Jon Schaffer

Jon Ryan Schaffer (born March 15, 1968) is an American heavy metal musician.

In 1979, at the age of eleven, Schaffer attended a Kiss concert with his father.

Since then, he has said that this was the moment when he realized what he wanted to do for a living.

Schaffer went to a Lutheran school for five years, during which he developed a lot of anger and rebellion, due to the abusive nature of the pastors.

Allegedly, on one occasion, one of the pastors "shoved a bar of soap down Schaffer's throat", because the pastor felt threatened by his refusal to submit, after he could not answer Schaffer's questions about evolution versus creationism.

According to Schaffer, this had an effect on him forming a band, so that he could "prove these people wrong".

In 1984, at the age of 16, Schaffer moved to Tampa, Florida.

Shortly before he left, one of Schaffer's childhood friends died in a motorcycle accident, which made Schaffer even more determined to move to Florida and start a band.

While in Tampa, Schaffer slept in his car.

Later he nearly lost his life in a car accident, after which he got an apartment and a job as a roofer.

In 1984, Schaffer formed a short-lived band called "the Rose".

He is the rhythm guitarist, bandleader and principal songwriter of the Indiana-based heavy metal band Iced Earth, which he formed in 1985 under the name Purgatory.

He is also the lead singer in his political side project Sons of Liberty and, until 2021, played guitar for Demons & Wizards, his collaboration with Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürsch.

The band quickly broke up, after which Jon formed what would later become Iced Earth under the name "Purgatory" on January 20, 1985.

Schaffer played rhythm guitar and also designed the band's logo.

The logo had originally been used for the Rose, but after the band broke up, Schaffer reused the logo for Purgatory and later for Iced Earth.

In 1990, after some line-up changes, the band, now known as Iced Earth, released their self-titled debut album.

In addition to playing rhythm guitar and singing backing vocals, Jon also acted as co-producer on the album, as he has done on all Iced Earth albums since.

The following year, the band released the follow-up album, Night of the Stormrider, which also featured Jon singing lead vocals on the song "Stormrider".

Schaffer and Hansi had originally met in the early 1990s, when Iced Earth and Blind Guardian toured together.

After some downtime between 1992 and 1995, Iced Earth re-emerged with a new line up, which included singer Matt Barlow, who would stay with the band until 2003.

The band released the albums Burnt Offerings and The Dark Saga in 1995 and 1996 respectively, until in 1998, Iced Earth released the album Something Wicked This Way Comes, which featured three songs ("Prophecy", "Birth of the Wicked" and "The Coming Curse") that were based on Jon Schaffer's Something Wicked concept.

The songs tell the story of a character that Jon created, called Set Abominae, who also appears on the album's front cover.

Demons & Wizards released their self-titled debut album in 2000.

After Something Wicked This Way Comes, Iced Earth released the album Horror Show in 2001, after which work began on the follow-up album, The Glorious Burden.

Originally Matt Barlow had recorded the vocal tracks for the album, but due to his lack of interest in the band following the events of 9/11, he left the group in 2003 and joined the Georgetown Police Department in Georgetown, Delaware.

Matt was replaced by former Judas Priest-singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, who resung the entire album.

The Glorious Burden was released in January 2004, after which Jon started work on two concept albums based on his Something Wicked storyline.

The first album, Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked Part 1 was released on September 11, 2007, after which, in December 2007, it was announced that Matt Barlow would be returning to Iced Earth.

The second album, The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 2, was released September 5, 2008, and featured Matt once again on vocals.

Matt Barlow was later replaced by Stu Block from Into Eternity, who had opened for Iced Earth in 2008.

In 2011, after about two years back in the band, Matt Barlow issued a statement saying that he was leaving Iced Earth in order to spend more time with his family.

With Block, the band recorded the album Dystopia, which was released on October 17, 2011.

From October 2011, to December 2012, Iced Earth toured in support of Dystopia, during which time they recorded the album Live in Ancient Kourion.

Demons & Wizards was a side project Schaffer put together with Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürsch.

In a 2019 poll by Guitar World, Schaffer was ranked as the 25th-best rhythm guitar player of all time.

Schaffer is a founding lifetime member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia.

In April 2021, he pleaded guilty to two crimes related to his participation in the storming of the United States Capitol.

Schaffer was originally introduced to rock music at the age of three.

His older sister introduced Jon to bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, and Blue Öyster Cult.