FOREWORD: This is by no means a form to insult bands and musicians, and although the way I have used to get my point across might seem harsh to some readers, I feel that this is the best representation of a fans view on this matter.

Quick. Name the current line up of Iced Earth. Do it now you have five seconds. Now, list off who’s in Yngwie’s Rising Force… Chances are most of you out there in reader land couldn’t name either of the twos current member roster. Well, neither could I. This week’s editorial is something that strikes home to me as an ardent heavy metal fan. I think there are several things that fans demand of their favorite bands and one of them is to have as stable a lineup as possible. You have no idea how frustrated I get when every damn day I see in news boards, “So and so has left ____” or “____ is now singing for band X, band Y, and band Z with a side project coming out that’s not related at all to the previous fifteen bands he’s sung / played for.” Those two things just make me not furious, but pretty damn annoyed, when a band has a constant revolving door lineup, or band whores, who jump ship and sing / play for every band in existence.

The revolving door lineup problem is a bit more serious in my opinion than “band jumpers”. Nine times out of ten, the reason there is a constant turnover rate in bands is because the creator, the originator, the songwriter, (some would say dictator) has an ego so big, you couldn’t cart it around in a mack truck. Take Yngwie Malmsteen for example. He is an awesome guitar player and has earned his reputation for being one of the fastest and most proficient guitarists ever but he has never had what one could call a band, a cohesive unit ever. The stories you hear are all unanimously negative, just read about his feud with Jorn Lande that happened recently. I’m surprised when Yngwie is booked gigs, that the marquee doesn’t say ,”Appearing tonight! The Mighty, Amazing, Spectacular Virtuoso of the Six String… YNGWIE MALMSTEEN!!! (and four underpaid employees that should be so lucky to even grace the same stage as the majestic Malmsteen).” Another problem I have with revolving door lineups, and this might be partly due to the fact that I am an aspiring singer myself, is that the biggest blow a band can give to itself is to never have a constant singer. Case in point, Iced Earth. Now, one might argue that Jon Schaffer has a bigger ego than Yngwie and to those people I can see where you are coming from, but you must admire the man for having such a strong and dedicated vision. He has brought his band out of complete obscurity to being one of the forerunners in Power Metal, especially in the US. Despite the fact that he is the only original member left and that the rest of the “band” barely last one album and my friends and I think that the other name of Iced Earth is “JSP”, the Jon Schaffer Project, I can sort of put up with that. The matter that really irks me is the turnover rate with his singers. The singer is the main focal point of almost every band, he is the one person that most listeners will be able to identify long after the music has been played and to discard them like they were toilet paper seems almost insulting. (I'm not just "attacking" Iced Earth here. If any band has almost as many singers as it's had studio albums then something's wrong) To close the subject I must also say that I look down upon the practice of employing session vocalists for one album and that’s it. How do you expect the fans to make a connection with you or care about who is in the band if everyone keeps dropping like flies?

Real quick I’ll touch base on the band jumper type of person. Jeff Scott Soto and Jorn Lande are some of the worst offenders in this category. Can anyone out there name every band that Jeff Soto has sung for? Probably not. I’m glad that now Jorn is with Masterplan and I hope that this will be his new home. For awhile there it seemed that every time I looked on the net that those two were singing on this album or leaving this band and joining this one. STAY WITH ONE BAND!!! It’s not that hard! I don’t have the finances or the time to track down every single thing that you have been involved in even though I know you want me to. Maybe its cos these people are getting offered paltry sums for their services and need to have as many projects as possible to live but in the long run this hurts their relationship with the fans.

Today it is very hard to see the original lineup of a band that has been around for more than five years and that’s sad and disheartening. Part of the magic is gone when you look at your cd sleeves and then look onstage and see a whole new group of guys that are playing your old favorites that you grew up with, songs that were the soundtrack to your LIFE, through good and bad, and now its some dude that joined three months ago playing / singing those songs that mean so much to you. Don’t get me wrong, I accept lineup changes in bands because, well I have to, and several times they are for the better like Andi Deris joining Helloween and Roy Khan assuming the vocal duties for Kamelot. And while not every band out there has gone through as many changes as say, Iced Earth or Gamma Ray, (ie Edguy, Jaded Heart, Pink Cream 69, and Sonata Arctica) there are still very few bands that have not undergone at least one member change and like I said before that is just sad to see. There’s something to be said however, when you go see a band like Blind Guardian live, a band who has had the same lineup for their entire career, and when they play Majesty you don’t even know it but you start smiling like a fanboy again, and you think back to sitting in your room as a kid listening to those songs for the very first time all those years ago.