IN FLAMES Singer Slams ICED EARTH's SCHAFFER: 'The Only Person On This Planet I Can't Stand'

IN FLAMES vocalist Anders Fridén has slammed ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer over comments Schaffer made during ICED EARTH's 2002 North American tour, which featured IN FLAMES in the support slot.

"I have fucking little love for a certain guy in that band," Anders Fridén told Sweden's premiere rock/metal magazine Close-Up for its March issue (view cover here),referring to Shaffer. "I'm not the kind of person who talks shit about people — but this isn't bullshit, for that matter — [or the kind of person to] expose someone [in the press]. We supported ICED EARTH in the U.S. and did amazing well. We got a really great response and [Jon] — the rest of the band were cool — was upset, I guess. It ended with him calling us 'spoiled European pussies,' saying that I was a fucking rock star and a lot of other things. I'm fucking far from being a rock star, so I didn't feel guilty, but it was weird how he could make us out to be 'spoiled European pussies.' There were lot of complaints [from Jon], and our part of the stage was getting smaller and smaller, even though we'd sold out some of the venues before on our own. I could barely stand by the mic stand, that's how tight it was between the drum set and me. Then [I had issues with some of] his statements, which are [very] pro-America, to say the least. He talked shit about Swedes and Europeans in front of us and the other support act JAG PANZER, whose drummer [Rikard Stjernquist] is of Swedish descent. The drummer said 'What are you saying? I'm half Swedish,' to which [Jon] responded, 'Yeah, but you've lived in America for a long time, so we're not talking about you.' I've gotten along with everyone we've toured with, and I didn't think it was [that bad], even though we had differences of opinion, but [Jon] is the only person on this planet that I can't stand."