Anthrax Get Their Balls Out

Rip It Up, Issue 220, 1 December 1995, Page 16

Anthrax Get Their Balls Out

“Much love to my man Scott lan for being a really down to earth guy.” — House of Pain

At present the very down to earth and approachable Scott lan has a chip on his shoulder, and it’s called alternative rock. "These days we don’t get any radio coverage or MTV airplay, All the radio stations are interested in is alternative music. We may as well be a brand new band starting out. We don’t get any media exposure whatsoever.” Scott blames this sorry state of affairs on a lack of circular objects "No one’s got the balls to do anything original any more. It’s kinda strange to make a record and wonder whether anyone’s going to hear it.”

If the good people of the world can see their way past the media conspiracy to muzzle metal, then they’re in for a treat when

they wrap their lugs around Stomp 442, according to Scott. “Stomp 442 is super heavy. It’s the best songwriting we’ve ever done.” Just because Stomp 442 is the best thing Anthrax have ever done, doesn’t mean their past work wasn’t absolutely bloody fantastic, it just means the producers and mixers couldn’t read or dig where Anthrax wanted to be. "It’s not like I was unhappy with records in the past, it’s just with this record, the production and mix really fit the songs. There is only one song on the album that I would remix if I had a chance.” The reason for the need to remix is the self same circular object deficiency affecting America’s radio programmers and the media in general. "The song ‘Nothing for Me’ just doesn’t have the [same] balls as the rest of the

record and we’re actually going to go and remix that track, so we’ll get to fix it anyway. I think it will be a single.” It’s not only Scott that testifies to Anthrax’s album having plenty of circular objects located within its bowels. The cover artist designed a very large, heavy metallic circular object in appreciation of Anthrax’s circular fixation.

“The guy who did our covers name is Storm Thurgausen and he did the Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin covers, everything he does is pretty crazy and out there. When he heard the music he drew a sketch of the metal ball because, he said: ‘The music’s got a lot of balls!”’

Perhaps this excess of balls could have something to do with the depilatory effects of the thatches covering the Anthrax boys’ pates.

“I have a bald head cos I just got sick of having to wash my hair. We just worry about our music. It’s funny, because people make such a big deal out of it. Kids come up to me and say: ‘Why’d you cut your hair?’ I always found it weird that people would care about the length of your hair, or what you look like. I guess it’s being in a band. We just worry about our music.”

With Anthrax giving Dan Spitz the boot prior to making Stomp 442, they may well have cause to worry. However, like a knight in stinky black leather, Pantera’s Dimebag Darell stepped in to lay down some typically fretful fretwork on the album. Now, according to Scott, everything’s just hunky dory. Also playing on the album, as well as touring with Anthrax, is Paul Crook, their guitar tech.

"We’ve known Paul for about five or six years. He fucking rips on guitar. The first day he ever started working for us as guitar tech, I- heard him playing and it was like: ‘Fuck, who is that?’ He was ripping. We used to

make jokes all the time, like Paul’s gonna give Danny some poisoned food, and wouldn’t you know, a few years later Paul replaced Danny.” According to Scott, the only way Anthrax are gonna get their music out to the kids that need it is through touring. Despite the negativity of the media, Scott knows the fans are still out there, and him and the chaps are gonna give ’em what they want heavy fuckin’ — metal. “I think people should be interested in heavy metal because for me, right now, the bands doing the most original things are bands like Offspring, Pantera and Slayer. I’d rather listen to Reign in Blood 24 hours a day than anything on the radio. It’s time for people to forget the stigma of metal in the 80s and fucking use your own mind and values!”

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