ICED EARTH's SCHAFFER Explains Guitarist's Departure

January 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?"

In related news, ICED EARTH singer Tom Owens' (ex-JUDAS PRIEST) interview with Thrashin' Alan of the Dallas radio station KNON 89.3 FM, taped on January 16 and aired on January 22, can now be downloaded in three parts via the station's web site. Download the 21-minute interview here.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).