Chicago’s three-day, punk-rock carnival was host to Slayer, Jawbreaker, Raconteurs, Patti Smith, Rise Against, Bob Mould, Rancid, Bikini Kill, Lucero, the Struts, and more. Here are our favorite guitar-related moments from the 15th annual gathering.
Anthrax’s Scott Ian
Anthrax’s main man Scott Ian pulled double duty on Saturday during Riot Fest where he played an afternoon set with his side band, the Damned Things (featuring members of Alkaline Trio, Every Time I Die, and Fall Out Boy), and then later played a dusk set with his thrash partners in Anthrax. The bearded maniac is seen here hammering away on one of his Jackson Custom Shop King Vs. On his hard-hitting ways, Ian had to say this to PG in 2016: “Back in the ’80s, in interviews for guitar magazines, I said my style was “fascist guitar playing”—because there’s no room for improvisation, there’s no room for anything. When you’re playing at speeds like that, it is what it is. It’s mathematical. There’s X amount of notes that you can fit into a measure and you’ve got to hit all those notes perfectly, and that’s it. There’s no room for anything else. Granted, the songwriting style has changed over the years. We’re not playing exactly how we used to play in 1987. But still, on the new record I’m playing exactly the same—especially on the thrashy stuff like “Zero Tolerance,” “Evil Twin,” or “For All Kings.”
Watch the Rig Rundown:
