Scott Iann on working with Roger

["L. Bird" <pkeets@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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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