Anthrax's Scott Ian & Slayer's Kerry King Share Dimebag Darrell Drinking Stories
When metal guitarists Scott Ian and Kerry King (of Anthrax and Slayer, respectively) got together to discuss their recent Metal Masters 4 concert in New York, Fuse had the distinct honor of hearing the two axemen share their recollections of partying with the late, great thrash guitarist Dimebag Darrell.
"He's one of the few people on the planet I've ever seen that was able to drink the way he drank starting at 5 in the afternoon and then get onstage at 9, 9:30 and still rip it up," Ian says. "It just made him loose," King agrees. "It got him in the vibe to play."
The Anthrax shredder explains why his time with Dimebag was more booze-soaked than any regular old alcohol-fueled metal tour. "My normal rules went out the window when I played with those guys. I would try to keep it to a minimum and say, 'I'm not doing more than three shots with you before I play.' But then they're walking onstage and handing me drinks in the middle of a set or pouring 'em down your throat. Any time I toured with those guys was the drunkest I've been in my life."
Ian also recalls hitting the strip club with an all-star roster of metal madmen that included Dimebag. "I do remember a night in New York where randomly, somehow Frankie [Bello of Anthrax] Vinnie Paul [of Pantera], Darrell, Tommy Lee and Gene Simmons all ended up together at [the strip club] Scores. We ended up in a private room and for three or four hours I'm sitting next to Dime with a stripper on my lap constantly. There never wasn't a girl on my lap and there was always someone refilling my drinks. I remember saying to somebody afterward, 'Who paid for that? What did we do?' And the next day in the New York Post I saw a story, 'Tommy Lee dropped 28 grand at Scores last night.' So I guess I owe Tommy a thank you."
To hear King and Ian get into why hair metal bands get more groupies than hardcore metal acts ("We don't have any groupie stories, and it's not because I'm married," King laughs), check out the full interview above.
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