Iced Earth
Back And Forth Thing

26.02.2014

Iced Earth belong to a rare category of metal bands that seem to be unaffected by singer changes, no matter how frequent they are. Mainman John Schaffer apparently follows the motto “There is none that can’t be replaced”, and after once again parting ways with marvelous Matthew Barlow has already released two excellent studio albums and a live album with a Canadian named Stu Block behind the mike. It was Stu whom we got to talk to on the eve of the band’s Russian shows – this time around Iced Earth are for the first time coming to play not only in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg. On a rainy February evening, shortly before Iced Earth’s show in Berlin the young frontman who dared to walk in the shoes of such powerhouse singers as Barlow and Ripper Owens, found me via Skype…

You’ve just released a new album, “Plagues Of Babylon”. So firstly, let me congratulate you! How do you feel about it?

We are very, very proud of the album, thank you very much for the congratulations. And we feel very good about the album, the album is doing well, so, you know, it’s all positive.

Ok, I love this album too and I love not only the album’s music but also its cover. It looks more like a death metal cover, and whose idea is it? And who is the painter who made this cover and how did you choose him?

It’s John, John is behind the vision of the album. The name of the artist is Eliran Kantor, he’s done some Testament albums and some other big bands, an amazing artist indeed. John and Eliran emailed back and forth for the artwork for a few months, and that was the end result. It’s definitely a very heavy album cover, that’s for sure.

The album itself is much heavier even than the previous one, and if we compare it to the almost symphonic “The Crucible of Man”, it would seem that these albums were composed by two different bands. Is it you who caused such changes in the band’s style?

No, not me. It’s just how the music spoke to John. Of course, the music is different, the lyrics are different, but the spirit of Iced Earth is always in there. So, no huge change there, but it’s all the perception of the listener.

Ok, I see. In one of the interviews you said that the main theme of this album is zombie apocalypse which takes place in Something Wicked Universe.

Yes!

And, first of all, can you tell a bit about the protagonist of the story?

Yeah! Definitely it takes place within that Something Wicked Universe for just a different situation, a different period in time. Of course, Set is within this and protagonist is definitely the the higher powers that ’re releasing a plague upon the people, so they can benefit from it, so they can achieve their ultimate evil goals. That’s basically the bottom line

Could you explain why the concept part of the album consists only of 6 songs?

Cause that’s how we wrote the album. We basically were able to tell the story in six songs and then we were able to write another six songs that were stand-alone songs, each of them has the own subject matter. It’s just how it worked out, man, we were able to tell the story in six songs.

Ok, and what is your favorite song on the whole album?

I like ‘em all, man. I don’t have one favorite song, I do have a few. “If I Could See You” is one of my favorites, and of course, “Democide”, “Among The Living Dead” – those are two really nice ones. I love the song “The Culling”. There’s a lot of great tunes on this album, but those are some of my highlights. And of course “Highwayman”, the song, the cover we did with our friends Russell Allen and Michael Poulsen.

I wanted to ask you about “If I Could See You” and “Highwayman” particularly. First of all, “If I Could See You” is also one of my favorites and it looks like a very personal song. So, can you tell a bit about the story behind the lyrics?

John wrote this song for his grandfather who had been a very, very important part of his life and guided him through a lot of tough times in his life. It is a very beautiful song that is written from the heart, and I’m glad to be able to sing it and be a part of that, a part of his life, you know.

And about “Highwayman”… I know that Michael from Volbeat and Russell from Adrenaline Mob sing on this song and I think they fit this song really well. How did you get to know each other with these guys?

As far as Russel Allen is concerned, I was in another band, called Into Eternity and I toured with Symphony X many years ago, so Russel and I became friends. Then recently Symphony X and Iced Earth toured the United States together, so we did a co-headlining tour, that was great and we all really got along and partied a lot and we became very good friends. We’ve always kept in touch and it’s a really strong bond. John and Michael Poulsen are very good friends, they’ve known each other for a few years now and I’ve recently just become pretty good friends with him also. We’re all just a family, we all respect each other and respect each other’s music. John had a vision a year or so ago, he wanted to do “Highwayman” and we put forth the idea to Russell and Michael and they both said “yes”. Then we had to make the schedules work and we all got it done so finally it all came to reality. We all respect each other and it was a very, very good thing much like the original Highwaymen – Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. They all respect each other in the musical industry also. So I thought it was a really good thing and it was a really great idea of John to do that.

For me it’s an example of what a good metal cover should be.

Yeah!

Talking about Volbeat, I know you supported them last fall, and as far as I know you had quite short setlists on that tour, something about 9 songs per set. Wasn’t it a bit insulting for you?

No, not at all, because we were opening for the band. They can’t give us an hour-long set, that’s how it is when you have opening acts. We were just blessed to be able to go out with them because Michael is a big fan of Iced Earth, and we were very happy to be exposed to their fanbase even if it’s nine songs or five songs, it doesn’t matter to us. We were able to put forth those songs and do our music for those fans and hopefully get new fans and the great thing was that we were touring with some of our good friends so it was a blessing all around. So the farthest thing from our mind was being insulted, that didn’t even cross our mind, you know.  

And have you heard the band that that will be supporting you in St. Petersburg, Russia (Misanthrope Count Merciful – ed.)? Do you have any policy with regard to supporting bands? Do you choose them yourselves?

Oh, I think the Russian promoters did. The Russian promoters choose the bands, not us, for Russia.

It's well-known that you’re a fan of horror movies. And you have a song called “Dark City” which is based on the movie of the same name. It’s not a horror movie actually but it’s definitely a dark one. Whose idea it was to dedicate a song to this movie?

I think, John mentioned it. And we watched it, we thought it was a really cool movie, so we wrote a song about it.

Actually, I’ve been to your concert once, it wa slast summer at Eisenwahn festival in Germany. I stood in the first row, and I was really impressed by your vocals...

Thanks.

It seems that you sing live even better than on the CDs. Do you feel the same?

Yeah, I think, sometimes, you know. I can agree with you, yeah.

Ok, and is it you or John who writes the vocal melodies now?

Well, both of us do. I contribute a lot to the vocal melodies and the vocal, and the lyrics. But John writes a lot too.

Ok, and particularly talking about the new album, “Plagues Of Babylon” - on which songs was your contribution the most important?

It was such a whirlwind, you know. John and I always go back in forth on stuff. For "Peacemaker" I wrote, quite a bit of lyrics and stuff like that, so that was really cool, you know, "The Culling", that one is really cool, “Cthulhu”, that one is another cool one that I contributed a lot of lyrics too. But it’s always a back and forth thing, it's a fifty-fifty thing - I come up with stuff and I present it to him and sometimes it's good, sometimes he tells me to rework the situation. That's the chemistry, that's the sign of the good partnership and a good chemistry. He is very honest with me and lets me know if something is good or is bad, we always belt back and forth.

Can we expect something like growls or screams that you did while being in Into Eternity on the future Iced Earth albums?

No, 'cause it doesn't fit Iced Earth. Death vocals do not fit Iced Earth, maybe only as a background thing, an ambient thing.

And are you still in touch with your former bandmates, do you miss them?

Yeah, they live in my city and of course I talk to them, yeah. They are my friends too, you know. But they are all busy too and sometimes when I'm home they're not there, that's how it is.

Speaking about former members of Iced Earth... In a former interview you said that you had contacted Matt Barlow. Has he heard the albums the band recorded with you?

I don't know, I don't know. When I first joined he sent me a message saying “Congratulations” and "I hope you do really well" and that was the only contact I had.

And have you heard his new band, Ashes Of Ares?

I've only heard a few songs, man. We've just wrote an album so I don't really listen to a lot of other music besides that new album that we did. But I'm sure it's really great, I'm sure it's awesome.

You often cite Rush as in influence in your interviews. And can you tell a bit about the Canadian scene nowadays? What bands should we check out apart from the well-known acts such as Rush, Annihilator, Devin Townsend, etc? What's new on the stage?

Actually I don't really know of any new upcoming bands 'cause I don't really pay attention to that right now. There is a cool band out of Vancouver called West Of Hell. They’ve got cool vocals, some Maiden-esque kind of stuff, and the singer is an old friend of mine. But I don't really pay attention too much anymore, man, I'm so busy out here doing my thing that it's tough.

Was there anything new for you when you moved to the USA from Canada, what are the main differences...?

I don't know where you got that from, I didn't move to the United States...

Oh.

No. I still live in Canada.

How do you work together while on studio?

Well, we rehearse together. We write, we fly and we meet together and we rehearse the songs. We rehearse at home and then we rehearse as a band and then we go on tour.

As I said, I liked the show in Germany a lot. Except for one thing – it was quite short, not even 1,5 hours. And you were headlining the festival. So what should we expect from the forthcoming Russian shows? Will they be longer than that show in Germany?

Yeah, it's gonna be longer. The setlist will be a suprise, but definitely it will be longer.

Will the setlist contain more new stuff or more old stuff?

We’ve got a good healthy balance of new and old, a good healthy balance.

As far as I know, you’ve already been to Russia a couple of years ago. Can you recall anything special or funny about that visit?

Not really. We really loved the show and the fans were great, we had a fun time but nothing extraordinary happened. It was cool to be in Russia, I'd never been there before, and it was a very cool experience. The fans were great and we had a good time.

And did you have the opportunity to go sightseeing or was it just a concert?

The other guys did, I didn't, because I was fighting off of a bit of a cold and I stayed in my hotel room just to get better so I could put on a good show for the people, you know.

And how is your health today?

Oh, that's great!

Ok, glad to hear! And what are you expecting from the forthcoming Russian shows?

We expect the fans to be just as crazy as last time and then we will get there to play some extra shows. I'm sure it will be great.

Could you say something for you fans here so we can prepare for the concert properly?

Yeah, just a...We're looking forward to coming out there and seeing you guys rock out. Thanks for the support, thanks for supporting Iced Earth and we're, you know, looking forward to coming out there!

Iced Earth on the Internet: http://www.icedearth.com

Special thanks to Oleg Kolenda (Delta Mekong Concerts) for arranging this interview

Paul Vlasov
February 11, 2014
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