For every wildly successful Metallica, there are countless metal bands that never grabbed the brass ring. In the ‘80s, extreme metal was breaking through, and there was a plethora of great bands to choose from.

While most never reached the heights of the Big Four, many of them are still slugging it out, and they’ve stuck around long enough for new generations of fans to discover them.

When the New Wave of British Heavy Metal hit in 1979, it encompassed a wide variety of bands – from Iron Maiden to Def Leppard. Raven and Venom were both three-piece outfits from Newcastle, England.

Raven’s sound was more upbeat than the Satanic darkness of Venom – and Raven singer/bassist John Gallagher jokingly described the other band’s sound as “Motörhead, on the wrong speed, in a cement mixer!”

Both bands were on the indie label Neat Records, whose owner, Dave Wood, told Gallagher that a guy with the biggest independent record store on the East Coast wanted to work with Raven. “America was a huge thing,” Gallagher recalls. “I never knew anyone who’d been there.”

The guy was the late Jonny Zazula, who signed Metallica and Anthrax to his Megaforce label, and added Raven too. “Jonny Z changed our lives,” Gallagher confirms.

“He was the next really seismic event for us. He was a larger-than-life character – one man against the world, definitely a David against Goliath. He was like a preacher, coming down from the mountain with the metal gospel and spreading it around the world.”

Metallica and Raven went on tour together. KJ Doughton, who ran Metallica’s first fan club, recalls: “Raven’s debut album, Rock Until You Drop, was the first NWOBHM album I’d ever purchased.” The band were featured on a lot of compilation albums, “and they were often the best band featured.” He went to three shows on the tour and argues: “Raven rivaled Metallica as a live band.”

Exodus came out of the legendary Bay Area thrash scene as San Francisco became a crucial area for the development of thrash metal. While it may seem odd that such violent, aggressive music could come from an area so mellow, it was a place where movements – beat poets, hippies, bikers, or the gay community – thrived.

Thrash was even new territory for the musicians who played it. Guitarist Rick Hunolt joined Exodus in 1984, not long before they recorded Bonded By Blood. He’d grown up with Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Thin Lizzy, and Exodus was the first time he’d heard thrash.

“It was all so new back then; no one was doing it,” he says. “I thought, ‘Dude, this shit is crazy – this music is insane!’” Of course, Bonded By Blood is widely considered one of the great classics of the genre. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian said of it: “Best debut album of the Big 5? I think so.”

In the beginning, most artists didn’t think of success. “Nobody had any idea it was gonna be this huge,” says Hunolt. “It wasn’t about money for a very long time.”

Jeff Becerra, lead singer of Possessed, says: “We felt like we were part of a movement, like a revolution.” But he recalls that bands had to be unique. “If you came out as an Exodus clone band, that shit would not fly. Copying a band was instant suicide. You had to be original or you didn’t get a place in line.”

One of the most underrated bands on the SF scene was Blind Illusion, who had a trippy hippie vibe and weren’t afraid to bring new elements into their music. “Anything good we’d hear, we’d put it into the music,” says singer/guitarist Mark Biderman. “The diversity in the scene was really good. You had to stick to your guns and be what you were.”

Les Claypool was their original bassist. He first joined in 1978 as he was learning to play. “By ’80-81, he was already amazing,” Biderman says. “He was a natural, doing some really great stuff.”

When Possessed wrote the song Death Metal, Becerra says they wanted it to be, “an anthem to brand it. We wanted people to say, ‘Oh, that death metal band!’ That would make us musically different in the Bay Area underground and elsewhere.”

Still, it took time for people to catch on to what Possessed were doing – especially the deep, guttural vocals which are now common place in extreme metal. “I wanted the signing to match the music,” Becerra says.

Many thrash bands had to make do with whatever gear they could afford. While some had metal tools of the trade like BC Rich and Jackson guitars, James Hetfield famously had a cheapo Flying V copy as his main instrument for years.

Exodus’ Gary Holt had to record Bonded By Blood with a borrowed Hiwatt amp when his Marshall went down. He used a distortion pedal with the gain all the way off, and the rest of the knobs on full, turning it into a booster. That was also the key to Ian’s rhythm sound with Anthrax. (Randy Rhoads did it too.)

For Dark Angel’s Darkness Descends – one of the most brutal thrash albums ever recorded – Eric Meyer and the late Jim Durkin used the same stock 50-watt Marshall, and Meyer used a delay pedal to add more gain to his tone. In the case of Holy Terror’s massively underrated Mind Wars, the brutal tone was crafted by playing around with an EQ pedal until they got the right level of crunch.

Metallica entered the top 30 with Master Of Puppets in 1986, and went on tour opening for Ozzy Osbourne. The future of metal was pointing to them, and suddenly a very uncommercial genre looked like it had more potential than many had thought.

“When Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth all got big, that’s where we all went, ‘So you’re sayin’ there’s a chance?’” recalls Forbidden guitarist Craig Locicero. “Very few of us made it through the keyhole – there wasn’t a lot of room in there.”

That year marked the peak of thrash, with the arrival of Metallica’s Master, Megadeth’s Peace Sells, and Slayer’s Reign in Blood. The latter is often considered the big daddy of the genre, while Dark Angel’s Darkness would become a big influence on death metal and grindcore.

But a second wave followed in 1987 as Testament, Death Angel, and Sacred Reich stormed out of the gate with excellent debut albums. Anthrax released their masterpiece, Among the Living, while the scene started to go deranged via Death’s Scream Bloody Gore and Napalm Death’s Scum.

Sacred Reich, who took a nod from the punk scene, were one of many thrash bands with a social conscience. Vocalist/bassist Phil Rind says: “I always felt that the lyrics were the nail and the music was the hammer. If you have the opportunity to say something, you should.

“Every band has to figure out who they are, what they want to talk about. I felt if we could help turn somebody on to something, open their minds a little bit and show them how things are, there was a benefit to that.”

While Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer all did well on major labels, others weren’t so lucky. Bands tended to fall into the same traps. Some faltered because the label had no idea what to do with them. Some suffered when the A&R executive who’d signed them moved on or got fired. Many succumbed to label pressure to be more commercial, and alienated their hardcore fanbase.

“There was a lot of interference and push to be more commercial,” says Gallagher of Raven’s nightmare experience. “We went along for the ride – and got left in the middle of nowhere. It took a long, long time to rebuild the damage done by Atlantic, and by ourselves.”

By the end of the decade thrash was preparing to jump the shark, as many fans turned to much heavier music. “The thrash movement, which used to be dangerous, became safe,” Forbidden’s Locicero says. “Thrash lost it edge, but bands like Sepultura, Pantera and Death had a new edge.”

When the hair bands went down in the ‘90s, a lot of heavier outfits nearly went down with them. But metal came back the following decade, arguably bigger than ever. And for the bands that deserved another chance, a new generation of fans were ready to discover them.

Gallagher says Raven aren’t bitter about not being bigger: “There’s nothing to complain about being a cult band. We have a following where we can tour and play live pretty much anywhere. For a couple of kids from Newcastle it’s pretty amazing.”

Doughton argues: “Raven are still in the fight – kicking ass for over 40 years without the creature comforts afforded bigger bands. They’re more deserving of respect than any other band alive, in my opinion.”

“If I wanted to get big, I’d tone down Possessed’s music,” Becerra says. “I’m happy with my cult status. When people were pushing us to get bigger, I didn’t play the game as much as I should have. But I still just want to play my music the way I want to.”

Rind comments: “It’s funny to see parents bringing their kids to our shows and turning them on to Sacred Reich. I appreciate that people still show up. Metal comes from the underground and it never goes away – it just goes back underground and percolates. It always comes back. And the fans are loyal; they’re the best.

“The fans thought we should have been bigger, but I always thought, ‘We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.’ The fact that we got as far as we did is beyond my comprehension. We’re very fortunate.”

The following feature first appeared in the November 2011 issue of Guitar World.

When Guitar World travelled to Milan, Italy, on July 6, to pull together the Big 4 cover shoot with Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, we narrowly managed to corral everyone together for the cover photo.

But due to transportation delays, Metallica six-stringers James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett were unable to participate in the roundtable interview with Slayer's Kerry King, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Anthrax's Scott Ian that occurred earlier that day.

When we eventually caught up with Hetfield and Hammett after the show, they treated us to a lively discussion on the legacy of the Big 4, how drummer Lars Ulrich's nervousness helped create the fastest right hands in the business, and why Dave Mustaine should watch his back during the Yankee Stadium Big 4 show.

When I spoke earlier to Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, and Scott Ian, the consensus was clear: they never expected a "Big 4" tour to actually happen.

James Hetfield: We never expected it either!

Kirk Hammett: Definitely not. At a certain point in the Eighties, it was like we were all running neck and neck to see who could outdo each other. For me, that lasted into the Nineties. Then somehow that attitude became less important, and a certain amount of maturity set in. I think when you get older your priorities change. We started to pay more attention to the musical side of things instead of the more superficial side of things.

Hetfield: We've reached 30 years of being a band. We've hit some milestones and we're at a place where we want to celebrate those things instead of running from them. We felt that it was also important to really put this scene on the map. You always hear about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but what about the Bay Area thrash scene and the Big 4? Hopefully these shows will help us make an even deeper mark in history.

James, when I spoke with the other guys, Scott and Kerry said Lars first suggested the Big 4 tour idea, but Dave thought you had. Can you clarify who first had the idea?

Hetfield: I believe it was me. But my memory is pretty horrible, so Lars may claim a few different things. [laughs]

But it doesn't really matter, because it's happened. It probably came out of us talking like, "Hey, let's do a Bay Area show with all the bands we grew up with." Then, "What about the Big 4?" Obviously the business and logistical side of things is Lars' deal, but it doesn't matter. It came from the Metallica camp.

Dave said he had reservations about joining the tour. Mainly, he wanted to make sure all four bands weren't scattered across different stages or interspersed with other acts. Did you feel the same way?

Hetfield: When the idea first came into our minds, we were thinking of it as just the four of us. The first European dates already had bands on them, but they were great festivals and everyone was able to play them. So it was like, "This is a great, established festival and lots of people are gonna show up. Let's get the Big 4 in there." I mean, you can't really just throw off bands that are already booked. But for the later shows, in Indio and this last European run, it was just the Big 4 and possibly one opener.

Hammett: There were certain situations where the promoter had to put more bands on the bill to break even. I understand the economics of the situation. To me it didn't matter; it was just important that all four of us were together on the same bill.

Obviously for a New York native like Scott Ian, playing at Yankee Stadium is huge. Does that venue hold any particular sentiment for you?

Hammett: Nope. [laughs] I had no idea of the significance until Scott called me and was hyperventilating. He was more hoarse than he's ever been, going – [in a rough voice] – "You don't understand! Yankee Stadium!"

Hetfield: I think the obvious connection for us is with [Yankee pitcher Mariano] Mo [Rivera]. For the past 10 years, he's used Enter Sandman as the music that's played before he comes out on the field. He's helped keep that song alive, especially in that stadium.

And even though they're in a new building now [across the street from the location of the original Yankee Stadium, which closed in 2008], it's still great to have that connection. That's actually how we first announced the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium. During one game, right as the song started, they cut to this video I did where I said, "Stop, stop!" and then announced the show. It was pretty cool.

Dave mentioned that he's turning 50 the day before the Yankee Stadium show. Do you have anything up your sleeves?

Hetfield: [laughs] It'll be great, and Dave better beware. [laughs] I'm not releasing any ideas at this point, but it'll be fun. What better place to celebrate than Yankee Stadium?

The press first applied the Big 4 label to you guys in the Eighties. Back then, did you feel the same solidarity with the other bands as you do now?

Hetfield: No, that definitely developed over time. Back in the Eighties there were thousands and thousands of bands, but there's not too many that have survived 30 years. The Big 4 moniker didn't mean as much then as it does today.

Hammett: Back then, Scott [Ian] and [Anthrax drummer] Charlie [Benante] were the only people I had relationships with. I had no relationship with anyone from Slayer or Megadeth. But over the years that's changed. Now these guys are my peers, and I'm really proud of all our accomplishments.

I also love that, because of the Big 4, there's a bunch of little kids out there now that think Slayer is the shit. And they'll tell their friends, and the legacy will spread even farther. It doesn't start and stop with one band. Until you see all four bands together you won't get a picture about what this is really all about.

In the early days, did you look to the other bands for inspiration when it came to guitar playing?

Hetfield: Oh yeah. There's a huge competitive vein that runs through my body. Competition has always been a very healthy thing for us. At first it started out as basically pure hatred for pop music and "heavy" radio rock. From that hatred it went on to, "Ah, Slayer released that song... We're gonna do this!" And that's still happening onstage at these Big 4 gigs, too. You go out there and see how good they're doing and how well the crowd is reacting to them, and you think, Okay, "I gotta step it up."

Scott was talking about how the four of you basically invented that signature right-hand rhythmic downpicking approach. James, is that something you and Dave developed together during the early days of Metallica?

Hetfield: It's pretty interesting that someone is trying to define the origin of downpicking. It's silly. It's like, who invented music? There's plenty of punk rock bands doing that technique.

The first time I remember seeing an extremely fast right hand was Johnny Ramone, except he was doing a more acoustic-style thing and not muting and punching it like we ended up doing. That was one main inspiration, and the other one was probably the competition between Dave and I. Like, "Here's a riff... Wait, you can't play that. Hahaha!" And then he'd come back with an even faster riff. So at that time the competition was not only between bands but within them, as well.

Hammett: Actually, I'd say Scott Ian is the king of alternate-picking rhythm playing. He can do that like no one else. He's super tight and doesn't get the credit he deserves.

But as far as downpicking goes, I was always aware of it. I remember the first time I heard [Black Sabbath's] Paranoid back in 1978, I thought, "Wow, that guy is picking all downstrokes." Then I heard Symptom of the Universe and thought, "There it is, he's hitting all those downstrokes." Then I heard the Ramones, and there it was again.

When I was in Exodus with Gary Holt, we had some songs that had that early fast downpicking. Back in the early days, a lot of the Bay Area bands were doing it. It was really integrated into that style of playing. So it was nothing new to me.

You guys just kicked it up a notch.

Hammett: Well, that was because of Lars. Back then he was very energetic and way into Motörhead and Diamond Head. So his goal was always to play fast.

But I also think that during those first few years Lars was just nervous. And when he's nervous, his tempos speed up, so I think trying to keep up with Lars' nerves was as big an influence as anything on our fast downpicking technique. [laughs]

Speaking of Gary Holt, he's been sitting in with Slayer while Jeff Hanneman is recovering from his infection. Kirk, what's it like reconnecting with Gary on a tour like this?

Hammett: It is great to finally tour with Gary Holt. We totally rekindled our friendship and started hanging out a lot and speaking the old language we used to speak to each other in high school. It's very cool and one of the best things that came out of these recent Big 4 dates.

Touring back in the early days was filled with a lot of youthful, drunken troublemaking. There's the classic story of Scott Ian and Cliff Burton pissing down laundry chutes in London...

Hetfield: [laughs] Yeah, now it's shitting down laundry chutes. [laughs]. There was certainly some childish behavior that happened on the road. There was a lot of pent-up energy back then. And I can only speak for myself, but now I'm able to channel that energy a lot better and focus it on the music.

But I will say watching my kid piss off the balcony is still pretty funny. I wasn't even the instigator, but the wife still busted me. But she's supposed to. So I have to tell my son, "Hey, don't do that again!" But it was so funny. [laughs]

Hammett: For these Big 4 shows a lot of the guys have their families out with them. So you don't get that crazy debauched rock-and-roll party scene you might have gotten 15 years ago. I hate to say it but now it's all about dealing with the family and being tired from hanging with the family. But take away all the responsibility and it would be one great party scene at every show.

Kerry was saying that the party still follows him pretty closely. James, are you still not drinking?

Hetfield: Yeah, I've got over 10 years [sober], which is great. For me, there's plenty of ways to party without getting hangovers. I'm grateful to have all my days and not feel like crap.

But it doesn't stop anyone around me from doing it. They gotta do what they gotta do. I know there's also a part of me that celebrates being a loner. So when they go out hanging and partying, I'd just rather not do that. People annoy me a lot of the time. [laughs]

The Metallica machine has grown significantly over the years. Ever get nostalgic for piling in a van and hauling your own gear?

Hammett: Heck no. [laughs] I have neck, back, shoulder and knee problems. But I do get nostalgic for the old days, when things were very simple. To play a show nowadays it means you have to alert everyone and crank up the machine. I wish we were a lot more stealthy and quick on our feet. But we're an established band that's been around for a long time. What are you gonna do? We're brontosauruses.

Hetfield: [laughs] Usually we'll hop in some vehicle together, take a little ride and realize that's good enough. There's just so much other stuff in life that is fun for us and inspires us. And you know what? Heading out on tour is still one of those things. It's hard to say goodbye and leave the family, but once you get out there you realize you really crave this guy hang time, whether that's jamming and writing together or just hanging out at HQ. We're all still a bunch of guys that need the guy hang.

The circle is just a lot smaller than it used to be, and the word party means something a little different now. We do get nostalgic about the old days, and what they meant to us. But we're making "old days" right now. Ten years from now we'll look back and wonder why we were wasting our time looking back at the previous 10 years. We're making history now, and enjoying it while we do it.

James, I noticed that you were having a good time on the side of the stage watching Megadeth's set. Is that a regular part of the hang, too?

Hetfield: Oh, definitely. I love to see what's going on if I have time. It's real nice to get up there early and see what's up. It's annoying that I don't get to stand there the whole time and watch the show. But there are a lot of other parts of touring for us, with the fan club, interviews, and actually grabbing a bite of dinner.

It's nice to see how the crowd's reacting, and it's a good sign when the crowd's up for it. Because, really, we want everyone to do well and feel the vibe. And when a crowd is anti one of the Big 4, that's no fun. We're all moving forward in the same direction, so you gotta put that stuff aside. Sure, you might like one band better than the other, but hey, you're seeing some history.

What are your pre-show rituals before hitting the stage for one of these Big 4 shows?

Hammett: I usually try to see a chiropractor, then I do yoga to get centered, and then I sit and do guitar warm-ups. I have all sorts of different exercises that I do, but basically I run through different scales. The process takes a long time, mostly because of the yoga thing. I have to unwind and center myself and make sure my thoughts are grounded.

I find that when I do yoga before going onstage my show is much better, both mentally and physically. It used to be like, "Let's do a shot of vodka and go!" But after a while that stops working. Now it's like, "Let's do a shot of espresso!" [laughs]

Hetfield: The first part of getting the vibe up for me is the meet-and-greet. Such a good vibe is created from talking with people and hearing what songs they want to hear and how music's affected their lives. Whether people are introducing me to their kids, who they've turned on to our music, or I'm meeting a Make-A-Wish kid, there's always something in the meet-and-greet that's very inspirational.

Then there's the regular stuff, like grabbing some grub, stretching, and getting our warrior gear on, which is basically putting on a different black shirt than the one you already had on. Then we go into the tuning room. I'll go through my vocal warm-up tape, which helps me get prepared. Then we go in the jam room and knock some rust off. We all trickle in at different times and find out how each other is doing.

[Bassist] Rob [Trujillo] is always there first. He's a bass player's bass player. He loves to play. Sometimes I'll sit behind the drums and we'll goof around on some tunes. It's always a good vibe and we come out pretty sweaty. Then it's right to the stage.

During the Clint Eastwood tape [Ecstasy of Gold from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly] we do a little huddle and someone steps up to be the inspirational speaker of the evening [laughs], whether it's telling jokes or memories of the last time we played that city. Dude, we're human and sometimes people need a little help and a push. And when someone's not feeling it, the other guys rally around them.

These Big 4 dates are clearly significant for everyone. Can you recall a specific gig in your early career that was a similar benchmark?

Hetfield: I'd say our first time playing Day on the Green [in 1985 in Oakland, California]. I can't even tell you who else was there, maybe Yngwie Malmsteen and Y&T? All I know is that we were there, [original bassist] Cliff [Burton] was in the band, and it was a big deal, especially for Kirk and Cliff, because it was their hometown show.

Hammett: Definitely. Those Day on the Green shows had been going on since the early Seventies, and I'd seen so many bands play there. One of my all-time-favorite shows that I've ever seen was Day on the Green in 1978. Listen to this bill: AC/DC, Van Halen, Pat Travers, Foreigner, and Aerosmith.

It was so amazing. I remember coming back feeling so inspired that I played my guitar for days. So going from seeing those shows to playing on that stage was amazing. After I found out we were playing it, I was walking on clouds for months. It really felt like we hit a milestone.

Hetfield: Another memorable show was opening for Ozzy [in 1986]. Also playing in Moscow with AC/DC and Pantera [in 1991] after the coup attempt [against the Soviet Union leadership] was unbelievable.

And then there's our second gig ever, which was opening for Saxon. That was definitely a "We've made it" moment... after which we got our $19 pay, hopped back into our Pacer that constantly broke down, and drove home. [laughs]

But these moments are still happening. Playing the Big 4 in Germany was the biggest show we've done in 30 years. It's crazy to think that after 30 years we're still playing before bigger crowds.

Right now, Yankee Stadium is the last scheduled Big 4 show. Are there any plans to add more dates?

Hammett: Well, there's a lot of surf spots I've yet to hit in the world. [laughs] I think we should bring the Big 4 to Indonesia, Tahiti, the Maldives, and Tavarua. [laughs]

But seriously, the vibe at these shows is genuinely good. We'll do a slew of Big 4 shows, go do our own things for a few months, and when we come back everyone is glad to see each other. It's a super-cool thing for us, and I'm sure there are a lot of fans still out there that would love to see the show. I won't say yes, but I won't say no, either.

Hetfield: We don't know what's gonna happen. We're trying to cover the U.S. coasts, at least. Then we gotta get in and start focusing on writing a new record. But more Big 4 shows? We never say never, because obviously, this was never gonna happen in the first place.

Dave Mustaine has divulged that he believes that he’s had a massive influence on his fellow Big Four of thrash metal, namely, Slayer, Metallica, and Anthrax.

In an interview with São Paulo, Brazil's 89 FM A Rádio Rock radio station [via Blabbermouth], Mustaine shares his honest thoughts on the metal community and his overarching legacy.

“I’ve been very invested in the metal community,” he says. “Kerry [King, Slayer guitarist] and I played together [during the early days of both bands], and I showed him how to play Megadeth songs, which was before [Slayer] started having all their pivotal records. Kerry and I had a really great time together.”

As for Metallica, the band he was the lead guitarist for between 1982 and 1983, he asserts, “I wrote music in Metallica, and I wrote music in Megadeth. So I’ve been very influential with the guitar with these three bands.”

He also believes he had an influence on Anthrax’s Scott Ian, stating that the band started crafting a different sound after they met Mustaine-era Metallica.

“When I met Scott and the guys in Anthrax out in New York, same thing happened. Their first record was very different from the record they made after they met me and the guys in Metallica. So I think that's great.”

Ultimately, though, Mustaine is quick to clarify that, “I love all those bands.”

Megadeth recently released their seventeenth and final album, and Mustaine gave Guitar World an exclusive track-by-track rundown of his swan song.

Considering that they’re old pals, Scott Ian wasn’t surprised to get a random text from Tom Morello. The surprising part was the text’s content: “Do you want to come jam a Sabbath song at the final Black Sabbath show in Birmingham on July 5?”

Obviously, Ian – a lifelong Sabbath devotee – was in. Soon, the rest of Anthrax was in too.

“It’s mind-blowing,” Ian says. “I’ve been flipping out. It’s hard to believe it’s real. It’s not hard for me to think back to my childhood discovering them – and the earliest days of Anthrax. We were a bunch of kids in Queens [New York], doing our best to emulate the bands we loved, thinking, ‘Could you imagine if we ever got to do this?’”

Were you nervous when you got Tom Morello’s text?

“Tom had texted me because we’re friends, so we’ll text each other out of the blue, and I got this text, which I read back quickly. In my brain, I got so excited reading the text that I thought he was asking me if I wanted to play a song with Black Sabbath onstage at some final show that I knew nothing about – but that Tom is now texting me about. [Laughs]

“I literally started sweating, like, the thought of that… I was like, ‘How is this even possible?’ Then I calmed down, looked at the text again and realized, ‘Okay, he’s not talking about me playing with Sabbath together onstage with them.’ I was equally excited about it – just much less nervous.”

Do you remember the first time you heard Sabbath?

“My uncle Mitch, who is only 10 years older than me – and this would have been when we were still in Queens – we used to go over there a lot, and I’d sit in his room.

“He had these cool rock and black-light posters on the wall, and he had a huge collection of vinyl and comic books. It was like my dream room! I’d go through his records, and I was eight years old. One time, I pulled out the first Black Sabbath record.”

That cover must have been a real sight for an eight-year-old.

“I was intrigued! I was like, ‘What is this? Is it like a witch or something?’ I didn’t know from looking at it, and I said, ‘What’s Black Sabbath?’ My cousin said, 'Oh, that’s acid rock…’ That’s how he described them, which meant nothing to me and still means nothing to me. [Laughs]

“But he took it out, the record started, and I heard the sound effects and the bell, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ Now I’m sitting there scared, and there’s some haunted-house shit going on… it sounds cliché, but it just completely changed the whole mood.”

How do you measure the influence of Tony Iommi on you as a guitarist?

“Tony was such a big influence on me as a kid. I actually tried to play lefty… it didn’t work. [Laughs] I tried as hard as I could because I was convinced that him playing lefty was part of why he sounded so evil.

“I was like, ‘He’s the only left-handed player I’ve ever heard of, so it must have something to do with that.’ But I can’t even quantify it because I grew up learning by listening to Tony, the down-picking, the tone and the galloping.”

Where would heavy metal be without Black Sabbath?

“It wouldn’t be. Without Sabbath, Judas Priest wouldn’t have become the band they became, and then there’d be no Iron Maiden and so on and so on.

“Maybe there would have been another band… maybe in an alternate universe, there’s some other band that would have been like Black Sabbath is in our universe but without them… I don’t know. I can’t tell you that metal would exist the way it does in 2025 without them.”

What’s your favorite original-lineup Sabbath riff?

“The first thing that popped into my head is Into the Void, for whatever reason. There’s just something about that riff; it’s got what I consider to be the origin of thrash metal. The bridge in the middle, where they pick it up, and Bill [Ward] starts playing double kick – to me, that’s the beginning of thrash metal.”

Once you get onstage, what’ll be the biggest challenge in terms of doing justice to Tony’s unique style, which seems simple… until you try.

“Sabbath and AC/DC are similar to me because people make the mistake of thinking, ‘That’s so easy. It’s like a caveman. Anyone could play those parts.’ If they could, they would. That’s why there’s never been another Black Sabbath or another AC/DC – nobody else can do it!

“Nobody else could play those parts the way those guys do. They’re original entities on guitar, and that’s why I don’t even try. I play it the way I play it. We’ve always been a band that tries to honor it.”

Can you tell us what you’ll be playing?

“No! I’m not going to give away the song we’re playing. And I don’t think this is public knowledge, either, like the way it works for most of the bands on the bill; you do a Sabbath cover and one of your own.”

Have you gotten to meet or play with the Sabbath guys before, and what does it mean to be a part of this final show?

“Yeah, [Anthrax] played with them in ’05 at Download [Festival], I think. I got to stand on the side and watch them play. That would have been the last time I saw them. If I weren’t a part of this show, I’d still be going; I’d make the pilgrimage, be there all day and watch the whole thing.”

You’ve done a ton of cool things, but this seems like it’ll be at the top of your list when you look back.

“It’ll be high up there. Some of the coolest moments of my life are just having been involved with the fact that I got to stand and talk to Tony Iommi. He’s always been just so wonderful and fantastic to speak with. I call them ‘Who let me in here?’ moments, where it’s hard to believe I get to do this.”

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Anthrax’s lovable riff machine Scott Ian has refreshed his Jackson signature guitar, with the X-Series King V KVXT decked out in a gorgeous black-and-gold colorway, and bringing back one of its earliest logos for the headstock.

The core recipe of Ian's signature brew – which was first released in 2010 – remains in place. His preferred trio of tonewoods – a mahogany body, through body maple neck, and rosewood fingerboard – are joined by an adjustable Jackson TOM-style bridge and two “very high output” Jackson humbuckers, making for a weaponized 24.75" scale machine.

Ian wanted the 'buckers to “make it easy to get that chug,” even if you don’t have the “caveman right hand” that the rhythm maestro has built his career on. But it isn’t all about gnarly metal riffs – “I could imagine blues players like Joe Bonamassa getting their hands on one of these and shredding it,” he says. “It's not for metal only.”

Visually, the guitar has had a major overhaul, with a black-and-gold theme as its aesthetic muse. Specs helping the cause include gold die-cast tuners, black speed knobs, a black pickguard for subtly vintage chic, and pearloid block inlays.

“I wanted something that really evoked precision,” Ian reveals. “I wanted it to look tight and look great. I hadn't seen anything like the black and gold combination in a long time. That's always the hardest thing; coming up with something new. The colorway works amazing, and of course, the old-school Jackson logo is the piece the resistance. I love it.”

He actually credits his longtime guitar tech Mike Tempesta – who provided a guest solo on their 1995 track American Pompei and is the brother of Cult guitarist John Tempesta – for the color combo. Either way, it looks killer and extends his love affair with the V shape.

“I've kind of always been a V guy, even though maybe a lot of people think of me as a Soloist guy,” he continues. “When I started playing in Anthrax, my two main guitars were a Rhoads and an ’81 Gibson V.”

The revival of his collaborative relationship with Jackson – whose Lee Malia signature has been a best-seller this year – also comes at an important moment in his life.

“This is the Bruce Lee era of my career,” he says, with the pointy axe in his lap. “I turned 60 last year and I decided that my birthday present to myself was getting my ass in shape. I started training and working out. This guitar came along at the same time and I think that's what this guitar represents: looking like a badass but still being an idiot.”

The guitar also adds to Ian's healthy collection of badass Vs, with his jaw-dropping Frankenstein V, built as a tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen, the pick of the bunch. The virtuoso’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, had played a key role in bringing the guitar to life – which, by being a Jackson V, also doffs its cap to Randy Rhoads.

Other recent Jackson signature drops include its historic release with Tetrach's Diamond Rowe, a concert bass for MD to the stars Adam Blackstone, and Jinjer's Roman Ibramkhalilov’s beastly baritone.

The Jackson X-Series Scott Ian King V KVXT is available now for $799.99.

Visit Jackson to get a closer look.

In more recent Anthrax news, the iconic band are due to appear at Black Sabbath’s final show (which metal band isn’t?!) but, he says, only after he jealously approached Tom Morello about squeezing onto the already packed bill.

When Scott Ian was told about Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning show, he had to read the text from Tom Morello several times. The Anthrax guitarist may have been shocked and awed, but when Morello, the event’s creative director, asked him to get involved, there was only one answer.

“I must have asked Tom 50 questions about what, who, where, when and how,” Ian tells Guitar World. “I was like, ‘Oh my God. Holy shit!’ Black Sabbath and Ozzy – the whole thing was just too much for my brain. I texted him back and said, ‘Dude, yes! Whatever it is, I’m in!’”

He’d become a fan of Sabbath when he first heard them at the age of 8. “I loved the feeling of being scared by something I was listening to,” he remembers. “I had never heard anything so heavy. Ozzy was like Robert Plant’s crazy brother; it was all brand new.”

Then there’s Tony Iommi’s guitar work. “The first six Sabbath albums are the Necronomicon of heavy metal,” he says. “Everything that’s been done since is just a slightly different version of what Tony was doing. You could take any metal riff back through some filters and see what Sabbath song it came from. His influence is everything.”

Tom Morello first asked you to be part of the jam before Anthrax became involved, right?

“Yes – he said, ‘As soon as I have more information on what song and who you’re playing with, I’ll let you know.’ A couple of days later he sent me a list of people involved, and I saw there were other bands involved. I thought it was just gonna be like Sabbath and Ozzy, and then maybe a bunch of all-star lineups.

“I saw other bands but no Anthrax, so I’m like, ‘How about getting Anthrax on this? I’m not the only Sabbath fan in the band.’ Like five minutes later, he said, ‘You’re in.’”

What are your earliest memories of Black Sabbath?

“Back when we lived in Queens, my uncle had this amazing bedroom with cool black light posters up on the wall – Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, and so on. He had a huge collection of vinyl and comic books; it was like my dream room.

“Whenever we went there I’d go through his vinyl, pick out records, and he’d put them on. One of those times, I pulled out the first Black Sabbath record.

“Suddenly it’s dark, there are black lights on, and this weird, haunted house shit is going on! Then the guitar and the whole band kicked in, and I was sitting there scared, like, ‘What the fuck is this? I’m listening to a horror movie!’”

The term “heavy metal” hadn’t been thrown around yet. Did you know what to call that music?

“Until the late ‘70s I just called it ‘heavy rock’ or ‘hard rock’ – but Sabbath were just the heaviest of all the bands. Nobody even came close for so many years.”

When did you first see Sabbath live?

“I was lucky enough to see them in 1978 with Van Halen opening at Madison Square Garden. It was an unbelievable night. I’d only been going to concerts for two years. I would have, say, 10 bucks, buy tickets, then five other things would go on sale that I’d want to see more, but I’d miss out.

“I’d always think, ‘They’ll come back next year,’ because it was New York. With Sabbath, I bought tickets when they first went on sale. There was no way I was missing that.”

Do you have a favorite Sabbath album?

“It’s so hard between Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and the first album. But I’d probably go with Master of Reality. You can’t go wrong with that. It fucking crushes.

“It’s only 34 minutes but you have Sweet Leaf, After Forever, Children of the Grave, Lord of This World, and Into the Void on it... An album with one of those songs on, it would blow people’s minds. But all six of those songs are on one album!”

How will Anthrax approach covering Sabbath’s music in July?

“We’re not looking to change the arrangements. We covered Sabbath Bloody Sabbath back in the ‘80s; we did our best to honor it. With my guitar tone – which sounds different from Tony’s – we probably did it faster; it was just who we were. I don’t try to ape it because I can’t.”

Tony’s licks seem easy – but they’re not.

“I could sit there for the rest of my life and try and recreate his vibrato, and it’s just never going to happen. If I got to play his guitar through his rig, it’s not gonna sound like him. So I just play it how I’m going to play it and have fun.”

So you’ll be using your typical rig?

“Yeah; I need my rig because we’re doing an Anthrax song too. But for the Sabbath song I’ll probably clean it up a little bit. It won’t be, let’s say, dense. I’m on a couple of other Sabbath songs as well, in one of the all-star lineups. I’m not sure if I’m going to be playing through my rig or if that’s going to be a completely different backline.

“They’re going to have seemingly 200 different things going on before Sabbath gets on stage – but I don’t have to worry about that stuff. I just have to know the songs!”

As a fan and a peer, what does it mean to you to be a part of this show?

“We’ve known about it for a while; it’s been quite difficult to keep my mouth shut about it! I wasn’t even telling friends and stuff until it was announced. I didn’t want to be responsible for anything leaking. It’s amazing. I never thought I would get to see it again, you know?”

Since first listening to Black Sabbath at the age of eight, Scott Ian has been ensnared by the world of the heavy metal pioneers – one that would shape his own career in Anthrax, largely considered one of thrash metal’s genre-defining bands.

Fast-forward to 2025, and Anthrax will be taking part in the Ozzy Osbourne and Sabbath extravaganza, Back to the Beginning, this July in Birmingham – which, as Ozzy puts it, is the “true home of metal.”

Unlike the rest of us, Ian first heard about this historic event from Tom Morello, who's doubling as the musical director.

“I texted him back and said, ‘Dude, yes! Whatever it is, I’m in. What’s going on… what the hell?’” Ian tells Guitar World.

“He said, ‘As soon as I have more information on what song and who you’re playing with, I’ll let you know.’ Then he said, ‘We’re just starting to get this together now. Sharon [Osbourne] asked me if I would be creative director and help put it all together.’

And while Ian was initially slated to be part of an all-star jam, he was surprised when he realized that it wasn't just Ozzy and Sabbath performing, but a stacked bill featuring some of the top acts in the genre.

“A couple of days later, he sent me a list of people involved, and I saw there were other bands involved. I said, ‘OK,’ because I had no idea; I thought it was just gonna be like Sabbath and Ozzy, and then maybe a bunch of all-star lineups.

“I saw other bands but no Anthrax, so I’m like, ‘Well, shit, I’m already involved…’ I said, ‘How about getting Anthrax on this? I’m not the only Sabbath fan in the band.’ Tom said, ‘Let me get right back to you…’ Literally, like five minutes later, he said, ‘You’re in.”

As for what we can expect from what feels like the heavy metal event of the decade, Ian teases, “I’m on a couple of other Sabbath songs as well, in one of the all-star lineups that I get to be in. I don’t know how any of the production stuff is working.

“They’re going to have seemingly 200 different things going on before Sabbath gets on stage – but I don’t have to worry about that stuff. I just have to know the songs.”

In addition to Anthrax, the stacked event – which sees Ozzy reunite with the original Sabbath lineup for the first time in 20 years – will also feature Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Halestorm, Lamb of God, among many others.

Guitar World's full interview with Scott Ian will be published in the coming weeks.

The announcement of Ozzy Osbourne's return – and last-ever live performance – on July 5 marks the historic reunion of the original Black Sabbath members for their first show in 20 years.

Dubbed ‘Back to the Beginning’, this homecoming – and, frankly, celebration of a great legacy – takes Sabbath back to where it all began: Birmingham.

However, instead of a traditional headliner-and-support-style show, this event will bring together some of rock’s most influential, generation-spanning talents – a supergroup, if you will, or a “very supergroup,” as Tony Iommi shared with Planet Rock – for what already looks like an event destined for the history books.

Most intriguing among the lineup is a Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins supergroup, teased by Sharon Osbourne, who appears in the same interview.

“Tom Morello is going to be playing with Billy Corgan and you know the drummer from Tool [Danny Carey]. You wouldn't have thought that you would see those three guys together, but they're all from Chicago, so they're all home guys,” says Osbourne.

“Then you’ll see Slash and Duff [McKagan] and whoever they choose to play with,” she elaborates in an interview with NME. “David Draiman [Disturbed] is going to come up and sing, Jonathan [Davis] from KoRn is going to be here and he could be playing with [Red Hot Chili Peppers’] Chad Smith or whoever! Alice In Chains are coming and they’re playing as the band.”

As Osbourne explains, assembling all these big names was no easy feat – but their willingness to commit is a testament to Ozzy’s legacy and, by extension, Black Sabbath’s.

“People are coming in from all over the world – they're all gigging because it's the summer, so everybody's out doing festivals, and somehow, it worked. Bands like Anthrax, we asked them to be a part of it, and they said, ‘Oh, don't even bother to send us a ticket. We're going to be there no matter what.’”

After all, as Osbourne puts it, “This is a celebration – of the genre and the pioneers who started it and passed it on to all these bands. Usually, this thing is done when you’re dead – so it’s nice that these guys can be alive to be appreciated!”

Tickets for the mega-event go on sale on February 14, with proceeds from the show set to be shared equally between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice.

Visit Live Nation for tickets.

Since the release of their 1984 debut album, Fistful Of Metal, thrash metal has provided the backbone to Anthrax’s unstoppable sound.

In addition to fast down-picked sequences, alternate-picked riffs, and serious palm muting, the band have no issues delivering a mid-tempo, heavy stomp, or indeed blending grungy, alt-rock textures with sinister, menacing undertones.

Anthrax have always been a two-guitarist band and, despite the lead guitar position moving through several players, Scott Ian has always been the driving force behind the group’s powerful rhythm guitar work.

With that in mind, this lesson delves into Ian’s unapologetic approach to thrash rhythmic precision, and the nuances that place Anthrax among The Big Four of thrash metal bands, alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer.

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 8, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 7

For a good thrash tone, use your bridge pickup and select the distortion channel on your amp. To add punch, and to articulate your sound, set your gain moderately high, leave your bass and middle at the 12 o’clock position, and boost the treble. This will add bite, retain pitch definition, and keep your lower frequencies sounding tight. As will adding no reverb.

Example 1.

The opening section features a repeated melodic motif with a chromatically descending bass note. This brings tension, and contrasts with the chromatically ascending powerchord sequence that closes the phrase.

The second section includes 16th-note subdivisions. Use upstrokes to maintain fluidity on the faster rhythms and return to downstrokes for the chromatically descending 5ths in the final bar.

Example 2.

The first phrase uses fast, 16th-note rhythms. Follow the suggested pick directions to keep the phrases flowing smoothly. Use a downstroke and legato for the fills in the second and fourth bar, as this will reduce fatigue in the picking hand.

The second phrase introduces single-note figures played as abrasive pinch harmonics. To achieve them, use downstrokes and brush the string with the side of your thumb immediately after you strike the note.

Fans champing at the bit for the follow-up to the volcanic 2016 Anthrax album For All Kings will have to wait just a little longer. In early 2024, the band hoped to have the still-untitled record out by year’s end. Now they’re shooting for a release date sometime in 2025.

“We’re taking our time and not rushing anything because we want it to be exactly how we want it,” rhythm guitarist and lyricist Scott Ian says.

“We’re not in a place in our lives anymore where we could have dropped everything and said, ‘Alright, we’ve got two months of studio time. Let’s finish writing and then get in there and record it all and do the vocals. Mix, master and we’re done – like in the old days.’ We have families and commitments now, so it can’t work that way anymore and hasn’t in a long time.”

When bands use phrases such as “It will be ready when it’s ready,” they’re sometimes stuck in limbo and are biding their time. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Anthrax. So far, the band has tracked nine songs and written and partially recorded another four.

Those songs still need leads, lyrics and vocals, but it looks like they might be done before the end of the year and the full release will hit in the second or third quarter of 2025.

At least that’s the plan; Anthrax just don’t want their first new music in a decade to be in the public’s hands until every dotted eighth note is just right – not that they’re striving to overshadow anything else they’ve done.

“I don’t think we’ve ever gone into a record saying, ‘We really need to top the last one,’ because if you did that, you’re self-fulfilling a failure,” Ian says.

“But I’m definitely loving this record. There are crushing riffs and great, hooky courses. Even some of the thrashiest songs have great choruses. We’re always looking for the hook, and I think we’ve accomplished that.”

For now, the band’s biggest dilemma isn’t finishing the record in time, it’s deciding which nine or 10 songs will make the final cut. The most popular song from 2016’s For All Kings was the rousing anthem Breathing Lightning, and Ian says the band has written a couple of songs in that vein. However, he’s more excited about the shorter, faster tunes that are more like the material Anthrax released in their thrash metal heyday in the 1980s.

“With the songs we’ve written, we’d be able to put together a nine- or 10-song record that would be thrashier than anything we’ve done in a long time,” Ian says. “But there would also be a way to make it a very different kind of album depending on which songs we choose.

“And I can tell you, I know which way I’m leaning. And I think we’re all on the same page. We want this record to punch people in the face. And then we can use the bonus tracks for other things, but in the context of the record, I really want it to hit hard.”

When he was sent the first batch of finished songs, lead guitarist Jonathan Donais was excited by how heavy the material was and how much it reminded him of the Anthrax he grew up listening to. He was especially amped by a song that had the working title A Murder of Bros.

“I thought all the songs they sent me were great and definitely sounded like Anthrax,” Donais says. “And then I heard this one that had a black-metal feel to it that I never would have pictured Anthrax doing, and it sounds so awesome. I remember thinking, ‘Man, after being together for 40-something years and still being able to throw curveballs like that is awesome.’”

Ian is equally complimentary about Donais’ solos. “Jon has this insane ability to put together really melodic leads,” he says. “They’re memorable to the point where you could sing the solos, and, to me, that’s such a great skill. There’s always a time to have some ripping and shredding, and there’s lots of that too. But we’re lucky with Jon because he also writes these parts that you’re gonna connect with in the same way you connect with a chorus.”

Drummer and songwriter Charlie Benante started writing riffs for the new Anthrax album back in 2019. Some of the passages he wrote will likely be on the new album, but before the band got too far into the process, the pandemic hit and Anthrax entered a long period of inactivity.

“Nobody was feeling very creative – certainly not in that first six months to a year, anyway,” Ian says. “It was more kind of, ‘Let’s just be home with our families and see if the world’s gonna end or not.’ At one point, there was that uncertainty that you never knew if a gig was going to ever happen again.”

In 2021, Anthrax started playing shows again, and the fires of creativity quickly reignited. Benante started making new demos and sending them to his bandmates for feedback, and it was as if the stagnancy had never even existed.

“The ideas he sent were very realized and really good,” Ian says. “Generally, it’s just a question of, ‘Well, this part is going on for two minutes. Maybe we’ll edit that,’ which, of course, he’s fine with. The next step was to get together in a room with our editor ears on and start turning the parts into song arrangements.”

By working on three or four songs at a time, the band was able to determine which ones worked best together and what the album might still need. Instead of relying on instinct and spontaneity to create a continuous wave of energy – as they did in the early days – Anthrax drew from experience and intuition.

“I was able to look at these songs we had and go, ‘I really feel like we need a couple of three-and-a-half-minute ragers,’” Ian says. “That’s something we haven’t done in a long time, and I only heard one song that sort of fit that category.”

Ian asked Benante if he could write some faster, more direct tunes and the drummer was stoked by the suggestion. Before long, he had tapped into the kind of blinding, aggressive energy, rage and musicality that made Anthrax one of the Big 4 thrash bands of the ’80s.

“Within a few weeks, we had these two straight-up – I can’t even say they’re like songs from Among the Living because they’re shorter and tighter,” Ian says.

“It felt really good to have these songs that just rip. Charlie has got this tap that he’s able to turn on, and when it’s time for him to go to work, I’m just happy he can. He’s such a great riff writer, and I’m sure he tapped into whatever was influencing him.

“Whether it was the environment of the planet or the craziness of the world – whatever – but he was able to come up with this stuff that’s angrier and more aggressive for sure.”

Anthrax did pre-production for the album at Ben Grosse’s studio The Mix Room in Burbank and also worked at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Los Angeles. “At a certain point we couldn’t get into 606 anymore,” Ian grumbles in jest. “Some band called the Foo Fighters had it booked out for a month.”

While Ian brought a wide variety of guitars, amps and cabinets into the studio, after testing them out, he returned to his tried-and-true battle-worn gear for most of the songs. He picked up his white Jackson King V, plugged into a 1982 Marshall JCM800 and EVH 5150 EL 100-watt head.

“My Gibson V sounds amazing, but there’s something angrier about the King V, especially on fast songs,” Ian says. “It’s just so mean.”

Ian sculpted his already vicious tone with a TC Electronic booster and his two KDHK custom pedals. The first, the Sergeant D Boost/Amp, features pre-distortion EQ circuitry Ian used in the early days combined with circuits that emulate the raw tone of amps he used in S.O.D.

The more whimsical “Jewish Space Laser” pedal uses a redesigned circuit for more clarity and depicts Ian flying through space blasting skeletons with his former go-guitar, a 1981 Gibson V, and also played a Les Paul Custom and Jackson Soloists. And he played the Les Paul and his Gretsch Malcolm Young for the clean parts.

Donais recorded his leads in his Massachusetts studio on his signature Dean USA Exile using a DAW with various plug-ins, giving Ruston the versatility to re-amp the guitars. He wrote out all the solos before playing them, then sent them to the rest of the band for approval. Often, the band kicked them back to him for tweaking, but by the third or fourth take they usually got the green light.

“Knowing that the music kicked ass motivated me,” Donais says. “When I got a song, I listened to one section at a time to wrap my head around it. And then I listened to music from other players I love, like Dimebag, Zakk Wylde and Paul Gilbert. After that, I looped the rhythm and went with whatever vibe I was getting. If I liked what I did with the first two bars, I just kept going.”

Although (or maybe because) Anthrax wrote the new album piecemeal, Ian insists the songs are among the best and heaviest the band has done since the ’80s. As much as he loves the band’s last two records, and as integral as he feels the ’90s material with vocalist John Bush was to the band’s growth, he believes the new songs will be a game-changer for Anthrax.

“I think this is going to be the album that brings back album sales,” he says. “People are going to stop streaming and buy CDs and vinyl and it’s going to change the music business for the better.” Unable to maintain the hyperbolic boast, Ian chuckles. Following a short pause, he reins himself back in and reveals his more realistic hopes.

“I’d like to think this record will be a slew of songs that people are going to be very excited about hearing live for the next few years,” he says. “I generally feel the riffs, the grooves and the breakdowns – we used to call them mosh parts in the old days – I think they’re gonna connect with our fans. And a lot of these songs are tailor-made for our live show, so I hope we’ll be playing them for a long time.”

Anthrax have announced that their original bass guitar player, Dan Lilker, will return to the band for their upcoming South American and US tour dates as a stand-in for Frank Bello. 

Lilker was a founding member of the thrash legends, performing on their debut album, Fistful of Metal. He’ll link back up with the band after a 40-year absence, with Bello dropping out of the tours for personal reasons. 

The tour kicks off April 13 at MXMF Metal Fest in Mexico City, with Lilker also set to be involved for two US festival dates in May, at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple.  

“I’m really looking forward to jamming with Anthrax again,” says Lilker. “When we parted ways back in 1984, they told me to stick around because they might need me in 40 years.”

“We’re all very excited about playing with Danny again, and we really appreciate his filling in for Frank,” the band adds. “It’s been way too long since we played South America, so you don’t want to miss these shows, they’re going to be insane.” 

Lilker formed Anthrax with guitarist Scott Ian in New York in 1981. The pair co-wrote many of the songs on Fistful of Metal, which was released three years later, kickstarting the band's career in the process. 

Parting ways with the band not long after the record's release, Lilker went on to form Nuclear Assault with vocalist and fellow ex-Anthrax man John Connelly. He would go on to appear on five of the band's six albums, including 1989's Handle With Care. 

Speaking about his departure from Anthrax back in January, Lilker said: 

“I was asked to leave and had no choice. Let’s just say that Neil [Turbin, vocals] and I had different definitions of what professional meant. I was more into making sure that the songs were good and well-played and rehearsed. 

“We all clashed with Neil a bunch back then. Because, remember, he [left] the band seven months after me. They realized they threw the wrong guy out, but by then it was too late.”

Despite leaving the Anthrax fold, Lilker reunited with Ian and drummer Charlie Benante in 1985, capitalizing on left over studio time from Anthrax's second album sessions. Together they formed Stormtroopers of Death, recording the album Speak English or Die in just three days.

While Anthrax have since become one of the great institutions of thrash metal, Lilker has been just as busy.  

He formed the grindcore band Brutal Truth in 1990, and has also played for Exit-13, Malformed Earthborn, Overlord Exterminator, and Venomous Concept, among other groups. 

It’s a surprise reunion sure to excite fans of the band’s much-loved debut effort. Together they'll play eight Central and South American dates across eight countries, starting in Mexico and wrapping up at Brazil's Summer Breeze festival.   

Frank Bello is expected to be back in the fold when Anthrax return to the UK and Europe in November. The band’s co-headline run with German thrashers Kreator will feature support from another revered thrash band, Testament.  

For tickets and more info, visit the band's website.

Full transparency: Frank Bello of Anthrax is a good friend of mine and we worked on his autobiography, Fathers, Brothers, And Sons, together. I’m doubly pleased, then, that the signature SansAmp pedal that he’s been developing with the Tech 21 team has turned out to be such a triumph. At only $249, it should be accessible for anybody who can afford a bass guitar.

The goal with the Street Driver 48 – named after the music stores on New York’s 48th Street where Bello hung out as a teenager – was to make a simple-to-use amp emulation pedal that gets you the full range of clean and driven tones. This goal has been achieved thanks to a four-knob interface that couldn’t be easier to manage, with Drive and Level controlling the gain/overdrive and output. An active two-band EQ cuts and boosts Low and High frequencies, and two push buttons – labelled Dirt and Filth – add different kinds of distortion.  

Let’s get straight to the good stuff. The controls are all super sensitive, so roll them on with care. A rightwards spin of Drive and Level rewards you with a smooth but energetic overdrive: this can be dramatically modulated with the EQ pots, which provide a ton of bass and top end. If that isn’t enough, you can mess things up still further with the Dirt button, which throws a genuinely violent, hollow-sounding distortion on top, or the rather more sane Filth option, which is more toppy and less evil. 

Once you’ve got all that out of your system (or your significant other has yelled at you to turn the noise down) you’re free to explore the more civilized sounds that the Street Driver 48 makes. Bello’s own sounds – whether the toppy tones from Anthrax’s mid-'80s era, or the later, more crunchy tones – are easily findable, and you can also land on excellent facsimiles of the bass sounds we associate with his heroes Steve Harris and Geddy Lee. 

What I love about this pedal is that it also works perfectly well as a clean boost, as a method of slightly warming up your tone, or as a subtle grind that will cut through the guitars: it’s not only about unhinged distortion that will terrify your neighbour’s cat.  

The Street Driver is built to last, with a metal housing, knobs and switches, and comes with an XLR out and ground connect switch if required. A power supply with interchangeable international plugs is supplied – yes, you’d be surprised how rarely this happens – and you can use it as a regular stompbox, direct into a mixer or as a preamp before a power amp. You even get stickers and a pick thrown in. Give this pedal a test-drive with our full recommendation.

Specs

• PRICE: $249 / £195
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: Bass preamp/DI and drive pedal 
• CONTROLS: Drive, Low, High, Level pots, Filth and Dirt in/out buttons
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output, plus balanced XLR output with earthing switch
• WEIGHT: 11 oz / 412g
• POWER: 9V DC 
• DIMENSIONS: 51 (w) x 121 (d) x 95mm (h)
• Contact: Tech 21 

Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein electric guitar is one of music’s most iconic and instantly recognizable instruments. Even an untrained eye will see the red-black-and-white striped Stratocaster-shaped guitar and immediately think of Eruption.

The heavily modded six-string assumed various aesthetics, configurations and specs throughout its life, but its final form is synonymous with Van Halen and his trailblazing guitar playing.

Yes, Eddie experimented with different shapes – such as his Ibanez Star and aggressively customized Shark models – but the Frankie’s Strat-shaped body remained a constant.

That is, however, until now, because Jackson has partnered with Anthrax’s Scott Ian to create perhaps the most metal iteration of the Frankenstein ever made – the Franken V.

A Van Halen superfan – clock Mr. Bungle's breakneck cover of Out of Control – Ian was first snapped posing with his new prized possessions almost six weeks ago on the FU-Tone Instagram account, but details of the elusive instrument remained few and far between.

As such, we reached out to Fender – the parent company of both Jackson and EVH, which no doubt helped facilitate the collaboration – to get the lowdown on one of 2023's most eye-catching and under-the-radar builds.

With the body of a standard Jackson King V – Ian’s preferred model shape, which was used as the basis for his signature guitar – the Franken V was built in collaboration with EVH as a one-off guitar for Ian as a special tribute to the original instrument.

Notably, the Franken V was assembled by Mike Shannon, the Custom Shop Master Builder who built Ian his first-ever Jackson back in 1983. Perhaps even more notably, it’s possibly the gnarliest Frankenstein reimagining you’ll find.

Aside from the silhouette switch-up, the Franken V is a top-notch aesthetic reproduction of the original Frankie, from its striped colorway and maple fretboard all the way down to its sawn-off scratchplate and body relicing.

Heck, even the electronics and hardware are a mirror image of the original – the dummy single-coil in the neck is partnered with a functioning Seymour Duncan JB bridge humbucker, wired to a sole volume control labelled 'Tone'. 

Naturally, the pickup cavities are fully on display, alongside a top-mounted Floyd Rose tremolo.

Shannon and Ian also paid close attention to some of the smaller specs associated with the Frankie, opting for a 12”-16” compound radius maple fingerboard, 22 jumbo frets, and an oil-finished maple neck.

Likewise, in an effort to leave no stone unturned, the rear of the model flashes numerous reflector plates, which have been strategically placed to channel the spirit of the original Frankenstein.

It’s literally as if Eddie Van Halen himself had developed a penchant for V body shapes, and used one when he first embarked on his Frankie journey back in the late 1970s.

It will come as no surprise to learn that Ian is over the moon with this special one-off six-string – a six-string he says he’s “always wanted”.

“The Franken V is literally a dream come true,” he tells us. “It’s a design I’ve always wanted and I’m so grateful to [EVH brand leaders] Matt Bruck, Wolfgang Van Halen and the EVH family for making it happen.” 

But the raving doesn’t stop there: “It was built by Mike Shannon, the man that built my first ever Jackson back in 1983 and it feels, sounds, and plays incredibly. It’s the best guitar I’ve ever had.” Praise doesn’t come much higher than that.

As mentioned above, the Franken V is one-of-a-kind, and it doesn't seem as though Ian will be subjecting it to the rigors of the road, so we'll just have to continue admiring the gnarly six-string from afar – that means closely following Scott Ian's Instagram account in hopes he'll post a few new pictures from time to time.

V-inspired reimaginings of classic guitar models are something of a hot topic right now – indie guitar builder Nepco, for example, has been constructing Vs inspired by classic Danelectro instruments.

When Guitar World connects with Zakk Wylde, Scott Ian and Gary Holt, the metal guitar titans are a week and a half into their North American tour: Anthrax and Black Label Society co-headlining as they did last summer, this time with Exodus roped in as special guests. 

Their show in Penticton, British Columbia a few nights earlier made headlines for an attendee referred to by the music press as ‘Angry Jesus’ – thanks to his long hair, beige robe and violent moshing – being escorted out of the venue by local police officers. It was, by all accounts, an unforgettable night which perhaps saw one bearded metal fan enjoying just a little bit too much of that holy water...

“Yeah, he got kicked out during Zakk’s set,” grins Holt – who, despite owning a blue ESP singlecut with the words ‘Officer Holt’ written around a police badge, wasn’t actually the one making arrests that night. “I don’t know what got him so angry,” he continues. “Maybe he turned a little too much water into wine [laughs]!”

“That’s what usually happens,” cackles Wylde, with a mischievous grin. “Maybe Exodus played a couple too many songs from the first record and it got him too fired up. Don’t mess with the Catholics!”

The three metal legends are on a joint Zoom call today to look back on their history as guitar players and share a thing or two about what they’ve learned along the way. When you sit down and think about their collective credentials, it’s quite staggering – as well as Black Label Society, Anthrax and Exodus, they’ve recorded with or toured as part of Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Pantera, Mr. Bungle, Stormtroopers Of Death and Pride & Glory. 

Then, of course, there have been the one-off collaborations with the likes of Public Enemy, Eric Gales, William Shatner, Destruction, Black Veil Brides, Leslie West, Dweezil Zappa, Metal Allegiance and many more. 

They’ve all played a part in making metal guitar what it is today, from the furious downpicking typified by Ian in the mid-'80s, the instantly recognizable ‘Zakk Attack’ explored on Wylde’s legendary instructional Pentatonic Hardcore and Holt’s love for diminished dissonance, as detailed in his own tutorial A Lesson In Guitar Violence. 

Here we look at the stories stretching back through nearly four decades of friendship and get them to cross-examine their own unique takes on all things six-string...

Take us back to the very beginning – when exactly did you all first cross paths?

Wylde: “I first met Scotty and the Anthrax fellas when I was rolling with Ozzy in 1988, back on the No Rest For The Wicked tour. That’s when we first started hanging together. And it’s great that we’re all rolling together now, because just the other day we were talking about our friends who are gone. 

“Whether they were amazing musicians – guitarists, singers, drummers or bass players – they don’t even play any more. They just fell off, for whatever reason. Then we have our buddies who are lifers that are still playing. 

“I guess the joys of the journey are trying to get to the Madison Square Garden or Royal Albert Hall. But while you are working on getting there, it’s a case of still playing and making sure you love it. You have to obviously still pay all your bills and rent. But the secret is to never stop playing. 

“I was talking about this with JD [Black Label Society bassist John DeServio] the other night. Even if I wasn’t blessed with having Ozzy in my life, I’d still be playing music, whether it be teaching, working in a music store, playing in a covers band or a wedding band. As long as you’re still playing, that’s all that matters at the end of the day. I guess you could call me, Scotty and Gary lifers.”

So you met Zakk long before that beard took shape, but even early on, he still had that signature wide vibrato…

Ian: “I was clean shaven too back in 1988. I even had hair on my head [laughs]!”  

Wylde: “JD gets to hear that vibrato every night and gets violently ill! People are always like, ‘Your bass player is so stealth and ripped’ and I go, ‘Yeah, it’s because he can’t hold his food down after hearing me play!’ But seriously, it’s crazy how many of our buddies from back then aren’t playing anymore. 

“Me and Scott were talking about this the other night, how they stuck it out from doing arenas with me and Ozzy back in the day, through the mean years of Anthrax, and now Anthrax is back on top. 

“There was a fall-off period where a lot of bands would have quit or given up. We know so many great musicians who gave up when they reached that lull. You have to be persistent and plough through it in this business. There are no other options. Just keep playing.”

Ian: “We always compare ourselves to De Niro in Raging Bull when he goes, ‘You never got me down, Ray, you never got me down!’ That’s how we’ve always felt, just like Jake LaMotta in the movie. No matter how many punches we took, we were never going to stop playing.”

So what would you say are each other’s strong points as guitar players?

Holt: “Well, when it comes to my own playing, I know I do a good job with the five licks I know. Five might be generous; maybe it’s four [laughs]!”

Wylde: “That’s all you need. It might only be four or five licks, but if you do them well, there you go. I remember I did a similar thing with Buddy Guy, where he was asked what he liked about my guitar playing. 

“I said, ‘Actually guys, let me speak for the Pontiff over here and answer on behalf of Buddy Guy – what he enjoys most about my playing is the sound right before you put the record on and, most of all, when the album ends [laughs]! It’s the silent bits in between. 

“I was thinking to myself, ‘Yeah, like Buddy Guy is gonna know anything about my guitar playing!’ As if he would be able to answer a question about my strong points. He didn’t even know what my name was and we’d been on the same Hendrix Experience tour for about three years [laughs]!”

Holt: “It doesn’t matter, because it’s Buddy Guy! It would be an honor even if he said he didn’t know who you were…”

Wylde: “Exactly! When people ask me what I offer kids as a guitar player, it’s the fact they can look at me and think, ‘If this ass clown can make a living playing music and afford the energy bills, then there’s hope for all of us!’ There is hope, kids. Just keep practicing.”

All jokes aside, though, the three of you are instantly recognizable as guitar players...

Ian: “I think the best compliment you can pay any musician is a bit like ‘name that tune’, when they have such an original sound, you name that guitar player in one note. I can do that with both of these guys.

“You instantly know whether it’s Zakk or Gary. They have their own sounds, feel and style. They’re complete originals. Of course, everything is derivative and comes from somewhere. We all came from similar influences but we took that and turned it into something of our own, expressing heavy music through our own filters. 

“In my eyes, that’s one of the reasons why we’re all still here doing it to the level we’re doing it: we’re all originals when it comes to playing and songwriting.”

Holt: “Well put! Sometimes all it takes is that one note. One of my all-time heroes is Angus Young, and I can identify his solos from just a pick slide. I’ll be like, ‘Aha! That’s from Let There Be Rock.’”

Ian: “And, by the way, I love Zakk’s vibrato. Who cares what JD thinks!”

Wylde: “Exactly. And, like I said earlier, he enjoys it because he’s losing weight and staying ripped!”

And while you all have different tones and styles, to some extent, it can all be traced back to Tony Iommi...

Wylde: “When any of us tell younger musicians where we came from, it all stems back to Lord Iommi. He was the Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Lennon, McCartney and Burt Bacharach of riffs. I mean, he created a whole genre that spawned Exodus, Anthrax, Black Label Society and various movements of different-sounding bands. 

“But all three of us take our influences and everything we’ve loved and digested over the years, and then play from the heart. I remember before I started with Ozz, I was trying to get a record deal and everyone was playing Bon Jovi kinda stuff to get our big break. 

“And then a lot of us realized that we didn’t like this music or even own any of these records. Why aren’t we playing music that we actually enjoy and love?! It’s right there in front of you but you can’t see it. I can hear Scott at soundcheck or Gary at soundcheck and it’s easy to tell where they come from as guitar players. 

“They’re not trying to play pop music. And with Bon Jovi, they’re playing exactly what they want to play and that’s the reason it became successful. Why pretend to be something that you’re not? Whatever it is that comes naturally is what you should be doing. That’s the only way you’re going to excel at anything.”

Holt: “That’s 100 percent correct. We all took the music we loved – all heavy metal starts and ends with Tony – and then we just added all these different things we liked, stirring it around in a big pot. In my case, it became Exodus. I grew up as a hard rock kid; those bands are where my roots are. The metal and punk rock came later. 

“Eventually you realize you owe it all to the giants whose shoulders you’re stood on. If I can influence some other kids, more power to it. I’m just paying it forward.”

To some degree, the success boils down to just how unique a spin you put on it...

Wylde: “Exactly, it’s all about that passing of knowledge, but with some degree of originality. Even with Saint Rhoads, there was his whole love for Mick Ronson – from how he was holding the Les Paul, the haircut, the whole nine yards. I never knew anything about that. 

“To me, Randy Rhoads was just Randy Rhoads. My friends would go, ‘Oh my god, this guy must really love Mick Ronson!’ and I’d be like, ‘I don’t know who Mick Ronson is!’ Then I learned more about it, finding out more about the history of things. 

“You eventually realize that Randy got a lot from Mick Ronson, who obviously got it from somebody else. Then Randy inspired the three of us, so we’re all indirectly inspired by Mick Ronson. That’s a beautiful thing that shows just how awesome the lineage of music is. You can see the roots almost like a tree...”

Holt: “Zakk often talks about Frank Marino. I was the youngest of six kids who grew up listening to Frank Marino but I never realized how much of an influence he had on Zakk until he mentioned. Now I listen to Zakk’s songs and I’m like, ‘Oh, I get it now!’ but I didn’t link the two together for a long time.”

When it comes to tone, there are many similarities and also a fair few differences. Zakk and Gary, you both love an EMG 81 in the bridge, while Scott prefers something like a Seymour Duncan JB. Zakk, you’ve used a Boss SD-1 on many a classic recording while Scott might prefer a boost and Gary might opt for a parametric EQ. But you’ve all mainly used EL34 tube amps for your live shows…

Ian: “I don’t even need a boost anymore; I just go straight into the EVH EL34.”

Holt: “I’m the opposite – I boost everything. And then I boost it again [laughs]!”

Wylde: “It all depends on what you want. Like Father Scott said, with certain things like EVH amps, Soldanos or Wizards, they have a lot of gain. The beautiful thing about JCM800s is that it’s such a simple circuit. There’s a good amount of overdrive, even more if you put a pedal in front. 

“If you want to clean it up, just turn the pedal off and roll the volume on your guitar down. It’s all good. There is no right or wrong way to do it. All it comes down to is whatever works best to get the tone you enjoy!”

Scott and Gary, you’re no strangers to JCM800s either…

Ian: “I love those old 800s. That’s what I used on the first six Anthrax albums with the TC Electronic Booster+ Distortion in front. When we recorded that Bungle record in 2020 [The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo], because it was just straight-up thrash, I pulled out my original 1982 JCM800 and old TC boost.

“Dave Friedman made sure the amp was running properly. I plugged it in and it was the exact tone from those early Anthrax albums. I used a combination of that with the EVH, which brought a little more bottom-end. I was so happy with the sound of both being used together.”

Holt: “I saw the clip you posted from the studio. I was like, ‘Aha, there’s that classic-sounding crunch.’ Like I was showing you the other day, on this tour I started using this new pedal I found from this Canadian company called GUP Tech [Presence Depth EQ]. It basically has this resonance control, so I put that in the loop to add back some low-end. It’s perfection and makes my amp sound super-loud! 

“The same goes for those old Jubilees. I boost them up and they get nice and crunchy. I went through all these different amp companies over the years and then [super-producer] Andy Sneap pointed out all I’m trying to do is chase the sound of my 1987 800. He said I was just trying to find a Marshall tone in something that wasn’t a Marshall. So I’ve made it easier for myself… I just use Marshalls!”

Wylde: “Every amp after the 800 is a derivative, to some extent. Those Marshall amps are like the wheel. The same goes for Les Pauls and Strats. Everything that came after is a variation or tweak on that, like a pair of Levis and a Fruit Of The Loom t-shirt. The original is always simple and works for everyone!”

Have you plugged into each other’s rigs on this tour?

Ian: “Not yet!”

Holt: “I’m dying to plug into Zakk’s rig!”

Wylde: “You can go for it anytime you want. Usually I have my anal bleaching appointment, getting my nails done and picking my makeup for the show, so I look good in my kilt. You gotta do what you gotta do because looks count. It’s all in the presentation, bro!”

Holt: “You can’t have your ass all brown and gnarly!”

As for the guitars in your hands, Zakk, your classic recordings were done with a Les Paul Custom. Gary, you mainly played Jackson Superstrats before moving over to ESP singlecuts and Scott, you’ve loved your Jacksons from very early on...

Ian: “Funnily enough, I do have this black Les Paul Custom that I’ve been using on records for quite a while now. It sounds so good! I randomly got it when Anvil had that movie come out years ago. They did a premiere in London, and because my friend made that movie, they had me come to London and jam with those guys, playing Metal on Metal together after the screening. 

“This was back around 2006 or 2007. I didn’t bring a guitar with me or anything. There was just this Custom lying there for me to play. So I jammed the song and nobody took the guitar back afterwards. It was just sitting there at the end of the night. I even called the people who made the movie saying, ‘I’ve got this guitar here!’ and they were like, ‘Well, someone will get in contact!’ 

“I ended up going back to LA and took the guitar back with me. Months later, I got this email from someone at Gibson asking if I had this Les Paul Custom and I told them, ‘Yeah, it’s been sitting here for months... I really enjoy playing it because it sounds awesome!’ So they let me keep it. I don’t even know what year it is, but that’s when I got it. I’ve actually got a whole bunch of Gibsons.”

Wylde: “Father Scott, look at the first number and the fifth number on the headstock. That will usually tell you when it’s from..."

Ian: “I’ve also got an '81 Flying V. That guitar’s been on every Anthrax album, doing rhythms on various songs. It’s one of the best-sounding guitars I’ve ever had. I’ve got a couple of Les Pauls. I’ve got every Angus Young SG signature they’ve put out. I’ve got Explorers. I mean, Gibson make great guitars – that’s why I own so many of them!”

You’ve all mastered the art of downpicking. Zakk, even though you tend to live on the sludgier side of metal, the recent shows with Pantera have been more right hand-intensive when it comes to riffing. And Gary, even on your own tuitional, you admit you occasionally mix in some alternate in there, like on the song Verbal Razors…

Holt: “Everybody cheats. Even James Hetfield cheats now… I’ve seen it enough times! If he’s doing a savage downpick section and then he throws in a ‘brrrp’ [motions descending slide], then that ‘brrrp’ is there for a reason. It allows you to lose a couple of notes…”

Wylde: “It’s okay to take a nice little breather!”

Holt: “It’s become really hard for me after battling this chronic tennis elbow in both arms. Towards the end of Slayer, I was getting so many cortisone injections I couldn’t even count them. It turns your tendons into mush! 

“I have a friend who is a San Francisco Giants hand surgeon and he saw my MRI and said I might need Tommy John Surgery. I couldn’t play anymore. I’d play for 10 minutes and my arms would lock up. I’ve been through therapy and don’t have any injections any more, so I’m good now, but downpicking is harder than it used to be. Age catches up! 

“But I’m grateful I’m still playing every day and playing injection-free. I need my sound to be really good and then I can ride. If I have to cheat a little more on downpicking because of it, so be it.”

Ian: “If you’ve got a good up, it’s not even cheating, because it sounds just as good as the down!”

Holt: “Yeah, I’ll do the down, down, down, up – throwing in that little one. Usually that’s all I need! And you mentioned Verbal Razors. Damn, when I listen to that shit now, I think I must have been out of my mind! There’s so much downpicking, but then you’ve got to jump from the E string into all this riffage. That one is a challenge these days!”

Then there are right-hand punishers like One World, A.D.I./Horror of It All and Imitation of Life. What on earth were you thinking when recording Among the Living, Scott?!

Ian: “Well, I can tell you one thing was for sure – I wasn’t thinking about having to play those songs 30 years later [laughs]!”

Holt: “Exactly. On the new Exodus album [2021’s Persona Non Grata] I probably threw in more downpicking than I did on any of them. I blew out my right elbow doing the song The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves). After recording the album, I got elbow problems really bad. 

“That’s when I had my last two injections – one right before the album, which worked really well, and one after the album that got me a couple of weeks living pain-free and then everything went to shit. I don’t know what got into me, trying to do more of that than ever on this latest album… at the end of my 50s!”

Ian: “Not too long ago, I was tapping out BPMs to songs from Among the Living, just laughing to see how much we would naturally speed up throughout songs. There are a couple of moments where I’d be downpicking at 220 or 225. I didn’t really know! I see videos of myself doing it back then and always think it would take me months to get up to that speed nowadays. 

“Any long section above 210… just forget it! I was doing that when I was 25. I wasn’t thinking about doing that with 59 year-old forearms. It’s a physical impossibility. Anything 210 and lower, I’m good. I can hang there. But anything faster than that has to be short bursts. My 11-year-old son has a faster right hand than me now. He can out-downpick me any day!”

Zakk, given that your instructional was titled Pentatonic Hardcore, it would be fair to say you’re the bluesiest out of the three of you. Those five notes are clearly home for you!

Wylde: “The pentatonic is the most lyrical scale. I mean, it actually is… when you listen to singing and everything like that, you’ll find most of it lives in the pentatonic scales. It’s interesting with picking – I’d say using only downs and alternate are two very different animals for sure. When it comes to more of the extreme side of metal, you need to do them both well.

“Like you said, when I’m rolling with the Pantera fellas, I’m playing Dime’s stuff. It’s definitely a completely different thing to playing Crazy Train, Bark At The Moon or any of the things I did with Ozz, like Miracle Man, or stuff like that. It’s just a different technique, without a doubt, and definitely a bit closer to what Scotty and Gary are doing.”

Scott, you were also with Zakk at the end of last year for one of the Pantera shows in South America. It was great to see you on lead Whammy for the song Becoming. Dimebag’s tech, Grady Champion, trusted you with the same task back in the '90s – clearly you were the right person for the job.

Ian: “When Dime started using the Whammy pedal back in the day, even before we were touring together in '97 or '98, I would go to shows in New York or LA and somehow get roped into being the guy in charge of his Whammy pedal for that song. 

“So it was from when Far Beyond Driven came out onwards – any show I was at, Grady would have me run the Whammy pedal. I got the timing down, I got the feel down and I got the pocket. Darrell didn’t want to have the pedal out front because he didn’t want to be stuck to it… he wanted to be able to move around and not stand there for those sections of the song. That’s why he always had Grady doing it out back. 

“They probably let me have the job to give Grady’s foot a break during the show! We were in Chile back in December. Zakk was there with Pantera and I was there with Mr. Bungle. I was standing right next to Grady and there was the Whammy pedal on the floor. We kinda had this funny look between us. Then I saw Grady had already stuck this piece of tape on the pedal that said, ‘Scott, don’t fuck this up!’”

Wylde: “Scott crushed it, so thanks very much, Father Scott! I was surrounded by my three guardian angels – Grady, Scott and Saint Dime. So yeah, I knew I was in good hands.”

Ian: “Some people might say I’ve got the best foot in metal!”

We noticed some bands got onsite early and even streamed the soundcheck – a bit unfair given how much work had gone into this reunion tour...

Wylde: “For me, everything’s always being filmed anyway, you know what I mean? Like, there’s people there, how could you expect it not to be filmed? It’s kinda silly. 

“Everybody on stage was up there saying, ‘Nobody release any footage or photos!’ and I was thinking, ‘But there’s a ton of people in front of us soundchecking – what are you talking about?!’ It was always going to end up everywhere. I think we were halfway through soundcheck and it was already out there. You know… I couldn’t care less, man. It is what it is.”

While we’re on the subject of Pantera, do you have a reaction to the German and Austrian show cancellations that happened last week?

Wylde: “There’s nothing I can do about that, you know what I mean? In terms of my role, it’s always a case of being ready for whatever – as in seeing if the fellas want to add any more songs or anything like that while we’re out rolling together on this tour. If I get a call from Phil or Rex and they want to change up the set or do whatever, I’m usually just in the back lounge working on more songs!”

It’s been really interesting hearing your take on the leads – sticking to the feel and format of the original recordings, while also working in some of your own licks...

Wylde: “It’s inevitable I will end up sounding like me. If Dime was playing with Ozz and doing my stuff, it would sound like Dime playing the solo to No More Tears or Mama, I’m Coming Home. It would be Dime’s vibrato, Dime’s tone. It would sound like him playing my stuff. Even if he did it note-for-note, it would sound like him because that’s his sound, you know what I mean? 

“So yeah, we’re having a blast out there playing these songs. I’m just honored I get a chance to pay tribute to the brothers. It’s a pretty special thing that’s happening right now. I can’t say I have a favorite song or solo, though. Just like when I’m playing with Ozz, I enjoy the whole thing. I love all of it and any of it, from the first note we play to the last note we play. It’s all awesome.”

• The Anthrax/Black Label Society US tour featuring Exodus continues through February 2023 – head to Anthrax.com for tickets and full dates.

Earlier this month, the new-look Pantera lineup – which featured Zakk Wylde on electric guitar – took to the stage for the first time, marking the band’s first live show in 21 years.

Since that premiere performance at Mexico’s Hell & Heaven Metal Fest, Pantera have gone on to play four more dates across South America, including appearances at the Knotfest in Chile and Colombia, and a date at the Movistar Arena in Santiago.

Now, it’s been revealed that Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian was responsible for controlling Wylde’s DigiTech Whammy V pedal during the band’s performance of Becoming at the band’s most recent show in Santiago.

Soon after it was announced that Wylde – and Ian's Anthrax bandmate, Charlie Benante – would be joining the lineup, it was also revealed that the late Dimebag Darrell’s former guitar tech Grady Champion had also been drafted into the fold in an effort to help nail the Pantera founder’s guitar tone.

Taking to social media, Ian recently revealed he had been tutored by Champion to nail the Whammy pedal foot wiggles for Becoming – a role he once performed back in ‘97/’98 when Pantera were on tour.

“On the Panthrax tour back in 97/98 I had the most important job in the show – the Whammy pedal part in Becoming,” Ian wrote. “Under Grady’s tutelage I went from Padawan to master and was given this great responsibility. 

“The other day in Santiago I was given the opportunity to perform this key task for Father Zakk,” he continued. “It had been many years since I had been charged with this principal duty. 

“I swept my initial trepidation away with a swift Black Tooth and took on the job of all jobs at a Pantera show. With a deep breath and a loosening of foot I shrugged off the years and Whammy’d away and nailed it. Thanks Grady!”

To help achieve this task, Ian was situated next to a DigiTech Whammy V that carried a helpful – if slightly unnerving – message that read, “Scott. Don’t fuck up.”

For what it’s worth, judging by the short clip that accompanied the post, it sounded like Ian did an admirable job on the Whammy pedal – no mean feat, given the abundance of Whammy action that Becoming boasts both in the riff and madcap solo section.

Ian was certainly in good hands when it came to working the Whammy for Wylde, since it was Champion himself who operated a Whammy for Dimebag back in the day.

On his own Instagram account, Champion praised Ian for his backstage cameo, writing, “Had a guest on the whammy pedal tonight. Ya think he nailed it? Scott Ian, yeah he did!”

Replying to the comments on that post, Champion confirmed the Whammy that Wylde has been using on tour isn’t Dimebag’s original version, and that he “didn’t want to bring his OG whammys” on the road as they are all over 20 years old.

Some of Dimebag’s old effects have made their way into Wylde’s Pantera rig, though. When Champion announced he’d signed on to join the Pantera tour, he also revealed he’d been granted access to Dimebag’s gear by the late guitarist’s girlfriend, Rita Haney.

Pantera will be wrapping up their 2022 tour at Knotfest Brasil in São Paulo on December 18, but will hit the road again next May for a run of European and US dates.

Anthrax frontman Scott Ian was recently asked by Revolver magazine to name his favourite rhythm players in metal, and his surprise pick was Kirk Hammett, Metallica’s lead guitarist.

While Metallica frontman James Hetfield regularly tops polls of the world’s best rhythm guitarists, Ian points out that fellow guitarist Hammett is, perhaps understandably, rarely considered.

“For me, in the world of metal, I think the most underrated rhythm player is Kirk Hammett,” says Ian. “Because he's in a band with James, who, when it comes to metal, is the best – there's no better right hand…

“[But] nobody ever talks about Kirk as a rhythm guitar player. But he's gotta go fucking note for note with James. And he can't cheat. There's no fucking cheating, he's down-picking all those fucking parts. Nobody talks about that. So Kirk, to me, is the most underrated.”

Ian also had warm words for Meshuggah’s mechanical rhythm wizard Fredrik Thordendal, who he rates as the only guitarist capable of giving Hetfield a run for his money when it comes to rhythmic prowess. 

“Fredrik [Thordendal] from Meshuggah [may] have the best right hand,” says Ian. “I’m convinced he was a Terminator sent back. But instead of killing Sarah Connor, he was here to make all other rhythm guitarists feel bad about their right hands. So technically, he's the best, but James is James, he's the fucking god.”

The last player in line for Ian’s picking props is Slayer’s Kerry King. “I’ve watched him close up so many times, standing with him for an hour, doing shots before they go on, and he's warming up the whole time,” says Ian.

“It's just jaw-dropping sometimes, the ability and the stamina ... I remember talking to [Exodus guitarist] Gary Holt when he joined Slayer and he's like, ‘My fucking forearms are dying!’”

Back in September, Scott Ian sat down with Guitar World to discuss his long association with Jackson guitars, while Kirk Hammett is readying himself for the forthcoming release of Metallica’s 12th studio album, 72 Seasons. 

Thrash metal is not known for its bass guitar players. There are too many guitar riffs for a start, played at ridiculous speeds, making the musical environment a difficult one for bassists. But then there’s Frank Bello, the most notable exception, whipping out super-melodic fills with amazing fingerstyle precision – and headbanging like a demon at the same time.

Bello plays an unusual style for the thrash idiom, which rarely has space for elaborate basslines. His fills and runs often expand around the main guitar parts, counterpointing the riffs and frequently shifting octaves to add dynamics. As well as his unique choice of notes and playing style, Bello is unusual among thrash bassists for his tone. "What most people don't understand is that your tone is really in your fingers," he says. "I love that Tom Petersson has a piano-like top end vibe, but I'll always have my sound because of the way I play."

All these years down the line, Bello is still aspiring to match the standards set by his bass heroes, he tells us. "We once cut a bunch of covers for the reissue of Worship Music and one of them was 'Anthem' by Rush. Now, I'm the biggest Geddy Lee fan, and I couldn't get this one lick in this song. It was bothering me so much, I was having sleepless nights.

"At four in the morning I'd go downstairs and get my bass and I'd be looking at YouTube and thinking, 'What is he doing?' while my wife and kids were asleep upstairs. I watched every live clip of that song I could find, and finally, there it was. Sometimes you can hear it but something's missing and you have to see it."

As a veteran of the New York thrash scene, we asked Frank to nominate five bass players that influenced his melodic fingerstyle bass playing.

Tom Petersson - Cheap Trick

"I grew up listening to Tom Petersson. He’s a very underrated bass player. It was his tone that got me – from his 8-string and 12-string basses. The lines weren’t complicated, and I don’t think they needed to be, because that piano-like tone – which came from three octaves of strings because of the little piccolo strings – just blew my mind. I used a 12-string in an Anthrax song in the 1990s, just in the background – and how he got the right amp for that tone I have no idea."

Paul McCartney - The Beatles

"Paul McCartney has been such an influence on me over the years, and I haven’t ever really thought about it. Talk about a guy who is not just a songwriter but who added so much to the songs with his basslines. He had a beautiful voice, and the bass adds so much melody to the songs. Listen to ‘Penny Lane’, where he plays a descending line in one verse and then plays it again – but an octave lower – in the next verse. And we’re still talking about it all these years later."

Geddy Lee - Rush

"Geddy Lee is one of my biggest influences. The intricacy of his scales and the synching-up with the drums really add up to a celebration of the bass. The Moving Pictures album is so inspiring to me to this day, and when I listen to a song like ‘YYZ’ I have to pick up my bass and play. The bass is meant to be played like that and I just have to follow it. Synching the bass and drums like Rush do is not a thought process, it’s just a natural talent. I was just listening to it the other day and it’s beautiful."

Geezer Butler - Black Sabbath

"I know the whole Ozzy period of Black Sabbath was amazing, but I love the Dio era too. Listen to the song ‘Heaven And Hell’ – Geezer Butler is having so much fun in that song. He's telling a story within a story, just with the bass part. When you can sing a bassline like that one, how much of a compliment is that?" 

Steve Harris - Iron Maiden 

"Every song on the first Iron Maiden album is like a bass exercise, but fun. That’s how Steve Harris writes – on the bass. Listen to the bass solo from ‘Phantom Of The Opera’. I love this stuff more than ever. I’ve got to know him over the years and I’ve asked him lots of questions about how he did it. Steve is one of my favourite bass players in the world, and he still has the fire."

Anthrax and Black Label Society are returning for round two of their 40th Anniversary Tour, which launches on January 17 at the Revolution Concert House in Boise, ID, and concludes on February 18 in Oakland, CA at the Fox Theatre.

Visit anthrax.com for updates.

When it comes to brand ambassadors, few are as iconic for Jackson as Anthrax’s Scott Ian.

Since the dawn of the ‘80s, Ian’s unrelenting thrash precision has primarily been dealt out with a Jackson in hand. He delivered fistfuls of metal with his first custom Rhoads Concorde; chunked through the thrash-rap hybridity of Bring the Noise with a Soloist; hoisted a double-horned JJ model in the early ‘00s; and has worked through Anthrax’s modern-day renaissance with an arsenal of signature X-Series King V’s.

Simply put, Ian’s a lifer, through-and-through.

With all that history, Ian was pumped when Jackson gave him a sneak peak of their new SL3 Soloist – the update marking the first time the company has mass-produced the high-performance shred machine from their Corona, CA factory in their 40-year history. The alder body S-shape with a maple Speed Neck arrives in Riviera Blue, Gloss Black, Platinum Pearl, and Satin Slime Green finishes.

While the three-pickup system of the new American Series is set up differently to Ian’s ‘80s-era, Yankees-logo embossed custom Soloist – which had a single JB in the bridge position – handling the SL3 brought him back to his days cruising Manhattan’s guitar district in the ‘80s, mouth agape as he pulled the earliest Soloists – in his mind, the cooler, pointier Strat – off the wall on his lunch breaks.

“They were the best-feeling guitars I’d ever felt, so much faster than their forefathers – the Fenders and the Gibsons,” Ian recalls. “Not to sound like a TV commercial, but they were built for speed. That’s why everybody in metal started playing them in the ‘80s, because they were made for that style of playing. The necks are so god damn fast, I love it. They gave me a white one months ago [the Platinum Pearl SL3]. It’s one of my main guitars that I’m going to use on tour.”

To celebrate the launch of the American Series Soloist, Ian took stock of his 40-year journey with Jackson.

You recently posted a photo on Instagram of a high school talent show of yours where you’re playing your first guitar, a ’72 Tele Deluxe. Since you’ve been so closely associated with Jackson over the years, how many guitars had you gone through before you made the switch?

“I would’ve got my first electric, that Tele, either in ’72 or ’73, so it was nine years, because I ordered my Rhoads in ’82. Thinking about it in that context, nine years doesn’t seem like a long time, but from the age of 10 to 19 – from the time I started playing guitar, to when I was sitting in Sam Ash, ordering a Rhoads Concorde – you might as well tell me that was a hundred years. There were many guitars in between, though.

“I really wanted a Strat as my first guitar – that was my favorite shape – but my family couldn’t afford that. We went to a little guitar shop not far from where we lived in Long Island, and they had that Tele. What I loved about it was that the Tele Deluxe had the big, beefy Strat headstock; it didn’t have that skinny Tele headstock, which I still don’t like. And it had humbuckers in it.

“It was a great guitar! It worked really well for me for a long time, until I started working and was able to start saving money [for another guitar]. I sold the Tele, and with the little bit of money I’d saved I got my first Strat, which was a natural wood-colored with three single-coils – I quickly had the bridge position routed out and had a humbucker put into it. I was off to the races at that point. 

“And then it was Charvels. I started seeing Charvel Strat-shapes and Star bodies coming into the guitar shops in Manhattan before Jackson – I didn’t even know what a Jackson was until I saw Randy [Rhoads] playing one – and I was like, ‘Damn, what are these things?!’ This is what I imagined I wanted to do with my Stratocaster. Someone was already hot-rodding the guitars in advance.

“So, I had a Charvel San Dimas and a Star body probably in ’81-’82. Then Jackson took it to the next level. I saw a Rhoads hanging on the wall after seeing Randy play with Ozzy, and I couldn’t believe it. Like, you can get his guitar! It was pretty amazing.”

Maybe part of this was the pure appeal of having seen Randy play one, but if you started out wanting to hot-rod a Strat, what drew you to the aesthetic of the Concorde?

“I was also a big Flying V fan, but I couldn’t afford a Gibson back then. But I saw the Blizzard of Ozz tour twice, and then I saw them on Diary of Madman as well. I loved what [Randy] did with the V [shape]. He made it his own. And, of course, his tone was insane.

“The fact that they came out with that Rhoads... nobody was doing that back then. I could be totally wrong, but I don’t remember seeing signature models. You could buy a Les Paul like the one Jimmy Page played, but there was something different about [the Concorde].

“Jackson was brand-new, and [the Concorde was] a very specific shape that only Randy was playing. You couldn’t buy a Frankenstein back then; nobody was selling anything modeled after Eddie’s guitars yet, but here’s a Concorde hanging on the wall. It was crazy to me, and I had to have one.

“I was obsessed with him. I would go into the Sam Ash every day on my lunch break, take the thing off the wall, and play it for an hour. I finally saved up enough money to custom-order one towards the end of ’82.”

What were you seeking, in terms of the specs?

“Just something super-basic with a Floyd Rose, which was also relatively new in 1982. I had a Fernandes Strat-shaped guitar that had a Floyd on it, which I think that might’ve been my first one; my Charvels had the stock tremolo and they worked ok.

“I had a very specific idea for the finish on [the Concorde]. I had ordered it with this yellow-and-black leopard [finish], but when it came in, I hated it. It didn’t look right to me, so I immediately sent it back in to be refinished with some graphics that I had drawn. That’s the one that everybody knows, the white Rhoads that I played all through the ‘80s.

“I had a very strong vision and idea of what I needed out of a guitar at that point, which was basically: bridge pickup, volume control, Floyd Rose. I didn’t need anything else. And I had already found the tone with the Marshall JCM800 and a TC Electronic Booster distortion pedal. It was the magic combination.”

How long was that Concorde your main guitar?

“I might’ve taken it off the road after [1987’s] Among the Living. I think by the time we were touring State of Euphoria, which started in ’88, I was [primarily using a] Soloist – I was also playing ESP for a couple years in that same time period. I’m pretty sure I had left the Rhoads at home by that point, because I was too scared of anything happening to it. It was the main guitar on the first five Anthrax records, and the S.O.D. album [1985’s Speak English or Die].

“I also have an ‘81 Gibson V that I drop-tuned to D for the March of the S.O.D. track, and maybe Keep It in the Family from [1990’s] Persistence of Time, but otherwise I was using the Rhoads.”

How did you transition towards making the Soloist your next workhorse? 

“Around the time [1985’s] Spreading the Disease was coming out, we had signed a major-label deal with Island Records. Our manager was trying to get endorsement deals, because we didn’t have money to buy proper professional gear for touring.

“[Former Anthrax lead guitarist] Danny Spitz and I both wanted to play Jacksons, of course. With whoever was doing the A&R for Jackson at the time, the actual word that came back about was: 'Well, we’re thrilled about Danny, but why would we endorse Scott? He’s the rhythm guitar player.' They wouldn’t do it. I gotta say, I was angry and sad. Like, what kind of bullshit is that! 

“A buddy of mine worked at ESP in New York at the time, and said they’d be happy to make some guitars. They couldn’t do a Rhoads shape, obviously, but they had Strat/Soloist shapes with a similar pointy headstock to Jackson’s, so they built me a couple of guitars to take on tour. I put a Duncan JB in those, and they sounded good, but it wasn’t what I really wanted. I would look over at Danny with his cavalcade of Rhoads on the side of the stage – like eight of them – and I was just bummed. I was constantly reminded that I wasn’t playing Jackson. 

“At some point in either late ’88 or early ‘89s, Jackson rectified their mistake [laughs]. There was a changing of the guard, and another friend of mine from a guitar shop on 48th Street started working for Jackson. He immediately said, ‘Hey, we would love to have you over here,’ and I couldn’t have said yes fast enough.

“The first thing they did was build me the Soloist, which is fretless after the 14th fret, has the big inlay [on the fretboard] that says “NOT” on it, and has the New York Yankees logo on the body – that became my next most iconic guitar. It became the workhorse for the next four or five years.  I was basically back to where I started – I always wanted a Strat, and now I’m playing that shape with a cooler headstock. They’re just super-crunchy and so easy to play.”

Why did you decide to go fretless after the 14th on that Yankees guitar? Did you keep that up with any of your other Soloists? 

“That was a one-of-a-kind, [and] I basically did it to be an asshole [laughs]. I was an outspoken rhythm guitar player. Like, 'I’m the fuckin’ rhythm guitar player, and I’m proud of it; I don’t need frets up there, because I don’t use ‘em.' I was just being a dick, basically. Of course I play at the top of the neck sometimes, but I was making a statement, almost to say: 'Hey, guess what, I’m playing Jacksons now… and I’m the rhythm guitar player.'” 

“A lot of attention got paid to the fact that the guitar that was fretless after the 14th fret. That guitar is used on Bring The Noise, where I’m emulating the horn sample from the original Public Enemy version. I’m basically running my index fingernail up the fretless part of the B string, emulating that horn. On one of our biggest recordings of all time, you’re hearing how I created something with the fretless part of that guitar.”

What can you recall about building your signature T1000 Silverburst soloist with Jackson, several years later?

“That was the first time I got to go into the custom shop with Mike Shannon and actually be a part of tweaking the guitar. I had [been playing] Jackson before I was an [endorsed] Jackson artist, and then I became a Jackson artist in the ‘80s, all the way through the ‘90s when I was playing Surfcasters and JJs mainly. And then Jackson went away; they weren’t a company for years and years. When I got the call sometime around ’09 about coming back and designing a signature model, I was thrilled because I’d only ever wanted to be a Jackson guy. 

“We took a body, and I got to put it on the machine and sand it. I think I even brought the New York Yankees Soloist out there. They basically just copied that guitar, but changed the contour a little bit.”

Have you got your hands on one of the new American Series Soloists yet?

“They sent me one a couple of months ago, just so I could live with it and check it out. It’s a pretty big deal that after 40 years there’s finally an American production series for Jackson. It’s not just that they’ve got some new custom guitar coming out; this is a full-time production series, American-made. I’m thrilled that Fender has the confidence in the brand, and has revitalized a brand that was literally gone in the ‘00s. They’ve got great people working there and building the guitars.”

The SL3 is set up differently than the old Yankees Soloist – it has the humbucker in the bridge, with a pair of single coils…

“There is a lot more going on, [but] I’m not necessarily going to use all that in the context of the Anthrax show. But there are a couple songs where I play harmonies, so it would probably make sense to use it and flip up to the neck position pickup when I go up for the harmony. Maybe I’ll end up using that on Antisocial, where it’s got the clean intro, and I’ll flip it back to the humbucker once the song kicks in.”

Can we get into some other custom pieces in your collection, like this one mirror-plated X-Series King V you’ve shown off on Instagram? You’ve spoken in the past about how one of your King Vs has lightning bolt inlays as a tribute to Malcolm and Angus Young; since you’re also a Kiss fan, is the mirrored pickguard on that V a nod to Paul Stanley’s Mirrorball Ibanez?

“No, it’d have to be broken if I was doing that. I just wanted to have a mirror! Funnily enough, though, they built me two of those V’s: one with a Floyd and one without. I happened to be out at the custom shop when they were being built, and the mirror cracked [on one of the guitars]. They asked, ‘Do you want to keep this, or do you want us to redo top?’ At first, I was like, “Well...it’s kind of a Paul Stanley thing,” but not nearly [as intense] as what his looks like — these were just little crack lines. It just didn’t look good. If I were to make a Paul Stanley tribute I’d do it correctly, because I love that guitar.”

What’s the most work that’s gone into one of your Jacksons – whether that’s been via upgrading, or after any onstage disasters?

“I’ve never had any disasters. The closest we had to that was we had a fire in our rehearsal room in New York way back in 1990. Luckily for me, all of the guitars I had were across the room from where the fire had started. My iconic Rhoads was there, but no damage to it at all; my Gibson V was closer, and the outside of the case got a little burned.

“When we’d gotten the gear out of there, I opened up the case and the volume and tone pots were melted and misshapen; the paint on the horns got hot to the point where [the finish was] bubbling. I never repaired it; I just love the misshapen pots and the fucked-up paint. If I take a chunk out of a guitar live, I leave it. I don’t want it fixed. 

“As far as work going into the building of a guitar, that’s probably my Rick Nielsen King V, the checkerboard one, because that’s painted. It’s not a wrap. It was a beast for them to do it properly, but, man, was it worth it. It looks incredible!”

Is that your son, Revel, I can hear playing guitar in the background?

“Yeah.”

What can you say about the two of you jamming covers on Instagram? He’s played the drums while you’re taking on Mastodon songs at home; you did the tandem guitar attack on Raining Blood for another post…

“He’s in the background playing Caught in a Mosh right now, which makes my heart swell. We’ve got those digital Fender Mustang amps in the house, and he’s got them so wired. He knows how to hook up his Fender app on the iPad, connects it to the amp with Bluetooth, and creates all his own tones using the pedals within the app. I’m such a caveman when it comes to a lot of that stuff. I just plug into it like, 'Oh, there’s a preset that says “metal”? I’ll use that one!' He’s created 50 of his own tones with these things. It’s amazing.

“It's the best feeling, seeing his passion. Obviously, I was on a similar path, so it’s very familiar to me – albeit [that was] at an older age. For me, it started around 14, and for him it started at around 8. He’s way ahead of the game. He can play my rhythm parts already, and he’s 11! It’s beyond me. You mentioned Mastodon – he learns Mastodon songs on guitar and drums. His passion for [music] really has no boundaries.”

Did you start him on a Jackson?

Scott Ian: “No, the first one that he wanted as his own guitar was the Jim Root black Strat.”

Revel Ian: “It was sort of like you with the Concorde!”

Scott Ian: “Jim Root is still one of his favorite guitar players. He really wanted that a few years back for his birthday. That’s his go-to, even though he has other guitars, and obviously we have many guitars to choose from at the gear locker. It’s the one that he fell in love with first.”

It’s been six years since Anthrax released For All Kings. Where are you at with making another record?

“I have my own math when it comes to that. I think you can only count it as three years, because the pandemic essentially stole a few years from us. We did have a couple of writing sessions here and there, but nothing moved forward until we were able to all be in a room together again, and that was almost three years on from the last time we had been in a room together [pre-pandemic]. We certainly would have had a record out already if the world didn’t go to shit. There’s no rush, though. We’re working on it, and we’re really happy with where we’re at musically.

“Getting back out on tour is going to be the best thing for us, because we haven’t done that since the end of 2019. We’re going to be able to get out there again, have our backstage setup, and get to jam in the dressing room. That’s where a lot of this comes from: us being bored during the day, and [then using] that time creatively.

“It’s fun to be working on the new stuff backstage, and then going out to play it super-loud at soundcheck. We’re pretty well along. We’ve got 8-10 great arrangements, and lyrics for about half of it. I think over these next few months we should be at a point where we’ll be much closer to actually commit to [making a record].”

• For more information on the Jackson American Series Soloist SL3, visit Jackson Guitars.

After Pantera announced they would be embarking on a 2023 reunion tour earlier this week, it’s now been reported that the band’s surviving members – bassist Rex Brown and frontman Phil Anselmo – will be joined by electric guitar heavyweight Zakk Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante for a handful of festival and headline appearances next year.

According to a report by Billboard, Wylde and Benante’s appointment has been approved by the estates of the band's late co-founders, Vinnie Paul Abbott and his younger brother Dimebag Darrell. The lineup will be embark on Pantera’s first tour in over 20 years, after their 2003 split.

The report also states the reunion tour will see the lineup perform at a number of festival dates across North America and Europe, and host a handful of their own headline shows.

Wylde was favored by many to be drafted in to fill the spot left by the late Dimebag Darrell, who was murdered onstage in 2004. Brown had previously guaranteed the Black Label Society man wouldn’t be involved in any reunion project.

“It wouldn’t be Zakk Wylde,” the Pantera bassist told eonmusic in February last year. “I guarantee you that. I’ve just put it out there so we can get on past it.”

However, many spectators long tapped Wylde – who was a close friend of Dimebag – to be the only realistic option for the role. Wylde has jammed with Pantera live. And he was a regular guest onstage with Dimebag's post-Pantera project, Damageplan; he also provided a guitar solo on their track, Reborn, from 2004 debut, New Found Power.

Since the announcement that Anselmo and Brown were putting a lineup together to tour under the Pantera banner, the internet has been ablaze with speculation – and everyone has an opinion. Prior to the news breaking on Wylde's appointment, Avenged Sevenfold singer M Shadows took to Twitter to voice his support for the appointment, arguing that Wylde would be a “perfect fit” for the role.

Joining Wylde in the reunion lineup is Anthrax’s Benante, who has been tapped to fill Pantera co-founder, drummer and Darrell’s brother Vinnie Paul’s spot. Paul passed away in 2018 of natural causes.

Benante also has an appropriate Pantera pedigree, having played with Rex Brown – as well as  Slipknot's Corey Taylor and Dave Grohl – at the 2019 Dimebash event, which paid tribute to the late guitar hero.

Reaction to the news of a reunion tour has been mixed, with many Pantera fans focussing on the absence of the Abbott brothers. “There is no Pantera without Dime and Vinnie, pack it up already,” wrote one user, while another said, “Pantera with Zakk [Wylde] ten years ago would've been a beautiful tribute. But no Abbott brothers doesn't make much sense.”

There has been no official statement from Anselmo or Brown as yet. Or indeed Zakk Wylde, who will appear alongside an all-star cast of guitarists on Ozzy Osbourne's forthcoming album, Patient Number 9.

It's unlikely that anyone would describe the music Scott Ian makes with his band, Anthrax, as "heartwarming," but the Instagram videos he shoots with his 10-year-old son, Revel, certainly are.

In recent months, Scott and Revel, an aspiring musician himself, have gone viral with father-son covers of Sepultura, System of a Down and – in tribute to the late Taylor Hawkins – Foo Fighters classics.

Now, Scott Ian and Son have taken on one of the great thrashers of all time (the elder Ian cites it as the "greatest"), Slayer's Raining Blood. You can check out their take on the metal classic above.

For the cover, the elder Ian notably uses a custom mirror Jackson V electric guitar that he first revealed in another Instagram post earlier this month. Not to be outdone, Revel wields a different custom Jackson – a Soloist that features his name engraved on the fretboard. Not a bad starter guitar, eh?

Back in April, Scott Ian teamed up with Jackson – with whom he has long been associated – to give a tour of his wildest and most beloved custom Jackson guitars.

Aside from the Soloist adorned with his son's name, Ian proudly showed off his first custom Jackson, a 1982 Rhoads model that was originally sent to the thrash/hardcore pioneer with a very not-hardcore/thrash yellow-and-black leopard print finish.

Also of note in the collection was a single-pickup NOT Soloist model that features the New York Yankees' logo and is fretless beyond the 14th fret, and a triple-pickup Adrian Smith San Dimas model that Ian used on the Big Four tour in 2010, and is signed by all members of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.

“What's so great about the Jackson Custom Shop,” Ian says in the video, “[is that] they really love when you come in with ridiculous ideas and then they actually get to make them real.”

Scott Ian has played Jackson guitars for decades – as far back as 1982 – so, accordingly, he's amassed quite the collection. And in the latest episode of the guitar giant's Thrashed YouTube series, the Anthrax man offers a glimpse of a few of his favorite electric guitars in his collection.

Perhaps no surprise to anybody familiar with Ian's collection already, he singles out a selection of ultra-pointy six-strings for examination, starting with a Randy Rhoads Concorde.

The guitar – developed by Jackson founder Grover Jackson in partnership with the Ozzy Osbourne guitarist in the early '80s – went on to inspire Jackson's Rhoads series, a cornerstone of its product offering to this day.

“Such a big part of thrash metal was pointy headstock guitars, and Jackson certainly led the way with that,” Ian says. “Everyone saw [this guitar] and was like, ‘Holy shit, what is that thing.”

Next up, Ian picks up one of his NOT guitars, a 1982 Custom Shop Rhoads model sporting a variety of decals, including Sgt. D, the guitarist's cigar-smoking alter-ego from his mid-'80s crossover thrash project, Stormtroopers of Death.

As he explains, the guitar was originally sent to him with a yellow-and-black leopard print finish, but he sent it back and requested it be refinished with the decals we see today.

“I paid for this guitar,” Ian says. “And even in 1982, a Custom Shop Rhoads cost a lot of money. I'm thinking probably in the high twos – $2,700, $2,800. I worked my ass off. I used this on all the touring for Spreading the Disease [and] Among the Living. It's kind of iconic. I still use it. I bust it out on every album.”

Other highlights from the collection include Ian's single-pickup NOT Soloist model – which features the New York Yankees' logo and is notably fretless beyond the 14th fret – and a killswitch-equipped Soloist adorned with the name of his Ian's son, Revel Young – with whom he's recently been posting adorably hard-rocking covers on Instagram – on the fretboard.

There's also a triple-pickup Adrian Smith San Dimas model Ian used on the Big Four tour in 2010 – signed by all members of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax – as well as a guitar inspired by Anthrax's 2011 track, In The End.

Like the track, the latter guitar pays tribute to the late Dimebag Darrell and Ronnie James Dio, with custom artwork depicting the pair by Colorado-based artist Mike Learn. As Ian explains, the guitar is now retired. 

“I always get that way with certain guitars – I get to a point where I start getting paranoid that something's gonna happen to them and it's just time for them to stay home,” he says.

“What's so great about the Jackson Custom Shop,” Ian continues, “[is that] they really love when you come in with ridiculous ideas and then they actually get to make them real.”

Quite possibly the most wholesome duo in heavy metal, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian and his 10-year-old song Revel have captured hearts covering the likes of Sepultura's Roots Bloody Roots and System of a Down's Bounce.

In their latest video, the duo pay tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins – who tragically passed away last month – with a medley of three Foos songs, including two early cuts, Low and Stacked Actors, and Concrete and Gold track, Run.

Once again, the fresh-faced Revel Young Ian shows his remarkably precise timekeeping skills, while his rockstar father riffs away on a blacked-out, double-humbucker-equipped Fender Jim Root Stratocaster. Check it out below.

In a caption accompanying the video, Scott Ian writes: “Paying tribute to Taylor... We've been jamming our favorite Foo's all week. Healing our hearts with the power of rock. We love you Taylor, Dave [Grohl], Pat [Smear], Chris [Shiflett], Nate [Mendel] and Rami [Jaffee].”

Despite his age, Revel Young Ian's relationship with the Foo Fighters dates back to 2019, when he was brought onstage at the Bourbon & Beyond festival in Louisville, Kentucky to perform Everlong on guitar with the band.

“There goes my hero,” Scott Ian wrote on social media at the time. “Proudest dad moment ever? How about when your son gets to join his favorite band onstage to play Everlong in front of 40,000 people and nails it!”

Having a guitarist for one of the Big Four thrash bands as a father, Revel Young Ian was always destined to have musical DNA. As Scott Ian explained to Horns Up Rocks (via Louder) in 2014, his son was into rock music at just two years old.

“But what's really cool is that he actually recognizes and knows the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, which is pretty cool, I think, for an almost three-year-old.

“Any time AC/DC is on, he'll go, ‘That's Bon singing.’ And then when it's not Bon, he'll say, ‘That's not Bon singing.’ He knows. That's pretty cool, I think.”

Even now that live music has come roaring back, the all-star virtual covers featured on Two Minutes to Late Night – YouTube's finest heavy metal-themed talk show – remain essential viewing. 

For the show's latest star-studded video, Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor was recruited to lead a cover of the Judas Priest classic, Screaming for Vengeance. Decked out in Priest frontman Rob Halford's trademark uniform of studded leather pieces and aviator sunglasses, Dailor adeptly and faithfully handles Halford's operatic vocals.

Armed with a custom yellow Ibanez RG550, Nili Brosh, meanwhile, leads a three-headed electric guitar attack behind Dailor that also includes Anthrax's Jonathan Donais – who plays his Legator JD-6 signature guitar – and, of course, Two Minutes to Late Night's Gwarsenio Hall.

Come for Dailor's amazingly accurate Halford impression, but stay for Brosh and Donais's top-notch Tipton/Downing homage – light-speed call-and-response passages, fantastic guitar harmonies and all. 

The Screaming for Vengeance band is rounded out by veteran metal drummer Gene Hoglan and Municipal Waste/Cannabis Corpse/Iron Reagan low-end ranger Philip "Land Phil" Hall on bass guitar.

Though Screaming for Vengeance – the title track to Priest's hugely successful 1982 album – is a formative metal tune, Two Minutes to Late Night's covers are certainly not limited to songs from that genre.

Previous episodes, for instance, have seen Marty Friedman join forces with members of Mastodon and Baroness to give Fleetwood Mac’s You Make Loving Fun a shreddy makeover, and members of Deftones, Killswitch Engage and In Flames transform Björk’s Hyperballad into a mammoth chug-fest.

For more covers, and full episodes of Two Minutes to Late Night, stop by the show's YouTube channel.

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian and his 10-year-old son, Revel Young Ian – perhaps the most adorable duo in heavy metal history – celebrated the Super Bowl in style last night by offering up a fresh take on System of a Down's Bounce, from 2001's Toxicity.

The cover – uploaded to Instagram yesterday (February 13) – is the third undertaken by the pair, following their recent takes on Sepultura's Roots Bloody Roots and Territory.

For the new jam, Scott Ian plays Daron Malakian's guitar parts using a Gibson Brendon Small Snow Falcon Flying V – one of the Dethklok guitarist's signature models – while Revel Young Ian showcases his dexterity and timekeeping on the drums. Letting the cover speak for itself, the Anthrax guitarist simply captions the post, “A big Bounce for Bowl day!”

The video's comments section features a wealth of praise for their performance, including from Malakian and SOAD bassist Shavo Odadjian. Malakian labels the performance “awesome”, adding that “the kid can really play”, while Odadjian simply describes it as “bad ass”.

Already living the rock 'n' roll dream, Revel Young Ian has, despite his age, become an adept multi-instrumentalist, honing skills on both guitar and drums, even playing the former onstage with the Foo Fighters in 2019.

“There goes my hero,” Scott Ian wrote on social media at the time. “Proudest dad moment ever? How about when your son gets to join his favorite band on stage to play Everlong in front of 40,000 people and nails it!”

It was probably no surprise to his father that Revel Young Ian chose a musical path from a young age. Back in 2014, Scott Ian revealed that his then-two-year-old son was into rock music, adding that he could already tell the difference between AC/DC singers Bon Scott and Brian Johnson.

“He knows a lot of the stuff that he hears or sees in the house,” Scott told Horns Up Rocks (via Louder). “But what's really cool is that he actually recognizes and knows the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, which is pretty cool, I think, for an almost three-year-old.

“Any time AC/DC is on, he'll go, ‘That's Bon singing.’ And then when it's not Bon, he'll say, ‘That's not Bon singing.’ He knows. That's pretty cool, I think.”

Jon “Jonny Z” Zazula – co-founder of Megaforce Records, the label that launched Metallica's debut album, Kill 'Em All – has died aged 69. 

Confirming the news on Facebook, Zazula's daughter Rikki hailed her father as a “true legend”. “Our dad lived a life as fast, hard, heavy, powerful and impactful as the music he brought to the world,” she says. “His passion and persistence fueled the careers of arguably the most influential metal bands and industry greats of a generation.

“To us he was simply daddy… Our father and mother were a powerhouse partnership in love, life, and business. Together they believed in the unbelievable, their passion, rebel perspective, and persistence built an empire from a box of vinyl in a flea market – into a multi platinum selling record label, management company, and publishing house.”

She continues: “Although we are devastated he is gone, they are finally reunited. And it feels impossible to imagine a world without him in it. For all of us who knew and loved him, keep it heavy! RIP daddy you will truly be deeply missed, but, never forgotten… your LegaZ will live on forever, not only in us and your grandchildren, but, in every headbanger on this planet for all of eternity!”

Zazula reportedly died from complications related to the rare neuropathic disorder chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and osteopenia.

Prior to founding Megaforce Records in 1982, Jon Zazula and his late wife Marsha owned Rock N' Roll Heaven, a record store at a flea market in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Metallica's 1982 demo, No Life 'til Leather – which featured Hit the Lights, Motorbreath and Seek & Destroy – was a top-selling item at the store.

According to broadcaster Eddie Trunk's comments in a 2016 interview with Classic Rock, he was a customer of Zazula's at his record store when he was starting out working in radio.

He said: “One day, he came up to my radio station, and said, ‘I’ve got this band, and I can’t get anybody to play it. Can you play it on the air?’ He pulled out of the bag Kill ‘Em All. Just to get him out of there, I played a song from it, and he scribbled on the cover of the album, ‘Eddie, you were the first. Thank you, Johnny Z.’

“He said, ‘If I can ever get this band to take off, I’m going to hire you to work for my record company.’”

The newly established Megaforce Records launched Metallica's debut full-length, Kill 'Em All in 1983, along with their sophomore effort, Ride the Lightning, in 1984. Zazula acted as the band's first manager during this time. Metallica's third album, Master of Puppets, was released in 1986 via Elektra.

Trunk continued: “A couple of years later, Metallica blows up, and he calls me and says, ‘I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is I’m starting my record company and I’m going to hire you. The bad news is Metallica is leaving me.’

“Kill ‘Em All was not only a game changer in terms of not only introducing a new genre of metal, but it was a personal game changer for me, because it indirectly got me into the music business.”

Aside from Metallica's first two albums, Megaforce Records also went on to release albums by Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, King's X, Stormtroopers of Death, Raven and more.

Honoring Zazula in an Instagram post earlier today, Metallica wrote: “Heavy music lost one of its great champions today when Jonny Z left this world far too soon. In 1982, when no one wanted to take a chance on four kids from California playing a crazy brand of metal, Jonny and Marsha did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“He was a mentor, a manager, a label head and a father figure to us all... Metallica would not be who we are or where we are today without Jon Zazula and his wife, Marsha.

“Our love and sympathy go out to Jonny’s children and his grandchildren, whom he cherished and brought to our shows from the time they were in diapers. We hope they will be able to take some comfort in knowing that he is reunited with Marsha, and that he helped bring so much incredible music to so many. Hopefully there’s a great show goin’ on up there tonight to welcome you!”

Drummer Lars Ulrich subsequently penned his own tribute, writing: “Thank you Jonny for taking a chance on these crazy, noisy, uncompromising and undisciplined dudes from NorCal who didn’t know what was up, down or sideways, but who were ready, willing and more than able to fucking throw it all to the wind and go for it. Thank you for giving us a sense of belonging and ultimately, a sense of self-worth.”

Frontman James Hetfield simply wrote: “God rest your soul Jonny. My heart is full of gratitude for taking a chance on me and my bandmates.”

Zazula release his autobiography, Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived By Jon Zazula, in 2019, detailing the story of how he and his wife signed one of the most influential bands in music history.

As a member of Anthrax since the band's formation in 1981, Scott Ian has established himself as one of the most renowned rhythm guitarists in thrash. Perhaps, then, it's no surprise that his 10-year-old son, Revel Young Ian, has already developed a taste for heavy metal.

Already a talented multi-instrumentalist, the young rocker has honed some formidable skills on both drums and guitar, and even played the latter on stage with Foo Fighters in 2019 when he was just eight years old.

No doubt to Scott Ian's joy, his son's musical ability presents an excellent opportunity for the pair to partake in some hard-rocking jam sessions.

In a new video posted to Ian's Instagram page, the father-son duo take on Sepultura's classic Roots Bloody Roots (from 1996's Roots), with the Anthrax man rocking a Jackson Dinky seven-string guitar while his son keeps time on drums.

“Roots Bloody Roots!” the post's captions reads. “Garage jam with my man! Next time I'll turn the guitar up and yes, it's a seven-string.”

Scott Ian has long been vocal about his pride in Revel Young Ian's musical ability. When the youngling took to the stage with the Foo Fighters in 2019, Ian wrote on social media: “There goes my hero. Proudest dad moment ever? How about when your son gets to join his favorite band on stage to play Everlong in front of 40,000 people and nails it!”

And back in 2014, the guitarist noted how his then-two-year-old son was into rock music, adding that he could already tell the difference between AC/DC singers Bon Scott and Brian Johnson.

“He knows a lot of the stuff that he hears or sees in the house,” Scott told Horns Up Rocks (via Louder). “But what's really cool is that he actually recognizes and knows the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, which is pretty cool, I think, for an almost three-year-old.

“Any time AC/DC is on, he'll go, ‘That's Bon singing.’ And then when it's not Bon, he'll say, ‘That's not Bon singing.’ He knows. That's pretty cool, I think.”

Earlier this month, Scott Ian joined forces with KHDK Electronics for a new two-in-one amp-and-boost signature pedal, the JSL.

KHDK Electronics has teamed up with Anthrax electric guitar player Scott Ian for an all-new signature effects pedal – the Scott Ian JSL.

The amp-and-boost unit takes inspiration from Ian’s ultra-limited Sgt D pedal that debuted last year, though features a newly refined circuit that promises to deliver the sounds from Ian's early Anthrax and Stormtroopers of Death days.

In practice, the JSL features both a boost section and an amp section, each dictated by channel-specific controls, and aims to offer up “more clarity and metal” by way of the new circuitry and a "game-changing" right-hand switch.

Treble, Boost and Bass knobs feature on the boost half of the pedal, while Treble, Mid, Bass, Volume and Gain parameters are charged with controlling the amp section. Each side also features an independent footswitch, meaning they can be used independently or in parallel.

According to KHDK, the boost section is modeled after a booster pedal that Ian used during his early Anthrax and S.O.D. days, and operates as a pre-distortion EQ control.

The limited-edition pedals will also come adorned with artwork composed by Mario Lopez, a prolific artist who has worked with a host of heavy metal bands, including Amoth, Crystal Viper and Predatoria.

As was the case with the Sgt D, the JSL will be released as part of a limited run, and only 333 pieces will be made available.

Each KHDK JSL, available now for $249, is built and tested in Kentucky, and arrives with a letter of authenticity signed by Scott Ian.

To find out more, visit KHDK Electronics.

Anthrax bassist Frank Bello has announced the publication of his autobiography, Fathers, Brothers, And Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, And Anthrax, set for release by Los Angeles publisher Rare Bird in October. Bello’s co-writer is Bass Player editor Joel McIver, and the book comes with a foreword by Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.

The memoir details Bello's early years, charting his teenage journey from roadie to full-time band member with New York thrash-metal titans Anthrax, who he joined in 1984.

International stardom came Bello’s way by the mid-to-late '80s, when he was still in his early 20s, but tragedy struck in 1996 when his brother Anthony was murdered in New York. Although the case went to trial, the suspected killer was released without charge after a witness, intimidated by violent elements, withdrew his testimony. 

“This book has been a long time coming,” Bello says. “There’s a lot of important discussion about the themes of fatherhood, as well as the brotherhood I’ve experienced with my family, my band and the fans who have supported us all these years.

“I want you to know, though, that I also talk about the surreal, hilarious times I’ve had on my journey as a musician, from my early inspirations in Rush, Kiss and Iron Maiden until today. It’s been a crazy ride!”

Fathers, Brothers, And Sons is scheduled for release in hardcover, e-book and audiobook on October 12 2021, and will retail for $28. A percentage of the book revenue is going to charities assisting abandoned families. Signed hardcovers can be pre-ordered at rarebirdlit.com.

Anthrax’s Scott Ian and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo have teamed up with Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor and Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, along with cellist Tina Guo and composer Fil Eisler, for a new song, Thunder Force.

The track is the lead single from the soundtrack to the forthcoming Netflix comedy-action film of the same name. Thunder Force stars Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman and Bobby Cannavale, and is written and directed by Ben Falcone. 

According to the film’s Wikipedia page, the plots reads: “In a world terrorized by supervillains, one woman has developed the process to give superpowers to regular people. But when scientist Emily Stanton (Spencer) accidentally imbues her estranged best-friend Lydia (McCarthy) with incredible abilities, the two women must become the first superhero team. 

"Now, it is up to Thunder Force to battle the super-powered Miscreants and save Chicago from the clutches of The King (Cannavale).”

In addition to the Thunder Force theme song, Ian and Lombardo contributed guitar and drums, respectively, to the score. Explained Ian in an interview with Loudwire, “[Fil] would send us all the cues with explanations about the ins and outs. It's like you're just learning a whole bunch of really short songs. 

"And then we got together and we were going over stuff in the studio, because I was just making sure I was playing all the parts right. It was Fil who mentioned, ‘What would you think about trying to write a Thunder Force theme song that they would roll over the end credits?’ 

"And he said, ‘I can't promise they're ever gonna use anything.’ But I was like, ‘Why not? What do we got to lose? Let's make music.’ ”

Regarding the Thunder Force song, he continued, “The three of us recorded [a demo], and then I sent it to Corey, saying, ‘Hey, what do you think of this? You want to write to this? Would you want to sing on this and write the lyrics?’ And he was all over it. So, we made a demo, and then Fil had to submit it to Ben and Melissa.”

Thunder Force is out April 9. Head over to Netflix for more information.

Over the past year we’ve seen some incredible virtual jams, both together and separate, from Testament/Metal Allegiance electric guitar master Alex Skolnick and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante.

Now, the two monster metal musicians are back with another jam sure to impress –and also surprise – fans, tackling the Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers classic, Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.

In addition to Skolnick on lead guitar and Benante on drums, the cover features Jennifer Cella (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) on vocals, Randy McStine (McStine & Minnemann) on vocals and rhythm guitar, Mark Menghi (Metal Allegiance & BPMD) on bass and Harry Waters (McNally Waters & Roger Waters) on keyboards.

As Menghi explains, “Here is our take on the Stevie Nicks classic (which also features Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (originally released by Stevie on her debut solo album, Bella Donna, in 1981).

“Alex, Charlie, Jen, Randy and myself had such a blast working on Rhiannon that we wanted to continue the momentum... I honestly don't remember how we settled on this tune, it kinda just happened where someone mentioned it and before we knew it, drum tracks were recorded. 

“However, this time around we added the amazing Harry Waters of McNally Waters on Keyboards (getting that B3 Hammond organ sound). Harry has also toured in his father's band, Roger Waters, for the last 15 years, for The Wall and the Dark Side of the Moon tours, and most recently Desert Trip alongside the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

“It was a lot of fun recording my bass for this tune... after a little research (and right before I hit the record button), I learned that the original Heartbreakers bassist did NOT record on the original recording, in his place (for this one tune only) was the legendary Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn. 

"I'm a huge fan of Booker T & The M.G.'s, all of Duck's recorded work with the Stax label and of course his stint as the bassist in the Blues Brothers. Not sure how I didn't know this, but sure glad I learned about it. All in all, another different avenue for me as a bassist and once again having some fun with some amazing friends and musicians.”

You can check out Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around above.

KHDK Electronics has partnered with Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian for a new boost/preamp pedal, the SGT D. As fans of the thrash legend may notice, the stompbox is named after Ian's cigar-smoking alter-ego from his mid-'80s crossover thrash project Stormtroopers of Death.

Limited to only 250 units – and seemingly already sold out – the SGT D is designed to push amps hard into distortion. There are two main parts to the pedal: a boost section, which is controlled by treble, bass and boost controls, and an amp section, which is fueled by an original analog circuit and features volume and gain knobs and a three-band EQ.

Each section boasts its own footswitch and can be used independently or in parallel with one another.

The pedal comes in an enclosure illustrated by Kurz Daniel. One of its most noteworthy visual touches is the LED which lights up on the end of SGT D's cigar when the effect is engaged.

Says David Karon of KHDK, "Scott wanted an all-in-one go-to pedal, something that he could use as his amp tone on fly rigs – or just plugging the pedal in front of an overdriven amp so the pedal affects mainly the dynamic response of his tone, the tightness of the bass, and the attack for palm-muting.

"After a few prototypes and reworks, the SGT D saw the light of day. Scott was incredibly hands-on throughout the process.”

The SGT D is available now for $249. For more information, head over to KHDK Electronics.

Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante has masterminded an astonishing run of all-star playthroughs during the lockdown period, including covers of Rush’s Freewill and a monster Run-DMC medley – now, for his latest effort, he’s recruited a few famous friends to perform the Soundgarden classic Rusty Cage.

Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher handles guitar duties on the track, while William DuVall has the unenviable task of tackling Chris Cornell’s vocals, as Benante and Metal Allegiance’s Mark Menghi bring the rhythmic thunder underneath.

The result is an impressively faithful cover, right down to Kelliher’s crunchy tone and that cheeky pre-verb on the vocals. No wonder it got the seal of approval from Soundgarden’s own Kim Thayil, who appears at the start of the video to give it his blessing.

Also, we can’t help but notice that Kelliher is playing a Gibson Les Paul, rather than his usual ESP signature model, in the clip – it could just be for tonal reasons, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

DuVall, of course, is no stranger to covering Soundgarden, as Alice in Chains performed Hunted Down and Boot Camp in tribute to Cornell back in 2018.

“I was a Soundgarden fan as soon as I heard Hunted Down,” Benante says in the video’s description. “I then heard the Fopp EP on which they had covered an Ohio Players song… and I was hooked.

“I saw them numerous times from 1988-89 to playing festivals with them a few years ago. I always thought they had ‘it’: they were tight but loose, up and down, in and out of tune, heavy and soft, always unique.

“We are celebrating the music they created with this version of Rusty Cage. When Bill, Mark, William and I decided to jam this one out it was because it moved us when we first heard it and dammit, it still does!”

Anthrax electric guitar player Scott Ian and Megadeth bassist David Ellefson headlined a new Metal for Kids. United! charity video jam on the 1974 Deep Purple classic, Burn.

The Metal for Kids. United! All-Star Charity Jam also features Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear, Gamma Ray), Brian O'Connor (Vicious Rumors), Rafael Bittencourt (Angra), Japanese guitar virtuoso Syu (Galneryus), Thomen Stauch (Blind Guardian, Mentalist), Jens Ludwig (Edguy) and Mistheria (Vivaldi Metal Project, Bruce Dickinson), among others.

The tribute is being released in conjunction with the Italy-based Metal for Kids’ fifth anniversary, with the aim of raising awareness and funds for children’s cancer initiatives.

“Due to [the] sudden spread of the coronavirus pandemic, we were forced to cancel the 2020 edition of the annual benefit show booked in Rome for April,” said Fabrizio Troiano, president of Metal For Kids. United! and organizer of the event. 

“During the spring lockdown period we asked old and new friends of Metal for Kids. United! to jam together from their own place to celebrate our fifth anniversary and keep the promise made to the association.”

By releasing the all-star video, cultural association Metal for Kids. United! will make an initial donation of 2,000 euros (approximately $2,300) to the Peter Pan Association to kick off and boost a fundraising campaign available at the organization's GoFundMe page. 

All who view the video are invited to support the initiative with donations or by purchasing the merchandise.

Over 12,000 Euros have been donated to non-profit organizations working in Italy to help children with the four past editions.

Said Troiano, “We are very proud of the achievements over the years and we hope, despite the impossibility of making a physical event as in our tradition, we can once again share fun together, raise funds for the kids in need and give the chance to the people from all over the world to experience the Metal for Kids. United! spirit of solidarity.

“Don’t forget to play it loud, make metal horns, headbang and share the video!”

For more information, head to Metal for Kids.

We’ve been treated to plenty of impressive quarantine video jams over the past few months, but we’d venture to say that few have approached the master level of Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante.

Benante recently killed it with a spate of Rush covers, and now he’s enlisted Run-DMC’s Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Volbeat (and former Anthrax) electric guitar player Rob Caggiano and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Roberto “Ra” Diaz for a Run-DMC medley.

“I always wanted to do a medley of Run-DMC songs, so back in March I decided to put an arrangement together and asked these amazing people to be a part of it,” Benante writes in the accompanying caption.

“How can you do a Run-DMC medley without the KING of ROCK – Darryl McDaniels DMC.

“I have been a Run-DMC fan from back when I first heard It's Like That/Sucker M.C.’s. They had my attention immediately!

“It's no secret that [Anthrax’s] I'm the Man song was inspired by Run-DMC and the Beastie boys… that's how much we loved them.”

Regarding his band mates on the song, Benante continued, “I asked RA once again because he has the groove and creativity to adapt to any song. I love how he placed a familiar line at the end of the song that Just fit so well.

“I asked Rob Caggiano because I always loved his style. I love the way he attacks his guitar and plays the tastiest shit. He throws this great black metal riff in here that raises the tune to another level. We all came together to create this piece of music that makes us move.”

The Run-DMC medley can be purchased on Benante’s official Bandcamp page, with proceeds benefitting MusicUnites.org.

We recently reported on an all-star quarantine video jam featuring Brian May, Alex Skolnick, Stu Hamm and others taking on Queen’s Hammer to Fall.

Now Skolnick has joined up with a new crew consisting of Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, Suicidal Tendencies bassist Roberto "Ra" Diaz and Crobot vocalist Brandon Yeagley to take on Rush’s classic Freewill, with Skolnick handling the impressive Alex Lifeson electric guitar solo with ease.

This is not the first Rush song Benante, Diaz and Skolnick have covered while quarantined - the three also previously tackled YYZ and La Villa Strangiato.

Regarding their latest clip, Benante wrote in a message: “Freewill is about thinking for yourself, accepting difficult truths and avoiding superstition, magical thinking and herd mentality (most pertinent during these times).

“We now have a Rush trilogy. When we ‘made a choice’ (as the song says) to take on this tune, we had a new challenge on our hands: Our previous two (YYZ and  La Villa Strangiato) are both instrumental and doing this one would require a vocalist who is up to the task (sadly that excludes the three of us). Fortunately, we know just the guy. On vocals, we proudly present Brandon Yeagley.

"In addition to Neil Peart (the great Rush drummer and composer of these lyrics, whom we lost in January), this song is dedicated to John Horton Conway, genius mathematician who recently left us due to Covid-19, whose influence extended beyond mathematical circles, including artists (such as musician/producer Brian Eno), software developers, game makers etc. and whose achievements include a personal favorite entitled Free Will Theorem.”

As for what song the makeshift group might tackle next, may we use this space as an opportunity to put in a request for 2112?

The Damned Things, the supergroup featuring Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman on guitars, Every Time I Die vocalist Keith Buckley, Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley and Alkaline Trio bassist Dan Adriano, have announced a new album, High Crimes, due out April 26 via Nuclear Blast. In advance of the album’s release, they’ve shared the first single, “Cells.” You can check out the video, directed by Brandon Dermer, above.

High Crimes was produced by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour, Amon Amarth). The album follows up the Damned Things' 2010 debut, Ironiclast.

Said Trohman, “Normally, when career bands say they made a record for fun, they didn't—but we actually did. Maybe that's why this band doesn't have a career? Anyway, we're genuinely proud of it. Check it out, and watch the video to see how severely injured we got during the process!” 

High Crimes in available for pre-order here.

Frank Bello and David Ellefson are arguably two of the biggest names on bass guitar in metal, or any genre for that matter. So when you hear of these two heavyweights coming together to do an album enlisting some of their friends on guitar, you might expect a nuclear-level assault on your senses. That would be too predictable for Altitudes & Attitude’s debut album, Get It Out. Instead, what you get is strong songwriting full of memorable hooks, great riffs and tasteful playing for the benefit of the song. Guitar World recently sat down with Ellefson and Bello to discuss the project.

Can you talk a little bit about how your collaboration came about?

David Ellefson: The idea hatched when we were doing our bass clinics together during the Big 4 shows back in 2011, I think it was. I said we should write some backing tracks to have for our clinics.  When we started throwing ideas to each other over email, we realized that we’re actually real songwriters [laughs]. Our first EP had three songs on it and Frank brought in “Booze and Cigarettes” and “Tell the World,” which were pretty much complete as ideas. At least the framework was there. I brought in this track we titled “Here Again.” That was particularly something I wanted to use for backing tracks. 

We did actually use that at the Bass Player Live event a few years ago. We collaborated on the lyrics and completed it as a full song. That’s where it started. From there we had so much fun doing it that we brought in producer Jay Ruston who is also a bass player. He got the idea of it and understood what we were trying to do. As much as it spawned out of bass clinics, this record is anything but a bass-geek, self-indulgent thing. It’s very much a song-oriented album. That’s something we are very proud of.

Frank, what is it like being the “lead singer”? 

Frank Bello: It’s weird. But I find it’s the easiest way to get these songs out. It’s the most direct way to get what I have in the gut out. Thankfully there has been a lot of nice words coming back from folks and they are digging it. I’m pretty stoked. 

Did you find singing intimidating? Obviously you have been doing backing vocals throughout your career, but does it feel different when you step up to the mic and the eyes are on you?

Bello: No. I’ve always sung, just not in Anthrax. If you look back at the Anthrax history, I’ve done some B-sides. But everyone has their jobs in Anthrax. Joey [Belladonna] is one of the best and I love his voice. We don’t need another singer in Anthrax. I’ve always done some singing at open-mics in New York. I go downtown and try out stuff with an acoustic guitar. Now it makes total sense to do this.

When you guys wrote these songs, were you able to spend time together or did you need to rely on technology and virtual writing?

Bello: It’s funny you bring that up. I remember the first official writing session Dave and I had. I was playing in Arizona with Anthrax. Dave came and picked us up before soundcheck and we went over to his house and wrote a couple songs. We both had ideas for certain things that turned into songs. We had a great session there. We went home and wrote on our own for a little bit. We got together again periodically and got these songs. We then got together with Jay Ruston and it was really easy and seamless. It was a great vibe.

You obviously are both busy. Is it difficult to do this project given the time constraints or are you able to thrive in that situation? Some musicians seem to do better with a finite amount of time and some need to create when creativity strikes.

Ellefson: Because we are so excited about the process, the songs and their outcome, we love getting together any time we can. Sometimes it’s two days, other times we’ll block off four days.  Then there's Jay’s schedule. And thank God we got drummer Jeff Friedl at a period before he got really super busy in all of Maynard [James Keenan]’s bands to come in and track the drums on these sessions. He was playing in Devo and Pusifer and Maynard was doing Tool and A Perfect Circle. Now Jeff’s in A Perfect Circle. He’s as busy as we are. So there were certainly some logistical issues. But everyone’s excited to get into the room because they walk away from the sessions with this creative and emotional payoff. That’s a better motivator than any paycheck. 

When you are writing and noodling around on your own do you come up with things that you think fit Altitudes & Attitude or do you rely more on writing when you are together?

Bello: I write at home more, actually. My wife and my son bought me this “dad” chair, a recliner.  I sit on this chair when they are asleep at night. I put my amp on, the TV on mute and go for it and have fun. That’s where the stuff comes from. That’s my favorite creative space. I have my iPhone right there if anything good comes up. I can put a melody on it right there. That’s where the Altitudes & Attitude stuff came from for me.

Do you write with acoustic, with the bass, where do you start?

Bello: Never with bass. It’s very rare but occasionally with an 8-string bass. Dave has a Jackson 10-string bass and I have a signature 8-string bass with ESP. I used the ESP bass quite a lot in the studio with Altitudes & Attitude. It really worked with the foundation of the sounds. It always goes back to the days of Cheap Trick with Tom Petersson. That 8-string bass with those songs is almost like a piano-like tone on top of the actual bass note that filled up the atmosphere of the song. I always remembered that and how beautiful that was. We brought that into Altitudes & Attitude. There is a lot of 8-string stuff going on that Dave played. I didn’t play a lot of bass on this record. I played more guitar. 

Ellefson: I picked up the the 8-string bass and plugged it into a Kemper and it almost became like “lead” bass. The 8-string bass became the hook and the real sound of Altitudes & Attitude from a musical point. We’re blessed to be able to tap some amazing lead guitar talent with Gus G, Nita Strauss, Ace [Frehley] and a whole slew of people that were kind enough to work with us on this record. Then there were moments when we didn’t want to cop out and have someone else play it and played it ourselves. The 8-string bass basically tightened up a chasm. It created this whole other melodic component and added this beautiful harmonic backdrop across the entire record.

From a physical standpoint is the 8-string significantly harder to play?

Ellefson: It is. It’s the same transition as a 6-string guitar to a 12-string but by using the Kemper we added a nice, dirty top-end that made it so much easier to play. It’s kind of like how when you plug in an electric guitar and want to play clean it sounds like you are playing in the Fiftie. When you plug it into a Marshall and add some gain suddenly you are in the modern world. The guitar has an entirely different voice. The same could be said for the 8-string bass. The same thing happened with us. It was how we played it and what we played, and the Kemper added this terrific tone modification that just helped the instrument become a real seamless part of the band. 

David, I know you have played with your fingers and also with a pick. With the 8-string do you strictly pick?

Ellefson: Yes, I strictly pick. The 8-string that ESP sent down for Frank was really nice and I had Jackson make me a 10-string because I play 5-string and I wanted that luxury of the octave down on the low B. I will use that for live applications. We had to go to great lengths to get the bridge right. If you are a finger player you would want the octave string on the bottom because you pluck upward. But as a pick player you want the octave on the top because you are strumming down. 

Frank, as a bassist how do you approach writing on the guitar?

Bello: It’s really about riffing. Maybe that comes from Anthrax. Just playing along, experimenting.  If something catches your ear you stop and develop it. You let it flow and see what comes of it.  Something you hear would make a good bridge or a good chorus. Then you start remembering other parts and I go to my phone and I can marry parts. Sometimes it just comes out all at once too. 

It’s easier than the old four-track cassette days, trying to remember which tape had what.

Bello: [laughs] Those were hard days with that stuff just finding things. Rewinding tapes because you were sure it was at the beginning. It’s all we had and you do what you can do at the time. The great thing about technology is that it’s much swifter and it becomes a lot more cohesive. The bad thing is that it’s just too much. 

David, being the bassist for essentially another bassist, does that affect how you play at all, even subconsciously? Is it different than taking a bassline to maybe a Megadeth song where you’re the bassist?

Ellefson: Good question. When I’m sitting with Frank, he’s sitting with a guitar in his hand and he’s singing. I’m not consciously thinking, “I need to come up with something because this is the bass player from Anthrax,” I’m thinking, “This is my friend, Frank.” For me I immediately start playing bass to what the song needs. 

Once you have the guitar parts, how do you approach the vocal melodies? Do you write to what you have already recorded or maybe scat a vocal while you are playing?

Bello: That’s a great question. Case in point, there is a song called “Slip.” That song came from an acoustic guitar just playing one note, I think it’s a B. The melody I don’t know where it came from [sings melody]. The melody came off just that guitar part. It all worked. It differs. I love that that stuff can actually happen. I love melody. I’ve always loved melodic songs. I love a heavy riff with a good melody. 

Some musicians I know end up writing and singing words that mirror the guitar part note-for-note.

Bello: I always call it a song within a song. It’s two things coming up and melting together in this one cool thing. There some parts where you want to follow the song structure but for me the challenge has been going outside of it to add the extra layers on it. It can make it more interesting or catchy. I just like a good hook. Sometimes in extreme music I like straight out yelling. It may not be for Altitudes & Attitude but I like the challenge of that. I think it’s important to have everything. 

You guys invited Ace Frehley to contribute a solo. Frank, as a New Yorker, did that blow your mind that he was playing on your record? 

Bello: If you would have told the 15-year-old Frank Bello that was waiting in front of Madison Square Garden in front of the Ace poster, that Ace was going to play a lead on his album, I would have thought you were high. I would have never thought it possible, plus it was a classic Ace lead.  It was so what I wanted. Dave and I really chased Ace for a while because he was so busy. It meant so much to us and the solo came out incredible. He really liked the track and I was psyched to hear that. It was a great thing.

Obviously you guys have a million contacts in the industry. How did you go about selecting the guest guitarists on the album?

Ellefson: Jay Ruston was really helpful because he’s really networked into a whole crew of people in Los Angeles. He made a lot of suggestions. I was so thrilled to have Christian [Martucci] from Stone Sour. I’ve made records over the years and done demo songwriting. I’ve always admired the guys that could come in and layer. Sort of the unspoken, un-heroic guitar parts that really fill a record out. The guy that could play a Rickenbacker through a Vox with that chimy sound or add an arpeggio to the second part of a verse to build up to the chorus. Christian was that guy. Even some of the Hammond organ laid down by Randy Walker can beef up a track or Athena [Ellefson’s daughter] who added piano to the outro of “All There Is” can add a tail to the song. Ace was a childhood hero. “Leviathan” with Russ Parish [Satchel from Steel Panther] was this bass line that I had. I wrote it on a 5-string and laid it down with the 8-string as you hear it. I thought we needed something else. Jay suggested Russ. He just took that song to a whole other level. I wasn’t that familiar with his playing other than Steel Panther. I didn’t know the depths of his playing. It sounds like something that blew my mind like the first Michael Schenker Group album. It went deep down into these other avenues I would have never thought of. And Nita’s track...she’s just kicking your face in!

In using several different guitarists, did you give any thought to having a cohesive sound or mix it in any way to have a consistent tone? Or did you want people to recognize these players as individuals?

Bello: I think they all did a great job of speaking for themselves. Working with Jay Ruston, he knows all these players. He knows how they work. He gets it out of them. These players, I say this will all fondness: They came with it. They really matched the songs, it fit. I’m such a fan of all these folks and how they play.

Ellefson: We didn’t want this to sound like an all-star album. Frank and I are already famous enough [laughs]. The two of us coming together is the hook. 

What’s cool is that it’s a musician’s album, but it’s also approachable and, dare I say, radio-friendly. It’s an album you can throw on in the car, not just a guitar-geek sort of thing. 

Bello: You just hit it on the head. That’s the kind of record I wanted. You open the windows in the car and put it on with your buddies and have a great time. 

Did you have a preconceived idea of wanting to make a very song-centric album or was it more of a natural direction based on your collaboration?

Ellefson: It’s where it naturally took us. You let the creative process take you instead of always having to direct where the creative things go. The other day someone asked me in a master class about creativity, modes and scales and I said when I create I forget all the rules. I set all theory and music knowledge aside because that is where you really take down the walls of creativity.  Sometimes putting your hands on a guitar, a bass or even something you don’t often play can open up a half hour of improvising. I don’t have a big, huge digital workstation at home. For me it’s my phone. It’s more important to capture a moment or an idea. Then in this case when I’d take an idea to Frank we’d be in the studio and the two of us would build something up even greater. He’d bring in pretty much complete song ideas. I’d bring in musical ideas and maybe a little thought on a lyric and he’d jump in. That was a real joy for me. I loved it as well because it’s an entirely different genre than hard rock or thrash. My bass lines are like little sub-songs within the songs.

Bello: It’s all about the songs. Dave and I can do the bass thing but that has been done by a lot of great players. This is something I always wanted to come out with. Dave and I have a lot of songs inside of us. Hence the title, Get It Out. It’s a release.

Obviously you are both busy with touring with your individual bands. Is there time for much more touring for Altitudes & Attitude?  

Bello: That’s always been the agreement that Dave and I have, this is a cool thing when we have time. Dave and I have some dates in February but then it’s on to a plane and straight to Australia with Anthrax and Dave goes to the Ozzy/Megadeth tour. Hopefully people understand that when we have time we do what we can. 

As part of the 2019 NAMM show, the Observatory in Santa Ana, California hosted Dimebash, a tribute to late Pantera and Damageplan guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, on Thursday, January 25.

The event was MC’d by SiriusXM radio host Jose Mangin and featured a slew of rock and metal artists paying tribute to Darrell by performing his songs.  

Above, check out fan-filmed footage (via Metal Injection) of a jam on Pantera’s 1992 classic, “Walk,” featuring former Pantera bassist Rex Brown, Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Charlie Benante, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, former Megadeth and current Act of Defiance guitarist Chris Broderick and, on vocals, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor.

The show also featured full performances by Kill Devil Hill and Fireball Ministry. 

BackStory Events and Guitar World invite you to join us for the live stream of our exclusive interview with two of the greatest bassists in metal history, Frank Bello and Dave Ellefson. The interview will take place at 6:00 p.m. EST this Thursday, January 17, live from The Cutting Room in New York City.

We’ll talk about their wild days in Anthrax and Megadeth, discuss their new band project, Altitudes & Attitude, and their upcoming debut release, Get It Out. In addition to playing bass, these two legendary performers will also showcase their multi-dimensional talents as singers and guitarists. The event includes a live interview, audience Q&A and a short set.

Bello and Ellefson will be interviewed by author and journalist, Brad Tolinski. The event is part of the BackStory Events online series and will be live streamed by Guitar World magazine.

To find out more, visit altitudesandattitude.com or backstoryevents.com.

The video will appear below once we go live.

Altitudes & Attitude, a collaboration between Anthrax bassist Frank Bello and Megadeth bassist David Ellefson have shared a new song, “Late.” The track comes off their debut album, Get It Out, scheduled for release January 18 via Megaforce. You can check it out above.

The follow-up to Altitudes & Attitude’s 2014 self-titled debut EP, Get It Out was produced by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Steel Panther, Stone Sour) and features drummer Jeff Friedl (A Perfect Circle, Ashes Divide). Guest musicians include Ace Frehley (on the song "Late"), Gus G, Nita Strauss, Christian Martucci (Stone Sour) and Satchel (Steel Panther).

Said Bello about Get It Out: "I've learned that writing songs is very cathartic. A lot of these lyrics are about the inner struggles of my life, and about the rage that has built up from my life experiences—my brother's murder; my father abandoning my family when we were young, leaving us with no funds to pay the bills. The ups and downs of life in general. I've always had an anger inside that music really helps me deal with."

Added Ellefson: "The album has the perfect title. This is music that has been living inside of us for so long. There's a big musical part of each of us that doesn't get heard anywhere else."

Anthrax’s Scott Ian recently sat down with Gretsch Guitars to discuss his love for AC/DC, and specifically their late rhythm guitarist and co-founder Malcolm Young.

“Malcolm’s always been my hero since day one, because he basically taught me how to play guitar,” Ian says in the accompanying video.

“As a kid with AC/DC vinyl albums in my little bedroom on a turntable I just used to sit and figure out how to play their songs. And it was all Malcolm. So I was learning how to play specifically by listening to what he was doing. He was my guitar teacher.”

As for what he loves about Malcolm’s guitar style, Ian says, “The way he played, the economy and the percussiveness of his playing, his right hand and his left hand together were just so perfectly in sync at all times. And making it seem effortless.

“AC/DC always sounds real simple,” Ian continues. “People think, Oh, that sounds easy. Oh, it’s just a couple of chords. But try playing it right. That’s my challenge to everybody all the time. That’s why there’s only one Malcolm and there’s only one AC/DC. Because only they can do that.”

Throughout the interview, Ian can be seen holding Gretsch’s new G6131-MY Malcolm Young Signature Jet, a replica of the guitar Malcolm used for the majority of his career with AC/DC. In between comments, Ian tears off Malcolm licks from AC/DC songs like “Beating Around the Bush,” “Girls Got Rhythm,” Back in Black” and others.

He comments about the new Signature model Jet: “I’ve read a little bit about [Malcolm] basically ‘Frankenstein-ing’ the one that he was given and turning it into his own… Pulling the pickups out and experimenting. He decided to make it his own. It became an icon. It’s just one of the most iconic guitars since rock and roll was born.”

You can check out the full video below.

Megadeth have announced the initial lineup of bands for their inaugural 2019 Megacruise. Among the acts that will be playing alongside Megadeth are Anthrax, Testament, Corrosion of Conformity, Devildriver, Doro, John 5, Armored Saint and Beasto Blanco.

The Megacruise will take place aboard the Norwegian Jewel on October 13-18, 2019, leaving from the Port of Los Angeles, with stops in San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico. According to the official website: “While there are dozens of daily performances by our featured artists, that’s just the beginning of the fan experience. Quite simply, the Norwegian Jewel will become the home of artists and fans, interacting in many different ways throughout the five-night voyage.

“This interactive experience affords you a variety of events and activities that will put you front and center with metal icons that have been an integral part of your life. From Artist Photo Experiences to Intimate Morning Coffee Jams, Music Clinics to Fan/Artist Sporting Competitions and more, there’s always a way to get up close and personal with your favorite artists.

“You might happen to bump into one of your faves at one of the Jewel’s many watering holes, or possibly share a moment at the Charity Auction…this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience..

“Megacruise is the ultimate Heavy Metal Experience, where music and cruising combine for the vacation of a lifetime!”

For additional information on Megacruise, including booking, pricing, itinerary and more, head over to Megacruise.com.

Island Records/Ume/Universal Music will release the 30th-anniversary, 2CD deluxe edition of ANTHRAX's fourth studio album, State of Euphoria on October 5.

The package will consist of two discs: Disc One is the fully remastered album, all of the B-sides originally released in conjunction with the album, and "Antisocial" recorded live in London at the Hammersmith Odeon in March, 1989. Disc Two, "Charlie's Archives," is a treasure trove for ANTHRAX fans, putting the listener right in the room with the band as the album's songs evolved. The package also includes a 20-page booklet that will take you right back to the time of the album's release.

State of Euphoria will also be issued as a 2-LP set on standard black vinyl and limited edition red and yellow colored vinyl.

The anniversary package was helmed by the band's drummer and longtime archivist Charlie Benante, who dove into his ANTHRAX vault to come up with the tapes that show the evolution of the album's songs. Disc Two takes you through the writing, development and recording process of the material. The listener is taken into the band's writing and rehearsal sessions hearing the band members construct the song, deciding what stays and what doesn't, and then into the studio for the recording of basic tracks.

"We recorded everything back then," said Benante. "We would sit in the rehearsal room with a little two-track machine record everything we did in rehearsal while we were putting the songs together."

Also pulled from his vault were tapes of the actual recording sessions, all the takes, that also appear on Disc Two.

In addition to the original album's artwork that includes the back cover drawn by Mort Drucker (Mad Magazine), the anniversary package features never-before-seen personal snapshots of the band members, tour admats/posters, plus two ANTHRAX magazine covers, all culled from that 1988-1989 period. For the booklet, the band enlisted British journalist Alexander Milas, former editor-in-chief of Metal Hammer, to write the sleeve notes, Shawn Franklin handled editing tracks and Paul Logus mastered the set. Benante also took to social media, inviting fans to tell him what State of Euphoria had meant to them. He was overwhelmed with responses, and many of them are included in the booklet.

"I think fans will be really excited when they see their own quotes in the package," Benante added.

State of Euphoria was produced by ANTHRAX and Mark Dodson, and includes fan favorites "Antisocial" and "Be All, End All." The album was certified gold a few months after release.

“State of Euphoria is the album that we always felt we never got to finish properly," said Benante. "We wished we had had a little more time to spend on it. But having revisited it while putting together this package, I really got to enjoy it again, it took me back to that time when everything was a whirlwind."

The 30th anniversary deluxe edition of State of Euphoria is available for pre-order here.

Track listing:

Disc One - State of Euphoria (Remaster With Bonus Tracks)

01. Be All, End All 
02. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind 
03. Make Me Laugh 
04. Antisocial 

05. Who Cares Wins 
06. Now It's Dark 
07. Schism 
08. Misery Loves Company 
09. 13 
10. Finale 
11. Antisocial (French) * 
12. Friggin In The Riggin * 
13. Parasite * 
14. Le Sects * 
15. Pipeline * 
16. Antisocial (Live At Hammersmith Odeon) *

* Bonus Tracks

Disc Two - Statements of Euphoria (Charlie's Archives)

01. Be All, End All 
02. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind 
03. Make Me Laugh 
04. Antisocial 
05. Who Cares Wins 
06. Now It's Dark 
07. Schism 
08. Misery Loves Company 
09. Finale

Back in September 2016, Anthrax singer Joey Belladonna joined Slayer’s Tom Araya, Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph for a run-through of Bryan Adams’ 1984 hit, “Summer of ’69” during a soundcheck at Métropolis in Montreal, Quebec.

The following day, Anthrax performed an acoustic cover of the Pink Floyd classic “Comfortably Numb” during an appearance on the Opie with Jim Norton talk show. Their appearance also included a performance of their own “Breathing Lightning,” from their 2016 album, For All Kings.

You can watch that performance below.

This summer, Anthrax will join Slayer, Lamb of God and Testament on Slayer's farewell tour. You can check out the dates for that below.

Slayer North American Tour Dates:

• May 10 - Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, CA
• May 11 - FivePoint Amphitheatre, Irvine, CA
• May 13 - Papa Murphy's Park at Cal Expo, Sacramento, CA
• May 16 - PNE forum, Vancouver, BC
• May 17 - South Okanagan Events Centre, Penticton, BC
• May 19 - Big Four, Calgary, AL
• May 20 - Shaw Centre, Edmonton, AB
• May 22 - Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, MB
• May 24 - The Armory, Minneapolis, MN
• May 25 - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL
• May 27 - Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill, Detroit, MI
• May 29 - Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
• May 30 - Place Bell, Montreal, PQ
• Jun. 01 - Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
• Jun. 02 - PNC Banks Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
• Jun. 04 - Santander Arena, Reading, PA
• Jun. 06 - Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH
• Jun. 07 - Blossom Music Center, Cleveland, OH
• Jun. 09 - KeyBank Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA
• Jun. 10 - Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA
• Jun. 12 - VUHL Amphitheatre, Virginia Beach, VA
• Jun. 14 - PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte, NC
• Jun. 15 - Orlando Amphitheatre, Orlando, FL
• Jun. 17 - Smart Financial Center, Houston, TX
• Jun. 19 - The Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX
• Jun. 20 - Austin 360 Amphitheatre, Austin, TX

July 26 - Gilford, NH @ Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
July 27 - Bangor, ME @ Darling's Waterfront Pavilion
July 29 - Wantagh, NY @ Jones Beach
July 31 - Scranton, PA @ The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
August 1 - Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
August 3 - Darien Lake, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
August 4 - Syracuse, NY @ Lakeview Amphitheater
August 6 - London, ON @ Budweiser Gardens
August 7 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
August 9 - St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
August 10 - Atlanta, GA @ Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood
August 12 - Nashville, TN @ Municipal Auditorium
August 13 - Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP
August 15 - San Antonio, TX @ Freeman Coliseum
August 16 - Oklahoma City, OK @ The Zoo Amphitheatre
August 18 - Denver, CO @ Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
August 19 - Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
August 21 - Boise, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater,
August 23 - Portland, OR @ Sunlight Supply Amphitheater
August 26 - San Jose, CA @ SAP Center

Heavy metal legends Slayer revealed on Monday that, after one final world tour, they would be calling it a day. Now, the band has revealed the details of the first leg of the world tour, a six-week trek through North America that will begin in May. They're not doing it alone, though.

The band announced that Lamb of God, Anthrax, Testament and Behemoth will join them on every single date on this leg of the tour, which will go through the West Coast, the Midwest, the South and the Northeast, with seven dates in Canada.

You can see the full itinerary below.

"If you are lucky enough to be invited to play even just once with living legends like Slayer, it's an incredible honor," Randy Blythe—the lead singer of Lamb of God—said in a press release. "Slayer gave Lamb Of God our very first two overseas shows. Slayer have subsequently taken us on several full-length tours, both at home and abroad. The guys in Slayer and their crew have also always been very, very cool to our band."

"It is irrefutable that Slayer helped create the genre of aggressive metal, and all modern bands of that ilk owe them a huge debt—I know we do," he continued. "To be asked to be a part of their final tour—well, it just makes you stop and realize just how lucky you are."

"It's truly an honor to be on Slayer's final tour," said Anthrax bassist Frank Bello. "Anthrax and Slayer have toured together for decades, we are family—band and crew—so we want to help give Slayer the best send-off possible and to have one last blast with our friends. But you know, at the end of the day, Slayer will never die."

Slayer North American Tour Dates:

• May 10 - Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, CA
• May 11 - FivePoint Amphitheatre, Irvine, CA
• May 13 - Papa Murphy's Park at Cal Expo, Sacramento, CA
• May 16 - PNE forum, Vancouver, BC
• May 17 - South Okanagan Events Centre, Penticton, BC
• May 19 - Big Four, Calgary, AL
• May 20 - Shaw Centre, Edmonton, AB
• May 22 - Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, MB
• May 24 - The Armory, Minneapolis, MN
• May 25 - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL
• May 27 - Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill, Detroit, MI
• May 29 - Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
• May 30 - Place Bell, Montreal, PQ
• Jun. 01 - Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
• Jun. 02 - PNC Banks Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
• Jun. 04 - Santander Arena, Reading, PA
• Jun. 06 - Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH
• Jun. 07 - Blossom Music Center, Cleveland, OH
• Jun. 09 - KeyBank Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA
• Jun. 10 - Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA
• Jun. 12 - VUHL Amphitheatre, Virginia Beach, VA
• Jun. 14 - PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte, NC
• Jun. 15 - Orlando Amphitheatre, Orlando, FL
• Jun. 17 - Smart Financial Center, Houston, TX
• Jun. 19 - The Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX
• Jun. 20 - Austin 360 Amphitheatre, Austin, TX

On the eve of 'The Big Four's performance at Yankee Stadium on September 14, 2011 rumors were flying around that the all-star bill might not actually feature four bands.

Megadeth—it was rumored—was possibly not going to perform, due to frontman Dave Mustaine's battle with neck injuries. Mustaine battled through the pain though, and the legendary show went on just as planned.

In a recent interview on The Jasta Show podcast though, Mustaine revealed just how close he was to cancelling the band's appearance. In fact, Mustaine says, a taunt from Metallica's co-manager—Peter Mensch—was the only reason he performed at all that night.

"When I did the 'Big Four' concert at Yankee Stadium and had my neck in a neck brace riding on a golf cart to the stage, I had tape all over the stage that said, 'Don't headbang,'" Mustaine said. "I would have died if I headbanged that night because I was in an emergency surgery room two days before, ready to have my neck operated on. And I called up my manager, Mark Adelman, at the time, and I said, 'Look, I played with Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer before, I've played New York before, I've played a baseball stadium before, so none of this is new to me. And I have to cancel because I need emergency surgery.'"

"So, allegedly, Adelman tells this to Metallica's management—whatever the guy with the name of a penis, whatever his name is, it was Dick or Peter or something... Peter! So [Peter] said I was a pussy." And so I went, 'Okay. All right. Wrap me up. I'm going to New York.' So they gave me a bunch of injections in my neck and put me in a neck brace and I flew out there and I played the concert and I came back. And I figured, nobody else knows about this except for him, and who's the real pussy now?"

You can listen to the entire interview below.

Anthrax and Killswitch Engage have announced another co-headlining KillThrax tour.

Kicking off in late January and lasting through early March, the tour will take the bands throughout the United States and Canada. The bands will be joined by Havok, who will serve as the opening act for every show on the tour.

"After playing so many amazing shows last year with our friends Killswitch Engage, I'm psyched for round two of KillThrax, and we're adding Havok to the heaviness!" said Anthrax bassist Frank Bello.

"The shows were great, the audiences were great, and we all felt great about the whole thing, so why not do it again?," added Charlie Benante, the band's drummer.

You can check out the full tour itinerary below.

For more on Anthrax, stop by anthrax.com, and for more on Killswitch Engage, follow along on Facebook.

KillThrax II Itinerary

• Jan. 25 - Metropolis, Montreal, QC
• Jan. 26 - London Music Hall, London, TN
• Jan. 27 - Sherman Theatre, Stoudsburg, PA
• Jan. 28 - The National, Richmond, VA
• Jan. 30 - Janus Landing, Tampa, FL
• Jan. 31 - The Fillmore, Charlotte, NC
• Feb. 02 - Club Stage @ Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI
• Feb. 03 - Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN
• Feb. 05 - Marathon Music Works, Nashville, TN
• Feb. 06 - Iron City Music Hall, Birmingham, AL
• Feb. 08 - Concrete Street Music Hall, Corpus Christi, TX
• Feb. 09 - Lonstar Pavillion, Lubbock, TX
• Feb. 10 - Criterion, Oklahoma City, OK
• Feb. 11 - El Rey Theater, Albuquerque, NM
• Feb. 13 - House of Blues, San Diego, CA
• Feb. 14 - House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
• Feb. 16 - Revolution, Boise, ID
• Feb. 17 - Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA
• Feb. 19 - The Ranch, Edmonton, AB
• Feb. 20 - Revolution Place Casino, Grande Prairie, AB
• Feb. 21 - Mac Hall, Calgary, AB
• Feb. 23 - Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB
• Feb. 24 - Skyway Theatrer, Minneapolis, MN
• Feb. 25 - Anthem @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Sioux City, IA
• Feb. 27 - The Forge, Joliet, IL
• Mar. 01 - Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD
• Mar. 02 - The Dome, Rochester, NY
• Mar. 03 - Palladium, Worcester, MA
• Mar. 04 - State Theater, Portland, ME

If you happen to be in the mood to hear Anthrax cover a classic song by Kansas, you're in luck. Anthrax are streaming their cover of Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son,” which can be found on the band’s recently released For All Kings vinyl box set.

You can check it out below; as always, be sure to tell us what you think. P.S.: We've also included the original version below so you can compare and contrast. Note how the artwork has been cleverly altered by the Anthrax camp.

Last night, New York City's Webster Hall hosted the riff-roaring 2016 Epiphone Revolver Music Awards.

The event—formerly known as the Revolver Golden God Awards—was livestreamed via Facebook, Twitch.TV, RevolverMag.com and GuitarWorld.com and hosted by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and SiriusXM's Jose Mangin.

Performers included Megadeth, Anthrax, Lacuna Coil and Stitched Up Heart. Near the end of the show, Zakk Wylde performed a solo-guitar version of Black Label Society's “In This River” as a teleprompter paid tribute to the many musicians we’ve lost over the past two years (there was no awards show in 2015.)

Other highlights included a performance of “A Tout Le Monde” by Megadeth and Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia and a Fallen Heroes All-Star Jam that featured Bumblefoot, members of Megadeth, Slipknot, Pop Evil, Annihilator, Mutoid Man, Butcher Babies, Red Sun Rising, Lacuna Coil and Ace Frehley.

During the jam, Butcher Babies' Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd joined Scabbia for a rocking version of Motörhead‘s “Killed by Death." Members of Pop Evil, Red Sun Rising and other bands played Stone Temple Pilots‘ “Plush,” and Frehley, Slipknot‘s Jim Root, Bumblefoot and others rocked Frehley‘s rendition of “New York Groove.”

Below, you can watch the entire awards show and see the complete list of award winners and nominees.

The REVOLVER MUSIC AWARDS - "In This River" tBLSt @WyldeAudio@guitarcenter@EMG_PICKUPS@TonePros@DeathWishCoffeepic.twitter.com/9TXBxAngXA

— Zakk Wylde (@ZakkWyldeBLS) December 14, 2016

2016 Epiphone Revolver Award Winners

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Dave Mustaine

REVOLVER INNOVATOR AWARD: Anthrax

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Metallica – Hardwired…to Self-Destruct
Other nominees: Deftones – Gore | Megadeth – Dystopia | Meshuggah – The Violent Sleep of Reason | Volbeat – Seal the Deal & Let’s Boogie

SONG OF THE YEAR: Ghost – “Square Hammer” (winner)
Other nominees: Amon Amarth – “Raise Your Horns” | Megadeth – “The Threat Is Real” | Metallica – “Hardwired” | Testament – “The Brotherhood of the Snake”

BEST VOCALIST: Austin Carlile (Of Mice & Men) (winner)
Other nominees: Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth) | Chino Moreno (Deftones) | Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage) | Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil)

DIMEBAG DARRELL BEST GUITARIST: Dave Mustaine and Kiko Loureiro (Megadeth) (winner)
Other nominees: Mark Tremonti (Alter Bridge) | Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson (Opeth) | James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett (Metallica) | Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society)

PAUL GREY BEST BASSIST: Dick Lövgren (Meshuggah) (winner)
Other nominees: Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) | Kyle Sanders (HELLYEAH) | Piggy D. (Rob Zombie) | Robert Trujillo (Metallica)

BEST DRUMMER: Chris Adler (for his work on Megadeth‘s “Dystopia“) (winner)
Other nominees: Billy Rymer (The Dillinger Escape Plan) | Vinnie Paul (HELLYEAH) | Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) | Valentino Arteaga (Of Mice & Men)

BEST LIVE BAND: Slipknot (winner)
Other nominees: Black Sabbath | Ghost | Hatebreed | Rob Zombie

MOST DEDICATED FANS: Pierce the Veil (winner)
Other nominees: Anthrax | Periphery | Trivium | Volbeat

BEST NEW TALENT: Avatar (winner)
Other nominees: BABYMETAL | Nails | Stitched Up Heart | Toothgrinder

BEST FILM/VIDEO: Gojira – “Silvera” (winner)
Other nominees: Giraffe Tongue Orchestra – “Blood Moon” | Kvelertak – “1985” | Red Fang – “Shadows” | Slayer – “Pride & Prejudice“

MOST METAL ATHLETE: Baron Corbin (WWE) (winner)
Other nominees: Drew Stafford (NHL) | Julianna Peña (UFC) | Matt Brown (UFC) | Robin Lehner (NHL)

The 2016 Epiphone Revolver Music Awards is live NOW! Check out the stream below.

Happening live at Webster Hall in New York City, SiriusXM’s Jose Mangin and Megadeth's Dave Mustaine are hosting the event.

Co-headlined by Megadeth and Anthrax, additional performers include Zakk Wylde, Lacuna Coil, Stitched Up Heart and a Fallen Heroes All-Star Jam that features Ace Frehley, Slipknot, Bumblefoot, Pop Evil, Butcher Babies and many more.

Find out who wins the awards you voted on and watch out for appearances from Orange Is the New Black's Jessica Pimentel, Slipknot's Jim Root, celebrity chef Chris Santos, comedians Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine, Killswitch Engage's Jesse Leach, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Periphery, Doyle, Arch Enemy's Alissa White-Gluz, Atreyu, Emmure, Life of Agony, Annihilator—and that's not all. As always, expect many more surprises.

Watch below or via twitch.tv: http://twitch.tv/backstoryevents

Watch live video from BackStoryEvents on www.twitch.tv