Jon Schaffer says reforming ICED EARTH would take him about half an hour of phone calls. That is precisely why he has not done it.
The founding guitarist — whose band effectively ceased to exist after his arrest for taking part in the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol — was asked by Spain's Metal DJ Phoenix whether he might yet put the group back together with former singer Matt Barlow.
"I think anything's possible. I just don't know, because the music has to be there," Schaffer answered. "I'm not interested in going out and playing old ICED EARTH records. I'm not saying that if we put the band back together that we won't. That's not what I'm saying. But to do that, it doesn't feel right. There's gotta be new music that's truly inspired. Because I hate the music business. I always have. So to get back into that… I created the cage for myself. ICED EARTH is like a cage. It's a machine. And I don't wanna get back to the way things were before."
He was direct about how easy the alternative would be. "It would be pretty easy to put the band back together and to go out and make money and start doing the whole thing over again. That's, like, probably 30 minutes of phone calls, and it's on. But I'm not in that space right now."
That extends to the anniversary circuit. Told that fans should not expect a full-album performance of "The Dark Saga" for its 30th year, Schaffer did not hedge: "No. Not right now, no. There's been plenty of offers, believe me, but that's just not something I'm interested in doing, unless there's new music. I did my time in the music business — I did decades of time in it — and, frankly, I think it sucks. I hate it. But just to go out and live in the past and sell t-shirts, it's just not something that's interesting for me at this moment in time."
His attention is on SONS OF LIBERTY. Schaffer recently issued "Sons Of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2)", which pairs 2009's "Brush-fires Of The Mind" with the 2011 EP "Spirit Of The Times", rebuilt with new drums by Mark Prator and a fresh mix by Jim Morris. He credits that project with getting him working at all: "If I wouldn't have gotten Mark Prator to play drums and do the remix on the SONS OF LIBERTY album, I might not be doing any music stuff right now."
ICED EARTH riffs do exist. "There are some ICED EARTH parts that I've already come up with, but whether I'm gonna work on developing those songs in a year or two, or not at all, I don't know yet," he said. "And I know the fans want it. They're just gonna have to wait, because I'm not gonna be pressured by anybody. Not by the fans, not by former members, not by management people or labels."
On Barlow himself, Schaffer sounded certain. "I feel certain that Matt and I are gonna do something together eventually, whether it's ICED EARTH or whether we do another SCHAFFER/BARLOW PROJECT, or whether we do both, or whether we do something completely different. I mean, he's my bro, man. But he also understands that I need to be really inspired."
Source: blabbermouth.net