THE ANTHRAX DRAMA CONTINUES
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 10:30am by Axl Rosenberg
Doesn’t Scott Ian seem like a really swell dude when you see him on TV? He’s not Lars Ulrich, who comes off as such a prick that when you hear he really is a prick you go, “Yeah, that makes sense.” If my only knowledge of Scott Ian was his VH1 appearances, though, I’d wanna invite the guy to my place to my Passover sedar.
But then you hear these stories that make you smack your forehead, like, say, suddenly inviting Joey Belladonna and Dan Spitz back to the band after the artistic (if not financial) triumph of We’ve Come for You All, and suddenly Ian – and his bandmates, for that matter – don’t seem like such nice fellas. To wit, this statement from Dan Nelson on his unceremonious departure from Anthrax:
“On the advice of counsel I have remained silent to the statements issued by Anthrax in recent days and now must address these issues to my loyal fans and others. I want to set the record straight.
“I was never seriously ill or sick at all, as reported in Anthrax’s 7/17/09 press release. This extremely inflammatory statement hurt me tremendously. This statement misled fans, friends and family members into believing that I was seriously ill when I was not. I was not aware such a statement was being issued and it came as a total shock to me, as I’m sure it did to all of you. It was the other band members’ decision to cancel the tour dates, not mine. I was ready, willing and able to do my job. After issuing the press release the other band members decided, on their own accord, that I had ‘resigned’ from the band. I never resigned from the band.
“Even in view of this action and stance taken by the band, as late as earlier today I made it clear that I was ready willing and able to continue to fulfill my obligations. After that offer was made the most recent press release was issued which announced my ‘confirmed’ departure from the band. I was not aware of the contents of this release until after it was issued, nor was I aware that Anthrax was canceling the European and Slipknot tours.
“I regret any disappointment and confusion this situation has caused. I want to thank my loyal fans, family and friends for all their support and their many messages, emails and calls. My counsel has been instructed to take any and all appropriate actions to address this situation.”
Now, we still haven’t really heard the band’s side of the story, but assuming Nelson is telling the truth – lying about him being ill is a dick move. Especially if he wasn’t consulted about it in advance. And lying about him quitting if he didn’t really quit is bullshit, too.
So while I’m really happy about the prospect of John Bush possibly returning to the fold, I wish it was under different circumstances.
Meanwhile, the release of Worship Music has been – no shock here – delayed indefinitely. But I know that someone out there has it. If it’s you, send it to me. I wanna hear if a Nelsonthrax was even worth caring about in the first place.
-AR
If this is really the case, then fuck Anthrax and hopefully Bush doesn’t get suckered back into this mess of a band.
Reality? Who cares…this is like a metal soap opera! Bloody marvellous!
This isn’t making any sense, actually. We need the band’s side of the story because all we’re getting is “these guys are dicks”. Now, that much was already established, but there’s no reasoning here. There’s “Oh, Dan Nelson is sick” and then “Oh, Dan Nelson quit” and then, “Oh, Dan Nelson has confirmed quitting”.
But why? did they just not like him, and then pull 3 simultaneous dick moves in rapid succession on him? That doesn’t sound right AT ALL, it doesn’t make logical sense. They’ve given people the boot before and there’s no reason they’d just quietly sweep him under the carpet before tour dates and before the album comes out. I don’t think Dan’s giving us the whole truth here, something more happened.
It seems to me that the guys in Anthrax would probably need a pretty good reason to go ahead with this, after having just recorded an album with the guy. I mean, this is going to cause them all kinds of headaches. Maybe the guy is really just an unbearable douchebag.
They should release the album without vocals and let the fans record their own.
That’s actually a great idea.
All isnt well in anthrax country, shame I was looking forward to hearing the album… so whos ready for World Painted Blood?
We get the “These guys are dicks” side of it because time and time again, Anthrax have proven that they are difficult to work with, or just greedy bastards, if you want to use the Belladonna reunion (2nd attempt) as proof. I’m not saying Dan is giving us the whole truth, but for the band to claim that he resigned while he didn’t even quit in the first place is pretty ridiculous. I hope Bush comes back, but here’s an analogy that makes me hope he doesn’t:
Man (Anthrax) has a fling with a high school girlfriend (Neil Turbin), they have one child (Fistful of Metal), but they’re not compatible and realize they’re too immature to work things out so they split up.
Man falls deeply in love with someone new (Belladonna), and they spend 8 crazy years together in which they’re both more successful than they could ever imagine, and they pop out 4 kids (albums) during this time, but the relationship is volatile and over time, they decide it’s not going to work out after all.
Man falls in love with a new woman (Bush), who brings out a side of the man he didn’t even know existed, and while they’re not as financially as successful as a couple as the past relationship, they both seem extremely happy, and also produce 4 children together. They even go so far as offering to make amends with the ex (the proposed dual singers tour of 2000) and bring out all of their children in a family reunion-type setting, but the ex could not stand to share the love with the new woman, and she bails out.
Unfortunately for the new love (Bush), the man cheated on her and left her by the wayside for the ex, not even a year after their last child together (We’ve Come For You All). The new lover was willing to stand by, but the man falsely accused the lover (Bush) of leaving him, which she claims was not the case. Unfortunately, those same old problems arose with the ex, and within a year, she was given the boot, too.
Lost, the man finds a younger love (Dan Nelson), this one who seemingly combines the best features of the former two lovers, while also being someone new and exciting. After the man spends a year trying to convince himself that he’s in love with someone new, he realizes he isn’t, and gives the new lover the boot, (again pretending that the lover left him, which was not the case) aborts their child (the album), and starts having sex (playing shows) with his most recent ex lover (John Bush). Should the recent ex take the man back?
Probably not… Having said that, I’m a huge John Bush fan and hopefully they can get their shit together and we can just pretend that nothing happened with this band between 2004 and 2009…
fantastic analogy. brilliantly put…
thats… a good way too put it
Wow, that was a fantastic story. More!
Cool, except for “aborts their child” at the end. Not being prudish, but it would make better artistic sense to find some other way of characterizing it. Besides, a man can’t have an abortion.
Other than that I really liked this.
I could care less. Anthrax needs to get their act together. It’s obvious Dan Nelson is probably a prick…. I mean he tries way to hard to be Phil Anselmo…. HE EVEN TRIES TO LOOK LIKE HIM (But counter acts it with wearing doucher emo women glasses). I donno maybe I’m just not into this Philcore thing.
Get Bush back… Armored Saint blows ass.
actually, those glasses make him look like the guy from creed…
Is it true that Nelson shat on Frank Bello’s back??? Unless that’s just a shitty (hehe) rumor.
I read that rumor too.
Looks like Scott and Charlie need to revise the employee handbook again.