Happy anniversary Anthrax! The band turned 35 years old on July 18th and to celebrate they've posted a new fan-made video of the track "Antisocial" featuring highlights from throughout the band's career. The clip, created by David Taylor, offers a mix of the modern day lineup playing the track with archival footage of the track being performed by the group throughout the years.
Reflecting on the anniversary, Anthrax co-founder Scott Ian states, "Thirty-five years have passed since that day and my life has changed profoundly. I am a husband, I am a father. I am a long way from the 17-year-old soon-to-be-college dropout who co-founded a heavy metal band. The only thing that hasn't changed in 35 years, the one constant, is that I am still the rhythm guitar player in Anthrax. It's what I GET to do. I GET to play in a band and I never take that for granted."
Longtime drummer Charlie Benante, who joined the band in 1983, looks back on their history and recalls their appearance on FOX's popular sitcom Married ! With Children. He recalls, "We had such a ball doing that show. We taped the episode twice, once in the afternoon then another one in the evening, which was done with rewrites. They changed some of our lines, but we got bigger laughs the second time so it was all worth it. After the show, we went to a sit-down dinner with the entire cast and crew at a restaurant in Hollywood. Here I am sitting next to Al Bundy [played by actor Ed O'Neill), and I look over at the booth across from us, and there are Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman having dinner. Al said, 'hey, let's go talk to Clint and Morgan,' and I went 'whaaaaa???' He took us over there and introduced us to them ' and I'm thinking 'where am I? Am I here right now? This is actually happening?' It was just surreal. That stands out as one of the highlights. It wasn't really a musical thing, but music got us to that. I'm just a guy in a band making music!what am I doing here with these stars?"
The band's newest member, guitarist Jon Donais, shares his own favorite memory from Anthrax's past. "It was probably 1989 or '90, whenever the 'Antisocial' video blew up at Dial MTV," he remembers. "It was the first time I'd ever heard Anthrax, and I immediately fell in love with the band." He adds, "I brought a tape of the Dial MTV performance to my guitar teacher and told him I wanted to learn how to play it. Now I get to play every night with the band!"
For Ian, he says his favorite moment was getting to play Yankee Stadium. "My ONE thing of thousands of things I've done in Anthrax that stands out the most in the world would be playing Yankee Stadium," he said, referencing The Big Four's second of only two U.S. concerts, held on Sept. 14, 2011. "For me that is the pinnacle. My mecca. The most New York thing a New York band could ever do. I got to play on stage on the field, in the building where so many of my heroes since I was a child played. It was surreal and overwhelming and I was in tears almost the entire first song, I had so much emotion pouring out of me. Like the words to the song say, I was 'King of the hill, top of the heap.'"
"So, to quote the Scottish poet Robbie Burns," Ian adds,"'Here's to us; who is as good as us? Damn few, and they're all dead.' Thank you my friends!35 and counting."
Anthrax released their For All Kings album earlier this year and will continue to celebrate their 35th anniversary throughout the year. See their remaining tour dates here.
