Iced Earth's......Schaffer......God's Gift.....Or Just Idiot?

[Deadly Embrace]

ICED EARTH's SCHAFFER Explains Guitarist's Departure - Jan. 25, 2004

ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer recently spoke to Guitar World magazine about the departure of guitarist Larry Tarnowski prior to the recording of the group's latest CD, "The Glorious Burden".

According to Schaffer, Tarnowski, an ICED EARTH member for five years, left before the recording sessions after expressing frustration over his limited role. "He may have played two minutes on ICED EARTH records, so I understood," Schaffer said. "I told him he should probably concentrate on school and getting a career."

When it was suggested that he could have asked if the guitarist would like to play more parts in the studio, Schaffer was incredulous. "Well, then it would not be ICED EARTH, would it? Yeah, I could have let Larry play more to make him happy, but that's not the way I heard things. You can let people write stuff to be nice to them, but you can also ruin your career. Some people are not songwriters and some are. If they are, why don't they start their own fucking band, have the vision and make it happen?"

From BlabberMouth.Net

 

[Rottuated]

Well, it IS his band. I don't think that makes it totally right, but Jon built the band up from day one, and he's the biggest driving force for Iced Earth. If Tarnowski sucks at song writing then I can see his point. In the working world it's hard to really find time to play nice, because dispite the fact that it's a band it's still WORK. It's a JOB. And Jon's JOB is to do what he feels is best for the band.

 

[Celine Dion]

Iced Earth is Jon's band, period. If, as a musician, you can't live with that, you better pursue your career somewhere else. Personally, I feel a band must be a collective work... not just a one-man band.

 

[Higon]

Personally, I feel a band must be a collective work... not just a one-man band.

Damn right.

Maybe he should start playing drums and bass too, name the band "Jon Schaffer´s Band", design the CD covers, print in his own home, press the cd, and buy it all.

 

[the alumnus]

poor guy, i wonder if he even got to write his own solos.

 

[capeda]

Hey, Quorthon's got the whole one man band thing going... he can't really even play one single instrument very well, but I sure do listen to alot of Bathory either way!

 

[SanderThomas]

Iced Earth is Jon's band, period. If, as a musician, you can't live with that, you better pursue your career somewhere else.

True

Personally, I feel a band must be a collective work... not just a one-man band.

I don't agree with this, if there's just one good composer in the band, let him do the songwriting. Having all guitar tracks recorded by just 1 of the two guitar players isn't that exeptional.

 

[Haunted/Hated]

Personally, I feel a band must be a collective work... not just a one-man band.

I don't think you can say either one is better than the other. If you say that a band has to be a collective effort, I'm sure people can list one man bands all day to prove you wrong.

 

[Celine Dion]

Yeah... but that's why I wrote that PERSONALLY that's the way I feel. I like to see everyone working together trying to put out some goddamn heavy music! But I know that one-man bands can be just as good. It all depends on who you're working with...

 

[the polish bastard]

Jon is a dictator, he wont listen to Tarnowski because he replacable.Richard Christy is replacable but fuck he one of the best metal drummers, he has a folowing same with Tim Ripper Owens. BUt tarnowski and the bassist are pretty much pawns in JOn schaffers game. This is what i observe, it would be intresting what steve D G would have to say about What kind of person jon schaffer is.
I definetly bought horrow show because of Richard Christy and Steve Digiorgio ( NOt because of Jon schaffer), I Gave up on iced earth after some thing wicked (Terrible). So I think Jon should lighten up because he didnt carry ICed earth by himself he had many people helping him on the way who dont get noticed as much as they deserve.

 

[Higon]

If you say that a band has to be a collective effort, I'm sure people can list one man bands all day to prove you wrong.

C´mon... Let´s picture it. Do you remember Death? Bad ass band, agree? Well, I don´t think Chuck was so jealous like Mr. Iced Earth, or else we would never see such a great "collective effort" in composing songs. The bass lines are amazing. The Drum lines are amazing. The guitar lines are amazing. And do you think Chuck composed everything at his own self and the other musicians just performed the music, or there was some kind of interaction? A real collective effort.

Let me tell ya, Death/Control Denied are a way superior than Iced Earth. Chuck was a genius, but he was not alone.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[Brodie-Dude]

I love how Jon was so seemingly nonchalant about saying Tarnowski sucked.
I mean

"I told him he should probably concentrate on school and getting a career."

That's like don't quit your day job man. Sure Jon wants to be Iced Earth, but for him to say something like that to a 5year Iced Earth player is totally asinine.

It's been more than a year since I've been on this board and Jon was the topic back then. What the fuck is up with it now? Guess some things never change.

 

[Lies and Perfidy]

I wouldn't give a shit what a putz Jonny is if he was still a good songwriter...but he's NOT. What the hell happened? Iced Earth, Night of the Stormrider, and especially Burnt Offerings were just amazing thrash albums...and then it all went down the tubes. Blegh. Fucking moron.

 

[Occam's Razor]

I agree, "Burnt Offerings" is a milestone - soooo original. I think the problem is that John has thrown out Randy after "The Dark Saga". In an interview in a German zine, he even once admitted that Randy was the better player. If you listen closely, you'll find that the original style he has has vanished on "Something Wicked..." and the following ones - and so did the originality and good songs.

 

[The7thCynic]

I don't think you can say either one is better than the other. If you say that a band has to be a collective effort, I'm sure people can list one man bands all day to prove you wrong.

Yeah, but then the question becomes: Are they really a 'band'?

Oh, and I'm with Higon on Chuck/Death, and Brodie on the fact that we're still talking about Jon...Why?

 

[Overlord Purple Rainbow]

The only songwriting credit given to Tarnowski was from "Im-Ho-Tep (The Mummy's Curse)." It's the opening riffs, and it's one of my favourite riffs on the HORROR SHOW CD. But hey..I don't know the whole story. That may be one riff out of a million crappy ones. But Ripper said that he's ready to be involved in the songwriting process and Jon was all for it. Interesting...

 

[asphyXy]

Larry wrote the Im-Ho-Tep riff? That's one of my favorite Iced Earth riffs... what a shame.

 

[Poison Godmachine]

The only problem with Jon having complete controll over the band is that his ideas just plain suck. He needs to turn on the crap filter in his brain. I mean, just look at the last two albums subject-wise. Horror show may have had some childish "cute" qualities. But I almost threw up when I heard what the new one was about. How cliched? After 9-11 Ol' Jon jumps right on the patriot band wagon. Isn't he the guy who had "Fuck Posers" on the back of his shirts? It just seems to me the more control Jon has over IE the worse it gets. There are no Checks and Balances from other members to weed out bad ideas. I mean, imagine what would be going on if Bush had complete control of the US with no one around to wipe his butt? The Economy would look how the new IE sounds. Shatty

 

[Lies and Perfidy]

What, you mean the economy isn't shite already?

Nice metaphor, though.