Anthrax’s Scott Ian talks about his welcome “return home” to Jackson at the 2010 Sonisphere Festival in England.
Last year’s Sonisphere Festival at the historical Knebworth site in England was the U.K. debut of this hard-rock/metal marathon, which featured myriad bands over an intense weekend of good ol’ fashioned musical debauchery. Jackson was there in force with its own stage and a Riff ‘n’ Destroy competition that went down the proverbial storm. As soon as we heard the festival would be back in 2010, we immediately signed up—but this time we set up camp in the massive backstage area. How was it? It didn’t suck!
A couple of other entities who were there the first year also returned—the always magnificent Alice in Chains and metal-thrashing New York maniacs Anthrax. What made Anthrax’s appearance even more special was the fact that they were fronted by the one and only Joey Belladonna. Simply put, their short-but-sweet set kicked major ass and left the crowd begging for more, as the below photo proves:
After conquering the 80,000-plus crowd, Scott managed to find time to give us an exclusive interview in our backstage den. A humble porta-cabin, made infinitely more comfortable by a bunch of cool amps and axes … plus 240 (yes 240!) 16-ounce cans of Red Stripe lager! As the Boy Scouts like to say, “Be prepared.” Obviously we did. Here’s Scott’s interview, and enjoy …