Some more iced news.............
ICED EARTH The Loudest Movie On Earth 2001/06/18
Special Report By Martin Popoff
As Iced Earth celebrate the June 26th release of Horror Show, a concept album based on classic movie monsters, much is happening in their camp. As well as being in negotiations for a new label deal (both Sanctuary and SPV are looked on favorably by lead Earthling Jon Schaffer), plans are underway for a massive box set.
"It looks like we're 99.9% sure to do this box set with Century Media," explains Schaffer. "They want to remix the first three records (Iced Earth, Night Of The Stormrider and Burnt Offerings), and put out the original Enter The Realm demo tape, as it was, except it will be on a CD. We're talking about doing some kind of video in the package. I'm trying to get them to do a DVD, but they're worried about sending production costs through the roof. The first album was recorded for $8,000 and it sounds like shit. And the artwork and the layouts and everything just sucked on those records. So my idea is to give the whole thing a facelift. The artwork will all be redone, and we'll have period photos and everything so it has consistency. The same concept for the covers will be there but it will be done in the comic style form, so the art will stay somewhat the same, but it will just be better. So doing that, we're looking at having five or six CDs in this box set. The main thing is to landmark the band's career for the last 11 years and we're also going to be recording a new tribute album where we're going to pay tribute to my biggest influences as a writer. I'm talking obviously Maiden, Sabbath, Priest, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, and a couple of others. But that is a release that's going to go in the box set but will also be released on its own for people who don't want to buy the box set."
But before that happens, Schaffer says the band head to Europe for what is undoubtedly looking to be their most impressive tour yet. "The set is going to be three hours long and we're going to have three set changes where we're actually going to change the look of the entire stage. The first part of the show is going to be a very basic metal look, kind of industrial and factory-like. And we're going to do stuff off the first three records because they're metal and there wasn't like a big gigantic theme going on. The second part of the show is going to be taking on the Egyptian theme and we're going to be doing Dark Saga, Something Wicked stuff. For the third part, it's going to take on the look of Dracula's Castle and we're going to be doing most of the Horror Show record.
Part of this innovation arose from Jon's disgust for the so-called power metal scene, most pointedly, the bands proposed as Iced Earth support acts.
"All the CDs I got, there were 30 of them, it was total cheese and I didn't want to take these bands out because I'm just not into it. And I think the diehard Iced Earth fans would rather see another hour of Iced Earth than some band they don't care about. We're going to be playing bigger places but fewer shows and bigger stage shows. We're going to have ramps going up behind the drum riser. It will be about 25 to 30 shows all over Europe. These bands, it's all a bunch of happy Helloween horseshit. It's all been done. They're all carbon copies of each other and there's no originality there. As far as I'm concerned that's what separates us and Blind Guardian from the rest. There are individuals that have intensity and drive and you can hear those individuals on the records. You don't hear that on this cheese fucking Euro crap."
Their European tour will begin on September 7th in Holland. Back to Horror Show. Due out on June 26th, the album will be published not only on regular CD but as a strictly limited double-LP on coloured vinyl and as a strictly limited double-CD packaged in a special "Digibook" and featuring a full interview with bandleader Jon Schaffer.
, and played The Phantom Opera Ghost as the night's closing track. Awesome song, innit?
