Following a successful co-headlining run together last summer, Anthrax and Black Label Society are repeating the trek, this time with Bay Area thrash metal pioneers Exodus handling support duties. And unlike last time when New England was woefully neglected, the region gets a triple dose of heavy this time around beginning Thursday (February 2) at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Friday (February 3) in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun, and finally Boston’s House of Blues on Sunday (February 5).
Anthrax are celebrating their 40th anniversary and pulling from all facets of a deep catalog, with singer Joey Belladonna even taking on a John Bush-era track. There’s a lot more than celebrating four decades going on in the band’s camp these days, too. Drummer Charlie Benante is pulling double duty in Pantera, sitting in for Vinnie Paul, who passed away from heart failure in 2018. There’s also the matter of a new album, which will be the first since 2016’s For All Kings. It’s been a slow process for the latter, but one expected to ramp up in the coming months after the tour winds down.
Vanyaland caught up with Anthrax co-founder and guitarist Scott Ian as part of our 617 Q&A series (Six Questions; One Recommendation; Seven Somethings). Over a wide-ranging interview, he talked about his time on the VH1 reality series Supergroup, seeing the reformed Pantera from a unique vantage point, what artists are deserving of a big-budget biopic, and his disdain for the internet in general. One thing that did perk Ian up was the upcoming Boston date, as it always feels like high-profile heavy metal shows rarely play within the 617.
“We cannot wait to play in the city again,” he says. “The last time we were in the city was on the Killthrax tour back in I think ’17 [co-headlining with Killswitch Engage]. We’ve played Worcester a few times since, but we love gettin’ to play in the city – I love playing in Boston.”
:: SIX QUESTIONS
Michael Christopher: This is round two of the tour with Black Label Society. And this time out you’ve got Exodus on the bill instead of Hatebreed. How has that changed the vibe, if at all?
Scott Ian: I couldn’t tell you — I don’t know. [laughs] I don’t think anything has changed, but so far on this run we’re playing bigger venues; we just came out of Western Canada and we’re literally playing hockey arenas in some of those markets to massive crowds. That doesn’t have anything to do with Hatebreed or Exodus, I think it’s just excitement for the package overall. We would’ve been playing the same venues if Hatebreed was on the tour. I think it’s exciting either way — whether it’s Hatebreed or Exodus — they both add a really great dynamic because both bands are different than us, both bands are different than Black Label. I think that’s what’s really cool about the package: Each band gives you a different kind of heavy.
I keep seeing “low ticket alert” notifications, shows being sold out on this leg and you mentioned the bigger venues. Are you surprised how well it’s doing — especially in the bigger places?
We had expectations that it would do really well. We hadn’t been to Seattle in a while — well the first show was Boise, and that sold out — but then Seattle at the Paramount Theatre, which is a big room, and that place was packed. And then all the Western Canadian dates, we just had a feeling they were gonna do really well because those markets — we played Vancouver and Penticton and Calgary and Winnipeg — they are some of the best metal markets in North America, and they have been for years. So, we had a feel that those places were gonna do really well. It’s just a really strong scene in those places. When we saw we were headlining the same places we had been opening for Slayer just a couple years ago back in ’18 and ’19, and now we’re headlining those same venues, it was just really exciting to be able to come back and play those same places and sell them out as the headliner. It’s certainly very gratifying.
I spoke to you and Charlie back in November, just before his first performance with Pantera. Now that they’ve started up, what was your impression of the show and how impressed with Charlie were you?
Oh man… we’ve known for a long time that if this was ever gonna happen, that he was gonna be the guy; just his relationship with those guys for decades. There was nobody else that should sit in that seat — if it was ever going to happen — he was certainly going to be the guy, just based on his relationship with Darrell, Vinnie and Phil and Rex. The fact that that’s come to realization and it’s actually happening and he’s up there paying his tribute to Vinnie perfectly. It was amazing. I sat right behind him during the show in Santiago and just got to literally sit right behind him from the “Charlie’s eye view” and it was a lot of fun to get to see that.
We talked to Sebastian Bach awhile back and I brought up Savage Animal [the name the ex-Skid Row singer infamously offered up for the band put together for the 2006 VH1 reality series Supergroup]. And he said, “You’d be surprised at how many people love that. Even Scott Ian… he even came out and goes, ‘You know what dude? Savage Animal was by far the best name.’” One, did you say that and two, was there a name you came up with after filming where you were like, “Shit, I wish I had thought of that five months ago!”
I have no idea if I ever said that — I don’t remember. Maybe. It’s quite possible because it’s not like we had a list of great band names. Once I was home after that, I had kind of forgotten about it until it actually aired. Then I really enjoyed watching it because I thought it was pretty hilarious how the show was cut together to try and make it into something that it totally wasn’t. It was funny watching from [the perspective] of someone who was actually there participating in it. I’d had no experience with reality television so much at that time, so when you see the final product and they’re trying to create drama where there is none, it was pretty funny to watch. [laughs]
I’d read somewhere that there was a scene where it showed Evan [Seinfeld of Biohazard] packing his bags but it had nothing to do with him threatening to leave the show or however they made it look.
They had footage of him packing his bags or, like, walking out the house with his suitcase. It was completely out of context with what they then used it for, that he was “leaving the band.” It was so ridiculous. I wish they would’ve told us going in that this is total bullshit and we just want you guys to act like idiots — which I still probably wouldn’t have done, because that’s just not who I am. I’m not a big fan of that type of television.
They had a good idea, they just had the wrong… especially with me and Jason [Bonham], you had two guys that didn’t want to have anything to do with any of that. Neither did Ted [Nugent]. Every day [producers] would sit us down and say, “Well today we’re going to go to the strip club and then you’re going to go skydiving with strippers.” Every day they were trying to get us to do something with strippers — or something. They would have clickbait television, which wasn’t even a term back then. All we wanted to do was go into the jam room they built for us and jam. And they’re like, “Well that’s not gonna make good television.” And we’re like, “Then why are we here?” The whole thing was pretty ridiculous. [laughs]
***
I want to ask you about nerd culture. Because when I was younger, if you were into comic books, horror movies and metal, you were an instant outcast. Now, there’s been a complete pendulum swing into the mainstream. Marvel movies are nominated for Oscars, reality stars wear Slayer and Cannibal Corpse shirts and even some of the most B-movie horror films are getting remade. What do you see as the catalyst for that?
Has anything gone mainstream? Metallica was on Stranger Things, but Metallica is in their way – in their mainstream world – bigger than Stranger Things. So, did Stranger Things go mainstream to get Metallica to be a part of… it’s not in my bubble.
So, in your bubble it’s been the same but all those things are now in everyone else’s bubble.
I don’t see that because I don’t pay attention to anyone else’s bubble. Social media is a one-way street for me. I’m very not a part of the world in that way. Maybe you’re just asking the wrong guy the question; I’m not really aware of people wearing heavy metal t-shirts, nor do I care – other than once in a while I know [Slayer guitarist] Gary Holt has a “Kill the Kardashians” shirt. It’s not something that has any bearing or weight or value in [my life].
Clear up this rumor I heard a long time ago. You were at a radio station promoting something, maybe it was in LA, and the DJ brought up that he was going to be interviewing Glenn Danzig later that day and you said something about loving the Misfits. Apparently, Glenn then called the radio station and got all pissed off, saying he was on his way down there, I guess in theory because he was angry you didn’t namecheck his current band as your favorite.
My first answer that popped in my brain was “Who cares?” Second answer would be… yes, I think I remember saying I loved the Misfits — which is no knock on Glenn or his Danzig records or Samhain records in any way, shape or form. I don’t know if it’s true or not — I have no idea. Again, something I don’t spend any time on. [laughs] Isn’t it great that the internet has given people all over the planet a way to waste their lives and waste their time?
:: ONE RECOMMENDATION
The biggest record I’ve been listening to — playing the most — probably over the last year is the last Turnstile album [2021’s Glow On]. I just think it’s a great record. It really moves me in a really strong way. I think it’s killer. Certainly maybe a lot of people in the metal audience maybe haven’t heard of it yet, but I think it’s a record you shouldn’t ignore. It’s great. They’ve added a new branch to the tree of hardcore. Great, great, great record. The record before that one, Time & Space, that’s a great record, too. So if you’ve never heard of Turnstile, go listen to their whole catalog. But for me, these last two are just fantastic albums.
I did watch the first two episodes of The Last of Us and really happy with those. I’ve never played the video game that it’s based on, so I don’t know anything about it, but I’m a big fan of Pedro Pascal and the post-apocalyptic genre as a whole and it’s really nice to see it done really well. I would recommend that.
Oh! And another TV thing; I thought Andor was the best Star Wars thing since Star Wars. I fuckin’ loved it so much. I thought the tone of that was so perfect from start to finish. I can’t recommend it more — it was fucking great. Every episode I couldn’t wait for the next episode.
:: SEVEN OF SOMETHING
There’s been such an uptick in music biopics in recent years, and it seems like it’s open season. I mean, there’s even one out on Weird Al Yankovic, which is actually really good.
I actually want to see that. That looks really strange and awesome. [laughs]
If a film studio came to you and said, “Scott, we want you to pick seven musical artists to get a biopic and you’re going to produce it,” who are the seven artists and why are you choosing them?
I’m just gonna preface the whole thing with I think most of the time these movies suck, and I won’t waste 90 minutes of my life watching them. And if you really want to get into the weeds about it, the problem you have a lot of times with these movies is being able to license the music because of the cost of that.
Unless it’s a real A-list kind of production, like when they made Ray about Ray Charles, that’s like a big A-list movie. If you’ve got some small production making a biopic — like when they made that Jimi Hendrix biopic with the guy from Outkast [Jimi: All Is by My Side] — and they had no Hendrix music in it? Like, who thought that was a good idea? “Let’s make a Hendrix movie without his music in it.” That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.
I’m just prefacing this with, you can make these movies and you can have the music and you’re gonna get real actors to play the parts. Kinda like the Queen movie [Bohemian Rhapsody] or something like that.
I wish Jack Black would make a Meatloaf biopic. I’d like to see that.
I would love to see an Ozzy/Sabbath movie. Certainly, the stories, there’s enough tales to tell in that universe to make an amazing movie.
I guess a Guns N’ Roses biopic would be pretty amazing — again — if it could be done on the level it would need to be done on. I’m just going on bands that have the fucking stories, you know what I mean? The Dirt was so successful because they’ve got the stories and they were able to represent themselves in a really good and strong way with people they cast and all that. It looked right.
Almost Famous was kinda like a Zeppelin biopic, because I know a lot of those stories came from when Cameron Crowe was on tour with them. But a proper Zeppelin movie would be amazing.
Kiss? I mean, fuck. There you go. I’d have to assume something is gonna happen at some point.
Aerosmith would have an amazing tale, I think. The whole dynamic with Steven [Tyler] and Joe [Perry] — I think that would be an amazing movie.
I’m gonna go with Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy, because besides the tale of a Black Irishman starting one of the most influential hard rock bands of all time, they’re kind of — in a lot of ways — a very underground band. They never had the success of all the bands that I just mentioned. I think their story would be really interesting to a lot of people who only know “The Boys Are Back in Town” and maybe “Jailbreak.”
I gotta add one more just because I just realized I don’t want the movie to be made, and that would be a Motorhead one, because nobody could play Lemmy.
ANTHRAX + BLACK LABEL SOCIETY + EXODUS :: Sunday, February 5 at House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 6:30 p.m., all ages, $49.50 to $75.50 :: Event info :: Advance Tickets
