Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has expressed his complete support for former frontman John Bush, who recently began performing live sets dedicated entirely to his era with the pioneering thrash metal band.
Speaking with host Full Metal Jackie on her syndicated radio show, Ian detailed his close, ongoing relationship with the vocalist and shared his enthusiastic reaction when Bush first pitched the idea of celebrating his decade-long tenure with the group on stage.
“John and I are close friends — we have been forever. There was whispers about this ages ago. I think it’s something that John had been thinking about for a really long time, and I think it was just a case of just figuring out the hows and the whens for him. But we’ve been nothing but supportive of it ever since. Like, I remember him asking me about it once. I’m, like, ‘You don’t need to [ask me]. Do whatever you want, bro. I celebrate it. I love that you’re gonna go out and do this.’ The only bummer for me was when he did the run of dates where he played L.A. and he played New York, I was in the opposite cities. I missed him both times. And I was hoping, like, I even asked him, I said, ‘Hey,’ ’cause I thought I was gonna be home for the L.A. show. And I said, ‘Can I come up and play a couple of songs?’ And then he said to me, ‘They’re your songs. You don’t need to ask me.’ And then it turned out I couldn’t be there. So, I would love to get to do that again at some point. Like I said, John and I are good friends, and that kind of transcends. That’s really all that matters to me. And I’m stoked that he did that, and I’m stoked that there’s a new Armored Saint record,” Scott Ian stated.
During his recent solo gigs, the singer delivered a comprehensive setlist spanning all four studio albums he recorded during his time fronting Anthrax: Sound Of White Noise, Stomp 442, Volume 8: The Threat Is Real, and We’ve Come For You All.
During a last year’s interview with Eonmusic, Bush shared that Scott offered to join him during his Anthrax era shows.
“Scott asked about being the third guitar player on one of the shows. He had said, ‘Would you like a third guitar player?’, and I was cracking up, but I don’t know how completely sincere he was about it. I think it was, but he has a conflict with the date in Los Angeles, and that’s where Scott lives. He has a wedding in New York, so I was saying, ‘Well, maybe New York?’, but I don’t know if he’s going to be there that long, so who knows,” he said at the time.
“My opinion is with those guys, it’s their music. It’s their songs; they wrote them,” he continued. “They can do whatever they want. If they want to come out for a song, great. If they don’t want to come out for any, great. You know, it doesn’t matter. If they want to play ten songs, great. The door is open, and they could do whatever they want in conjunction with it, or nothing.”
“I do want it to feel celebratory,” he explained. “I have a few other people in line to come up maybe and do some songs. I just want it to feel kind of like a party, almost, a celebration of those songs and those records. It’s not a competition with Anthrax. I want it to just feel like a fun event to be at.”
During a recent conversation with Jimmy Kay of Canada’s “The Metal Voice“, Bush discussed the impact of those performances and addressed the possibility of a multi-singer Anthrax tour in the future.
“Yeah, it was awesome. The shows were amazing. All three of ’em were great. It was a lot of fun. I got pretty favorable reviews from people,” he shared. “It was cool for me to hear those songs live as well as to hear all those guys in [Category 7] play them so well. And I think for the fans, a lot of those people probably felt like they may never hear those songs live again. And so there was a lot of emotion in the crowd from hearing those tunes. It was really, really cool. So it was all a big giant plus, and I’m glad I finally did it. And I wanna do more. It’s just gotta fit in with my schedule. I am playing Milwaukee Metal Fest with it, and so is Armored Saint the day before, so that should be fun. But there’s a lot of territories I would like to play with. It just has to coincide with my life right now. I’m kind of focused on Saint, and we have a new record coming out. So, I’m kind of distracted, but, yeah, we’ll see.”
He also addressed the physical demands of singing the material and why he doesn’t feel rushed to book extensive dates immediately.
“It’s old material, so it’s not going anywhere — let’s face it. And I don’t think there’s an urgency to have to do it, because I waited so long to do it. So, I think if there’s any urgency connected to it, it’s mostly just because the songs are demanding, so they’re not easy to do. And, unfortunately, with every passing minute. I’m getting older. So it’s more about just being able to do it. And if I’m able to do it physically, then I don’t really have to feel like I have to do it or else I can’t.”
From a business perspective, the singer confirmed the short run of shows was financially viable, largely aided by merchandise sales.
“It was worth it. It was worth it, for sure. I mean, this isn’t just some big cash cow that I’m making a bunch of money on. I didn’t wanna lose money, of course. It paid for itself. And I think that was the key thing. And I sold a lot of records. I actually contacted Megaforce and [ordered copies of the Anthrax albums to sell at the gigs]… I sold all the vinyl — all of it. ‘Cause Megaforce re-released those records. So I sold all the vinyl, I didn’t sell all the CDs, but I ended up buying them anyway. And I have ’em because I signed them. Eventually I’ll sign ’em [and] I’ll sell ’em somewhere. But, yeah, it was pretty amazing that I actually sold all the records,” he explained.
When asked about staging a celebration tour alongside current Anthrax singer Joey Belladonna and original vocalist Neil Turbin, similar to the successful multi-era format utilized by Helloween, the frontman was open to the concept but acknowledged potential hurdles.
“I think it was really cool what Helloween did with all that. I think it’s a very creative, and it was something that I think I would like to do that. I think that probably the person that would have to be convinced would be Joey, quite frankly. And I understand whatever his perspective is on it, whether he doesn’t or does wanna do it. It’s up to him, really. And the band, of course. But I think everybody would have to feel like ‘I’m in’. Or not. And if you’re not, then don’t do it by any means.”
To bring the classic 1990s and early 2000s tracks to life, Bush recruited a powerhouse backing band consisting of his current Category 7 bandmates: Phil Demmel (guitar), Mike Orlando (guitar), and Jason Bittner (drums). They were joined by his lifelong Armored Saint collaborator Joey Vera on bass, who stepped in due to a scheduling conflict for Category 7 bassist Jack Gibson.
Adding to the demanding schedule of the night, Category 7 also served as the opening act before returning to the stage as the backing musicians for the headlining Anthrax material.
