Guys'

February 4, 2019

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian recently spoke to Download Japan about how he first met the members of METALLICA in 1983 at their cramped rehearsal spaces in Jamaica, Queens, New York while METALLICA was preparing to record its seminal debut LP, "Kill 'Em All".

"I was at the Music Building in Queens where we had a rehearsal room," Scott recalled (see video below). "And we had the same manager, Jonny Z. And METALLICA was coming from San Francisco in a U-Haul truck to New York. They had a rehearsal room set up at the Music Building as well. We knew there were these like-minded dudes from San Francisco kind of doing this new thing as well. They didn't have a place to stay. They were living in this building that only had cold water running in it. It was filthy. I mean, it was disgusting. So we would bring them to our house [so they could] shower. We obviously became fast friends. And our history goes back to literally ground zero with those guys. The genesis of what we were all to become, that seed was planted so long ago. It's such a trip to think we were doing just what we had this passion for, what we fell in love with. And that's all we still do."

ANTHRAX is currently writing material for the follow-up to 2016's "For All Kings" album.

Drummer Charlie Benante told Metal Rules last year that the songs that the band is working on now "are a little more aggressive and angrier, only because the climate we are all living in is reflected in our music."

Released in February 2016, "For All Kings" was called by some critics ANTHRAX's strongest album to date. Its arrival followed a five-year period during which the band experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX's inclusion on the 2010 "Big Four" tour with METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH, and continuing with the 2011 release of comeback LP "Worship Music".

ANTHRAX's upcoming disc will be the band's third full-length release since the return of singer Joey Belladonna, who came back into the fold for the "Big Four" shows, in the process helping inspire a new wave of creativity.

Find more on Anthrax

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).