SCOTT IAN 'Loves' That JOHN BUSH Is Performing Material From His Era Of ANTHRAX, Wants To Join Singer On Stage For 'A Couple Of Songs'

In a new interview with Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian spoke about ex-ANTHRAX vocalist John Bush's recent shows where John showcased the music Bush helped create during his decade-long tenure as the frontman of the pioneering thrash metal band. Scott said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "John and I are close friends — we have been forever. There was whispers about this ages ago. I think it's something that John had been thinking about for a really long time, and I think it was just a case of just figuring out the hows and the whens for him. But we've been nothing but supportive of it ever since. Like, I remember him asking me about it once. I'm, like, 'You don't need to [ask me]. Do whatever you want, bro. I celebrate it. I love that you're gonna go out and do this.' The only bummer for me was when he did the run of dates where he played L.A. and he played New York, I was in the opposite cities. I missed him both times. And I was hoping, like, I even asked him, I said, 'Hey,' 'cause I thought I was gonna be home for the L.A. show. And I said, 'Can I come up and play a couple of songs?' And then he said to me, 'They're your songs. You don't need to ask me.' And then it turned out I couldn't be there. So, I would love to get to do that again at some point. Like I said, John and I are good friends, and that kind of transcends. That's really all that matters to me. And I'm stoked that he did that, and I'm stoked that there's a new ARMORED SAINT record."

At the gigs, Bush performed songs spanning all four albums he recorded with the band: "Sound Of White Noise", "Stomp 442", "Volume 8: The Threat Is Real" and "We've Come For You All". Joining Bush on stage were his CATEGORY 7 bandmates Phil Demmel (guitar),Mike Orlando (guitar) and Jason Bittner (drums),along with his longtime ARMORED SAINT partner and best friend Joey Vera on bass (CATEGORY 7 bassist Jack Gibson had a schedule conflict and was unable to make the gig). CATEGORY 7 also opened the show before returning as John's backing band for the ANTHRAX material.

Last September Bush was asked by Eonmusic's Eamon O'Neill about the possibility of other ANTHRAX bandmembers joining him on stage at some of the gigs to perform a few songs. He responded: "My opinion is with those guys, it's their music. It's their songs; they wrote them. They can do whatever they want. If they want to come out for a song, great. If they don't want to come out for any, great. You know, it doesn't matter. If they want to play ten songs, great. The door is open, and they could do whatever they want in conjunction with it, or nothing."

When O'Neill asked if Ian gave his blessing, given that John and Scott had recently played together at Scott's wife's birthday celebration, John said: "Scott asked about being the third guitar player on one of the shows. He had said, 'Would you like a third guitar player?', and I was cracking up, but I don't know how completely sincere he was about it. I think it was, but he has a conflict with the date in Los Angeles, and that's where Scott lives. He has a wedding in New York, so I was saying, 'Well, maybe New York?", but I don't know if he's going to be there that long, so who knows?"

Asked if he would still be doing these shows if the current Joey Belladonna-fronted lineup of ANTHRAX was performing a lot of the material Bush recorded with the band live, John said: "Well, I'd say most likely not. I used to say, 'Do songs [from my era]. I want you to do tunes.' I understand why you don't, but I wish they would. Because, again, it's something that I invested emotionally and a lot of time, as well as those guys did. So, I would prefer them to play the tunes. I understand if they don't, but if they were, then maybe not. But they don't, with the exception of 'Only'. And there's a lot of great tunes. I've been putting a setlist together, and it's probably more songs than I really wanna sing, to be honest, 'cause it could be a very long set. Plus I wanna play some deep tracks — I don't wanna just play the obvious songs, like 'Only', 'Room For One More', 'Fueled'. I wanna play 'Safe Home', whatever. I wanna play some deep tracks, because it will be more fun that way. So, would I do this [if ANTHRAX was still performing songs from the Bush era live]? Probably not. I would say probably not. But they're not, so I am."

ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Bush, Belladonna, Neil Turbin and Dan Nelson — over the last 42 years, with guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante remaining the sole bandmembers who have appeared on every one of the group's studio albums.

Turbin sang on ANTHRAX's debut LP, 1984's "Fistful Of Metal", before getting booted and being replaced by Belladonna. Belladonna performed on four ANTHRAX albums, including the fan favorite "Among The Living" (1987) before he himself was fired over creative and stylistic differences. Bush fronted ANTHRAX between 1992 and 2005 but was sidelined when the band reunited with Belladonna for a 20th-anniversary tour. When that collapsed, and relationships disintegrated with next frontman Nelson, Bush returned for a time before Belladonna took the job back in 2010.

Back in March 2010 — just a couple of months before Belladonna rejoined ANTHRAX — Ian and his wife Pearl Aday appeared on an episode of VH1's "That Metal Show" and took part in the program's "The Throwdown" feature, where the guests and the hosts debated who was the best singer for ANTHRAX: Bush or Belladonna. Countering co-host Eddie Trunk's point that ANTHRAX was in a unique position with Belladonna in the band of being able to "play incredible speed metal" while having "someone who could sing like a bird," Ian said: "We didn't need a bird; we needed a lion." After Pearl offered that she was a "huge fan" of "The Greater Of Two Evils", a collection of re-recorded older ANTHRAX tunes with Bush on vocals instead of Belladonna, Ian said: "And that's the way we, as ANTHRAX, wanted to hear those songs."

Speaking to Radio Metal in August 2011, ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante was asked about Ian's "That Metal Show" comments. He said: "I think Scott had to eat some of the words he said about that. But he only said that because I think he left things off with Joey kind of bad, and their relationship wasn't very well back then when he said that. And I think Scott just harbored some ill feelings towards Joey and I think that's kind of why he made that statement, you know?"

Scott Ian photo credit: Travis Shinn