Jon Schaffer has released a music video for "Jekyll Island", the third clip from "Sons Of Liberty - Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2)" after "Full Spectrum Dominance" and "Molon Labe".
The release is not new material. It fuses two early SONS OF LIBERTY records — the 2009 album "Brush-fires Of The Mind" and the 2011 EP "Spirit Of The Times" — and rebuilds them. Both were originally tracked with programmed drums to keep costs down; here they carry newly recorded drums by Mark Prator, whose credits with Schaffer run back through ICED EARTH's "The Dark Saga" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes", the DEMONS & WIZARDS debut and the 2018 JON SCHAFFER'S PURGATORY EP. Jim Morris handled the new mix, and the artwork — which Schaffer rates among the best in his catalogue — is by Roy Young and David Newman Stump.
"'Jekyll Island' is based on the must-read book by G. Edward Griffin, 'The Creature From Jekyll Island'," Schaffer said. "If we want to make positive change in the world, it's important to understand the nature of the monetary system that we live under. This book is a great place to start your journey of understanding. It was obvious to me in 2009 when I wrote this song that it had the right energy to open the record." Griffin's 1994 book takes the real, secret 1910 meeting on Jekyll Island that shaped the Federal Reserve Act and builds from it a conspiratorial account of central banking that historians and economists have broadly rejected.
Schaffer is unbothered by disagreement, and says so at length. "Those who know me know that I am not here to please everyone; not with my music, nor with my ideals and principles," he said. "I respect the rights of others to disagree, and to speak freely. I will stand up for their rights, especially if I strongly disagree with them." He added that seventeen years on, "the message has only become more relevant, and the situation more urgent", and that a further chapter of SONS OF LIBERTY music — this one focused on solutions — is planned.
Schaffer founded ICED EARTH and co-founded DEMONS & WIZARDS. In April 2021 he became the first person to plead guilty in connection with the January 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, to obstruction of an official proceeding and to entering restricted grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; he cooperated with investigators and was sentenced in October 2024 to three years' probation.
Physical formats include a double gatefold vinyl in five colours, a limited leather box CD, a digipak CD and cassette. Most have already sold out through icedearthmerch.com, with some stock remaining via The Circle Music.