The legendary Anthrax guitarist, Scott Ian, was the guest on “My Favorite Riff” series, a project from Mötley Crüe’s bassist Nikki Sixx. On this talk Scott plays some Anthrax riffs, talks about the power of the chord, and how he became a rhythm guitarist.
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Scott Ian
Scott Ian isbest known as the rhythm guitarist, backing and additional lead vocalist, and the only remaining original founding member of the thrash metal band Anthrax. He also writes the lyrics on all their albums.
Ian is the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death. He has hosted The Rock Show on VH1 and has appeared on VH1’s I Love the… series, Heavy: The Story of Metal and Supergroup (TV series). Ian is also the rhythm guitarist for the metal band The Damned Things.
Life
Born Scott Ian Rosenfeld (name has since been legally changed) to a Jewish family[3] in the Bayside section of the New York City borough of Queens, he has a younger brother named Jason (who was involved briefly with Anthrax) and a half-brother named Sean. Scott attended Bayside High School, with classmates (and future Anthrax bandmates) Dan Lilker and Neil Turbin of the graduating class of 1981.
Witnessing Kiss live at Madison Square Garden in 1977 made a huge impact on Ian, who has been vocal about his love for the band, and appeared on an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, in which he visited Simmons’ home and spoke about the impact Kiss had on his life.
Ian went on to be influenced by British heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Judas Priest, as well as the punk rock band, the Ramones as an influence. Ian then discovered at the age of 12 that he knew he could become a famous hard rock/heavy metal star. The musical style of his playing and songwriting including fast alternate picking was also largely influenced by the German metal band Accept.
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