Scott Ian from Anthrax at Nova Rock 2014
Most of us know Scott Ian as a musician. More precisely, he’s a rhythm guitarist and occasional vocalist, and the founder and only remaining original member of the Queens-based heavy metal group called Anthrax. While all that is true, he is also a man of many talents and interests. Some of the facts about his life are pretty interesting, too.
Scott Ian is married. This is pretty usual, except his wedding attire consisted of Bermuda shorts, trainers, and a regular T-shirt. From what I gathered, this wasn’t supposed to be a casual ceremony as this outfit would suggest. Who was the father of the bride? The famous musician/singer/writer/actor/producer best known by his stage name Meat Loaf.
However, music was undoubtedly Scott’s first love. He was sure about their long-lasting relationship early on. Besides his main musical commitment and a few associated acts (best known as the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death), he found the time for many side projects with fellow musicians.
Anthrax’s Scott Ian
He’s also a prolific artist who gets inspiration from other things he’s passionate about. Some of those things have infiltrated his lyrics, which was easy enough considering Ian was the go-to man in terms of songwriting. Case in point, he is a true horror series and comic book fan and was even asked to write something for the character of Lobo, which subsequently became part of the book Lobo: Highway to Hell in 2009. Additionally, the song “I Am the Law” is based on the Judge Dredd character – a futuristic cop representing authority in dystopian America. The same album (Among the Living) also brought two Stephen King references. The title track is about the villain Randall Flagg, who was featured in various King’s novels and The Skeleton in the Closet mentions his less known work, a novella titled Apt Pupil.
Anthrax’s front man, as a public figure, proved to be a very direct and outspoken man who is not afraid to defend his opinions. He often has something to say and is considered quite the storyteller. This is probably why he decided to start a series of performances called “Speaking Words” where he would talk about industry relationships, interesting people, events, and whatnot such as the colorful personality of the late Motorhead’s frontman Lemmy Kilmister. He has been featured in many TV projects regarding the music business and hosted Rock Show on VH1 in 2001. Over the course of 48 episodes, he interviewed many famous bands and performers including Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, Tenacious D, and others.
More surprisingly, he apparently has a thing for zombies, as he had himself characterized as one on a couple occasions, appearing on a webisode as well as a regular episode of The Walking Dead. More recently, he turned into a White Walker (also a kind of undead creature) for the popular Game of Thrones series.
Scott Ian is also an amateur poker player, alongside quite a few of his fellow metal musicians. He treats the matter rather seriously, playing a lot online with things such as PKV games, and often taking part in major tournaments including unofficial championships (World Series of Poker). This is always a big deal that attracts many contestants and generates a lot of profits. According to the statistics from the 2017 edition of the World Series, it broke some serious records including more than 120,000 entries in all the events and offers over $230 million in prize money. This just goes to show the popularity increases and also how many people are playing online poker real money tournaments. They can earn money from winning without even having to leave their house! It’s a hobby for a lot of people and has become much more mainstream in recent years. Many films have been made about the game although a lot of the current players get started on something like this malaysia slot game site, for example, and then they start investing more and more money into their poker as their confidence grows. Those looking to enter next time around may want to consider playing on online casinos to hone their skills and have some fun from home – check out this review to learn about one such site that is well worth investigating.
Ian also has some more normal hobbies. He likes snowboarding and baseball – he’s a New York Yankees fan. He listens to hip-hop music (Public Enemy, Run-DMC in particular). He follows the sci-fi shows Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica, and sometimes, he blogs about the latter. Finally, he owns a bar in Las Vegas called Dead Man’s Hand with his buddy Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.
Most of Scott Ian’s fascinating interests show us how busy and complex the guy is. It also makes you wonder when he finds the time for all this. One thing is for sure, those interesting facts about him reveal certainly provide a better insight into the artist and the man that is Scott Ian. Not to mention make up a hell of a trivia game.
