Scott Ian Talks About Dan Nelson and Anthrax

Metal Hammer spoke exclusively with Scott Ian today about Dan Nelson’s departure from Anthrax, working with John Bush again, and the future of Anthrax in general.  The controversial back and forth about Dan Nelson’s firing, I mean quitting, oops, I mean illness is actually getting quite old.

In my opinion, while talented, Dan Nelson wasn’t with Anthrax long enough for the story of his leaving to warrant more than 3 days or so of front page metal news. So unless John Bush decides to permanently rejoin the band, I’ll probably leave this story with Scott Ian’s words.

Says Ian:

“We stand by every word in our official statement. Because all we’ve done is make public exactly what Dan told us. He certainly was not fired – he quit the band, and we accepted his resignation. As for those comments about being fit to go on the road, and that we pulled the tour for other reasons…since Charlie (Benante, drums) join us in 1983, we’ve only ever cancelled one gig. That was in Düsseldorf in 1987, when Charlie was running a really high fever, and we had to send him to London for treatment. When we didn’t make it onto the plane to go to Sweden recently, to start our European run of dates, it went against every molecule in my body, and the same goes for the rest of the band.

“As a band, we learnt a long time ago that in these situations, it’s always best to tell the truth, If you lie, then it comes back to bite you in the ass. That’s why we were careful at every step to put things exactly the way Dan had told them to us. Why has he changed his story now? I can only assume it’s to save his own skin, and to avoid being seen as the bad guy. I can’t say that I blame him. But we have absolutely been completely truthful.”

Read the entire story at Metal Hammer, and tell me what you think… fired? Quit? Does it even matter why it happened?

[image: Newscom]