Added Sunday, April 18, 2004 When Akron's Tim “Ripper” Owens was tapped to join legendary power metal band Judas Priest in 1996, replacing long-departed vocalist Rob Halford, many thought he'd hit the jackpot. When it was announced last summer that Halford was returning and Owens was out of a job, many of the same people assumed his career had been pole-axed.
Not so, says Owens, who announced shortly after leaving Judas Priest that he would join Indiana-based Iced Earth, a respected, if not well-known, classic metal band with roots going back two decades.
“It's definitely worked out a lot better for me that Rob came back,” he says, calling from a garage where he's getting an oil change a day before departing for a tour that will take Iced Earth across America and to Japan and Europe for some big festivals in support of its new CD, The Glorious Burden . “I'm glad for the guys. It all happened without losing their friendship and just moving on in a good way. I needed to do something else for my career, and I think they knew it. Judas Priest started to get where we weren't doing that much. I had a family, and if you go on a tour every four years, and you do an album every four years, it's hard to support your family.”
And he wasn't that surprised when Halford returned to Judas Priest.
“It's something that had to happen,” he says. “I think that Judas Priest had to get Rob back. And Rob had to get Judas Priest back. And I had to go do something else. But people were calling me like I died. I was just telling my wife, ‘I really hope that Judas Priest fires me because I'll never quit.' I'm ecstatic for them. I hope I'm in town in August to go see them. I know where their beer's at, and I'm going to go steal it.”
In fact, Owens' association with Iced Earth began long before he left Judas Priest. He'd known band leader Jon Schaffer casually for over a decade and was familiar with his music.
“Jon and I started talking in '98,” he says. “He and [former singer] Matt [Barlow] used to come and watch us when Judas Priest was in Indianapolis. I liked Iced Earth because I thought they'd progressed with every record. And Jon speaks his mind. He stuck to classic metal, to the metal he believed in, and as people didn't, bands that would sell out or change, he would tell them. He has his way, and that's it. But he's probably the nicest guy that I've met.”
As recording of The Glorious Burden wrapped up, Schaffer decided he wasn't happy with Barlow's vocals and called Owens to re-record them.
“He asked if I might be interested in doing it as a side project,” Owens says. “I did it and loved it. That was what made it so easy for me. I mean, the day that Judas Priest released they were going to get Rob back, I could release that I was in Iced Earth, if I wanted. I thought about it for a month and a half, because I wanted to make sure it was the right thing because I had a lot of other offers.”
Owens says that the album, which opens with a martial version of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and features a three-part “Gettysburg” suite as well as songs about Valley Forge and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, has evoked some negative comment from fans and media who, he says, have misinterpreted it.
“There's been some people from Europe and Canada who think this album is all pro-America,” he says. “They don't understand that it's about history. There's more about American history than European history because we're an American band. It's not about how great America is.”
So far, Owens' association with Iced Earth has been a win-win situation for both parties.
“This album's sold 80 percent more than any Iced Earth record in the past,” Owens says. “It's almost up to 40,000. It just came out in mid-January, and we haven't toured yet. If you get the singer from Judas Priest, that's going to help. But we have a new record label that's pushed it really hard. And it's a great record.”
Owens says he'll be contributing to the writing of future Iced Earth albums and rewrote three Glorious Burden songs. But when he gets a break, he's also planning to finish a solo album.
“I've written the music to it and it's a basic classic-type metal, Priest-meets-Sabbath type stuff,” he says. “I'm going to have a bunch of area musicians jam with me. I have enough material for the record already. I have about 10 songs done. The first step is to get the deal and then come back and start recording the record and maybe writing a few new tunes.”
When Akron's Tim “Ripper” Owens was tapped to join legendary power metal band 