Anthrax guitarist and lyricist Scott Ian was recently interviewed by Rockwell Anderson of Tattoo.com in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of the questions posed was, how does Anthrax decide which songs off a new album to include in its setlist to keep everybody happy?

Scott answered, "That doesn't exist. There's no such thing as keeping everybody happy, because, as the old saying goes, you can't please everybody — which is true."

"As far as the new songs go, they kind of speak up for themselves, I think, throughout the process of writing and then recording an album. And what I mean is that we kind of have a good idea, by the time we've tracked a bunch of songs, which ones are probably gonna be the lead tracks, good idea which one will be the first one we wanna put out. Certainly by the time we're mixing, we'll already start having a good idea of, 'All right, well, that one's definitely gonna be live first time around, for sure.' There'll be a solid three or four that we know, 'All right, we're definitely gonna play these,' and then there'll be some maybes, and then there's ones that you hope to just be able to get to through a touring cycle." 

"And that doesn't necessarily mean that they're not worthy of being played live, it's just… I don't know. It's been like that every album. The songs just kind of speak up and they tell us. It's kind of obvious, like I said — when we're mixing, we'll know. Like when we made Among The Living, we knew 'Caught In A Mosh' was gonna be in the set right away whereas maybe a song like 'One World', for whatever reason, maybe that was a deeper album track. I don't really know how to explain it. I would think most bands probably go through the same thing. You just kind of have a good feeling for what's gonna work live and maybe what people are gonna listen to in the comforts of their own home or something. I don't know."

Anthrax is currently on tour supporting Slayer on their farewell tour, remaining dates are listed below.

August
9 - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre - St. Louis, MO
10 - Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood - Atlanta, GA
12 - Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, TN
13 - Walmart AMP - Rogers, AR
15 - Freeman Coliseum - San Antonio, TX
16 - The Zoo Amphitheatre - Oklahoma City, OK
18 - Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre - Denver, CO
19 - USANA Amphitheatre - Salt Lake City, UT
21 - Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater - Boise, ID
23 - Sunlight Supply Amphitheater - Portland, OR
26 - SAP Center - San Jose, CA

November
1 - Dublin, Ireland - 3Arena
3 - London, England - Wembley Arena
5 - Cardiff, Wales - Motorpoint Arena
7 - Birmingham, England - BCA
9 - Manchester, England - Arena
10 - Newcastle, England - Metro Radio Arena
12 - Glasgow, Scotland - The Hydro SSE
14 - Dortmund, Germany - Westfalenhalle
15 - Zwolle, Netherlands - IJsselhallen
17 - Madrid, Spain - Palacio Vistalegre
18 - Barcelona, Spain - Palau Sant Jordi
20 - Milan, Italy - Mediolanum Forum
21 - Zurich, Switzerland - Halle 622
23 - Vienna, Austria - Stadthalle
24 - Freiburg, Germany - Sick Arena
26 - Hamburg, Germany - Barclaycard Arena
27 - Lodz, Poland - Atlas Arena
29 - Munich, Germany - Olympiahalle
30 - Erfurt, Germany - Messehalle

December
2 - Berlin, Germany - Mercedes-Benz Arena
3 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Royal Arena
5 - Stockholm, Sweden - Hovet
6 - Oslo, Norway - Spektrum
8 - Helsinki, Finland - Helsingin Jäähalli