by Kenneth Morton

From performing in a Judas Priest cover band to actually appearing for a few years with the genuine article, the story of Tim “Ripper” Owens is the stuff movies are made of – and one actually was released, based around the story starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. But with the return of Rob Halford, Owens found himself out of the legendary rock bands, now facing new possibilities in his career. One was joining on as the new lead vocalist for Iced Earth. The other was his own metal project entitled Beyond Fear. Read on to learn more about the magazine true story of Tim “Ripper” Owens…

How did Beyond Fear come about, and did you remain in touch with Dennis Hayes once you left Winters Bane?
Oh, yeah, Dennis and I had been friends and played in a few bands after that. He lives so close to me. And really, after I left Priest and got into Iced Earth, I really wanted to do my own thing – whether it was a solo thing or a band. I thought it was definitely going to happen. And John Comprix the guitar player and I – I’ve been talking about songs to him – some which I actually submitted to Judas Priest – Save Me was one of them. I slowly did stuff, but probably within the last couple of years we really started putting the axe down and really going for it. And about a year and a half ago, I decided let’s get the band together – so instead of a solo thing, we got the name and went at it.

Describe Beyond Fear to those who have not heard it yet.
It’s classic metal kind of influenced by Sabbath, Priest and Pantera with classic style vocal. I would say it’s a modern day version of classic metal.

Your vocals on here are incredible! Have you ever had any training with your vocals?
No, you know, I sang in choir in high school and had some great teachers. It’s definitely something that I was born with – everybody is born with things. I probably would have liked to have been born a lot smarter, ya know (chuckles), like been an engineer like my wife or something like that. Everybody has gifts and things that they do. It would have been nice if I could have a great swing and been the next Tiger Woods – instead I was blessed with high notes. Tiger Woods’ golf swing or high notes – which one would you take? (Laughter) But I’ve worked really hard at it to make it better. I’ve read a lot about vocal techniques and things.

Is there any concept or story behind the new album?
Well, there’s a little bit of everything. You have a little political type views – not necessarily mine. You have songs about a guy who was writing to his family in an airplane that he was going to die. You’ve got songs about me having the faith in heavy metal music, and never going to leave it – that this is true, it’s not fake – that’s why I wouldn’t leave it. And you even have songs like Scream Machine that’s a nod to the old school – that I could write a song with traditional heavy metal lyrics – almost like a song I would have liked to have written on the Judas Priest records as well – it shows that I probably could have written on the Judas Priest records. So lyrically, it’s just about everything.

Will you ever be playing any shows here in the States?
I hope so. I really do. It just depends on what the label does and if we could get on with somebody. We’re getting ready to go back over to Europe. We just got back from Europe with the Anthrax tour, and now we’re going back over again. It’s really going to be a pretty busy couple of months. I leave Monday to go hang out with (Jon) Schaffer (of Iced Earth) for a couple of days – and then once September rolls around, it will be back to really getting in with the Iced Earth stuff.

What was it like hanging out with Anthrax and were you a big fan?
I was and am a big fan. They had opened up for me on the Judas Priest tour with John Bush singing. And now it’s with Joey, and it was great, man! It was a really good time. They’re nice guys, and I’m lucky to call them friends. It’s kind of nice that people that I’ve looked up to and admired – that I’ve become friends with. Scott’s a great guy and we get along really. What you see with them is what you get and it’s nice. And Joey sounded awesome on tour!

When you look back on your work with Winters Bane, what do you think of it now?
It was cool. I could tell I was younger. The album wasn’t quite as polished as I would like to hear them redone nowadays. It was good stuff. I was listening to those records and I was listening to the Beyond Fear record – and the Beyond Fear record is actually so much better, in all honesty, than the Winters Bane record. But I think it coincides with that I was a lot younger. I had Jim Morris working with me on Beyond Fear. It’s a better record, but if Heart Of A Killer was redone nowadays, it would be an unbelievable record. But it was great times – Lou is a great, phenomenal guitar player – he always wrote great stuff to sing over, which is a lot like John does in Beyond Fear. And that was the great thing about Winters Bane – it was always great to sing the stuff and to write with Lou.

Would you ever consider doing a Winters Bane reunion show?
Probably not, no. My main concern is Beyond Fear and Iced Earth, and it would be hard to throw that in the mix, I think. Maybe we’ll have some kind of funny tour in the future and have Winters Bane open up for Beyond Fear. We’ll do a half hour of Winters Bane and an hour and 15 minutes of Beyond Fear or something.

Have you ever considered doing an Iced Earth/Beyond Fear tour?
Nah, that won’t happen. Jon Schaffer would never have something like that. And I understand that. And I don’t think I could do it, man, cuz that’s too tough! This Beyond Fear stuff is hard enough to sing, and then you’re gonna add in the Iced Earth stuff, which is hard as hell to sing. I just don’t see it happening. Maybe if I was a lot younger. But Schaffer wouldn’t have it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and do a Beyond Fear/Demons & Wizards/Iced Earth/Blind Guardian tour. That would be kind of funny.

That would be really cool. Well here comes the Judas Priest questions. How surprised were you when it was announced that Rob Halford would be joining Judas Priest again? Have you talked to him since his return?
Yeah, I wasn’t surprised. It had to happen – for me as well as them. Things have been so much better and I’ve been busier just doing different things and getting myself out there since Priest and I split. And it’s been better then. It had to happen for Rob’s sake – it had to happen for my sake – and it had to happen for Judas Priest’s sake. I knew it was going to come. Once the tour ended, I knew that things were going to change. But yeah, I’ve talked to all of them since then and we’re good friend and they’re great guys, and that’s how it is.

What is your assessment of the albums you’ve done with Judas Priest when you look back on them now?
I really like them. I just listened to them the other day. Some of my favorite songs are on Jugulator, but my favorite album is Demolition, because I think it’s got some great songs like Hell Is Home and In Between and One On One and Subterfuge. I really like them a lot.

Would you ever consider playing any of those songs with Beyond Fear?
Yeah, we do a little medley. We do a little bit of Judas Priest – we do Red Baron and we do a little medley. I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to – but my label and my management both told me that they felt I should. If we’re doing a headlining tour, we have to so we have enough stuff to play. We have about a little under an hour of music, so gotta try to figure out what the hell we are going to do now.

What do you think of the movie Rockstar and Marky Mark’s portrayal of a character very similar to you?
I didn’t mind the characters in the movie. I didn’t mind Wahlberg and all that stuff. It’s a shame that they had to – you know originally it was going to be about me and then we didn’t like what was happening, and we pulled away from it. It’s a shame they used all of the similarities, but made such a crappy movie really. I mean, it’s a cheesy movie – they had to Spinal Tap it instead of making it into a serious movie. And the music was kind of crappy in a way, too.

Would Mark Wahlberg have been your first choice to play you?
I thought he did a pretty good job. I would pick someone like Eddie Murphy, just to make it kind of politically correct. Or Samuel L. Jackson or something. My wife would have rather picked Brad Pitt. Actually, he was the first that was asked to play the role, and he turned it down. But I think Wahlberg was good and I have nothing against him. I mean, it was the first time in my life I had abs! (Much laughter)

Tell me a little about the new Iced Earth album that you’ll be working on?
It’s something Jon’s been working on. It’s his baby – it’s his Something Wicked story. I don’t know a whole hell of a lot about it, so I really can’t put a whole lot into it. And it doesn’t upset me at all, because I understand that on this first record. We’re gonna do many more together, so that’s kind of nice. I’m going to go hang out with him and throw some ideas and some melody ideas maybe, and he can run with that. But this is his story, and I just don’t know anything about it, so it’s really hard to do it. It’s gonna be pretty intense. I’m going there Monday morning, hang out for a few days – we’re gonna eat some steaks and let the metal flow.

Did you know the former Iced Earth singer?
I met Matt. He’s a great guy – I like Matt a lot. He’s a really good guy, and it’s nice to see him doing so well in something that I think he was perfect to do – with being a highway patrol man or police officer or whatever he is. Matt’s a great guy and I like him a lot.

What advice would you give a young musician just starting out in regards to the music business?
Make sure they have their contracts looked ever. Don’t ever sign a contract without it getting looked over. And make sure you go to college as well, so you could get another job, and try to do something else.

Do you have any messages for your fans who have followed you throughout your career?
My big message is with this Beyond Fear CD – I think they should go out and get it for this reason alone – that it’s a true metal record. It’s someone who’s doing an album that believes in this 100 percent. It’s not fake, it’s not false. This is the exact kind of heavy metal record I would want to get, so I made a record that I totally believe in. It’s true stuff – it’s right from the heart.

Beyond Fear Links

Tim "Ripper" Owens: His Official Home Page!
SPV Records: The Record Label for Beyond Fear!
Tim Ripper Owens on Myspace: Ripper's Official Myspage page!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

Counter