Great interview with Ripper on his split with Iced Earth...

However, ask yourself this question: If Matt Barlow was not married to Jon's sister, do you think Jon would have brought Matt back?

Case Closed.

Unless you have some inside knowledge, I don't think it makes any sense to assume that Matt's connection to Jon's family has anything to do with him coming back. Brent Smedley has no connection to Jon's family (that I'm aware of), so then what's the reason for him being brought back?

Neil
 
True. As I do love Ripper in anything he's been involved. I do believe, too that his dismissal from IE could've been handled better. On the other hand, I was also not there and didn't see the whole situation as it evolved with my own eyes. So, to completely pass judgement on either side is incorrect. Jon's reputation for being a perfectionist is the damning evidence to be sure. We'll all agree to disagree on the circumstances of Ripper's dismissal. No doubt about that. In any business, people are hired and fired every day because the individuals running these businesses want the best people they believe in their minds to be working for them.
Understood. And obviously I wasn't there. However, there's zero reason not to believe Tim's account, especially given Tim's and Jon's respective reputations.

Zod
 
Unless you have some inside knowledge, I don't think it makes any sense to assume that Matt's connection to Jon's family has anything to do with him coming back. Brent Smedley has no connection to Jon's family (that I'm aware of), so then what's the reason for him being brought back?

Neil

Why would you go out of your way to rip someone, and then you bring the person you ripped back into your band? Then again, why would the rippee even want to come back?
 
Why would you go out of your way to rip someone, and then you bring the person you ripped back into your band? Then again, why would the rippee even want to come back?

Money?

I haven't seen much of Jon ripping anyone on a personal level. There were statements about Matt's commitment to his performance on TGB, or allusions to Brent's "personal problems" that led to him leaving the band after Alive in Athens - but everything I've read keeps it on a professional level.

I've never seen Jon say anything like "so and so's an idiot/asshole."
 
You shouldn't break up with your significant other over the phone or over email, nor should you quit your job over a phone/email. What Jon did was very unprofessional, and Tim seems to have handled it quite well.

All the best to both parties in the end.


And on that note, YOU CANT TEXT MESSAGE BREAKUP!

 
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When I interviewed Jeff Waters recently he spoke very highly of dealing with Schaffer on the tour. Not looking to add fuel to the debate, just including it for what it's worth :)

Ummmm....
Errrrr....
Could it be that Annihilator had a HELL of a lot more to gain from that pairing than Iced Earth?? :lol:
 
Why would you go out of your way to rip someone, and then you bring the person you ripped back into your band? Then again, why would the rippee even want to come back?

Couples who are dating/married break up all the time, and say mean things about each other to their friends. But then, many of them end up getting back together. Why does this happen? Because they're human. They have emotions, they have feelings that change over time as situations change, sometimes they say things they don't really mean, sometimes they say things they mean but wish they hadn't said, sometimes they're smart, sometimes they're stupid.

So believe it or not, band members are humans too. Rarely do they act in ways that are robotically logical. It seems to me that that's a sufficient explanation right there; no additional theories are required.

Neil
 
Sounds like it was a happy split. I would hate to have two very talented musicians end things like that on bad terms. In fact, it kind of makes me even more stoked that we are going to see Iced Earth with Matt Barlow. I have always wanted to see him and this is going to be an interesting experience.

Stay Metal!!!
saMetal:headbang:
 
Speaking of professional, i saw Iced Earth back in 2005 in a bar in Lawrence Kansas and there couldn't have been more than 50-100 people there. If ever a band should phone it in, that was the setting. That didn't happen though, they played and sounded incredible and did not short the "crowd" on the setlist either. I've been to so many concerts in my life but that was the tightest and best I've ever heard a band play. Ripper's voice was so good it was laughable. He was always perfectly in tune, and he hit the high notes with such ease it was like he was just messing around.

I'm not a huge Iced Earth fan (I do like them, don't get me wrong), but I'll never forget that night.

I liked both Matt and Tim as the singer for the band, so I could go either way with these changes. My only problem with the band now is that it seems like they keep recycling riffs on the past 3 albums (with the exception of the Gettysburg trilogy, that alone is better than their 3 latest albums all by itself.)