Jon Schaffer discusses conditions for writing new Iced Earth music with Matt Barlow

Iced Earth’s founding guitarist Jon Schaffer, whose band essentially disbanded after he was arrested for his role in the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, was asked in a recent interview with Spain’s Metal DJ Phoenix if there was a possibility that he and former Iced Earth singer Matt Barlow could reunite, as per Blabbermouth. 

I think anything’s possible. I just don’t know, because the music has to be there. 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. So the only way that I would be interested in doing that is if the music is really speaking to me.”

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. I don’t wanna do that. So it may come, and it probably will at some point, but it’s gotta be determined on the music. That’s it. Because just putting the band back together to go out and play this record or that record — I can’t think of anything that’s less interesting to me to do. It would feel a little bit cheap to do that. So there’s gotta be truly inspired music. If that comes, then everything’s on the table.

Jon made this statement after Metal DJ Phoenix pointed out that fans of Iced Earth shouldn’t anticipate Schaffer singing the full “The Dark Saga” album live to commemorate the LP’s 30th anniversary. 

No. Not right now, no. I have no interest in that right now. 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, so, the music has to be there because then there’s a purpose. 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.

Jon made this statement on his intentions to release new music in the near future.

I’m only going with my instincts and what my spirit is telling me to do, and what I’m inspired by. And right now that’s [Jon’s side project] Sons of Liberty, and we’ll see when I really start assembling and doing production work, like pre-production work… 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. I’m focused on the Sons stuff right now. 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 or whatever. It’s not gonna happen. This is gonna be organic, it’s gonna be real, it’s gonna be inspired, because that’s worth it. It’ll be worth the wait. I mean, I know how this works.

According to Jon, who recently released “Sons Of Liberty – Thought Crimes (Volumes 1 & 2),” which combines the “Brush-fires Of The Mind” LP (2009) and the “Spirit Of The Times” EP (2011) with freshly recorded drums by Mark Prator and a new mix by Jim Morris, he isn’t inspired by the money offers that have been made to him in the eight years since Iced Earth last gave a live performance. 

This is not about money for me. It never has been, I mean, of course I need money, you need money, everybody does because we have to live and we have bills to pay, but I’m not gonna — at the expense of sacrificing my personal integrity, there is no money that can do that. So it’s gotta be inspired. 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. So that started it. Now I’m going through this process because it’s what I need to do.

Returning to the prospect of collaborating with Barlow once more, Jon stated this. 

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 — [he] has been forever — and we have a great thing together. But he also understands that I need to be really inspired. I gotta have my heart in it. If it’s gonna be great, my heart’s gotta be in it. I gotta really be in. And I know that I’m not right now, so why would I do it? It would only be to chase dollars at that point. The heart and soul have to be there if you wanna have the best music, and the music is gonna outlive me. So it’s important that — I just gotta trust my instinct on this.

Schaffer, who has been outspoken about how his relationship with Jesus Christ helped him deal with the fallout from his involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot, was also asked if his newfound faith would have an impact on his music moving ahead.

I don’t know the answer to that. This is all just starting. This is the thing with creative — with the art, with following your heart and your soul, it’s just gonna happen. And it could be the kind of thing that… I mean, I do know some specific historical things that I will be writing about, but I don’t know. There’s no limitations.

Being a Christian is actually pretty heavy, you’re talking about having a level of understanding about the spiritual war. There isn’t really much heavier than that. So, I think the influence in that, it could be pretty strong, but it won’t lack any heaviness, let’s put it that way. So I have no concerns about that. And maybe I define heavy a little bit differently than some people do. I think heavy is, how does it move you emotionally? It’s not just detuned guitars and [guttural vocals]. To me, that doesn’t define heavy. It defines how does the music move an individual. Does it bring you to tears? Does it make you wanna shake your fists and, like, whatever? But whatever the reaction is, if it moves you in a really powerful way, that’s heavy to me. I mean, I know acoustic songs that are very heavy and very moving and very powerful.

I don’t know. I’m too early in this, and I think whatever it is that comes, it’s gonna have to be great or I’m just not gonna do it. There’s other things that I can do. So that’s the stage that I’m at right now, is starting, and I’ll be doing this for many months now, and preparing everything, and making sure that it’s feeling good to me. Because at the end of the day, I have to satisfy myself as an artist. My preference is that people would enjoy it. If they don’t, that’s okay too. I have no control over that. The only thing I have control over really is making the decisions that are gonna make me sit at ease with my legacy and with my work. And at this point in my life, it’s really important that anything that I do or am involved with going forward is something that I can really be comfortable with. I mean, I am really pretty comfortable with almost all of my catalog.

When you have a career that long — and this is the machine that I’m talking about — sometimes through the years there’s been albums that I don’t think are as great. Some people feel differently. Some people love them. And some of that — I believe that you can work incredibly well under pressure if you’re inspired. If you’re not feeling super inspired because maybe you’re burned out, but you’ve already got a tour booked on one side of the thing, and you’ve got a deadline, and you’ve got to get the record done… I mean, there’s been times… Or you’ve got really heavy personal situations going on in your life, but you’ve got to push through because the deadline. I’m not willing to compromise on that anymore. It’s just not an option. I don’t have anybody breathing down my neck about it, and they’re not going to, because I’m not gonna tolerate it.

It has to be inspired, man. It has to be inspired, and if it’s not inspired, and if it’s not inspiring me, and I’m not getting the goosebumps, and I’m not really believing it, then I’m just not gonna do it. I’d rather leave it where it is. Because if [2017’s] ‘Incorruptible‘ was the last Iced Earth album ever, it’s a great album. That one, I really enjoy that record. I think there’s maybe a couple spots that are a little bit filler, but most of it’s really strong, and I would be okay with that. So it’s gotta be inspired. It’s gotta be fire — really, really hot.