Scott Ian is Hopeful That Anthrax’s Next Album Will Be Done “By Christmas [or] New Year’s”
There’s been a lot of talk about Anthrax‘s follow up to 2016’s For All Kings, with members of the band stating at various points that they’ve been in the studio doing the work. And while drummer Charlie Benante is off kicking ass with Pantera and guitarist Scott Ian has some upcoming Mr. Bungle dates, it apparently hasn’t been easy to get everyone in the studio at once.
During a recent appearance on Trunk Nation, Ian gave a progress report on the upcoming record. One key element of the process this go around, he said, was the fact that everyone has been making time to chip in when they can, regardless of whether they can make it out to the studio in Los Angeles or if they’re doing the work from home, as is the case with guitarist Jon Donais.
“We had a session here in L.A., Charlie [Benante, drums], Frankie [Bello, bass/vocals] and I tracked nine songs. I finished the guitars on those right before we went to New York—sometime in June, something like that. Frankie is currently in L.A. tracking bass on those songs…
“I’m going to the studio Friday, since I’ve had time, like a month to live with my guitar tracks, I’ve heard lots of things that I think are very cool to add, so I’m going in Friday to spend a day doing some overdubs. [Guitarist, Jon] Donais‘s already working on solos back East at his home studio and I am working on lyrics. So I think we’re well into it, let’s put it that way.
“There’s gonna be another recording session, October, maybe November—Charlie‘s got these two windows to get in because we have another four or five that we wanna track. And we’re hoping that if things just say on the very loose schedule we have I’d like to think that by Christmas/New Year’s we’ll have most of this wrapped up. Maybe not mixed, but certainly all recorded by then.”
“My goal is to have three songs ready for [Joey Belladonna] to sing on by next month. And then from there, Joey, it doesn’t take him very long. Once he kinda wraps his head around it and kinda runs it through his filter, he’s a fast worker. So once he starts it doesn’t take long.
“I think it’s more the onus on me of being happy with the lyrics I’m writing. I actually had three or four songs written months ago, and then I revisited them like a month ago and I threw ’em all in the garbage. I was just like ‘this is crap.’ But I’m in a much better place with that now.”
It’s exciting as hell to think we could potentially get a new batch of Anthrax music as soon as early next year, if all goes according to plan. Still, a lot goes into an album, so we’re a ways away from that becoming a reality. Here’s hoping we’ll hear something soon!
