October 21 2002

Feature Interview

Iced Earth: Classic Metal Crusaders

By Kathleen De Vere

Iced Earth defines the
phrase, ‘You’ve come a long
way baby’. Since their debut
CD in 1991, Iced Earth have
only been playing in the clas-
sic style of metal, influenced
by the likes of Judas Priest
and Iron Maiden and strictly
avoiding any sort of new gim-
mick or fad when writing their
music. Iced Earth have found
huge fame in Europe, espe-
cially in countries like Greece
and Germany, headlining tours
and playing sold out 3 ‘hour
long shows. In North
America however, they are
only just beginning to break

the surface of the metal | _

scene.

The irony? They’re
American, originally from
Florida (a long time Mecca |

of underground metal, #@

spawning such bands as

Death). They are now }
based out of the Midwest, Bi
where their strongest

American fan base is. 11
years after their first album
Iced Earth are releasing
Tribute to the Gods (origi-
nally part of a 5 CD box set,
Dark Genesis), a CD ¢
devoted to doing justice to
some of their favorite and
most influential tunes.

A little bit of success has-
n't slowed Iced Earth’s
front man and guitarist Jon
Schaffer down though. He’s
working on new _ material
again, and took time out to
answer some questions about
the what the fans, new and old
can expect from Iced Earth.

What are you up to right
now? Is a new album in the
works?

“’m working on the New
Iced Earth and Demons and
Wizards (editor's _ note:
Demons and Wizards is
Schaffer’s side project with
Blind Guardian’s singer, Hansi
Kursch) right now, but the pri-
ority and the focus is on Iced
Earth. | hope to be in the stu-
dio by January or February,
and maybe the album will be
out by June or July. It’s going
very well, the album will be
called The Glorious Burden.
It's going to be more personal,
and hit home more. It’s going
to be along the lines of
Something Wicked This Way
Comes or Night of the
Stormrider, those albums real-

ly seemed to touch people,
they have longevity. Horror
Show did very well, but it didn’t
touch people the same way,
the subject matter lacked per-
sonal magic. [The new album]
is going to be a roller coaster
of emotions, melancholic and
extreme.”

Tribute to the Gods is
actually part of the Box set
Dark Genesis that contained
your first 3 albums and your
original demo, why are you
releasing these components
individually?

“It was kind of decided at the
beginning, there’s a demand
for older material, but with bet-
ter production and sound.
Making the demo available
means someone doesn’t have
to pay $100 for an old cassette
on Ebay. This isn’t to make
people re-buy the first albums;
we didn’t go back and fuck
with them or add extra tracks.
There aren’t any Iced Earth B-
sides lying around [anyways]. |
never write excess stuff,
there’s no filler, every song
counts. This is for the new
fans; the back catalogue is
getting a facelift before we
leave Century Media.

Iced Earth has always
been bigger in Europe than
in North America, why do
you think that is?

“It's been a matter of people
not knowing who we are, and
there is more expense to get
things done, you need millions
of dollars to get big. [In

Europe] there’s no commercial
radio, and a good live show
and word of mouth is all where
it counts, you don’t need com-
mercial exposure.

But you are getting bigger
in North America now.

“We built up on our Midwest
fan base. We relocated so we
were only 3-4 hours from a
show instead of 20. We moved
our own gear and did peanut
butter sandwich tours. No jelly.
Getting $100 or $150 bucks a
night, we were getting
screwed, but we shoved it

Photo Michael Haynes
Iced Earth: “Trends are in the underground too, they come and go but...We're not
going to wear baggy pants or stop taking showers.”

down people’s throats.

Almost all of your albums,
including the reissues of
your first three albums have
comic book style art on the
cover, why?

“It's just. something | would
have liked to have done a long
time ago. When |! took control
to handle the art, [the album]
Burnt Offerings was based on
Dante’s Inferno, so | used the
artwork for the album layout.
For Dark Saga (editor's note:
Dark Saga is theme album
based on Todd McFarlane’s
Spawn comic, and features a
Todd McFarlane cover) | loved
that style and made a connec-
tion. It’s our thing now, and it
makes great merchandise.
We're not out to fuck our fans;
the quality of art and the entire
packaging is a very big thing.
Nothing gets past me without
permission, so | remember
being a 14 or 15-year-old fan
and get back in that frame of

mind, whatever makes me
happy seems to work. Good
packaging, good quality, good
product with good songs, cool
layouts, etc. That's why we
redid the art; the comic art
thing is our trademark.

Many people are hailing
the end of the Nu Metal era,
as an act that stubbornly
refused to do the Nu Metal
thing, how do you feel about
it?

“| hope so! The thing about
the American Market is satura-
tion, there’s a 3 to 5 year win-
dow and then it’s gone. It’s
not the same as_ in
Europe. lf a major label
decided to bring metal
back they could, but we're
going to do what we've
always done. If the main-
| stream decides to come
i around to us we'll take it,
but we'll always have the
integrity. Trends are in the
underground too, they
come and go but we’ve
never concerned our-
selves with that. We’re not
going to wear baggy pants
or stop taking showers.

Finally, what about the
Something Wicked pro-
ject? Your fans are quite
interested in it.

“’m writing an album
and a comic. The comic
book will come out with at
least 2 albums, but it’s not
the right time right now,
not this album coming out but
the next one, probably around
2005. It’s a sci-fi horror story
with conspiracy elements,
12,000 years of history, very
in-depth and a total mind fuck.
The stuff on the Something
Wicked This Way Comes
album was a teaser. The main
character is a shape shifter,
all-powerful, he is the coming
curse, the anti-Christ for
mankind, but the savior for his
own beings. He’ behind every
major event in human history,
even the assassinations of
Ghandi and JFK. There’s a lot
more though.”

“There’s a lot more”, seems
to sum up the career of Iced
Earth, even after years making
music, Jon Schaffer still has
big plans for the band and for
his fans.

Over The Edge Page 12