SCOTT IAN: It Doesn't Matter To Me If It's BELLADONNA Or BUSH Singing For ANTHRAX

Joseph Hudak of The Times Leader recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On heavy metal fans:

"Once you're infected by this type of music, you have no choice but to love it for the rest of your life. It gets in your soul, your heart and your gut, and you never forget it."

"To me, hard rock and heavy-metal music will never go away. Besides the fact that it's just so good, this type of music has the best fans in the world. They will look deeper and try harder to find things they want to listen to, because you can't hear this on the radio. You have look for this stuff. And that's what makes our audience so much better."

On the band's two most celebrated singers, Joey Belladonna and John Bush:

"They are both such integral parts of this band. But, at this point, it doesn't matter to me if it's Joey or John. I've been doing this for so long that it just feels like ANTHRAX to me. The whole is greater than the individual parts."

On touring Europe with MEGADETH, SLAYER and METALLICA, the revered "Big Four":

"We're lucky that we have Joey, and it feels really good. A lot of that has to do with the fact that he came back to the band and we got to do the Big Four shows. What an amazing way to kick off this next phase of ANTHRAX. Having those dates under our belt put everybody in a good frame of mind, as far as how great this band is and what we can do moving forward."

On METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich hinting in a U.K. rock magazine that there will be some U.S. shows with the "Big Four":

"It's super exciting to hear Lars talking publicly about it. They're the ones who will make it happen. They're the ones who made it happen the first time around. The irony is that the four big U.S bands of thrash metal haven't played a U.S. date yet. But we spent a lot of time together in Europe this summer, all four bands hanging out, and everybody is on the same page. Everybody wants to do more."

On playing rhythm guitar in PEARL, the rock band fronted by his wife, Pearl Aday:

"I love doing that so much, and I've been able to do it because the schedules have worked out. Eventually the time will come where I have to fire myself. I'm not looking forward to that. But the reality is that ANTHRAX will get too busy again, and I can't be two places at one time."

On his father-in-law being the iconic Meat Loaf:

"It's like having anyone as your father-in-law. It's not like he's on stage when you're hanging out with the guy. We actually had dinner with him last night, and all we talked about was fantasy football. He's just a regular guy who happens to be a legendary rock star."

Read more from The Times Leader.