Anthrax has shaped the heavy metal movement in America. The band recently released its 10th studio album, Worship Music, which brings back the band’s early sound with the re-emergence of lead vocalist Joey Belladonna. I love heavy metal guitars, so it was a privilege to speak to one of the all time metal guitar greats, Scott Ian, to preview their performance at Mayhem Fest Tuesday at Riverbend Music Center.

CityBeat caught up with Ian to discuss the highlights of Mayhem so far and how being a father has changed his perspective on life and music.

CityBeat: What has been the highlight of Mayhem Fest so far for you?

Scott Ian: For me personally it is just the overall vibe. This is the first time we have done a U.S. festival traveling tour in the summer. We kind of knew what to expect since we are friends with Slayer, Slipknot and Motorhead, but it has been so much fun to hang with our friends. The crew and everyone who works with Mayhem have been great and it really is a big family vibe out here. It is a really great place to show up for work.

CB: What has it been like having Joey back the past few tours with the band?

SI: It’s been like two and a half years already. Hopefully that answers the question. It is obviously been going great. We couldn’t be happier with the record we made. We couldn’t be happier with the way shows have been going. I think this is by far the best version of Anthrax that we have ever had. 

CB: You became a father last year for the first time. Has this changed your perspective on writing music or life in general?

SI: I haven’t really written yet since he was born because we have been in touring mode. One way that my perspective overall has changed is now having this person in my life that I love beyond anything I can comprehend. It makes me hate the human race even more because of all the pressure that comes with raising a child and wanting to protect him. People ask what do you have to be angry about and there is plenty to be pissed off about now. Look at what happened in Colorado last night with the guy shooting people in a movie theater. It sickens me to the pit of my stomach for a million reasons. What if that was my child in the movie theater?

CB: It is terrible and it is beyond my comprehension how that can happen.

SI: Up until he was born, I had my wife and close family but they are adults and are responsible for themselves. Now we have this person that is 100 percent helpless and relies on us to take care of him, so there is this protective instinct that showed up as soon as he was born. I think that will have a big impact on my writing in the future when the time comes.

CB: Do they come visit you on the road?

SI: Yes they are here right now and have been with me for 10 days.

CB: What is the longest you have gone without playing guitar?

SI: Probably way back in 1977 when I broke my wrist at a skateboard park and I couldn’t play guitar for two months because I had a cast on. I was so bummed that I couldn’t play guitar that I pretty much gave up any type of fancy skateboarding on ramps or pools. The guitar was definitely more of a priority. 

CB: What is the biggest difference for you touring versus in the 1980s?

SI: Sometimes we sit around and talk about how did we ever get anything done before we had cell phones and laptops? In the ’80s no one even knew what a cell phone was. I remember the first time a tour manager had that big briefcase thing with a phone in it and it was something like $18 a minute to use it. The idea that we were able to do stuff back then and everything got done is amazing. I try to think about how it got done and I have no idea how we made it through one day let alone a whole tour without the technology.

CB: What habit would you like to break?

SI: I don’t know. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink excessively. My wife is saying talking with my mouth full so I guess I will go with that as a born and bred New Yorker.

CB: What adjectives do you hope describe you at 75?

SI: I hope when I am 75 no one has anything to say about me. I hope the only thing they say is “What ever happened to that guy?” because I am so far off the grid by that point.

CB: I doubt that will happen.

SI: No, we will probably still be playing music and people will say “I can’t believe he is still banging his head.”

CB: What has been your craziest fan story over the past few years?

SI: The craziest audiences in the world are in South America in Chile with the craziest fans overall. We do a signing every day at the Rockstar Energy Drink tent and we get to meet a lot of fans every day on this tour. Anyone who would get anything Anthrax related tattooed on their body is amazing to me. I can’t really call it too crazy because I have Gene Simmons and Angus from AC/DC tattooed on me. I understand that point of view of being such a fan that you would be willing to make that commitment but being the guy in Anthrax and seeing an Anthrax-related tattoo makes you feel great because I know the commitment and I know how much Anthrax must mean to them. 

CB: What is the best guitar solo of all time?

SI: Eddie Van Halen “Eruption.”

Anthrax performs July 24 at Mayhem Fest at Riverbend Music Center. More information: rockstarmayhemfest.com.

Motörhead are Metal gods. They’ve been rocking arenas and stadiums for 37 years and are currently out on the Mayhem Tour with Anthrax and other major acts of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock. They’ve released 21 albums and have played in front of millions across the world with the loyal support of their super-fans, the Motörheadbangers.

CityBeat spoke with guitar player Phil Campbell to preview their set today Riverbend. They spoke about how life in the band continues to thrive on the road after so many years and his impressive collection of guitars. Mayhem Fest will rock Cincinnati Tuesday and will also feature Anthrax, Slayer, Slipknot and The Devil Wears Prada.

CityBeat: What has been the craziest story from Mayhem so far for you guys?

Phil Campbell: We had a good party the other night. It was a costume party. All our band and crew went dressed pretty strange. There were quite a few strange costumes there. I think Lemmy and his assistant went as the Blues Brothers. I dressed as a clown. Mickey dressed as a frog. One of our crew dressed as Larry King. That was pretty good. It was a good party anyway. We are just too busy to get wild at the moment. 

CB: You guys are famous for your pranks on the road. Have you played any pranks on any of the other bands yet?

PC: No not yet. We leave that for the end.

CB: What is the best and worst part of being out on the road now? You guys have been touring for 30 years. 

PC: You are home for three weeks and then you are ready to come on the road for two months. You are dying get back home. We are not really complainers. One of the worst parts obviously is not having your family there, home comforts and your dogs and things like that. The food can be tough because you really don’t have much choice. That’s not particularly good. The best part is you don’t have to get up early in the morning anymore. We sleep in until really late so that’s very cool.

CB: What is your favorite guitar to play?

PC: My favorite guitar? I just bought a 1957 Les Paul a couple weeks ago so that is probably my favorite now.

CB: I know you have over 260. Do you rotate them in during the shows or do you pretty much stick with the same ones for the live performances?

PC: No I have about 12 on the road at any given time, so sometimes I rotate a couple. Some of the real amazing ones I don’t really want to take on the road. They are safer in different storage locations, but I have plenty to choose from.

CB: Any regrets through the years?

PC: No, not really, none. It has been pretty good. It has been a privilege to be able to play music for people who enjoy our music. No, no major regrets, no.

CB: Supergroups are very popular right now with bands like Chickenfoot and musicians doing side projects. If you could put together a dream supergroup who would you want to play with from any band?

PC: Elton John, Adam Jones from Tool, David Bato on the drums and Victor Wooten on bass.

CB: That’s pretty good. I know your children are also in bands. Have you thought about recording with them anytime in the future?

PC: Yeah, they are doing really good. I have some children in a band called Straight Lines. They have their second album out and they are doing lots of shows. They have great reviews in all the magazines and everything. Hopefully they will be doing the Warped Tour next summer. Another is in a band called Inside the Trees but they changed their name to The People’s Poet and they are recording their new album now, as we speak. It’s a quite different kind of music. They have their own sound as well. They are all doing really well.

CB: Do you ever play with them?

PC: I used to when they were younger but they won’t let me play anymore. I’m not good enough. 

CB: They tell me you are a Lord. How did that process come about to become Lord Axesmith? 

PC: I applied. The title goes back 500 years, Lord of Axesmith. It’s on my credit cards now and everything. I am an honorary member of the Knight’s Templar of Brittannia. It is a bit of fun when the crew has to call me “My Lord.”

CB: I was going to ask you what the best part is of being a Lord but that’s probably it, people have to address you as Lord. 

PC: When we are at restaurants and they ask for the name of the party, if you say Lord Axesmith then you know they will give you a good table. Even before I became Lord Axesmith, I was told it did the trick. 

CB: What can the fans look forward to from the Motörhead show in Cincinnati on Tuesday?

PC: Just another killer Motörhead show. It is only going to be about 50 minutes long because we have to have all the other bands on. So it will be loud and nobody will be disappointed.

The avant chamber music festival, MusicNow, returns to Memorial Hall on March 11 and March 12. The "big get" this year is the Kronos Quartet, a brilliant, legendary string troupe that hasn't played in Cincinnati in 20 years. Kronos plays both nights of the event, performing music by Jim Thirwell and Glenn Branca, as well as a new piece by Richard Reed Parry of Bell Orchestre and Arcade Fire.

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Music Tonight: Rootsy Connecticut-based trio Plume Giant performs at the Rohs Street Cafe in Clifton Heights with Columbus, Ohio's Deadwood Floats and Cincinnati's own Molly Sullivan (check out Sullivan's lovely, unique track "Bad Weather" here). Plume Giant released its self-titled debut EP last year, drawing praise from Seattle to New Haven, and travelled up and down the east coast in support. The Indie Folk trio — built around timeless songs, amazing three-part harmonies and pure, naked acoustic guitar/viola/violin backing — is taking on the Midwest this month, touring in advance of its first full-length, due this coming spring. Click here to listen to the EP and enjoy the Plume Giant song "Old Joe the Crow," performed live below.

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Rockers Papa Roach hit the scene in 2000 with their most successful studio album, Infest. Six albums later, they are still headlining tours and festivals across the country including this weekend’s Rock on the Range in Columbus. 

I was able to catch up with the man behind the music, Jacoby Shaddix, the lead vocalist. The two discussed the hard times and redemption that led to Papa Roach's most recent album, The Connection, released late last year. 

Papa Roach plays Rock on the Range's Main Stage Saturday afternoon, getting the night ready for Three Days Grace, Stone Sour and The Smashing Pumpkins. Find full Rock on the Range details here.

CityBeat: What is your favorite Rock on the Range memory?

Jacoby Shaddix: Shit man, coming in headlining the second stage and utterly fucking demolishing it and being the only band asked back the next year to play the Main Stage and crushing it again.

CB: If you could trade places with anybody for one month who would it be?

JS: My wife.

CB: Why?

JS: I just want both of us to live our lives in each other’s shoes for a month. I think we both would learn a lot. I know that it is not the super mega-kick ass Rock star answer, but that is some real shit.

CB: I know you wrote the last album through some of the toughest times of your life. Are any of the songs hard to play for you personally?

JS: No, they are just really good reminders. It is like I had to re-calibrate my life and re-focus myself on what my priorities were in my life and what was important to me and where I wanted to put myself five years from now and 10 years from now. All the decisions I made in the process of making this record I believe are some of the most important decisions that I’ll make in my lifetime. I think the songs are real good reminders of that desperate place that I once was.

CB: Well my favorite song on the album when it came out was “Where Did the Angels Go”…

JS: We had a No. 1 Rock track with that song, which was fucking awesome.

CB: Can you tell me the story behind the song?

JS: As we were making the record, me and my wife had split up at that time and I was strung out again. It is no secret that I have substance abuse issues and I was caught up again and I finally decided that enough is enough. I had to stop and that just utter desperation of hanging on to life by a thread and just feeling completely alone and so broken and not really knowing if I was going to be OK. I just finally realized how much my demons ate me alive and it was time to get myself back and that is where that song came from, utter desperation.

CB: Is it hard to be on the road and stay sober?

JS: Not this time around. It used to be really hard. I have a network of sober musicians I stay really close with and I have a support group through that. 

It is finally clear to me in my life I can’t fucking drink, I can’t do drugs, because it eats me alive. I am finally on the road enjoying my life. I faced a lot of demons in the process of getting sober again and I finally put a lot of stuff to rest. I am trying to work on being in the moment, like some of that Buddhist-type culture philosophy — if I am not here now then what is the point? If I am not feeling the moment, then what is the point of my life. Just focusing on that, my spirituality makes all this other stuff that goes on out here on the road way more tolerable and way more fun. 

CB: Have you ever had an experience that led you to believe in angels?

JS: I don’t necessarily have a grasp on the idea of angels. I have an understanding of people that have come like saviors in a sense, people that have been sent to me by my higher power to show me and guide me out of the darkness. I had to be broken down to realize I needed help.

CB: People have shown up at the right time?

JS: Yes.

CB: If you could ask one question to a psychic about your future what would you ask?

JS: I wouldn’t ask anything. I wouldn’t want to know. What do you want to know? Are you going to live different or some shit? I’d rather let it be. Let the future be what it is going to be.

CB: What does your perfect day look like?

JS: Perfect day — wake up next to my wife, sex right off the bat. Then go downstairs and cook breakfast for my kids, take them to school, go for a run, dance with my wife, go fishing with my brother-in-law in the bayou swamp, stretch out and warm up, play a Rock & Roll show, then fall asleep next to my wife. That sounds pretty fucking kick ass.

CB: I know your songs that you write are very autobiographical. Have you considered writing a book or a memoir in the future?

JS: Oh definitely, that is something I am going to definitely do in my life. 100 percent.

CB: No immediate plans?

JS: No immediate plans, but I have put pen to paper. It is something that I can craft as I go along.

CB: What can the fans expect this weekend at Rock on the Range?

JS: A fan that is on fucking fire. We have been doing these festivals, May is a big festival month, and we have been fucking annihilating audiences. We just devastated Carolina Rebellion, just ripped that shit up, we had a great show. Fort Rock in Florida, Rockville down in Florida. Memphis in May was awesome at the Beale Street Festival. That was rippin’. I just feel like we are tuned up and primed for these big festivals. I have to say, all these other bands, bring your fucking A-game because P Roach is coming to town and we have come to rip it.

CB: Memphis was awesome. I saw most of the set. It was awesome. It was great as always. I look forward to shooting you guys again. Smile for the camera on Saturday.

JS: Fuck yeah. Cool. We will see you Saturday.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' Blues- and Folk-tinged sound is a wake-up call to the shift in the music quality that is overtaking American Rock music right now. The band continues to promote its 2010 self-titled album, which has given them their biggest spike in popularity, in part due to hit single, “Paris (Ooh La La).” Her current Country collaboration with Kenny Chesney, “You and Tequila,” is also getting heavy radio play right now. CityBeat spoke with Potter to preview her appearance in Cincinnati Friday at PNC Pavilion.

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I attended my first South By Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., over 15 years ago to cover local Funk group SHAG's appearance at the festival for a much younger CityBeat. It seemed exciting back then that one of Cincinnati's biggest bands was invited to showcase at SXSW. This year, the amount of acts from the area performing is unprecedented — never has Cincinnati had such a presence at America’s premier music fan/industry showcase and conference (which starts a week from today).

And it’s not just performers. Representatives from local promo company The Counter Rhythm Group will be on hand in force, venture development group CincyTech is hosting regular chats as well as a Cincinnati hospitality headquarters and party in Austin and the progressive promotional/licensing machine The All Night Party is sponsoring both a tour centered around the Texas festival and its own showcase night at the event, a first for a local organization.

And, as we have most SXSWs over the past 17 years, CityBeat will have a reporter on the scene providing regular updates for this here blog. Be sure to check back often starting next week and see how are hometown heroes are doing.

Here’s an overview of just some of the Cincy-centric happenings related to SXSW 2012:

• The All Night Party presents the Midwest by Southwest tour (also sponsored by this summer’s Bunbury Music Festival and assisted by Counter Rhythm and Reveal Concepts) featuring, as the tagline reads, “Four Midwestern Bands — On A Mission to Rock.” The tour has Cincinnati bands The Sundresses (repeat visitors to SXSW) and Wussy, as well as Cleveland rockers The Whiskey Daredevils and Lexington’s Oh My Me. The jaunt begins Thursday at Mount Lookout’s The Redmoor. (Doors open at 6 p.m., showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets are $10.) MWXSW will hit several other cities before and after the ANP SXSW showcase Tuesday at the Soho Lounge. The Lions Rampant will appear on the bill in Austin, as well.

If you'd like to help the caravan out, there is a Kickstarter campaign with some cool perks you can check out here. (Quick, only three days left!) Here's the promo vid:

• R. Ring, the acoustic duo featuring local musician/engineer Mike Montgomery (thistle, Ampline) and Dayton, Ohio’s Kelley Deal (Breeders), will perform at a showcase hosted by the Misra label on March 15. Misra is releasing the twosome’s first single in a few months, with a full-length to follow.

• Ohio Knife, a new duo project from The Chocolate Horse’s Jason Snell, Andrew Higley and Joe Suer, is also headed to Austin and the local branch of branding agency Landor is tagging along. The company is hosting a travelogue website here so you can follow along at home. Ohio Knife plays a tour kickoff show Friday at The Comet in Northside. The band will hit other clubs in Tennessee and Texas along its way to SXSW.

• Local Indie Pop faves Pomegranates are now labelmates (on the Modern Outsider imprint) with fellow Cincy band Bad Veins. While the Veins won’t be performing in Texas (they’re preparing their own tour launch March 19 in Colorado), the Poms will play the official Modern Outsider SXSW showcase on March 14 at Trinity Hall.

• Indie/Folk/Electro/Pop powerhouse The Seedy Seeds took part in a SXSW launch party a couple of weeks ago. The band performs at the All Night Party showcase Tuesday.

• Eccentric breakout rockers Foxy Shazam are one of the headliners of a showcase presented by the huge booking company The Agency Group on March 15 at Latitude 30; the day before they’ll play an afternoon party.

• Cincy RCA Records recording artists Walk the Moon aren’t technically “showcasing” for SXSW, but they will be in Austin for the MTVu Woodie Awards ceremony and festival held in during SXSW, where they’ll be performing and hoping to score the Breaking Woodie award they’re competing for against acts like tUnE-YarDs and Lana Del Rey. Vote for the hometown boys here, where you can also watch a live stream from the March 15 festival.

It's time to get liquored up on whiskey, slog through the humid summer heat and make that deal with the devil down at the river again. Yes, the Cincy Blues Fest itinerary has officially been announced for 2009. The summer celebration of America’s original musical art form has been going strong for 17 years.

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