Anthrax mainman Scott Ian recalls Neil Turbin's tyrannical ways in a new excerpt from his autobiography – saying the entire band "hated his guts."
The guitarist releases I’m the Man: The Story Of That Guy From Anthrax on October 13 and in the latest taster, he takes aim at the former frontman, who he says tried to rule the band with an iron fist.
According to Ian, Turbin sacked bassist Dan Lilker without consulting the rest of the band and even tried to tell the members how to dress and behave on stage.
In the excerpt published by LA Weekly, Ian says: “As soon as we started touring to support Fistful Of Metal, Neil got ultra-cocky. He felt like he was the boss man and he became inflexible.
“He decided what we were going to look like and what we were going to wear. He made this chain-mail belt for me that was six or seven inches wide all the way around. It weighed 20 pounds, and he wanted me to wear it onstage.
“Whenever we opposed any of his ideas, he threatened to quit. We hated his guts, but we were powerless to do anything about it.”
The sacking of Lilker was the final straw for Ian, who would go on to fire Turbin months later.
He says: “The biggest dick move Neil ever pulled was when he fired Danny Lilker behind our backs after Fistful came out in January 1984. The main reason he did it, in my opinion, was because Danny is taller than him.
“He honestly didn’t think someone should be taller than the front man onstage. He thought it made him look bad, so he tried to stand as far away from Danny as possible, which was hard when we were playing stages the size of Ping-Pong tables.”
Meanwhile, Turbin has been confirmed as the stand-in for Onslaught singer Sy Keeler on their upcoming North American tour. Keeler is taking time off to look after his sick son.
