ICED EARTH

Interview with John Schaffer

1) Your previous EP “Melancholy” included melodic stuff , why did you choose to release it ?

Melancholy was originally done for Radio Stations and Century Media released 3000 copies because there were people that payed much money for this at E-Bay. Century fucked me over and the whole thing wasn’t supposed to happen the way that did , but I decided that : you did it -you created it so keep it cheap !

2) There are two new members in ICED EARTH , Steve Di Giorgio and Richard Christ….

Steve is not in the band ! He’s an asshole – that’s the fact !When I hired him , I said you have to do the tour if you want to be in the record and he said that he would do it. But, I got a fax two weeks before from a so called “manager” that he wouldn’t be able to do the tour .So I am really pissed off because that’s not the way I do business, he was dishonest and I will never hire him again  , we’ll never gonna work together .So Jimi , our old bass player is coming back to do the tour .Richard is the guy that I hired for the Demons and Wizards tour and he was gonna be in ICED EARTH when I was finished .

3) Let’s go to the new album Horror Show , is this album concept ?

It’s not a concept album .It’s all based , except Ghost Of Freedom , on horror movies. Concept record is one story and these are different stories !

4) Do you like horror movies ?

I always have , my most favorite would be The Omen trilogy but if I look at the old black and white classic , it’s Dracula , Phadom Of The Opera  – I love this stuff too !

5) What about the song Ghost Of Freedom , who is the Ghost and what the word freedom means to you ?

This is not a horror song. It’s basically about a father who goes to the war ,an American revolutionary war, and gets killed .He has two sons at home and his spirit looks over them. It is dedicated at all the veterans in the United States ! Freedom to me , is the most important thing in the world , freedom of expression , freedom of speech. We are Americans and we are proud of it – we believe in ideals , our country and ourselves . I never feel more freedom than when I’m on the road with my Harley Davidson  , this is a special feeling – you have no idea how special is it , it’s very hard to describe !

6) Why did you choose to cover Transylvania from Iron Maiden in your new album ?

It just seemed like the right thing to do for the Horror Show record . I am a huge Maiden fan and I think that the three first I. Maiden albums are are the greatest albums that have ever been recorded  so I just wanted to do it . I . Maiden is my biggest influence and there’s no big mystery behind it . We don’t really care what other bands do , I don’t give a shit what the other world thinks !

7) ICED EARTH is a multi selling group here in Greece , what is going on in the other world ?

It goes great everywhere .We have the same success that we have in Greece  in the other world too. Germany and United States are the biggest markets in the world for us. There’s a special relation with ICED EARTH and Greece , it’s a little bit different from the other world . maybe the people are attached to these songs and they are taken personally – I really don’t know what is it that makes them crazy .But this is a more reward than money , than a golden album in my wall .

8) What about sales in the United States ?

There are a lot of metalheads there but there are many people that they don’t know we exist . It’s not their fault, United States in one of the biggest markets as I said  , we sell 40.000 in the States and 50.000 in Germany .

9) How hard or painful is to be in a heavy metal group ?

It’s very hard , it’s a hard way of life . I’ve devoted 17 years of my life in this band and it started to pay off the last three years . The success is good , we are starting to earn some money and to be able to exist as a more professional band. I don’t recommend anybody getting into it  , to be really successful in the music business it takes so much sacrifice . Therefore most bands are breaking up early in their career  of how hard is it !