TIM «RIPPER» OWENS (ICED EARTH)

Como ya dije en mi review del concierto en New York tuve suerte de ser uno de los pocos miembros de la prensa que pudieron charlar con los músicos y tomar fotos en el backstage. El recinto estaba realmente lleno y gracias a la gente de SPV pude conseguir este material para vosotros.

ENGLISH VERSION BELOW

TMC: Tim, es un placer conocerte y quiero agradecerte que te tomes
el tiempo de hablar conmigo para The Metal Circus.

Tim Owens: “Genial”.

TMC: Es muy bueno verte en New York de nuevo. ¿Cómo te sientes de nuevo
en la Gran Manzana?

TO: “Es genial. Ya sabes, estuve aquí hace no mucho haciendo promoción,
estuve con MTV y Sirius Music pero está bien tocar aquí. Deberíamos tocar en
un recinto mas grande de todas maneras, pienso.”

TMC: Has de admitir que un lugar intimo es bueno en ciertas ocasiones.

TO: “Definitivamente, está bien tener un recinto de este tamaño, y las
entradas se han agotado, pero si hubiéramos podido cambiar a un recinto mas
grande habría sido mucho mejor, pero es un buen sitio.”

TMC: Es alucinante ver lo bien que te has adaptado al puesto en ICED
EARTH, y creo que este disco es muy grande. No puedo dejar de escucharlo. También
te he de admitir que soy un fan novato de la banda.

TO: “Oh, está bien”.

TMC: También me gustaba lo que hiciste en JUDAS PRIEST, así que es
obligatorio preguntarte si estás contento con la respuesta que estas recibiendo
hasta el momento.

TO: “Si, está siendo casi todo positivo, pero el único problema que tenemos
es la gente que interpreta éste disco como algo político y no podemos hacer
nada contra ello. Canada ha sido muy mala en ese sentido, ya que una revista
se ha ocupado de ello, pero no estamos preocupados ya que es una revista de
bajo presupuesto, una revista de mierda.

TMC: No diremos el nombre.

TO: “Simplemente se cargaron el disco diciendo que era un trabajo político
y no podemos imaginarnos porqué la gente dice eso.”

TMC: La gente está muy excitada con el nuevo Cd, así que la pregunta
es ¿vais a ir a España pronto?

TO: “No hemos ido todavía, aunque lo teníamos planeado, pero a principios
de año, Jon tuvo problemas en su espalda.

TMC: Pero ahora está mejor.

TO: “Está mejor de eso, pero actualmente esta enfermo, y tiene un virus
estomacal o algo por el estilo.”

TMC: ¿Hasta cuando va a durar la gira para vosotros?

TO: “Uhm…iremos a Los Angeles el 20 de mayo, luego iremos a Japón para
tres fechas y volveremos para mas fechas americanas, para luego acabar en Europa
el 26 de junio. Tenemos dos festivales en Europa, el Grasspop, del cual somos
cabezas de cartel el viernes, y también tenemos el Bang Your Head Festival.

TMC: Así que ¿qué es lo próximo? ¿vas a hacer un nuevo disco con ICED
EARTH?

TO: “Definitivamente”.

TMC: He escuchado algunos rumores acerca de un disco en solitario por
tu parte…

TO: “Voy a hacer algo de material en solitario, aun tengo que conseguir
un contrato pero lo voy a hacer. Será un disco en solitario, algo así como un
proyecto paralelo, y definitivamente lo voy a hacer.”

TMC: Sera ortodoxamente metálico ¿no?

TO: “Será metal, si, pero mi banda principal sigue siendo ICED EARTH.”

TMC: Me alegra verte en esta banda. Incluso le dije a tu amigo Chris
Caffery que me gustaba lo que hacías en PRIEST pero amo lo que estas haciendo
en ICED EARTH. Fui uno de esos que recibió bien el hecho de que entraras en
JUDAS PRIEST porque dije “bueno, Halford se ha ido, que le vamos a hacer?”.

TO: “Creo que en líneas generales fui bien recibido en PRIEST. Creo que
la mayoría de los fans me aceptaron, y quizá algunos antiguos fans nunca lo
hicieron pero…”

TMC: Bueno, peor para ellos. Tengo los CDs y el DVD y es muy buen material.

TO: “Bueno, en general la respuesta muy positiva y cuando la gente nos
veía en directo siempre estaba todo bien. Me lo pasé bien y creo que salí airoso
de mi estancia en PRIEST. Quizá no tuvimos demasiado éxito pero nos mantuvimos
tocando Metal y continuamos tocando en directo y agotando entradas en muchos
lugares, y bueno…aunque los discos no vendieron bien, tampoco vendieron los
de HALFORD ni los de otra gente. Las cosas son como son. Pero fue una buena
época y creó que conseguí mi meta”.

TMC: Mi pregunta es si estás cómodo con este gran resurgimiento del
metal.

TO: “Creo que está bien, he visto una gran diferencia en los últimos años,
desde que entré en PRIEST, porque cuando entré en PRIEST no había nada. Ahora
la gente puede decir que porqué de golpe y porrazo ahora el metal funciona de
nuevo. Bueno, las bandas están tocando más y mas bandas de metal van apareciendo.
Quiero decir…quizá no es el metal que las viejas generaciones quieren escuchar,
pero bandas como DISTURBED, GODSMACK y gente así comenzaron a emerger poco después
de que yo entrara en PRIEST y creo que el mercado está volviendo a admitir el
Metal. Los chicos lo llaman New Metal pero simplemente creo que es Metal. Por
supuesto, no quiero ser clasificado como metal “antiguo”. Pero creo que cuando
todas esas bandas de metal comenzaron a aparecer provocaron que los fans volvieran
a prestar atención. Además, el Ozzfest no hace daño incluyendo a bandas nuevas
en show de metal. Ayudó y la música siempre ha estado ahí. El Metal nunca ha
muerto.”

TMC: ¿Podríais ser una adición de última hora al Ozzfest?

TO: “No. Habría sido un buen año para hacerlo, por el cartel que ahí. No
estoy seguro de que pudiéramos hacerlo. Si los números son los adecuados y el
dinero está ahí y no nos supone perdidas, podemos hacerlo. Lo que…pienso que
el Ozzfest no es fácil para acceder a él. No entras en el Ozzfest porque sí,
has de ir trabajándote tu camino en el festival, y no vamos a hacer eso. Nos
gustaría entrar en otra gira, quizá teloneando a una banda mas grande, pero
de momento hemos agotado entradas en unos cuantos lugares por nuestra cuenta
y las cosas marchan bien.”

TMC: ¿Hay algunas sorpresas en el show? ¿Está basado en “Glorious Burden”
o quizá incluso escuchemos el disco entero?

TO: “No, hay cosas nuevas y cosas viejas. Por supuesto tenemos un montón
de temas de ‘Glorious Burden’ en el set porque tocamos ‘Declaration Day’, ‘Greenface’,
‘Red Baron’, ‘When Eagle Cries’ y por supuesto ‘Gettysburg” la cual creo que
es el punto álgido de la noche.”

TMC: También me gusta “Don’t Tread On Me”.

TO: “Esa también es buena, e intentamos meterla pero no había manera de
introducirla en el set-list. Intentaremos tocarla la próxima vez. Quiero decir…la
ensayamos, pero se nos hacía difícil y queríamos cambiarla un poco.”

TMC: ¿Crees que habrá algun DVD de ésta corta gira?

TO: “Podría ser, pero vamos a editar un DVD de ‘Gettysburg’. Tratará todo
sobre ‘Gettysburg’ y creo que quedará bien. Con suerte, editaremos un disco
en directo.”

“Me gustaría hacer un disco en directo eventualmente”.

Ken Pierce(ken@themetalcircus.com)

Trad.:Sergi Ramos

As I mentioned in my review, I was fortunate enough to be one of the only members
of the Press with talent interaction as well as photography opportunity at this
show.  The venue BB Kings is pretty tight, and thanks to the Record Company
SPV, I was able to get this stuff for you all to enjoy.  Read on.

TMC: Tim it’s indeed a great pleasure to meet you face to face and
let me first thank you for taking the time to sit and talk with me on behalf
of the Metal Circus

Tim – Good Man

TMC: So it’s awesome to see you in New York again, so how does it feel
to be back in the Big Apple

Tim – It’s great you know I was just doing some promotion here not too
long ago did MTV and Sirius Music and a bunch of stuff but its nice to play
here.  We should be playing someplace a little bit bigger though I think.

TMC: Well you gotta admit an intimate room is good sometimes.

Tim – Definately, it is nice to have a room this size and it was sold out
but if there was some way we could have moved up that would have been great,
but it’s a pretty cool place.

TMC:  It’s nice to see how well you have stepped into the role of singer for
Iced Earth and I think this album is fucking killer man, I love it and cant
stop listening to it.  Also I am a new fan of the band to be honest

Tim – Cool thanks

TMC: I also liked you in Priest, so I have to ask are you happy with
the response you’ve been getting so far?

Tim – Yeah its been all positive but obviously the only downfall we ever
get is people who say that its a political record and we cant figure it out. 
Canada was pretty bad on that, a magazine was on that but we are not worried
since it’s really just a small low budget magazine anyways, a crap magazine. 

TMC: I’ll leave the name out.

Tim – Yeah they really hammered it saying it was a political album and
we cant quite figure out how people would say that.

TMC: so the site I write for is in Spain, so I am their New York guy
and they love this record and their big fans and this site is 100% behind it

Tim – Well the fans have been really behind it.

TMC: So we have site visitors raving about the review we did of the
CD and there are rave reports coming in on shows they have heard about so their
question is are you going to Spain with this soon?

Tim – We havent yet and we were supposed to but earlier this year Jon’s
back was bad.

TMC: Yet he is doing good now.

Tim – He is feeling better on that, but he is actually sick today and he
has a stomach virus or something.

TMC: So how long is this tour going to go on for you guys?

Tim – Uhm, well we go to LA on the 20th May, Go to Japan for three dates,
and come back for more American dates and then we pretty much end on June 26th
in Europe.  We have two Festivals in Europe, Grasspop which we are headlining
on the Friday and German Bang Your Head Festival.

TMC: Those sound like two good festivals to be part of.

Tim – Oh yeah.

TMC: So whats next for you are you going to do another Iced Earth record?

Tim – Oh definately.

TMC: Now I heard some rumbling about some solo stuff from you…

Tim – I am going to do some solo stuff – I gotta get it signed but I am
gonna do it.  It’ll be a solo record and more of a side project type of record
I am definately going to do that.

TMC: Definately going to be metal though right?

Tim – Its gonna be metal yeah but my main band is Iced Earth.

TMC: I am really happy to see you in this band cuz I even said to your
friend Chris when I talked to him that I liked you in Priest but I love the
work you do in Iced Earth.  Now I was one of those fans that embraced it when
you were in Priest because I said, well Halford left .

Tim – I think overall I was embraced in Priest , I mean most of the fans
embraced me, and there are some old school fans that might not have but ..

TMC: Well that was their loss I mean I got the records and the DVD’s
and its great stuff.

Tim – Well overall it was a positive response and when people saw us live
it was always a good thing.  It was always a good time I think I succeeded in
Priest.  We might not have succeeded but we still kept going in metal and we
still kept playing and we sold a lot of places out, and well while the albums
didnt sell but neither did Halfords neither did some other people I mean its
just the way it is.  But it was a good time and it made my mark.

TMC: So I have to ask you are you happy to see this resurgence of big
metal, I always seem to ask everyone this.

Tim – Well yeah, I’ve seen a big difference over the past years since I
joined Priest, because when I joined Priest there was nothing going on.  Now
people might say why is it all of a sudden doing it now well bands are starting
to play more like that and more metal bands came out . I mean it might not be
the metal that old school metal fans like but bands like Disturbed and Godsmack
and stuff but it did start emerging at that time since I joined Priest and fans
seem to start embracing the whole metal market again.  Folks call it New Metal
but I think myself its just metal of some sort. Of course I dont wanna be classified
as old metal because then I am classic rock .  Yet I think that when a lot of
all these other different metal bands started coming out It just put kids awareness
back to that. Plus Ozzfest didnt hurt either with doing a metal show and mostly
featuring new bands at the time.  Still it helped and Its music has always been
there.  Metal never really died.

 TMC: So any last minute addition to this years Ozzfest?

Tim – No.  It would have been a good year to do it this year, because of
the lineup.  I am not sure we are going to do it, if the numbers are ever there
and the money is there and its not a loss and we can do it sure.  Which I think
in Ozzfest might be kind of hard since you dont just jump on Ozzfest, you sort
of have to pay your way on it and we’re not going to do that.  We like to get
on another tour maybe supporting a bigger act but right now we’ve been selling
out all of our shows right now and its been good.

TMC: Well, its a great response that I’ve seen and that I have been
reading about and for me every time I recommend a new record I have been saying
to people that I have been listening to this new Iced Earth and I say grab it. 
It was among the things when I spoke to Chris (Caffery) that I said what is
in your CD Changer and he was like I have been listening to it a lot, I cant
turn it off.

Tim – Yeah its a good album and it has a lot of good songs I mean Iced
Earth is about mixing it up and having a lot of melody.

TMC: What are some surprises we are in store for tonight?  Will it
be most of the Glorious Burden or maybe even hear the whole album tonight?

Tim – no its old and new  of course we do have a lot of Glorious Burden
in the set, because we have Declaration Day and Greenface and Red Baron, When
Eagle Cries and of course Gettysburg I think is the highlight of the evening.

TMC: I also like Dont Tread On Me.

Tim – Yeah thats a good one, we tried to fit that in but we just could
not fit it into the setlist.  We’re going to try and get it for the next time. 
I mean we rehearsed it but it was so hard and we wanted to put a different mix
on it.

TMC: You think that there will be a live DVD released of this short
tour.

Tim – We might, but we are releasing a Gettysburg DVD. It’s going to be
all about Gettysburg and it will have the music and song in it so I think it
will be pretty awesome.    Hopefully we will release a live one .

TMC: Yeah that will be good because you are coming in at a perfect
time for it since you have this killer record and there is a back catalog for
Iced Earth and it’s high time for a great double live album from them 

Tim – Yeah I would really like to do a live one eventually. 

TMC: Well let me let you get something to eat and to meet your next
interview.  Kick ass tonight and Keep rocking.  Thanks very much for your time.

Tim – You’re welcome, thanks for the support.

Ken Pierce(ken@themetalcircus.com)