Scott Ian: Swearing Words In Glasgow (DVD)

Following in the footsteps of Henry Rollins, Anthrax founder and guitarist Scott Ian enters into the fray as a spoken word performer - in other words, Heavy Metal comedian and Q&A compere. As someone who has lived through the greatest time for Thrash and Metal music Ian has built up an impressive list of buddies and an interesting and at times hilarious collection of stories to share about them. This DVD, which was filmed in the swearing capital of the world, Glasgow (hence the crossed out "Speaking" on the DVD's cover), is a fast paced profanity strewn romp which the small but enthusiastic audience clearly loved. Tales of practical jokes and "revenge" with the much missed Pantera guitarist are most memorable, although talk of Lemmy's ass and his legendary drinking ability and Ian's lack of… comes close behind (if you'll pardon the pun), as does Gene Simmons in tears. As an insight to the life of a touring guitarist, it's all a little hazy and yet it's hard not to like and laugh with Ian as he tells his stories. That said the camera work is simple at best and the ultra-confident guitarist doesn't always have the most fluent of storytelling styles, with a tendency to explain the obvious and milk a moment clearly run dry, a little uncomfortable. During the show Ian admits it's all adlibbed (although obviously to a framework, as the images projected on the screen behind him add superb visuals to his words) and in places that clearly shows, however any musician who has porno tale about Stephen Spielberg has to be worth listening to.

The show comes to an end through a Q&A session and, as these occasions often can, it throws up a few gems for Ian to answer and a few dumb-ass moments. However the biggest stumbling block is that the audience don't have a microphone and as such, can't be heard on the DVD (either during the Q&A, or laughing at the stories, which leaves things a little stilted). Ian does repeat a few of the questions before answering them, but a couple are simply answered with the viewer left to work out what was asked in the first place. Whereas the raffle to win a guitar, or at least to be entered into a winners raffle to win a guitar, really could have been cut with the DVD still stretching to a value for money two hour set.

The extras come in the shape of a montage of all of the swearing words in Glasgow, five minutes of "f's and c's" funny at first, but a little wearing, although a couple of cut scenes are more fun to watch.

Considering this was Scott Ian's first stab at the stand-up circuit, he's done a pretty good job and as a long term follower of his career, the glimpses of the stories behind the laughs are where the gold lies. According to Ian he's in the process of producing a book about his career and I'd wager it will be a cracking read from cover to cover. In that more formatted environment some of the stories told here will, I've no doubt, be much more memorable, and in future possibly help to make a spoken word routine that feels less off the cuff than that presented here.

All that said, Swearing Words In Glasgow is still hugely enjoyable and a must for Anthrax fans, but don't expect to learn much, or too many side-splitting moments, although there are just enough of both to keep you watching.

Added: December 27th 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Scott Ian online
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Language: english

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