ANTHRAX Guitarist SCOTT IAN: 'My Christmas Came Early This Year'

ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"It's a week before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for the shambling oozing disemboweled zombie that just crashed out of your closet and he's gotten a hold of you and he's biting a huge chunk of flesh out of your neck!!!!!

"I can't stop thinking about zombies, even at Christmas! I am consumed (no pun intended) by them. Go get 'The Zombie Survival Guide' by Max Brooks. This book will save your life (if the zombies come).

"My Christmas came early this year. I was just in NYC for the Roadrunner Records 25th Anniversary party. They assembled an all-star band to play classic songs from the Roadrunner catalog, from ANNIHILATOR to TRIVIUM and everything in between. The core band was Joey Jordison [SLIPKNOT] and Roy Mayorga (SOULFLY) on drums, Paul Gray [SLIPKNOT] and Adam Duce [MACHINE HEAD] on bass, Dino Cazares [ex-FEAR FACTORY] on guitar and Andreas Kisser [SEPULTURA] on guitar. The reason they had multiple musicians was that there were so many songs to learn. It would be tough for one drummer to play for three hours!! The idea was to have different singers and guitar players come up and jam. I got asked to be a part of this a few months ago and I immediately said yes. My only request was that I get to play 'Refuse/Resist' and 'Roots Bloody Roots' (with Robb Flynn singing!!) from SEPULTURA and I got to play both of them!! I also played on 'River Runs Red' from LIFE OF AGONY (with Keith Caputo singing!!) and 'Sic' from SLIPKNOT with Corey Taylor singing!!!

"Let me back up a bit. I went to rehearse with these guys a week before the show here in L.A. Walking into this small rehearsal room with all these metal heroes was incredible. The energy was so cool. We were all so happy to get to play together. I have always wanted to play 'Roots' with Andreas. Playing that song was truly a dream come true for me. In rehearsal we'd all stand in a circle and just have the biggest smiles on our faces like a bunch of kids jamming for the first time. It was the same at the dress rehearsal in NYC when the rest of the musicians came to practice. Everyone was so excited to be a part of this. We were all running around with cameras taking pictures and getting people to sign stuff. It was so cool to be in a room full of guys that have all been doing this forever and feel like it was the first time. And in a way it was because we'd never played together in these combinations before. We became the world's greatest cover band!!

"I got to meet Glen Benton from DEICIDE. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated when I saw him at rehearsal. He's as true as they come and I just felt like he would think that I was not metal enough or something stupid like that. We met and he is the nicest guy ever. Totally cool. I enjoyed talking to him and hanging out. It shows you to never judge a book by its cover. You'd think after all these years I would know that. It's just that Glen looked pretty fucking scary!!!

"I have to thank Roadrunner for asking me to be a part of this now legendary night. It turns out that ANTHRAX was actually distributed by Roadrunner in Europe back in the '80s so I was actually a part of the family at one point.

"This event was so musically inspiring and I made new friends, caught up with old friends and had the most fun I've had in a long time.

"Here's to 25 more years!!!!"

Check out Scott's pictures from Roadrunner Records' 25th anniversary concert and the pre-show rehearsals at this location.