There’s still so much excitement getting to do this. It’s more a case of, I think for me, there’s still an excitement. It must feel kind of surreal, when in the beginning you were just trying to do this thing, now here you are four decades later still doing it and seeing the impact that it’s had and all these different phases that have come behind it? That must be daunting coming to that moment? A lot of people weren’t ready for a lot of those things that the bands in the early ‘80s had coming forth and rethinking what could be done.

Mxdwn: When you started Anthrax, when so much was so new, so many things were being pushed forward. Charlie’s going on, that’s thirty-nine, that’s crazy. Me, Charlie and Frankie have been together almost that whole time. And where four of us have been together thirty-something years out of those forty-one years. Forty-one years doing anything is a long fucking time to be doing it, let alone a fucking metal band. Forty-one years working at a hardware store. There’s no way for me to put forty-one years into… there’s no sound bite for that. So we’re always looking back at the catalog and those moments, “Alright, let’s try and find some songs we haven’t played in a long time.” Which, of course, gets easier to do the longer you’re around. When we hit ten years it seemed like an eternity, even at twenty years, thirty years. Scott Ian: No, not really, because we’ve been consistently working the whole time so we’re always doing that. Being one of the architects of a genre that a lot of people didn’t want to give a chance in the beginning-rock or heavy music whatever you want to call it-did it feel weird after all this time looking back at such a vast catalog of music and pulling on these things from so many different eras? Did putting together a set like that from so many different albums, so many different phases, did that feel weird? Mxdwn: Anthrax XL, comprised of the 40th-anniversary livestream concert done during the pandemic is coming out soon. Ian even indicated how one time, many years back, he somewhat jokingly invited Mike Patton to sing with Anthrax before Joey Belladonna rejoined the band.

Bungle’s recent reunion performing The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny, explaining his interest to be a part of anything in the future the band would like him to join them on. He also enthusiastically discussed his time playing in Mr. He spoke to the band’s choice not to include material from the John Bush-era of Anthrax’s history in Anthrax XL, a set otherwise featuring a solid retrospective on the band’s forty-plus-year career. Over the course of the thirty-minute conversation, Ian was thoughtful and reflective describing Anthrax’s legacy and accomplishments on the heels of the release of their livestream concert album, Anthrax XL. mxdwn was fortunate enough to have a solid block of time with Ian at a private event for Jackson Guitars in Hollywood. Calm and thoughtful, Ian can speak at length on any topic, giving down-to-earth answers that eschew hyperbolic grandstanding he’s a real pleasure to speak to. Much like his reputation has always indicated, Scott Ian of Anthrax is a wonderfully kind and composed person when you speak to him face-to-face.

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