{"id":43192,"date":"2016-01-19T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T00:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=43192"},"modified":"2016-04-19T11:05:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T11:05:11","slug":"feature-scott-ian-01-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-scott-ian-01-16\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTT IAN – Fistful Of Stories (January 2016) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT IAN – Fistful Of Stories<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nJanuary 2016<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rhythm guitarist Scott Ian co-founded New York-based thrash metal outfit Anthrax in 1981, Anthrax having spearheaded the thrash metal movement alongside Big Four comrades Metallica, Megadeth<\/a>, and Slayer<\/a>. Over the course of those 35 years, the ensemble have recorded 11 studio full-length affairs, beginning with January 1984 debut Fistful Of Metal<\/em>, as well as having undergone a series of highs and lows. Scott Ian autobiography I\u2019m The Man: The Story Of That Guy From Anthrax<\/em> \u2013 issued in hardback format on October 15th, 2014 and subsequently in paperback format on November 24th, 2015, all through Da Capo Press \u2013 documents Anthrax through the years, as well as the man\u2019s personal circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, I actually realised I had a story to tell,\u201d Scott remembers. \u201cI had been out doing these talking shows in 2012 and 2013, just getting onstage and telling lots of stories from my life. While I was doing that, I would be writing out a lot of these stories. Basically as I had them in my brain and would think of something, I\u2019d think \u2018Yeah. That was a good one,\u2019 and then would write it out. At some point, I realised I had a lot of pages written \u2013 probably 50 or 60 pages of stuff \u2013 and could probably make this into a book. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had been asked to do a book many times over the years, and had always passed for a couple of reasons. I really didn\u2019t want to do the work, because I didn\u2019t think I would ever have time to do it. I just didn\u2019t know that I necessarily had that kind of a tale for a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll biography, but my stories were going over so well I figured \u2018You know what? Why not figure this out?\u2019 That was kind of what really got the ball rolling for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penning the autobiography, the axeman worked alongside Jon Wiederhorn, metal journalist and co-author of the books Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History Of Metal<\/em> (May 2013) and Ministry: The Lost Gospels According To Al Jourgensen<\/em> (July 2013). \u201cI\u2019ve known Jon for a long time. I don\u2019t remember when, but a long time. We had done 20 interviews together, and then he asked me to write a foreword for his book Louder Than Hell. We had known each other for a long time, and I\u2019ve just always really respected his work. I really felt like he would be able to capture an attitude and a feeling writing if we spent enough time together, and then me sending all of the pages that I wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt really confident that he would be able to take this and… Because I had never written a book before, I felt confident that he would be able to take all of this information \u2013 whether it be stuff that I had written, or from when he came to my house for a week and we just sat and talked for a week \u2013 that he would be able to take all of that and put it into a cohesive story with a beginning, a middle, and an end, and keep it from being boring. I think we accomplished that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair crafted I\u2019m The Man<\/em> chapter by chapter. \u201cHe would get a bunch of chapters done, send stuff, and then I would make comments where I would rewrite stuff,\u201d Scott informs. \u201cSometimes it was easier for me to just read something and go \u2018Well, that\u2019s not really my voice. That\u2019s not how I would say it.\u2019 I would just rewrite sentences or paragraphs, but 90% of the time, the stuff he would send was pretty spot on because we had something like… I don\u2019t know, 50 hours worth of conversation, plus all of the stuff that I had already written. It wasn\u2019t like he was just going to go off on tangents and say things that I hadn\u2019t said, or speak in some different language that didn\u2019t sound like my voice. Most of the time it was just little things that I would have to change \u2013 it was never really that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The composer\u2019s aforementioned spoken word performances didn\u2019t translate to the written pages and chapters, per se. \u201cA written story and a spoken story, they\u2019re just kind of completely different animals,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen you\u2019re telling a story in front of a crowd, so much of it isn\u2019t necessarily the words you\u2019re saying, but how you\u2019re saying them physically and with body language. When you\u2019re writing, you don\u2019t really have all of those same tools to tell a story. You have italics that you can use here, capital letters, so it\u2019s different. They\u2019re two totally different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m The Man<\/em> is markedly different to other rock biographies, Scott submits. \u201cI was never involved in drugs,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s not like The Dirt<\/em> (M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a>, 2001) or Marilyn Manson<\/a> (The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell<\/em>, 1998), or so many of these books where most of the stories are very, very sex, drugs and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll related. My book isn\u2019t really based in that at all, and I think that that\u2019s the difference. At the same time though, there is certainly a lot of ridiculous instances and stories and things happening in my book as well, It\u2019s just different than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the musician has smoked the odd joint. \u201cYeah, but that doesn\u2019t equal to heroin junkie,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cI was smoking marijuana when I was 13, but the two don\u2019t really balance each other out – if you compare that to what most guys in most bands have done in their lives. I don\u2019t want to give the end of my marijuana tale away, but there is an end to my tale with marijuana. There is a whole story which I find quite hilarious and interesting as well, if you read the book. It\u2019s more a case of my book is kind of like where my drugs or booze stories are the opposite; where all of these other people had these kind of crazy, epic, really fun times, most of the time when I\u2019m telling a story about booze or drugs, it usually ends up terribly for me (laughs). It\u2019s more about my inability to do drugs and drink than it my ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Inevitably, certain passages were more difficult to author than others for I\u2019m The Man<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m not the type of person in general that looks back and sits around reminiscing all that much,\u201d Scott reckons. \u201cI\u2019m too busy, truthfully. I\u2019m always moving forward; I\u2019m in the moment, working and moving forward. Writing the book was a different thing, because in a sense, even though I was in the moment working on a book, most of that time my working was looking back and reminiscing. I guess I was okay with that because I was working, but at the same time, I was looking back at my life and just doing my best to kind of put myself in the shoes of me at the age of 13, or 17, or 25, or 35. With whatever parts of my life that I was writing about, I was really trying to get myself back into those shoes and into that time, and what my motivations were, and just who I was. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat really isn\u2019t an easy thing to do, especially when you\u2019re looking back at times in your life that weren\u2019t the best of times, whether it was because of friends dying, divorce, or family trouble \u2013 anything like that. I don\u2019t sit around and dwell on that kind of shit ever, so it\u2019s not the most fun thing to look back and analyse why your marriage broke up all these years later. I know why it broke up. I knew why back then, but to revisit it for your book, yeah, it\u2019s not something that I prefer to sit around and talk about, or times in the late 90s when things got really tough for Anthrax. I can learn from all of that stuff and I have learnt, but it\u2019s just such a weird thing to actually be sitting and thinking about that stuff deeply and writing it all down. It\u2019s something that I had never done before, so it was strange yet at the same time a very fulfilling experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professional and personal events were no less or more difficult than the other to discuss. \u201cThe professional and the personal, I wouldn\u2019t say one was easier to talk about than the other because once I committed to doing the book, I knew \u2018Okay, this is going to be about my life\u2019 and not just my band life,\u201d the lyricist reasons. \u201cOnce I had committed to that, I really didn\u2019t… I wouldn\u2019t say one was easier than the other, because it\u2019s all my story. I wouldn\u2019t say one was harder or not. At that point, it all just became the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m The Man<\/em> omits nothing of note. \u201cThere\u2019s certainly nothing worth talking about that didn\u2019t make it in,\u201d Scott confirms. \u201cThere\u2019s stuff that we felt just didn\u2019t really fit into the chronology of it, like the fact I played professional poker for four years from 2007 until 2011. I played professional poker online and had a whole bunch of stuff written about that, but it just didn\u2019t fit. There was no way to kind of fit it into the story without it getting too tangential it felt like, so I figured \u2018You know what? I\u2019ll save this for another book\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The axe-slinger stopped playing professional poker following that four-year period from 2007 until 2011 due to government intervention. \u201cThe United States government shut down all of the online poker sites and made it illegal,\u201d he elaborates. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to stop (laughs). I was forced to (laughs). I\u2019m done for the time being. It\u2019s slowly coming back in America; slowly but surely individual states are legalising it, so I\u2019ll get to play online poker again at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highlights of the professional kind include just Anthrax in general. \u201cLet\u2019s put it this way: my career is my biggest highlight,\u201d Scott cites. \u201cThe fact that this will be my 35th year in the band, that is the thing that I\u2019m the most proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

How many years Anthrax will accumulate beyond their 35 years is uncertain. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d the guitarist muses. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say. I would like to say until it\u2019s not fun for me, or until I can\u2019t perform the way I want to perform physically. I don\u2019t know. I really don\u2019t know how to answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of Anthrax\u2019s 35 years to date, many aficionados critique and compare the eras of vocalists Joey Belladonna and John Bush. \u201cI don\u2019t compare,\u201d Scott dismisses. \u201cWhat\u2019s the point? Like I said, I don\u2019t sit around and analyse shit. I\u2019m busy today worrying about the show I\u2019m gonna play. For me to sit around and wonder about different eras of Anthrax is pointless. It\u2019s all one long journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of Anthrax\u2019s 11 studio affairs cut to date, the axeman\u2019s favourite is currently February 2016\u2019s forthcoming For All Kings<\/em>. \u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019ve been listening to,\u201d he shares. \u201cI\u2019m so deep in it, I really can\u2019t see anything else at this point. I don\u2019t compare albums (laughs). I don\u2019t do any of that stuff \u2013 I don\u2019t know anyone in a band who does. We get in a room and we write songs that we wanna hear, because we don\u2019t hear them anywhere else. We write songs that make us happy, that make us bang our heads, and then when we\u2019re done doing that, we record them and put them out. That\u2019s the same way we\u2019ve been doing it since Fistful Of Metal<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott offers a succinct description of For All Kings<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s a very metal record,\u201d he judges. \u201cVery, very metal.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 16-page graphic novella accompanied the hardback edition of I\u2019m The Man<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s the story of when I first met Lemmy (Mot\u00f6rhead frontman), which was in a bar in London,\u201d the songwriter recalls. \u201cI had a friend of mine who illustrated it for me, so as I would tell that story at my live show, I\u2019d be able to have these illustrations to kind of highlight some of the best parts of the story. It worked really well. When we were putting the book together, I wanted to do something different. Since I\u2019m a big comic book fan and people relate me to comic books, I figured it would be cool to in a sense put a comic book in my book. So, I had him do a few more illustrations to kind of flesh it out a little bit, and added that in almost as a bonus track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mot\u00f6rhead frontman Ian \u2018Lemmy\u2019 Kilmister sadly passed away on December 28th, 2015 as the result of an \u2018extremely aggressive cancer\u2019, four days following his 70th birthday \u2013 and two days following his diagnosis. \u201cHe was the way you\u2019d expect,\u201d Scott tells. \u201cHe was Lemmy. What you saw in interviews and saw onstage, that was him. There was no difference in the man; no matter what he was doing, he was always just Lemmy. That was a pleasure to be around, because there was no bullshit ever at all. He lived his life exactly how he wanted to live it every fucking moment, and that\u2019s not something most people can ever say, or most people ever get to do \u2013 no matter how hard you try. He was one of those rare individuals that was able to pull that off. I think everybody knew him whether you actually met him or not because like I said, what you saw was what you got.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Slightly over a year has elapsed since the October 2014 hardback issue of I\u2019m The Man<\/em>, an effort which the musician feels has received a positive reception. \u201cFrom what I can tell, people like my book,\u201d he notes. \u201cI can only go by what people come up and say to me, and almost everyone I know has said they really liked the book. If people don\u2019t like it, they\u2019ve been quiet about it (laughs). The reaction to me seems to be quite positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future written works are firmly in the pipeline. \u201cI\u2019m doing a second book, for sure,\u201d Scott discloses. \u201cI\u2019ve already started working on it. It hasn\u2019t been officially announced yet, but there\u2019ll be an official announcement soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wordsmith\u2019s second tome will be penned without the involvement of Jon Wiederhorn. \u201cI\u2019m gonna do this one myself,\u201d he reveals. \u201cI\u2019ve kind of got this under my belt now, so I feel like I know how to do it now. I prefer to take on the whole responsibility of it because obviously, I\u2019m not writing another autobiography. That would be weird (laughs). It\u2019s a different thing. I\u2019m not gonna go into the details yet, but it\u2019s not a novel. It\u2019s very much story based with stuff from my life, but all with a recurring theme.\u201d <\/p>\n

A compilation of road stories, perhaps? \u201cNo,\u201d Scott dispels. \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to be like a B-sides, bonus tracks type of thing, like \u2019Here\u2019s shit that I didn\u2019t put in the first book.\u2019 I didn\u2019t want it to feel like just a bunch of leftovers. It\u2019s kind of a new idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

In years to come, the axe-slinger could amass a bibliography to rival the likes of Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, and Fozzy vocalist \/ WWE wrestler Chris Jericho. \u201cI just figure if I have ideas, I would certainly always try to make it happen,\u201d he figures. \u201cI had the idea for the second book and the publisher felt good enough to do it, so I would like to think that at some point I\u2019ll have an idea for something else, and hopefully I\u2019ll get to do that. I\u2019ve always considered myself a writer since I started writing lyrics for the band back in like 1985, and even when I was doing blogs online, or this or that. It\u2019s just something that I really enjoy doing, and I\u2019ve written comics. I wrote Lobo: Highway To Hell<\/em> for DC (September 2010), so I really enjoy writing. It\u2019s obviously something you can do forever, so it\u2019s something that I hope to just continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having authored the comic Lobo: Highway To Hell<\/em> for the DC Comics juggernaut, fiction writing is a conceivable path. \u201cNo idea….,\u201d Scott ponders. \u201cYeah, sure, but I haven\u2019t had a novel\u2019s worth of ideas yet, let\u2019s put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future book releases might be complimented by further spoken word performances. \u201cMaybe,\u201d the guitarist accepts. \u201cI want to. It\u2019s just from a scheduling perspective, it makes it really hard to know when. It\u2019s something that I always want to do. It\u2019s just finding the time, because obviously, Anthrax takes up quite a bit of my time. When I\u2019m not doing that, I want to be home with my family, so it\u2019s just kind of hard. It would be different if I didn\u2019t have a family; if I didn\u2019t have a family, I probably wouldn\u2019t have a home. I would just go, go, go, but that\u2019s not the case. I prefer to be home with my son and my wife. It\u2019s just kind of hard to make it all work sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthrax as well as a second written title aside, Scott is focused on nothing else at the time of writing. \u201cI\u2019m buried in Anthrax right now with the record coming out, and we\u2019re on tour in the States,\u201d he expounds. \u201cWe\u2019re working full-on, 24\/7 right now, and it feels great because that\u2019s all we ever wanna do is just get to be a band.\u201d<\/p>\n

A successor to March 2015 Motor Sister debut full-length Ride<\/em> is another possibility which has to fall to the wayside at least for the time being. \u201cOnce again, it would be a case of finding time to do it,\u201d the axeman highlights. \u201cThat first record was all cover songs, because those were all written by Jim Wilson (frontman) and Mother Superior. We just went in and recorded it. We didn\u2019t have to spend a year trying to write a record. There was no plan for that; it just came out of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m The Man<\/em> was released in paperback format on November 24th, 2015 via Da Capo Press.<\/p>\n

Interview published in January 2016. All promotional photographs by Matthew Rodgers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT IAN – Fistful Of Stories Anthony Morgan January 2016 Scott Ian Rhythm guitarist Scott Ian co-founded New York-based thrash metal outfit Anthrax in 1981, Anthrax having spearheaded the thrash metal movement alongside Big Four comrades Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. Over the course of those 35 years, the ensemble have recorded 11 studio full-length affairs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,2910],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthrax","category-scott-ian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43192"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43214,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43192\/revisions\/43214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}