New ANVIL Bassist Interviewed On 'Maximum Threshold' (Audio)

New ANVIL bassist Sal Italiano was interviewed on this past weekend's edition of the "Maximum Threshold" show. The chat is now available for streaming using the audio player below.

When asked about landing the ANVIL gig, Italiano said, "We've been friends for a really long time. Back in the day, we used to play this club L'Amour in Brooklyn, and I was in a band called CITIES with A.J. Pero from TWISTED SISTER. Whenever ANVIL would come down, we would wind up opening. . . So this was an easy transition. I didn't get a lot of time to [prepare]. I mean, they called me up New Year's Eve and they said, 'Tour starts. Can you be up here on the 19th?' And I was on my way to California on the 19th, so I actually went there the weekend before. So I narrowed that window even more to learn the material. I knew a lot of it [already]; it was just a matter of rehearsing it. . . I didn't wanna hit the stage and there be a difference. I wanted it to still be an ANVIL show. It was really important to me that I did them their show. Because these guys have been doing it, and I didn't wanna come up here and be half prepared and make the band look bad. So I kind of guaranteed that I would get my act together when we played."

Regarding whether this is just a temporary collaboration or whether he will turn out to be a perment member of ANVIL, Sal said, "Whatever [ANVIL's Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner] decide. I'm just taking it a day at a time. Right now I'm here to do the American shows, and they mentioned a couple of festivals that are over the summer, so I'll probably get to do those. But after that, whatever they decide to do. They may want somebody local. I'm from out of New York, and if they wanna gel with a bass player and start writing the next record, they may want somebody that's local. If we can work something out… We'll see."

Interview (audio):

Italiano made his live debut with ANVIL this past Friday, January 27 at the Live Wire concert club in Mentor-On-The-Lake, Ohio.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. March Of The Crabs
02. 666
03. School Love
04. Juggernaut Of Justice
05. Winged Assassins
06. On Fire
07. This Is Thirteen
08. Mothra
09. Thumb Hang (dedicated to RIOT's Mark Reale)
10. Swing Thing (Robb Reiner drum solo)
11. Fuckin' Eh
12. New Orleans Voodoo
13. Metal On Metal

Encore:

14. Forged In Fire
15. Running

Several photos taken at Friday night's concert can be seen below (all pictures by Bill Peters).

Italiano is a member of the Long Island, New York IRON MAIDEN tribute band LIVE AFTER DEATH and original progressive metal act THE NIGHTMARE STAGE, as well as a former member of the acclaimed '80s heavy metal group CITIES.

ANVIL's longtime bassist Glenn Gyorffy (a.k.a. Glenn Five or G5) announced his departure from the band on January 16, citing creative differences.

Glenn Five joined ANVIL in 1996 and has appeared on seven of the band's albums, including "This Is Thirteen" and the group's latest release, "Juggernaut Of Justice", on which he wrote and sang the song "This Ride".

Commented Glenn: "Playing in ANVIL has given me some of the best years of my life. However, after nearly 16 years with the band, the time has come to move on and try new musical endeavors. Although ANVIL has been a great band to play in, I have been limited creatively. I have a wide taste in music and I feel that it's time to broaden my horizons."

Speaking to Metal Shock Finland about Glenn's exit and Italiano's addition to ANVIL, guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow said, "We hired an old friend to do the tour and are currently working with a new, improved bassist. There was no major issue in fixing this at all, and in fact, everything was sorted out within a few hours of Glenn departing. Glenn tried to make it difficult by leaving without proper notice, but we've been preparing for this for quite some time. This did end up for the better, as it is a huge improvement with our new guy, both musically as well as personally."

ANVIL's latest album, "Juggernaut Of Justice", was released in Europe on June 20, 2011 (three days earlier in Germany) via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort was made available as a limited-edition digipak (including two bonus tracks),double gatefold LP in blue vinyl, standard version and a digital download.

Performance footage - January 29 in Virginia:

All photos below by Bill Peters