ICED EARTH Mainman To Publish Band Autobiography

ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer has posted the following message via the group's official web site (www.icedearth.com):

"Greetings,

"Well, now that the [record] deal [with SPV/Steamhammer] is finally done, studio arrangements are being made. We are getting a later start than I wanted but that's rock n roll. We should be recording in mid-March and we're shooting for an August\September release.

"This past Monday was the 18th anniversary of the band. Man, it's been a long and intense ride. Since we're approaching the 20th, I thought it was about time to have a book published about the ICED EARTH story. Bill Murphy will be writing it and obviously I will be very involved in this undertaking. He will be compiling info and doing interviews with key people and some past members in the next year and a half to two years so that we can have it out sometime in 2005, the 20th anniversary. I want this to be an inspirational book that will show people that there's nothing you can't accomplish when you give it your all, whether you're a musician, an aspiring writer, actor, doctor, lawyer or whatever. A strong work ethic, realistic short-term and long-term goals, honesty and balls will get you whatever it is you seek. We also have something very special planned for the DEMONS & WIZARDS release and Bill will be the one who is going to put it together. It was his idea and Hansi and I think it will be very cool for the fans. He will be documenting a good portion of the creative process and the recording and all kinds of cool stuff. More to come on that later.

"We will soon be auctioning off the drum kit that has been used on all the American tours, and was used on the 'Tribute to the Gods' recording. It will be on Ebay and all of the proceeds will go to two of my favorite charities, the Vietnam Veterans and to the Firefighters of New York. For those that are interested in owning this piece of IE history, stay tuned, I will have [our webmaster] announce it when the auction starts. This will happen in the next month or so.

"The record is coming along very well, I'm really into this one, and it's going to be great. It's funny how things morph and change as the writing moves along. You can expect 'The Glorious Burden' to be an album based on lots of history and some deep personal stuff. From the American Revolution, the Civil War, Waterloo (Napoleonic Wars),Attila the Hun to WW1 fighter ace Manfred Freiherr Von Richthofen aka The Red Baron, we're covering a lot of very cool and tragic historical periods. This will be a very unique and special record, that's for sure. Like I said in one of my previous posts, many of the titles were working titles and just that. I've shelved some of my earlier song concepts till a later date, these topics flow very well together over all and fit perfectly with the title. I really wanted to challenge myself on this record lyrically and musically. Most of my songs have been about dark fantasy and sci-fi or horror, but this is a challenge because we are focusing on real life and often very tragic events, so in a way it's new for ICED EARTH. There will be a lot of that personal emotion that touches many of you as well, don't worry, but overall this has developed into something different. Don't let different worry you, we won't come out with baggy pants rappin', it ain't gonna happen. This is a very metal record!

"I'm really, really busy right now so I won't be starting the reviews of all the songs on all the records until after the album is done. Sorry, I just don't have the time.

"However, one thing that we will be doing that will help keep you updated on stuff is posting an interview with me by Bill Murphy about every month. He's volunteered to do that for me so that we can do this a bit more regularly. It's much easier for me to run my mouth than to do all this typing, and it's faster, and he'll stay on top of it because that's the kind of guy that he is.

"I hope you all had a good time over the holidays and hope your new year is going to be a great one."