About a month ago, I went to see a show with the amazing Blaze Bayley, and as a special guest he served us with Luke Appleton, the bass player of Iced Earth! And I was lucky enough to get a short interview with Luke after the show.
So, here it goes:
Hello Luke! Great to meet a member of Iced Earth! Who are you, how are you doing and why are you here?
Well tonight I’m doing a solo acoustic show. My name is Luke Appleton, I play bass in Iced Earth and I also play guitar in a UK metal band called Absolva, and I do a variety between those two bands and other projects I’m involved with, and when ever i got downtime from Iced Earth i like to fill my time with as much as possible really, so i do other stuff with Absolva and then I got invited to do this acoustic tour with Blaze.
And you ended up in this small town in Sweden?
Yeah, we don’t care, we play anywhere, wherever they want us!
You look like you have fun on stage?
Yeah, it comes fro the heart!
And that’s why you do it?
Yeah, it really is. And i have not been to Scandinavia as much, as say main land Europe for example, so I took the opportunity and I will come back here in a few weeks to play Sweden Rock Festival! So I’m getting a good bunch of Scandinavia this year!
Oh really!? I’m not going to Sweden Rock unfortunately.
It’s going to be my first time there really, so I’m very exited! The line-up looks amazing and I’ve heard a lot of good things about the festival.
So, why isn’t Iced Earth bigger in Scandinavia? They have all the right stuff to be great, and all of Scandinavia loves Maiden and music like that…?
Well, I mean, Iced Earth have certain markets where they are bigger than other, just like every other band, I mean…. we have an amazing following in places like Greece and Germany. Just some places shine a bit more than others. But maybe its just that we haven’t… I don’t know…maybe people haven’t got the word out? We’ve been doing it for a long time but some places… I mean, we did a huge tour with Volbeat and we did do a few shows in Scandinavia, and that really brought a big buzz for the band again. We’ve approached new markets and we’ve seen that it in CD sales and you know Facebook likes and comments, and we’re going in the right direction. But we’re not as big here as we are in Greece, which always been our second home. But every show is special in its own way.
I saw you in 2014 in Stockholm, Great show!
Oh really, cool! I remember that one. It was a long tour, the Plagues of Babylon – tour, it was really good. That was the first time I was in Sweden, so that was nice for me and it was a new thing for me, so that’s why I took the opportunity to go here again coz I want to get over to this places a lot more and spread the word again. So I think its good for me and good for all the bands as well.
Well, you got me to know you, because otherwise its just Jon Schaffer…
Yeah, he’s the man. He’s the original member!
Yeah i know, he’s the myth and the legend… but it’s really great to see and get to know the people behind if, you know what i mean? And because the last two albums are amazing… you’re a star! 🙂 Hehehe!!
Hahaha! Thanks! Well this next album is going to be really good as well…
Yeah, I heard the three new songs on YouTube, its going to be a killer album!
Luke, performing in Strängnäs the 24 of May 2017
Yeah we’re really proud of this one. It’s got… you know… I was listening to an interview with Jon the other day and he really hit the nail on the head, because you could take anyone of these 10 new songs on the album and you can throw it on any other Iced Earth album and it would fit! It’s such a diverged album, and it got so many old school roots about it. It’s everything Iced Earth stands for.
I’ve heard its like a mix of the “Dark Saga” album and “Dystopia”?
Yeah, that’s how I like to think about it as well.
So, are you from the states? Your accent says otherwise…!
No I’m from England, but i do spend a lot of time in America.
It must be great to have this opportunity to travel the world?
Absolutely! I’ve loved in it from day one! I’ve been in the band for a bit over five years now and it’s just been one hell of a roller-coaster! Each day it’s just getting better and better, and now the second album for me, so I’m very exited for the whole tour-cycle to start again.
You’re planning a new tour obviously?
Yeah, we’ve got all the festivals announced for the moment, which will be going for the whole summer. And then as soon as the album’s out we’re planning a big tour.
So you maybe come back to stockholm after Sweden Rock?
I would like that very much! I find it hard to believe that we won’t, but we’ll see. I’m pretty sure it will be on the tour-poster!
So how did you end up in Iced Earth?
Well, six years ago I had a band with my brother, we were called Fury UK, which was a terrible name… We used to be called Fury, but there are a million bands called Fury, so we added the “UK” so that everybody would know that we were an English band… hahaha! But we actually opened an European tour for Iced Earth, so…
So you were pretty good?
Yeah we did a lot of tours, we supported Saxon, Michael Schenker and we opened for Blaze Bayley, so that’s how we got the Blaze Bayley connection… and that’s how we got to know them boys in Iced Earth… six months after that tour they offered me the job as bass player because the last one left!
And you thought, well why the hell not?
Yeah, why not! Iced Earth been my favourite band for many many years, so it was a big dream come true! The moment I got the call, and was talking to Schaffer, I just put the phone down after we spoke, and then I just wanted to tell my father and my brother immediately and see what they thought, and they were like “Are you kidding?” why are you even asking?? Just GO!! It was very good for a Monday morning hahaha!
That was all the time we got. Luke then had to go, and I was a happy man! 🙂 A really nice guy, and I’m very thankful that he took the time to talk to me!
So, thanks Luke, and thank you for a great show! Good luck in the future!
\m/ Peps
Be sure to check out our interview-page for more cool interviews!
Absolva: “Never A Good Day To Die“:
And, according to me, the second best song on the new “Iced Earth“-album: Raven Wings
