In a recent interview with Guitar World, Anthrax’s Scott Ian shared his thoughts about why he chose not to make a custom Paul Stanley tribute guitar.
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian’s admiration for KISS started at a young age. His obsession with Elton John turned into KISS after watching them perform on TV. His love for Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley is widely known by his fans, who have followed the guitarist for years. Hence, fans’ predictions of a Paul Stanley tribute guitar were not far off.
Scott Ian’s signature guitar is known to be X-Series King V. The guitarist has previously mentioned that one of his King Vs has lightning inlays as a tribute to Malcolm and Angus Young. When the guitarist showed the mirror-plated X-Series King V, fans assumed the guitar was a tribute to Paul Stanley.
However, Scott Ian stated that the mirrored pickguard on one of his King Vs is just for looks. He explained that the custom shop built him two King Vs; one with a Floyd and one without. Unfortunately, the mirror of one of them cracked, and when Ian was asked whether he wanted to keep the crack or change it to a new mirror, he thought it had a Paul Stanley vibe.
After realizing that the KISS icon’s mirror cracks are more intense, Scott decided he didn’t like the look of it and changed the mirror altogether. Ian finally said that if he wanted a Paul Stanley tribute, he would like to do it properly because he loves the look of it.
Scott Ian’s words about his mirrored guitar:
“No, it’d have to be broken if I did that. I just wanted to have a mirror! Funnily enough, though, they built me two V’s: one with a Floyd and one without. I was out of the custom shop when they were being built, and the mirror cracked. They asked, ‘Do you want to keep this, or do you want us to redo the top?’
At first, I was like, ‘Well… it’s kind of a Paul Stanley thing,’ but not nearly [as intense] as what his looks like — these were just little crack lines. It just didn’t look good. If I were to make a Paul Stanley tribute, I’d do it correctly because I love that guitar.”
It has been six years since the band released a full-length studio album. Their last release, ‘For All Kings,’ was in 2016, and fans have patiently waited for a follow-up; however, the pandemic has unfortunately prolonged the process. The band has been working on new material, but there is no definite date for the release.
