ANTHRAX's SCOTT IAN Says People Don't 'Make The Same Connection With Albums' That They Used To

Stefan from Australia’s “The Moshpit Backstage” podcast recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On doing spoken-word shows:

Scott: “I pretty much get to stand in a room and just relate my experiences over the last three or four decades, whatever it is. I’ve had a very privileged life in that I’ve gotten to be in a band for so long and traveled the planet and met all the people that I’ve met and done all the things I’ve done and seen the things I’ve seen and participated in a lot of insane things and witnessed a lot of insane things. Over the years, I’ve got a lot of stories. [Laughs] About five years ago, I got asked to do a show in London to get onstage and tell stories. Out of just curiosity, I did it just to see if I could because I just kinda took it as a challenge. Yeah, I just easily could have failed and hated the experience, but, I loved it. I really, really enjoyed it. I told my agent immediately ‘We got to do more of these.’ Over the last five years, whenever I can, if I can find a window, I go out. I’ve toured the U.K., I’ve toured Europe, I’ve toured the States. It’s something I really enjoy doing. I think I could safely say the audiences enjoy it as well because I can judge it by the fact that everybody laughs in the right places. I kind of think people are getting it.”

On whether ANTHRAX will be working on the follow-up to 2016’s “For All Kings” in 2019:

Scott: “That’s the plan, yeah, for sure. We finish [touring] with SLAYER this year in Europe before Christmas and then we’ll take some time off and then probably not long after the new year, I think we’ll get in a room and start arranging some new music.”

On whether he’d be interested in taking part in more “Big Four” shows alongside METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH:

Scott: “Of course. Yes. Everybody would. We’re all hoping it happens again, but that’s way above all our heads.”

On the bands he thinks are worthy to step into the spot occupied by SLAYER and other big metal bands:

Scott: “I don’t know. If you’re asking me if anyone will be ever as big as METALLICA, I would say no. I would also have said in 1983, I wouldn’t have thought METALLICA was going to be the biggest heavy metal band in the world, so who the hell knows? I don’t know. I’m not the mayor of heavy metal. I don’t have these responsibilities; I don’t have to think about this stuff. It’s hard to say. The world is such a different place than it was in the ’80s and the breeding ground for bands and how bands become big and how bands, you know, bands used to sell records. Bands don’t sell albums anymore. It’s all touring. It’s a different thing. It doesn’t mean that bands can’t be big. Sure, there are bands from the last ten years that have gotten big, but will they ever be like IRON MAIDEN or METALLICA? Because I feel so much of the success of the biggest metal bands, a lot of that success, I mean, I’ll include my own band in it, the reason why we can still go out and tour whenever we want and do things the way we want to do them and call our own shots is because people have such a connection to the records we made. I think part of that is lost now. Even the people that stream music, however you get your music, it’s great. Truthfully, I don’t give a shit how people listen to music these days, as long as they listen. But I just don’t feel like in the last ten years that people make the same connection with albums, even my albums, or IRON MAIDEN albums, or METALLICA albums, because it’s been so diminished, the fact that basically people are listening for free. The whole experience of going to a record store and buying a record and saving your money for that and living with that, the experience meant a lot more. There’s a bit of passion that has been lost because of the death of the record, so, I don’t know. I don’t know if anyone is going to ever get that big. Twenty years from now, maybe five bands will prove me wrong, but it’s hard for me to imagine, let’s put it that way.”

On whether STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH, his crossover band with Billy Milano (M.O.D.), Danny Lilker (NUCLEAR ASSAULT, bass) and Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX, drums) will possibly reunite:

Scott: “Whatever it says on the Internet is true. I’m going to leave it at that.”

Ian‘s “One Man Riot” spoken-word trek will kick off on September 24 and will include stops in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

“For All Kings” was released in February 2016. 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”.