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Scott Iann on working with Roger
I guess this one rates posting in full:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1470535/20030313/anthrax.jhtml?headlines=true
Anthrax's First LP In Five Years Has Southern Rock, Roger Daltrey
03.14.2003 7:56 AM EST
Anthrax's Scott Iann
Photo: Paul Gargano
"I was standing there thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm telling Roger Daltrey what
to sing.' " Anthrax's Scott Ian
After five long years of legal battles and label hassles, influential
thrash-metal band Anthrax are finally ready to unleash their new record,
We've Come for You All, as well as a few surprises.
"After five years of not having a studio album, it was just [about] making
something that was strong enough to overcome all the bullsh-- we've had to
deal with over the past five years of trying to get a record made,"
guitarist Scott Ian said. "We were stuck on a label that went bankrupt, and
then we ended up with another company that was heading in the same
situation. The legalities of getting stuck like that is just insane."
Most of the album, due May 6, is fast and jagged. In the middle of "Black
Dahlia" Anthrax turbocharge the blast beat until they're as furious as
Cannibal Corpse. Also surprising is "What Doesn't Die," which features
stop-start riffing on its chorus that wouldn't sound out of place on a Korn
record. And then there's "Cadillac Rock Box," with its wicked Southern rock
lick and mean slide guitar.
But the biggest shocker on We've Come for You All is Who singer Roger
Daltrey's background vocals on "Taking the Music Back." At the chorus, the
hard-rock legend screams the words "I am" over every line, and during the
bridge he releases a colossal "Won't Get Fooled Again"-style howl.
"Working with him was mind-blowing," Ian said. "As I'm sitting there, I'm
thinking, 'I'm in the chair that Pete Townshend has been sitting in for the
last 35 years, and I started playing guitar because of him.' "
The strange collaboration came together because Ian's girlfriend's mom is
friends with Daltrey and his wife, which led to an unexpected phone call
last year.
"She asked if we wanted to go to dinner with Roger and his wife," Ian
recalled. "I was like, 'Roger, who?' I didn't know who she was talking
about. But he turned out to be the coolest, nicest guy, and we just sat
there drinking wine for four hours and he entertained us with amazing
stories of being in the Who."
When Daltrey found out Ian's band was working on a new record, he
volunteered to lend a hand. But when he heard the track he was supposed to
sing on, he was a bit taken aback.
"I don't think he understood at first," Ian said. "He just kept saying,
'This is heavy, heavy stuff.' And I was thinking, 'This isn't that heavy
compared to some of our other tracks,' but I understood where he was coming
from. It took him like 40 minutes of just listening to it and letting it
sink in, and then he was like, 'Oh, I see. Now I understand. There's a verse
and a chorus.' Then he seemed pretty stoked."
The strangest part of the experience came when Daltrey finished his first
take and asked Ian what he thought.
"He would go, 'Tell me if that's good,' and I'd say, 'Well, why don't you do
it again.' I was standing there thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm telling Roger
Daltrey what to sing.' And then when he did the scream for me I was just
overwhelmed."
Jon Wiederhorn
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