Ashes Of Ares – interview met Matt Barlow
Matt Barlow: “I do believe that when the world is changing, there are certain powers that play, and they kind of manipulate how things go for the rest of the world, that sort of things. I think that these people truly believe they are doing the right thing, but they are doing it for their own purpose.”
Half juli kwam het vierde studioalbum van Ashes Of Ares uit, de Amerikaanse traditionele heavy/power metal band waarin Matt Barlow (zang) en Freddie Vidales (gitaar, bas) elkaar gevonden hebben toen ze het Iced Earth hoofdstuk afgesloten hadden. ‘New Messiahs’ drukt ons met de neus op de feiten: dit soort stoere, maar emotionele oermetal zal altijd blijven imponeren! We lieten deze kans om met Matt Barlow, één van de beste zangers ter wereld, te praten dan ook niet voorbijgaan en hadden met hem een bijzonder hartelijk en open gesprek over ‘New Messiahs’, de wereld én zijn zwager Jon Schaffer. Vlak na een verkwikkende vakantie spreken we met de arm van de wet.
Vera Matthijssens Ι 14 augustus 2025
Now it is time to focus on the new album ‘New Messiahs’. I remember in 2022 the former album ‘Emperors And Fools’ came out and of course that was in the middle of the pandemic. The band has always been more of a studio project. Did you actually play live after that?
We did play live. We did a tour that mainly had shows in Greece. It was a two weeks adventure, but it was nice because it was really the first time that we came out in Greece. We kind of explored that area and played in Bulgaria and Crete. So it was nice. It was very cool for me, because I had a kinship for the country Greece anyway. We had a show in Athens and had a really good time there. We were very much welcome there, so that was very cool.
I can imagine that the South European people are always more extravert…
Yes
When did you start thinking about a new album and writing it?
We were about the end of writing it about that time. We went over there in 2023. The thing is, with this album, it has actually been done for a while, because of the changes with our label, with ROAR, and working with another label, it just took a minute. They had to figure out schedule releases and things like that. They had more bands to schedule. It just makes more sense to spread it out throughout the time instead of having a whole bunch of releases at once. So we took a step back, allowing the label to do things they needed to do as far as scheduling and here we are. I think it was done Summer last year. So we are about a year behind when it comes out.
Almost three years between albums is rather normal for bands these days…
Yeah we really tried to get it out and get it done, because we had all these ideas and it was really going really well as far as the band concerns. Once we got back from everything and touring, it was nice to be able to schedule this record and could stuck to it and of course on the back with promotion and everything. It was a time of slowing down for a while, but it is okay.
Why the title ‘New Messiahs’?
It was a little bit inspired by ‘Emperors And Fools’, still that concept. There are certainly powers that play. I do believe that you see that when the world is changing, there are certain powers that play, and they kind of manipulate how things go for the rest of the world, that sort of things. I think that these people truly believe they are doing the right thing, but they are doing it for their own purpose. Who am I to say? I don’t know, but I certainly feel that there is like a… it did not really change, just the names have changed, it has been going on for a long time throughout history. It is just whether you turn from different kings to congressmen. It is pretty much the same deal, a lot it has dealing with power and manipulation. I try to leave it as open to interpretation as possible. Everybody’s going to think their own thing about these same things. Who’s done what? Who is pushing the buttons? I try not to chose a side, because I think there are really no sides, there is ‘them’ and the rest of us. That’s pretty much it.
Are you still police officer?
I am. I am coming up on 22 years.
At what age can you retire in the US?
We don’t have a special time. I am 55 right now, but I can still go on for as long as I can go on. Obviously if I become a burden to myself or my fellow officers, then I’ll step down, but at this point I am in a more administration position right now. I got promoted a couple of years ago, so…
Freddie Vidales (guitar, bass) is the other important member of the band. How long do you know each other in the meantime?
Well, we have been knowing each other since I went back to Iced Earth in 2008. Freddie got hired as the bass player for our touring. We got along very well, as soon as we started hitting the road, we spent a lot of time together, he and I we usually kind of bunked up and when the band was sleeping in a hotel room, usually me and Freddie ended up in the same room. We spent a lot of time together and hung out and got to know each other well. Everything just worked out very well. When I departed the band, Freddie went on and did some tours with Iced Earth and obviously the ‘Dystopia’ record, but after that, he decided it was time for him to leave. He’s got a full time position, he is an engineer. Touring all the time is a lot for anybody, especially if you have a whole other career. It is very difficult, so anyway, when he left Iced Earth in 2012, we started working on stuff almost immediately. We had an idea to do some writing anyway. After touring so many years, we had some discussions about doing different stuff together and so we took the opportunity to do it and started sending files back and forth, because he lived pretty far away from where I live. Basically that’s how we always recorded, we share files back and forth, we edit songs, we talk to each other on the phone about doing which parts here and there. He edits and I edit and that’s how we basically put a song together and then he usually ends up redoing everything so I can sing on it. It is kind of unusual, I mean for us, because I am an old school guy, getting together with the band and practise and jam, all that stuff. So it is kind of new for me, but the technology is there and it makes sense and I can, especially in my position, we can work on it in our own time. He works on parts, send it to me and then he waits for me until I sit down and I have the time and a clear head and when I need to get off some steam, I start shouting over these tracks. It just worked out really well for us. It is kind of amazing, it seems like ancient technology now, which it is by technology standards right now I guess, but I am sure that a lot of bands are doing it the same way, but for me, being the old school band jam guy, it was definitely a new thing, but I think it is very convenient for one thing: otherwise you have to wait for everybody getting together and all the stuff, but it makes sense. For me it is very cathartic, working in the job I do, for me to be able to go to my studio and kind of get all that aggression out. It is a good thing.
Van Williams as drummer is not involved anymore, isn’t it?
Van did not perform on this record. Van hasn’t been officially in the band for a couple of albums. He had a lot of things going on after the death of his wife and things like that. It was not possible for him to stay in a way that we needed it to happen. Obviously now there is also something really special going on with Jeff again, thank goodness, with Nevermore, so I am really excited to hear what he is doing there. So with him having other obligations at this point, he wasn’t able to do the record. Which is okay, we certainly understand it. We really love Kyle (Taylor – VM) playing on this record. Kyle is a lifelong friend of Freddie’s. Since he was a kid he was working on this with Freddie, they were able to do the drum tracking in the studio out there in Arizona and Freddie was a part of that and that was really cool.
There should be other guest appearances on this record as well. Can you shine a light on that?
Todd La Torre is guesting in the Elton John track ‘And The House Fell Down’. It is pretty cool. I think you’ll be surprised what he is doing in the track. I don’t know if you got liner notes or not yet, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise then. If you don’t already know, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. It was a fun thing to work on as well. Freddie really wanted to do a tribute to Elton John on this record. I am not a big fan, but it was really important for him to do it and this track is very interesting. We had a lot of fun with it, because I did some character work with the vocals and we dig a bit deeper into it.
Todd is not singing a part himself…
Correct.
Oh yes…. Drums!
Indeed, he started out in music as a drummer and he is a fantastic drummer and so when we approached him with it, he was sort of his idea/our idea and we were both sure about doing it, because it is something that he really enjoys doing and people usually don’t always ask him to do it. He is an amazing vocalist, but we wanted to have fun with him, something that he really wanted to do. So when he was available at that time and able to do it, we were super excited. Charlie Honig is playing some leads on the album. He has toured with us, he is our touring lead guitarist. We had him doing a couple on this record, so that was fun as well. And Craig Blackwell is Todd’s training partner in his solo stuff. So he is the guitar guru in Todd’s solo records. They have known each other for years and years too, so that was another cool thing. After we had Todd on board – and he was actually producing Todd’s drums for the record – so he did that and then he laid down some lead guitar work for us too.
It is a very good record and almost one hour long, that’s amazing!
Thank you. Yes, it is a pretty long record. Obviously we did the bonus tracks and things like that. With the release the CD has a couple of more songs on it than the vinyl is going to. One of the reasons is obviously that you can put a lot of songs on a CD, but vinyl is a different animal. If you are a vinyl person, you may not have these couple of tracks there, but you will hear them out there somewhere. I appreciate those vinyl fans very much and I don’t want them to miss anything. I haven’t seen the vinyl package yet, only the CD’s and they looked really nice. For the artwork we contacted Kamil Pietruczynik again on this record. We are always happy with what he does and he has just a very cool distinctive style on a very dark tone that I really admire which is why we use him (chuckles) on this record. He has done all of our stuff since ‘Well Of Souls’, so he has worked on three of the four records. Van did the artwork for the first record and then we actually reached out for Kamil. I have actually known him since Iced Earth. He did some fan art also for Ashes Of Ares and I was really impressed with what he did, so I asked him to collaborate with us on the last three records.
Recently we got the news that you were considering singing in Iced Earth again. Can you update us about that?
Well, I think that is kind of a misrepresentation. I think it is a little bit out of context. I did not say that at all, either what I admit to say was that I was happy if Jon would get out there and do something with Iced Earth and then one thing led to another. So there has been no conversation, no discussion at all at this time with Jon. We plan to do Iced Earth songs on our upcoming tour in Europe, that was were kind of the discussion started. I take responsibility for that, my main thing was: if Jon gets back out there; I will be really happy for him and for Iced Earth.
For me too because I remain a big Iced Earth fan…
Very good.
I think music should be held apart from political issues or thoughts someone has…
Yes, I agree and there is a lot of misrepresentation. People should certainly have the right to or have the ability to redeem themselves, right? All these years I did not have the opportunity to talk with Jon, since we were parted, but he took responsibility for his actions, he was sentenced for that and he did his time. He vocally apologized to all of his fans for any stress he had put them in and I think that is really important. I think that it is really… we need to be able to be redeemed at some point, and you know… if I make a mistake, hopefully I will be redeemable. Unfortunately I think sometimes politics, it is so emotional for people that they really can’t and this is unfortunate, because I know that I guarantee I don’t agree with a lot of politics, with a lot of the artists, TV, music, whatever. I don’t agree with them politically, but I don’t let that interfere with the love that I have for their music or for their art.
That is so true! So many people forget it and the news is taking advantage of fuelling the fire to breaking news…
Yeah it is unfortunate, but hopefully – they say time heals all wounds – I don’t know. Hopefully at some point people will feel better about things and maybe they can see things through a different light.
I know there is a video clip for ‘Wake Of Vultures’. Are there still other plans in that direction?
Yes, I think there is a total of four videos, some of them strictly lyrical and then some of them with Freddie and I in it as well. I think there will be one end May and there is more coming up in June and July leading up to the release.
The recordings were done by Byron Filson. Was that someone you worked with before?
Yeah, we worked with Byron on the last record as well, on ‘Emperors And Fools’. He has a studio down in Arizona, in Phoenix, where Freddie lives, so it works out really well for us, with Freddie being able to go there and he does re-amping and things like that. Kyle was there and Byron worked with him on the drums, to produce Kyle’s drums on this record. So they have a very good working relationship.
Are there plans to do some selected gigs maybe?
Yeah we are going to do some shows in September and October. Late September, early October, in Europe. We haven’t got all the dates yet, but we are going to do the Keep It True Rising, I think it is October 4th, that should be fun, first time back in Germany since a while. It has been a long time. I know we are going be playing in Greece as well, that is sort of our home base in Europe I guess, that’s where the label is, that’s where ROAR! is.
I wish you all the best with everything…
Thank you very much. Thanks for promoting the record and keeping the metal flowing…
