Scott Ian's "Speaking Words" Tour

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian flew over to the U.K. earlier this year for his one-man ‘Speaking Words’ tour. After a successful run overseas, Ian is bringing his spoken-word show to North America.

Inspired by Black Flag / Rollins Band vocalist Henry Rollins, Ian performed his first ‘Speaking Words’ show in May. Fans of Anthrax in the U.K. were entertained by the life and times of Scott Ian, so it comes as great news that the thrash titan will open himself up to North American audiences.

“The last 32 years of my life spent in a metal band; I’ve got so many stories,” says Ian, “whether it’s s–t that I’ve done, people that I’ve met, stories that I know from other people … I’ve kinda been in this bubble for so long. I sit around in bars with my friends and I’ll get around to telling stories, as we all do, and most of my friends are in this industry or connected to it somehow, so we all have stories and we all sit down and tell stories to each other and crack each other up.”

Ian continues, “I always felt that people need to hear this stuff. This s–t is hilarious. It’s just a really fun thing for me to do, to relate to people on that level. That’s what it is. That’s what the material is; it’s s–t that I have been through in my life.”

Check out Scott Ian’s new North American ‘Speaking Words‘ tour dates below!

Scott Ian ‘Speaking Words’ North American Dates:

02/20 – Chicago, Ill. @ Maynestage
02/21 – Detroit, Mich. @ Token Lounge
02/25 – Toronto, Ontario @ El Mocambo
02/26 – Kingston, Ontario @ Masion
02/27 – Ottawa, Ontario @ Ritual
03/01 – Annapolis, Md. @ Rams Head
03/02 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ World
03/05 – New York, N.Y. @ BB King’s

Call me crazy, but I'd like to see this. I think it could be interesting. I've seen Henry Rollins do it, so why not?

Yeah, it might be fun. I'd go see this too. Scott always seems to be a pretty funny guy when he turns up as a commentator in stuff like "I Love the 80s."

I've never seen a Rollins spoken word gig, but my brother went to one some years ago and said it was a great time.

Ian continues, “I always felt that people need to hear this stuff. wrote:

For a small fee of course.   

Dark Horseman wrote:

For a small fee of course.   

Well, duh. If I wanted to hear it for free, I could follow him on Twitter.   

I actually got past the first (and biggest) obstacle. I threw this idea out to my wife who actually agreed to go with me. I'm shocked.

I guess the VH-1 connection worked because while she couldn't name a single Anthrax song or album, she knows who he is. It's probably more of just her getting a night out without the kids, but whatever. I'm taking it. Now to find coverage for said rugrats.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Yeah, it might be fun. I'd go see this too. Scott always seems to be a pretty funny guy when he turns up as a commentator in stuff like "I Love the 80s."  

I've never seen a Rollins spoken word gig, but my brother went to one some years ago and said it was a great time.

When I saw him a few years ago, he spoke for over 2 hours straight and it was never boring or long winded. He was intelligent and funny. I enjoyed it very much.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Yeah, it might be fun. I'd go see this too. Scott always seems to be a pretty funny guy when he turns up as a commentator in stuff like "I Love the 80s."  

I've never seen a Rollins spoken word gig, but my brother went to one some years ago and said it was a great time.

When I saw him a few years ago, he spoke for over 2 hours straight and it was never boring or long winded. He was intelligent and funny. I enjoyed it very much.

I've seen Rollins & Jello Biafra do spoken word stuff and they were great (particularly Henry who really is great at it) I'm not sure that I like Scott Ian that much, but I do remember him being really funny in a very dry way on that bizarre Supergroup show.

I would love to see this but no performance close to me. I've caught 2 spoken word performances by Henry Rollins and each show was so good!!

If his story on the Lemmy doc about the short shorts is any indication this would be a can't miss show. Dude seems like an entertaining story teller. I won't mind if these spoken word things took off and became a new "big thing".

I'm amazed that Gene Simmons hasn't done one. I mean, a paycheck, plus he gets to listen to the sound of his own voice night after night. I don't think he'll be able to resist much longer!   

Good call on that!^^^^^

Won't be long now I'm sure.

Gene released a spoken word album called "Speaking in Tongues" (I think) about ten years ago. It was taped during a string of speaking engagements he did in Australia.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Gene released a spoken word album called "Speaking in Tongues" (I think) about ten years ago. It was taped during a string of speaking engagements he did in Australia.

Haha! Knew he wouldn't be able to resist!   

Ill pass

He's not "speaking words" anywhere near where I live.   

Although I would probably go, (if the ticket price wasn't too much).

Tickets for the Philly show were only $25. I don't get out much these days, so I'll give him a go. Should be interesting.

Scott Ian is trying to do a PledgeMusic campaign for a DVD of his Glasgow gig. It's not going brilliantly (19% after two weeks) so if you fancy this, show him some support.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/scottian