By Brandon Ringo
Over the past 30 years, few musicians in the world of heavy metal have seen, done, and accomplished as much as Scott Ian. Between playing in legendary thrash band Anthrax, his supergroup The Damned Things, his other supergroup Stormtroopers of Death, writing comic books, and appearing in TV shows and movies, he is one of the busiest men in the business. Anyone who has worked as long and hard in the music industry as Ian will accrue more than their fair share of interesting stories and anecdotes.
In 2013, he was given the opportunity to do a spoken word set in which he was able to share some of his amazing stories, namedropping fellow metal heroes like Lemmy Kilmister, Dimebag Darrell, Slayer, and Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, and engaging in a brutally honest Q&A session with the audience. After taking his show on the road, he filmed a new DVD Speaking Words: Live In Glasgow, which is out now and an absolute must-watch for any metal fan. In addition to this release, Ian has a new autobiography, “I’m the Man,” coming out in October, as well as an Anthrax live DVD. He is currently writing for a new Anthrax album.
After so many years playing in bands, was it uncomfortable being alone on stage with just a laptop and a microphone?
No, I can’t say it was difficult, because it was just… I kind of already had my mind set on what I was doing and I was committed to doing it. So, it was kind of the opposite, it was fun for me. Even the first ever time I did it, I was definitely nervous before I got on stage, but once I was up there, the nervousness dropped off. I was just having so much [fun] being up there. That’s carried over into all the shows that I’ve done.
How did you decide which stories to tell?
There are some obvious ones that stood out for me – like the Lemmy story – that I just knew would probably relate really well. So, ya know, I have a lot more stories that I haven’t done yet live, which maybe eventually I will if I start going back around to places again. Like, “I already played New York, so I need more material.” I’ve only done two tours, I’ve done that one tour of the U.K. – the DVD was filmed in Glasgow – and then I’ve done an East Coast run here in the States. I would try, night after night, to make it a little bit different, just to keep myself from being bored. I was starting to hear myself say the same words over again, hearing myself tell the same stories, and it was just kind of… I dunno, I felt like I should at least keep it interesting for myself. In some ways, the same as we do with the band, where we don’t just want to play the same set every night, over and over again. If anything, it’s just fun for me to mix it up a little bit.
Comedians say the hardest thing about starting out is getting your timing down. Was timing a challenge for you?
Never. I don’t know, I just did it. I never really thought about it, I just got up and did it.
To pre-order the DVD or for more information, visit the PledgeMusic campaign page here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/scottian
