Scott Ian of Anthrax: Worship Music3

by Damon Martin

On September 13, Anthrax will return with a new studio album Worship Music, the band’s first release of new material in 8 years. While it may seem like the band has been away for a few years, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Constant touring as well as some mega shows where Anthrax co-headlined along with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, means the band has been busy and have never stopped playing music. The new album however welcomes back original vocalist Joey Belladonna, who makes his first appearance on an Anthrax studio album since the 1990 album Persistence of Time.

I caught up with the man most responsible for Anthrax over all these years, Scott Ian, for a phone to preview the new record and to talk about everything that led into its creation.

Damon Martin: Let’s start with at the beginning; what a lot of people will be talking about with this new record is that Joey Belladonna is back on vocals. How did that all come about and what’s it been like having him back full time?

Scott Ian: I guess it goes back to whenever we found out about The Big 4 shows. When we first started hearing rumors of that happening, I think that was kind of the moment to get Joey back in the band. Because we felt like he was the guy that should represent this band on those shows cause he was the guy back then, and these Big 4 shows certainly were going to be a celebration of all that. It just seemed to make sense and that’s what pretty much got the ball rolling…It was literally like ‘we want to do this, we want to move forward, we want to make a record with you, let’s do it.’ That’s pretty much what happened.

DM: It’s been 8 years since Anthrax had an album release….at this stage of the game for you guys, is it about making sure you’re putting together the best possible music so you just do it when the time is right, or had you planned to take a hiatus between records?

SI: It wasn’t time off at all. I think that’s a misconception People can see where I’ve been for the last 8 years. We put out a record in 2004, We’ve Come For You All, we toured that for a year and a half. We jumped right into the reunion tour with Joey and Danny, and that ended at the end of 2006, and the beginning of 2007 is when we actually started writing Worship Music –– so there really was no time off. I don’t understand why people think we’ve just been gone for 8 years.

DM: So you started writing the new music in 2007, what’s the construction process been for building this new album?

SI: When it first started it was just Charlie and I actually together, there really wasn’t a band at that point. Not that we had broken up, but we had finished the reunion tour in like October ‘06 and we took a break for the rest of the year. We hadn’t stopped in 5 years, so we took like 2 months off and then I went to Chicago to meet with Charlie in 2007 with songs with really no plan. We didn’t have a record deal staked, we didn’t really know anything. We just knew we had some ideas and let’s see how this starts to turn out.

We wrote this record from that point and even once the band was back together and even through having Dan Nelson in as the singer for 5 minutes, and him being gone and now Joey being back, the record was written pretty much the same way every Anthrax record in our history was written.

One major difference recording this record was once Joey was back in we basically gave Joey the keys to the kingdom and said, “Look dude, we want you on this record, we want your voice, we want your choices, we want your ideas.” He did all the vocals, just him and the producer Jay Ruston. The two of them in the studio without us hanging over their shoulders telling him what to do, and I think you really hear it in Joey’s performance.

DM: In so much past Anthrax work you guys have had themes and references to other stories. Like “Among the Living” with Stephen King’s The Stand and “Misery Loves Company” from King’s Misery. Is there something that influenced the new album?

SI: I’m sure there’s stuff like that all over the record. I mean off the top of my head the song “Fight Until You Can’t” the actual title is a nod to Battlestar Gallactica, although the song has nothing to do with Battlestar Gallactica, but there’s where the title came from. The song’s about zombies, or killing zombies. Anything I’m reading or seeing or doing is going to show up lyrically somehow. Anything I’m that currently obsessed with is going to show up somehow on the record.

DM: The first single “Fight Em’ Till You Can’t” has an unmistakable zombie theme around it. What zombie movies, comics or whatever have you read or watched over the years that we could see in this song?

SI: I’m a huge fan of the comic The Walking Dead, that’s probably my favorite. I love the TV show as well. Obviously a big fan of both Dawn of the Dead movies, the original and the remake, I think those were done great. I’m just a fan of the genre. I’ll see the worst, just shittiest B and C level zombie movies, just because I might find 30 seconds of it entertaining. I love Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z from Max Brooks, I think those books are awesome. I’m just a really big fan of the genre.

DM: Anthrax is one of very few bands that have remained relevant and still popular in so many different eras of music. You guys are now celebrating your 30th anniversary as a band, what do you believe has been the biggest factor in fans still following you from your first record to new fans following you today?

SI: Other than the obvious of because we rule, I just think there’s an honesty and there’s a responsibility to our audience, and there’s a loyalty that goes back and forth between us and the people. Not just Anthrax fans, but I just think metal fans in general. I think that’s what’s been able to maintain us for 30 years now. I think people really know, they have an expectation with us and we not only fill those expectations most of the time, but we end up exceeding the expectations.

Like when you go to the store and you buy this thing you like to eat, when you open that package it’s going to taste the way you expect it to taste. You’d be really upset if you opened that package one day and it tasted like shit. That’s pretty much where the responsibility comes in. We love what we do, we love playing this kind of music, we’re fans of this kind of music and I think we as Anthrax have a responsibility to metal in general.

DM: Anthrax has always been a band that’s had a certain chemistry with their fans, and from the early days till now where you really seem to relate with them through the internet, you’ve grown that relationship over the years. Can you talk to us about that?

SI: It’s always been of the utmost importance to have that relationship. One of the good things about the internet, and how a band can use the internet, is to even make that relationship closer by really getting rid of the middle man. Obviously, there’s a lot of problems with the internet and music, but being able to interact directly with your fans, for me, has been an amazing thing over the last 10 years. I’m on Twitter all the time, I’m on there answering people’s questions all the time.

When I was a kid growing up and being a fan of the bands I was a fan of, there was no way in a million years you could like somehow send a question to Gene Simmons and you were going to get an answer to it immediately. Someone can ask me a question on Twitter and I can respond to that, that must feel amazing as a fan of somebody to go, “Wow, that guy just took the time out of his day to answer my question” and I think that’s super important to stay on top of that. To ignore that tool would be a disservice to your fans.

For more information on Anthrax and Worship Music visit Anthrax.com, and follow @Anthrax and @Scott_Ian on Twitter.