SCOTT IAN Interview
By Erik Fong
HARDRADIO.com
By Erik Fong
HARDRADIO.com
Mere months ago, Anthrax rose from industry hardships, put the finishing touches on some new songs and came for us all... with an album called We've Come For You All. And now they're in the middle of the fun part - touring the world with no sleep, no showers, and no f**king mercy.
While making his way through the popular summer vacation hotbed known as Hartford, Connecticut, Anthrax guitarist and thrash metal legend Scott Ian spoke with us and shared (almost) all his favorite stories of the past and present like an uncle with one arm and no legs describing the Vietnam War. Except you'll have to substitute army rations with seafood salad, the drill sergeant with S.O.D. frontman Billy Milano, Vietnamese prostitutes with 2 Unlimited, Danang with the Detroit venue Harpo's and grenades with hot dogs.
SHOCKWAVES: Where are you?
Scott Ian: Hartford. We don't play until later tonight, so we're just hanging out.
SW:Where have you hung out so far today? Are there any places that you made a point to visit?
SI: In Hartford!? [laughs] SW: I've never been to Hartford. So I take it that it's not as rad as it sounds?
SI: No, not at all. I had coffee, that's about it. And I'm looking for a place to buy Lord of the Rings on DVD. That's my day in Hartford.
SW: You recently played in Detroit at a venue called Harpo's - and your hatred of the club is no secret. What exactly is it about that place that's so bad?
SI: It's in the worst neighborhood in Detroit, which is saying a lot for Detroit. We have friends there who are cops and they say that district has the highest violent crime rate per capita in the nation. And then the venue itself - the facility is terrible. The PA, the monitor and the lights are all terrible; it's big and dark and damp and shitty. It used to be a great place to play in the '80s, but people have gotten shot and stabbed outside, and they had problems for years with skinheads coming to shows and beating people up. It's really become a place where people don't want to go see a show. Would you want to pay $20 to see a show at a place where your life is in danger, and the band's going to sound like shit on top of it? It's just not a place where anybody should ever have to go.
SW: So it's a slightly below average venue. Noted. We've Come For You All has been out for several months now. What's some of the more memorable feedback you've gotten on the album so far?
SI: I don't know. I can say that across the board, whether it's been in the metal or mainstream press, or even in the local music papers, no one's had anything bad to say. I haven't read one negative thing about the record. It makes me feel really good to know that people like the record, but I've never been one to believe that you can please everybody. And so far it seems like we have. SW: That is surprising, especially since the metal crowd tends to bitch a lot - you didn't stay true to this, you didn't stay true to that...
SI: Yeah. I think the people who would say something like that about the record probably don't even listen to us anymore. Those are the people stuck in the '80s and still listening to State of Euphoria.
SW: What's the worst meal you've ever eaten while on tour?
SI: I've learned to never touch the deli tray in the dressing room, which we actually stopped getting a long time ago - no one eats the rainbow meat. Actually, we were doing Monsters of Rock in Europe with Iron Maiden at the end of the '80s. We had a day off in Italy. And the worst meal I've ever eaten was actually also one of the best meals I've ever eaten, because we were at this killer restaurant in Venice - but at some point after that meal I came down with food poisoning. I was brutally sick with a fever. I couldn't go to the bathroom - usually with food poisoning, you're constantly going to the bathroom, but this was the opposite. I had some sort of bacteria in me, I couldn't go, and I couldn't eat because if I ate I'd just get sick. I had this for ten days - and the doctor said it was some bacteria that was probably from the cold seafood salad I had eaten.
SW: I interviewed Anthrax vocalist John Bush a few months ago and he admitted that he's a big 2 Unlimited fan. How often does John subject you to his shameless love for 2 Unlimited?
SI: Never. That's the thing - the only reason he actually liked them was because he thought the girl in the video was hot. He doesn't ever listen to it on the bus - I've never actually heard him listen to it, truthfully, other than when they were showing their videos on MTV in Europe. He just thought the girl was hot. That was the extent of his 2 Unlimited vibe. SW: What's the guiltiest pleasure in your CD collection?
SI: I don't have any guilty pleasures. If I like something, I like it - I like all kinds of music. I think there are four good songs on the new Christina Aguilera record.
SW: What's the most embarrassing alcohol-induced incident that you don't remember being a part of?
SI: I don't black out. I always remember - good or bad - what happened the night before. And the worst ever was when I broke into Legends Field down in Tampa and ran the bases and got arrested. So that's the worst thing by far.
SW: That's a great story though. And nobody got hurt.
SI: Well, I did. Financially. [laughs]
SW: What's the worst day job you've ever had?
SI: I worked at a fish store in a shopping center across the street from where my mom and I lived. I would come in around 5:30pm, around the end of the day, and I would clean up until about 8pm. That was, hands down, the worst job I've ever had. I was surrounded by fish guts for three and a half hours. f**king horrible. The only positive thing about it was that at this store, they prepared dishes that you could just take home and throw in the oven, so I was always allowed to take things home. So at least I could go home with some really rad Shrimp Parmesan or something every day. But three hours of fish guts for minimum wage - it wasn't a happy place. SW: The press tends to focus on all the cutthroat things that [S.O.D. frontman] Billy Milano has to say, but what's the nicest thing that the guy has ever done for you?
SI: Deep down, Billy's one of my best friends in the whole world. He's like a brother to me. That's why after all is said and done, I'll always love the guy, and I know it's vice versa. I know I would take a bullet for him, and I'm pretty sure he would do the same for me. The guy's got a heart of gold, it's just that he doesn't process sometimes before he yells at you. [laughs]
SW: You've mentioned that you've got hours of drunk [Anthrax guitarist] Rob [Caggiano] footage. What's your favorite drunk Rob story?
SI: I think people are just going to have to wait for the DVD. I don't want to give too much away. Actually - here's my favorite story, this one isn't part of the footage. During his first tour with the band when we were opening for Judas Priest, we'd just played the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and we had the next day off. I went home, and had to come back the next morning to get to the bus to drive to Denver. So we're all standing there, but Rob's the only one who's not on the bus. We knew he'd gone out the night before with some of our friends - he shows up late, he comes running on the bus and tells us he just got out of jail. It turns out that he, John Tempesta [ex-Testament, Rob Zombie] and another friend of ours named Dante had gone to a club and got shitfaced, and they ended up in a taxi where Rob got in a fight. The driver didn't want him eating in the car, so Rob threw his hot dog at the driver. The driver stopped, and they all got out and ran. The driver called the cops and they got arrested and thrown in jail for assault with a hot dog. And stupidly enough, when it seems no one got hurt - Rob did. For a stupid thing like that, it ends up costing a lot of money just to get out of it.
SW: You should include a dramatic reenactment of that in your DVD. Have you ever gotten laid while listening to your own music?
SI: Yes. SW: Tell me about it.
SI: No.
While making his way through the popular summer vacation hotbed known as Hartford, Connecticut, Anthrax guitarist and thrash metal legend Scott Ian spoke with us and shared (almost) all his favorite stories of the past and present like an uncle with one arm and no legs describing the Vietnam War. Except you'll have to substitute army rations with seafood salad, the drill sergeant with S.O.D. frontman Billy Milano, Vietnamese prostitutes with 2 Unlimited, Danang with the Detroit venue Harpo's and grenades with hot dogs.
SHOCKWAVES: Where are you?
Scott Ian: Hartford. We don't play until later tonight, so we're just hanging out.
SW:Where have you hung out so far today? Are there any places that you made a point to visit?
SI: In Hartford!? [laughs] SW: I've never been to Hartford. So I take it that it's not as rad as it sounds?
SI: No, not at all. I had coffee, that's about it. And I'm looking for a place to buy Lord of the Rings on DVD. That's my day in Hartford.
SW: You recently played in Detroit at a venue called Harpo's - and your hatred of the club is no secret. What exactly is it about that place that's so bad?
SI: It's in the worst neighborhood in Detroit, which is saying a lot for Detroit. We have friends there who are cops and they say that district has the highest violent crime rate per capita in the nation. And then the venue itself - the facility is terrible. The PA, the monitor and the lights are all terrible; it's big and dark and damp and shitty. It used to be a great place to play in the '80s, but people have gotten shot and stabbed outside, and they had problems for years with skinheads coming to shows and beating people up. It's really become a place where people don't want to go see a show. Would you want to pay $20 to see a show at a place where your life is in danger, and the band's going to sound like shit on top of it? It's just not a place where anybody should ever have to go.
SW: So it's a slightly below average venue. Noted. We've Come For You All has been out for several months now. What's some of the more memorable feedback you've gotten on the album so far?
SI: I don't know. I can say that across the board, whether it's been in the metal or mainstream press, or even in the local music papers, no one's had anything bad to say. I haven't read one negative thing about the record. It makes me feel really good to know that people like the record, but I've never been one to believe that you can please everybody. And so far it seems like we have. SW: That is surprising, especially since the metal crowd tends to bitch a lot - you didn't stay true to this, you didn't stay true to that...
SI: Yeah. I think the people who would say something like that about the record probably don't even listen to us anymore. Those are the people stuck in the '80s and still listening to State of Euphoria.
SW: What's the worst meal you've ever eaten while on tour?
SI: I've learned to never touch the deli tray in the dressing room, which we actually stopped getting a long time ago - no one eats the rainbow meat. Actually, we were doing Monsters of Rock in Europe with Iron Maiden at the end of the '80s. We had a day off in Italy. And the worst meal I've ever eaten was actually also one of the best meals I've ever eaten, because we were at this killer restaurant in Venice - but at some point after that meal I came down with food poisoning. I was brutally sick with a fever. I couldn't go to the bathroom - usually with food poisoning, you're constantly going to the bathroom, but this was the opposite. I had some sort of bacteria in me, I couldn't go, and I couldn't eat because if I ate I'd just get sick. I had this for ten days - and the doctor said it was some bacteria that was probably from the cold seafood salad I had eaten.
SW: I interviewed Anthrax vocalist John Bush a few months ago and he admitted that he's a big 2 Unlimited fan. How often does John subject you to his shameless love for 2 Unlimited?
SI: Never. That's the thing - the only reason he actually liked them was because he thought the girl in the video was hot. He doesn't ever listen to it on the bus - I've never actually heard him listen to it, truthfully, other than when they were showing their videos on MTV in Europe. He just thought the girl was hot. That was the extent of his 2 Unlimited vibe. SW: What's the guiltiest pleasure in your CD collection?
SI: I don't have any guilty pleasures. If I like something, I like it - I like all kinds of music. I think there are four good songs on the new Christina Aguilera record.
SW: What's the most embarrassing alcohol-induced incident that you don't remember being a part of?
SI: I don't black out. I always remember - good or bad - what happened the night before. And the worst ever was when I broke into Legends Field down in Tampa and ran the bases and got arrested. So that's the worst thing by far.
SW: That's a great story though. And nobody got hurt.
SI: Well, I did. Financially. [laughs]
SW: What's the worst day job you've ever had?
SI: I worked at a fish store in a shopping center across the street from where my mom and I lived. I would come in around 5:30pm, around the end of the day, and I would clean up until about 8pm. That was, hands down, the worst job I've ever had. I was surrounded by fish guts for three and a half hours. f**king horrible. The only positive thing about it was that at this store, they prepared dishes that you could just take home and throw in the oven, so I was always allowed to take things home. So at least I could go home with some really rad Shrimp Parmesan or something every day. But three hours of fish guts for minimum wage - it wasn't a happy place. SW: The press tends to focus on all the cutthroat things that [S.O.D. frontman] Billy Milano has to say, but what's the nicest thing that the guy has ever done for you?
SI: Deep down, Billy's one of my best friends in the whole world. He's like a brother to me. That's why after all is said and done, I'll always love the guy, and I know it's vice versa. I know I would take a bullet for him, and I'm pretty sure he would do the same for me. The guy's got a heart of gold, it's just that he doesn't process sometimes before he yells at you. [laughs]
SW: You've mentioned that you've got hours of drunk [Anthrax guitarist] Rob [Caggiano] footage. What's your favorite drunk Rob story?
SI: I think people are just going to have to wait for the DVD. I don't want to give too much away. Actually - here's my favorite story, this one isn't part of the footage. During his first tour with the band when we were opening for Judas Priest, we'd just played the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and we had the next day off. I went home, and had to come back the next morning to get to the bus to drive to Denver. So we're all standing there, but Rob's the only one who's not on the bus. We knew he'd gone out the night before with some of our friends - he shows up late, he comes running on the bus and tells us he just got out of jail. It turns out that he, John Tempesta [ex-Testament, Rob Zombie] and another friend of ours named Dante had gone to a club and got shitfaced, and they ended up in a taxi where Rob got in a fight. The driver didn't want him eating in the car, so Rob threw his hot dog at the driver. The driver stopped, and they all got out and ran. The driver called the cops and they got arrested and thrown in jail for assault with a hot dog. And stupidly enough, when it seems no one got hurt - Rob did. For a stupid thing like that, it ends up costing a lot of money just to get out of it.
SW: You should include a dramatic reenactment of that in your DVD. Have you ever gotten laid while listening to your own music?
SI: Yes. SW: Tell me about it.
SI: No.
