ANTHRAX's SCOTT IAN Says Being In Globally Touring Band Is 'Hard Work All The Time'

In a brand-new interview with Cat Unwrapped of the "Collision" radio show on Australia's Voice FM, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian confirmed that he was the "force behind" the band when it first formed in 1981. "I couldn't have done it myself," he said (hear audio below). "And we're obviously a band. But, yeah, I was certainly the tenacious, annoying bigmouth — I guess you could say that — certainly in the early days, trying to get our name out there and shoving it down as many people's throats as possible, trying to make something happen for the band. I'm talking pre-first album, before we had a record deal or anything. In my mind, we were the best and we deserved to…

"Look, if you don't believe in yourself that strongly, and if you don't have that mindset to work your ass off forever, then you shouldn't bother doing anything; you shouldn't be in a band," he continued. "If you don't have the passion like that, and still have it 37 years later to keep your band moving forward, then there's no point doing it.

"People think there's some secret or there's some magic answer to doing this, but there isn't — it's work; it's just hard work all the time," he added. "That's the secret. And nobody wants to do that. Even being in a band, yeah, I understand — I get to play my guitar on stage with my friends, and that's a fucking privilege that I get to do that, and I love that. But that doesn't mean it's not super-hard work all the time, and all the hours you're not on stage and all the business you're dealing with constantly. And then even staying focused and energetic night after night after night on tour, and the traveling and schlepping around the planet. There's harder jobs out there for sure, but I've been doing this for 37 years, and it takes an insane amount of focus to keep something fun and interesting and successful for that long."

Ian's "One Man Riot" spoken-word tour of Australia will kick off on September 24 and will include stops in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

ANTHRAX's latest album, "For All Kings", was released in February 2016. Its arrival followed a five-year period during which the band experienced a rebirth of sorts, beginning with ANTHRAX's inclusion on the 2010 "Big Four" tour with METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH, and continuing with the 2011 release of comeback LP "Worship Music".

ANTHRAX recently released "Kings Among Scotland", a live-in-concert DVD, via Megaforce.