"A COMPANHIA AÉREA DE AVIAÇÃO DE CARDIFF IN A BOX” EXPANDE-SE À ALBÂNIA

Esta semana o Bruce Dickinson foi pessoalmente responsável por levar a última  aeronave  a se juntar a frota de Cardiff Aviation ACMI (Tripulação e Manutenção Aéreas) para Albawings, na Albânia. O novo Boeing 737-400 realizará operações entre a Albânia e a Itália durante o inverno de 2016-17, fornecendo capacidade adicional em rotas altamente populares.

Nomeado em honra de um personagem muito amado, interpretado pelo herói de culto britânico improvável, Sir Norman Wisdom  "Mr Pitkin", partiu para a viagem inaugural das instalações da Cardiff Avaition para Tirana, na segunda-feira, 12 de dezembro.

Mais conhecido como o herói infeliz de muitos um filme clássico, incluindo "A Stitch In Time", foi talvez uma surpresa que Albawings escolheu o nome "Mr Pitkin" para suas novas aeronaves. No entanto, filmes do Sir Norman Wisdom foram os únicos filmes permitidos que apresentavam um ator ocidental durante o período comunista, uma vez que ele geralmente interpretava o homenzinho contra as corporações capitalistas.

Presidente do Cardiff aviação, Bruce Dickinson, disse: "quando nós primeiramente entramos em negociações para fornecer uma nova aeronave para rotas de serviço da Albânia, fomos agradavelmente surpreendidos ao descobrir o quão respeitado o senhor Norman é em todo o país. Temos o prazer de honrar a sua memória com nossos aviões mais recentes como 'One Good Turn' e, claro, esperamos que seja um operador muito mais suave do que o Mr. Pitkin!"

Este é o segundo ACMI, da Cardiff Aviation; Air Djibouti, o primeiro, foi lanlado em agosto deste ano, o que caracteriza o negócio de "airline em uma caixa" como  modelo para os países que desejam estabelecer ou estender linhas aéreas com risco financeiro mínimo.

Bruce disse: "com o Mr. Pitkin, é um prazer ser o 'homem do momento' e esperamos que esta seja a base para um relacionamento a longo prazo em torno de nossas operações de ACMI."

Fonte: speakers.co.uk

CARDIFF AVIATION’S “AIRLINE IN A BOX OPERATION” EXPANDS TO ALBANIA

This week Bruce Dickinson was personally responsible for delivering the latest aircraft to join Cardiff Aviation’s ACMI (Aircraft Crew Maintenance Insurance) fleet to Albawings in Albania. The new Boeing 737-400 will carry out operations between Albania and Italy over Winter 2016-17, providing additional capacity on highly popular routes.

Named in honour of a much loved character played by Albania’s unlikely British cult hero, the Sir Norman Wisdom “Mr Pitkin”, set off on it’s maiden voyage from Cardiff Avaition’s MRO facilities to Tirana on Monday 12 December.

Better known as the hapless hero of many a classic film including “A Stitch In Time”, it was perhaps with some surprise that Albawings chose the name “Mr Pitkin” for their new aircraft. However, Sir Norman Wisdom’s films were the only movies allowed featuring a western actor during the Communist period, as he was often cast as the little man set against capitalist corporations.

Cardiff Aviation’s Chairman, Bruce Dickinson, said: “When we first entered into negotiations to provide a new aircraft to service routes from Albania, we were pleasantly surprised to find out just how respected Sir Norman is across the country. We’re delighted to honour his memory with our latest aircraft as ‘One good Turn’ and of course, we expect it to be a much smoother operator than Mr. Pitkin!”

This is the second of Cardiff Aviation’s ACMI airline operations; the first being Air Djibouti that launched in August this year, which features the ‘airline in a box’ business model for countries who wish to establish or extend airlines with minimal financial risk.

Bruce said: “With Mr. Pitkin, we’re delighted to be the ‘Man of the Moment’ and we hope this is the foundation for an ongoing long-term relationship based around our ACMI operations.”

Credits: speakers.co.uk

[Arquivo] Histórias do Capitão Dickinson

A relativa inatividade do Maiden ao longo de 2002 permitiu que Bruce – inquieto, como sempre – organizasse uma visita de retorno à Europa, dessa vez com sua banda solo, basicamente formada por aqueles caras pirados do Sack Tricks, embora o baterista, dessa vez, fosse Robin Guy, que dividiu uma casa com Chris Dale (integrante da Skunkworks), e entrou para o Sack Tricks após uma série de coincidências e vários eventos divertidos.

“Fizemos um show no Kingston Peel”, lembra Robin. “Bruce foi com Janick, mandamos ver, fizemos nosso som, e, no fim do show, enquanto estava guardando minha bateria, meio pelado e tal, Chris veio até mim. Ele estava conversando com Bruce num canto ou sei lá, e disse: ‘Só pra você saber, Bruce quer tocar em alguns festivais europeus, e quer que você toque bateria para ele’, e minha reação foi: ‘Vai se foder, cara! Isso não tem graça. Não vem com essa pra cima de mim’, sabe? Pois isso é algo do coração. O Maiden mudou minha vida quando eu tinha 13 anos, sabe? Quando uma grande banda basicamente muda a sua vida, seja ela os Beatles, ou Michael Jackson, ou quem quer que seja... E a banda que havia mudado a minha era o Iron Maiden. Foi com o disco Killers, na França, em um intercâmbio em uma escola. Então, para mim... Eu literalmente levei aquilo como uma piada. Mas Chris me olhou nos olhos e disse: ‘Não, Rob, estou falando sério’. E naquele momento meu queixo caiu no chão, e eu respondi: ‘O que??’, e ele disse: ‘Sim, você sabe... ele quer que eu toque baixo, você toque bateria, Alex Dickison toque guitarra, e vamos encontrar outro guitarrista (que foi, no final, Pete Friesen)’.”

A turnê se provaria uma experiência muito surreal para Robin, embora uma que ele não trocaria por nada no mundo. “Estava falando com alguém sobre ver o Maiden em Donington, na turnê do Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, e esse show foi a maior plateia do Donington quando o Maiden tocou como banda principal. Você sabe, temos muito orgulho disso, como fãs do Maiden... E só de pensar... Como se eu voltasse e me visse de fora, seria como: ‘Ok, está vendo aquele vocalista ali? Ele tocara The Prisoner com você para 40 mil pessoas. Isso é grande demais para compreender, e quando você faz isso, é incrível.”

“Tocar nesses festivais foi uma experiência fenomenal. Mas também tudo foi acontecendo muito naturalmente. Estava cercado pelos meus melhores amigos, estávamos tocando metal, nos divertindo à beça fazendo isso. É tudo muito simples. Chris chegava falando: ‘Sobe aí nesse avião’, sabe? Todos nós viajávamos de Ryanair (companhia aérea com aviões desconfortáveis, assentos apertados e passagens mais baratas), chegávamos lá, montávamos o show, e, uma hora antes do show, Bruce pulava de seu avião e dizia: ‘Certo, rapazes, tudo em cima?’.”

Robin ficaria muito grato pela constante aversão de Bruce a permanecer parado, e o amor do vocalista pelo estilo de vida corrido se provaria vital em uma ocasião. Na época, o projeto principal de Robin era com sua banda, Rachel Stamp, cuja agenda ele conferira com muito cuidado antes de assumir os shows com Bruce. Não vendo problemas, fechou com a turnê solo de Bruce – até receber uma notícia de última hora.

Depois de já ter feito alguns ensaios com Bruce, o pessoal da Rachel Stamp ligou e avisou Robin que haviam conseguido um show, e ele coincidia com a viagem que estariam fazendo à Bélgica, para tocar no festival Graspop. E a Rachel Stamp havia sido contratada como banda principal num festival um pouco menor em Essex, chamado Turrock Music Festival.

Robin surtou, achou que tudo estaria perdido.

“Então, pensando com calma, concluí o seguinte: o Rachel Stamp será a banda principal da noite, então, chutando, provavelmente vamos subir ao palco às dez da noite. No Graspop (único festival na Europa em que Bruce e a banda não foram a banda principal) iríamos tocar logo após Rob Halford, antes do Dream Theater e do Machine Head, e o Slayer era a banda principal. Calculei que nossa apresentação iria das cinco até as seis, na Bélgica - que está uma hora à frente do Reino Unido -, então percebi que tinha cinco horas para bancar James Bond e ir da Bélgica para Essex. Entrei em contato com companhias aéreas, e não havia voos, ou todos estavam lotados, e eu estava começando a desmoronar.”

“Então, eu pensei: ‘Espere aí... Bruce é piloto!’, e isso aconteceu antes de eu ter feito qualquer show com Bruce, então ainda poderia rolar um ‘Quem você pensa que é para criar dificuldades? Cai fora! Vou arrumar outra pessoa’. Então, telefonei para a casa de Bruce, e foi um dos filhos dele quem atendeu, e eu disse: ‘Aqui é Robin, vou tocar bateria na turnê’. E ele sabia que eu era do Rachel Stamp – tínhamos um clipe rolando na TV na época. E ele disse: ‘Você é o cara que fica girando as baquetas e tudo mais?’, e eu pensei: ‘Que ótima notícia, o garoto me curte!’, sabe? “

“Então, ele foi chamar o pai, e nesse meio tempo eu estava me borrando todo. Conseguia literalmente ouvir os passos de Bruce se aproximando, e eu só disse: ‘Bruce, aqui é o Robin, ou tocar bateria na sua turnê, e estou com um pequeno problema. Tenho de estar em Essex, com a banda Rachel Stamp, logo depois do show na Bélgica, e estava pensando se você poderia considerar a possibilidade de eu ir no avião com você até a Bélgica, fazer o show, e então você me trazer de volta...’, e eu simplesmente parei, pensando, sabe... já era, ele vai mandar eu me ferrar.”

“Ele não fez isso. Bruce me perguntou onde seria o show do Stamps – e logo começou a tramar um plano tipicamente dickinsoniano. Conseguia ouvi-lo folheando algum atlas, murmurando, ‘Hum, sim, tem um em blá-blá-blá’, ‘Thurrocksville’ ou sei lá. E continuou: ‘Ah... nós provavelmente poderíamos pousar no campo’, e eu pensando: ‘Porra, ele está mesmo considerando isso’. E ele então disse: ‘Poderíamos fazer melhor ainda. Tenho um amigo que tem alguns aviões de bombardeiro medievais. Por que não fazemos isso num bombardeiro?’, e eu: ‘Meu Deus, meu Deus, meu Deus...’ Pois eu esperava que ele me tirasse do grupo imediatamente, sabe? Não esperava de jeito nenhum um por que não fazemos isso em um bombardeiro? Então, eu só consegui dizer: ‘Seria muito bem, se você não se importasse de organizar isso’, ao que ele me respondeu: ‘Amo um desafio. Vou te retornar sobre isso’.”

No fim das contas, a idéia do bombardeiro não vingou – mas, de maneira impressionante, Bruce, a Sanctuary e a administradora usaram de sua influência para essa miniaventura. “Havia uma pequena minivan esperando do lado do palco no Graspop. Terminamos o show com Powerslave, um grande final, e deixamos o palco. Bruce e eu pegamos nossas mochilas e ainda estávamos com nossos shorts suados, etc. Bruce deu alguns autógrafos, então, virou e disse: ‘Vamos, entra na van!’. Uma rápida viagem de carro para o aeroporto de Bruxelas, com ambos os artistas se trocando dentro da van, terminou com Bruce e Robin embarcando juntos em um voo programado.

“Aqui vai um último insight sobre esse grande homem”, continua Guy. “Bruce tinha uma passagem de primeira classe, e eu estava na seção encolhe as pernas, maluco, e ele trocou sua passagem apenas para que pudesse se sentar comigo e pudéssemos conversar e tal, durante o voo de volta. Minha reação foi: ‘Mas que droga, quem você acha que faria isso?’. Ele, de fato, trocou sua passagem de primeira classe para vir e sentar do meu lado. Quando desembarcamos, virei-me pra agradecê-lo: ‘Ah, amigo, muito legal da sua parte por me ajudar a fazer tudo isso...’ e ele: “Apenas entre no carro e vá! Você tem um show a fazer!’. E lá estava um carro da Sanctuary, com motorista, bancos de couro, extremamente rápido, ao melhor estilo James Bond, e eu entrei. Meu telefone estava fervendo de chamadas dos membros da Rachel Stamp, perguntando onde eu estava, e eu apenas dizia ‘chegando’.”

“Chegamos e passamos direto pela segurança, bem no meio da plateia que, obviamente, se esticava para ver o Rachel Stamp no palco. Não tinha tempo para ir ao camarim, então eu apenas pulei a barreira, saltei para o palco... eu tinha conseguido que um amigo montasse a bateria para mim, sabe? A plateia me reconheceu e começou ‘Eeeeee! Ótimo! Rachel Stamp!’, e eu dei uma última olhada na bateria. E voltei para a área do palco onde estavam os outros caras, fazendo cara feia. E eu pensei: ‘Não há nada que eu possa dizer agora. Vou dizer simplesmente, vamos quebrar tudo!’ Segui em frente e toquei por uma hora, então desmaiei. Havia feito algo inacreditável. Fiz algo meio Phil Collins, tocando em dois países diferentes no mesmo dia, chegando dois minutos antes do nosso show. Então, conseguimos. E, tecnicamente, eu não me atrasei.”



Fonte: Bruce Dickinson: os altos voos com o Iron Maiden e o voo solo de um dos maiores músicos do heavy metal

Pilot Profile: Captain Bruce Dickinson

Pilot Profile: Captain Bruce Dickinson

Private flying — Bruce has a share in this White Waltham-based SA Bulldog

Rock star, commercial pilot, private pilot, company chief executive and aviation enthusiast Bruce Dickinson is on part two of a world tour as lead vocalist with the heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. Meanwhile his aviation exploits bring a different dimension to a musician’s existence played out amid the thumping rhythms, swirling stage smoke and strobing lights of the vast arenas like the London O2, and a multitude of other big venues world-wide.

When Pilot caught up with Bruce at his Cardiff Aviation base at St Athan he’d just completed concerts with the band in Zagreb and Prague. He’d flown back to London, caught a train and was busy doing an interview and photo-shoot for another magazine. The O2 gig was the end of part one of the world tour − the European section: in September Bruce was heading west to the USA and South America. This would be enough to exhaust a normal mortal, but he seems to have boundless energy and drive−and is clearly ready to talk aeroplanes all day.

Well known as a Commercial pilot from his career with Astraeus Airlines, Bruce (a down-to-earth guy, he’d not want you to call him Captain Dickinson) has loved aviation since he was a boy. “It just got in the blood,” he says. Don’t, however, think for a moment that the path to the pilot’s seat was an easy one. There was no parental interest in aviation, and at Oundle School Bruce was, in his own words, “utterly useless” at physics and maths − the technical subjects that might have given him entry to an Air Transport Pilot Licence training scheme. In fact, he failed to get into the Air Cadets and ended up, despite an “aversion for things that walked”, in the Army Cadets.

Compensation came in the form of a rise through the ranks and stewardship of the keys to the school armoury − in the innocent days of the early 1970s, a place where a teenager could readily lay hands on a .303 Lee-Enfield rifle and help himself to cartridges and glorious explosive toys like thunder-flashes… “Thanks to my exalted rank,” continues Bruce, “I also had access to the Cadets’ Link Trainer and, in spending hours teaching myself to fly the thing on my own, I unwittingly picked up the basics of instrument flying.” Bruce’s academic career concluded with a 2.2 in Modern History from Queen Mary College. “Then, as you do with this kind of degree, I became a musician…” His first exposure to light aviation came with a flight from Jersey with Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain, who was learning to fly in a PA-28 Cherokee 140.

Returning from a fencing competition in France (among his many achievements, he was at the time among the UK’s top ten foilists) Bruce was hitching an aerial lift and Nicko’s instructor Charlie was accompanying them in the heavily-loaded Piper. “He took one look at me and all the kit we were carrying and turned a whiter shade of pale. We all had to lean forward while he boarded the aircraft to stop the thing falling on its tail − and once we got off the ground, it was straight into a solid overcast.” This didn’t put Bruce off − quite the opposite, in fact − but he didn’t really start learning to fly in earnest until the early 1990s, when he was staying in Kissimmee, Florida and had a $30 trial lesson. “This was my road to Damascus moment. I could see the whole mental process of planning and conducting flights stretching out to infinity − here was a subject you could never fully know.” He undertook further PPL training in Ardmore NZ in a Cessna 150 Aerobat− “which wobbled my gyros a bit” − and at Leavesden, where after his US experience he found it was very easy to get lost in British skies.






Commercial flying — Bruce is now very busy building up Cardiff Aviation, its associated operations and flight training organisations

Progressing through ratings, his first aircraft was a Turbo Aztec E, about which he has many war stories, all of which tested but did not defeat his obvious natural talent as a pilot (they are still talking at White Waltham about a nicely managed night arrival Bruce made there years ago). Despite feeling that the ATPL “is not a way of imparting knowledge but a barrier to entry”, Bruce pursued a career in Commercial aviation when he broke with Iron Maiden in 1993. He of course followed his own modular training route, enjoying the services of Bristol Ground School for the theory part (he still holds this organisation in high regard today). On the way, he’d gained a Flight Instructor rating in the USA, and converted onto taildraggers. Not only did this cement his interest in small aeroplanes − he rated the tailwheel ACA Decathlon a “really honest little aeroplane” − but it confirmed his passion for “flying with a purpose. I really like the idea of putting light bulbs on in people’s heads and demystifying the whole thing. People talk about fast and slow learners and I say ‘Really? Is it some kind of race?’

Bruce’s early days of Commercial flying were right-hand-seat on types like Air Atlantique’s Twin Pioneer. When he rejoined Iron Maiden in the late 1990s, he kept his multi-engine flying current on a Cessna 421 he bought in Santa Monica for $225,000. “I loved it −you could cruise all day at 220 knots at 18 to 20,000 feet, but it would crack its engine cylinders in a heartbeat if you ignored the rule of thumb on throttling back for descent.” The ferry flight to the UK furnished one especially character-forming incident, when his passenger asked “What’s that big red light?” It was a fire warning for one of the engines and went out when Bruce operated the extinguisher. He was then faced with the question of whether he should shut down the engine, but decided to keep it running and put down at the first opportunity. On the ground, the engineer they’d called out soon established what had happened: “See,” he said to Bruce, grinning as he touched the chafed sensor wire against the aircraft structure and then pulled it away, “Fire; no fire… fire; no fire… fire; no fire…” For once Bruce, one of the most easygoing characters you could imagine, was not amused.

The entrée to passenger jet operations came when a Commercial pilot friend based at Cardiff invited Bruce to share some simulator time. When Bruce’s ability became apparent, he was invited by the training captain present to join British World Airlines with the question “What are you doing on Monday?” While employed by BWA, he flew twenty sectors for parent airline BA: “I’ve still got the hat!” BWA was a casualty of the dip in air travel that followed 9/11, Bruce moving on to Astraeus where he flew Boeing 737s before converting on to his favourite jet, the 757. “It’s the airliner equivalent of the Jaguar XK8,” he says − and Bruce should know, because he’s driving one of these modern classics today. Interestingly, as well as being a whole lot more fun, it made logistical sense for Bruce to charter one of the company’s jets converted to passenger/cargo ‘combi’ configuration to fly the band across continents, rather than use the usual fleet of coaches and trucks. The sight of the Astraeus Boeing 757-200 with Iron Maiden titles along the fuselage for the band’s Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was also some of the best advertising the band has ever received.

Astraeus left the band’s artwork in place. However, on one of the 757’s post-tour charter outings to Africa the decals had to be removed because on seeing the image of the band’s mascot, Eddie some passengers refused to board the airliner claiming it was “possessed by evil spirits”. Bruce’s Commercial aviation activities are today centred on Cardiff, but when the conversation turns away from business − which he takes very seriously − to pleasure, it’s hard to escape the impression that he’d much rather be at White Waltham, where he is part owner of a SA Bulldog and WWII-era Bücker Jungmann biplane trainer, than trailing around the UK doing media interviews at the behest of his PR people.






Mention of the famously aerobatic Jungmann leads to a question about what kind of flying Bruce does in it. “Only gentleman’s aerobatics − the odd loop or roll for fun. I’ve never done, nor had the slightest desire to do competition aerobatics. I can empathise with the sport and really appreciate the skill and dedication these pilots require, but it is all a bit too esoteric for me. “However, I also think − wearing my commercial pilot’s hat − that every CPL course should include at least five hours of aerobatic flight and training. It is being brought home more and more that newer pilots who spend much of their training time in simulators do not have the flying skill finesse to appreciate sometimes what’s happening to their aircraft. Take the Air France AF447 incident when an Airbus A330 was lost over the South Atlantic. It may be speculation, but I believe that if those guys had a better grasp of aircraft handling, honed with some practical aerobatic flying, they may just have had the awareness and skill to save that aircraft.”

What about flight training these days, and the advent of the microlight? “I can’t understand instructors and students flogging around in thirty-year old Piper Cherokees when there are such lovely and economic microlights available. I would much rather fly one of these than an old spam can. I particularly like the Comco Ikarus C42 and have flown quite a few hours in this −a safe and sturdy machine. “We will soon be sponsoring an attempt on the FAI world altitude record for this class of aircraft, currently at about 27,000ft. We plan to do it in an Ikarus and to do it in Greece where the ill-fated mythological aviator fell to earth after flying too close to the sun. This will be an exciting and worthwhile adventure.”

One thing that Bruce doesn’t do is fly himself between appointments and venues, “It is the well known old adage, ‘go by air if you’ve time to spare’, and for this interview at St Athan I came down on the train, and a car picked me up from the station. I regularly use easyJet for travel around the UK and Europe and am quite happy to sit back and let someone else do the flying”. At White Waltham, where he’s long been part of the scene, Bruce is happy to be counted as just another member of the club. But does his high profile as a rock star draw more attention in the outside world? “Yes and no − I could be on one side of the street and nobody but nobody has the slightest idea who I am. Go to the other side of the street, metaphorically speaking, and there can be a clique of die-hard fans in a frenzy.” All part of the parcel of being an immensely successful musician − but you sense that he’s much more comfortable in the flying environment.

You might imagine that Bruce, like several other rock and pop stars, would have his sights on some kind of classic warbird. “I’d love to own and fly one but, believe it or not, I can’t afford one − at least not a high-end warbird like a P-51 Mustang or Spitfire.” Instead, Bruce takes enormous pleasure in flying some of the older piston engine airliners – aircraft like the Douglas DC-3, DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation – whenever and wherever he can. “This is why I fell in love with the TV series Ice Pilots and went to Canada and flew with Buffalo Airways at Yellowknife.” Bruce points to the two orange Canadair/ Bombardier CL-215s sitting on the St Athan ramp opposite his Cardiff Aviation hangars. “It was from my contacts with Buffalo Airways that I got the contract to fly one of these two water-bombers back from Turkey at the end of the 2012 fire-fighting season. We contracted to store them here and carry out maintenance. They are sitting here waiting for the call up, but being the older type of water bomber − the newer CL-415 has turbine engines − they are not in such great demand.”

This pair of machines rather encapsulates Bruce’s multi-layered interest in flying, as enthusiast, private and Commercial pilot, and businessman. As well as his career in music, he has turned out a pair very successful satirical novels, The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace and The Missionary Position, making him a polymath in the true sense of the word. For all of this he remains a modest and very likeable guy, one who − for all the pleasure it has given him − is quietly putting more back into aviation than he ever took out of it.

Credits: http://www.pilotweb.aero/

[Archive] Interview with BRUCE DICKINSON (2001)

This interview had little chances to happen. First of all, it appeared possible only a week before actual date. Then, there wasn’t a call at the time appointed, as someone in Bruce’s office misspelt the phone number. Still, deep in the other commitments, there’s a call and voice coming through: “Hello, Dmitry! It’s Bruce Dickinson.” Mister Siren had scrapped his plans for a good lunch to share his thoughts and views in the wake of his first solo “Best Of” compilation release.

– First of all, thanks for your new album!

– Thank you!

– Why did you decide to release a “Best Of” now, at this moment?

– Well, it’s a nice quiet time for IRON MAIDEN, and I’ll be releasing a new solo album next year, so this is a really good time for the managing out my solo career, which is quite well. And I had a whole lot of new potential fans after the last IRON MAIDEN record, it was a success, so this is a good chance to give my material out to them, and also to keep existing fans happy with some unreleased and some rare material and also some brand new material.

– About these new songs. There is one called “Broken”. While you sing that you’re not broken, why did you decide to drop this “not”?

– Because it’s more interesting. (Laughing.) And if there’s a song called “Broken”, people think, “Why broken?”, and they find it’s “Not broken”.

– But it has something to do with a current situation, these new fans. All this keeps you strong, doesn’t it?

– Precisely, yes. I mean, there’s an expression in England: “Never let the bastards grind you down”.

– How to put it?.. You seem to be a very lyrical singer, with a kind of pop vibe in your approach. So why do you do such heavy albums?

– Because I like it – as simple as that! (Burst of laughter.) I’m trying to put in the lyrical things so that they can help the album as well. I’m quite happy with the success of the last album, “Chemical Wedding”, so whatever I’ll end up doing on my next solo album is what I’ll end up doing. And after that one, I guess, I’ll be making another one.

– Could you give any details of your next album?

– No! (Laughing.)

– It’s because you don’t know or because you don’t want?

– Both, actually. First of all, I don’t see any point in giving details of something which is not going to be released for another year, and secondly, I’m not even sure what direction it’s going to go in at the moment. I’ve got three of four songs but, apart of that, I’m not sure what direction the other half of the album is going to go in right now.

– And what is the “Catacombs” story?

– The “Catacombs”… CD two off “The Best Of” set was going to be called “Catacombs”, and it’s going to be a collection of unreleased songs and rarities. It got back and turned into “The Best Of” album by adding another CD which has two new songs on it and a lot of remastered tracks from the previous studio albums. So this “The Best Of” album includes what would have been called “Catacombs”.

– Are you going to tour this new album or “The Best Of” collection?

– No, I’m not going to do any more solo touring, the next tour I do will be with IRON MAIDEN in 2003.

– Let’s talk a bit about your influences. I think, you were influenced mostly by Gillan and Dio, or were there others?

– A guy called Arthur Brown, who did the song “Fire” from the late Sixties, was a big influence of mine. Peter Hammill from a band called VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR. And also Ian Anderson from JETHRO TULL, particularly, his lyrics. Very different influences. As of Gillan, in the early days it was very much so, but it changed a little bit when I’ve been with MAIDEN, it became much more kind of operatic than the Gillan thing.

– And now you became an influence yourself. Who of your soundalikes you rate the best?

– Well, I don’t think he’s a soundalike, but the best rock voice… best two rock voices I’ve heard in a last few years both have been from grunge bands: it’s Eddie Vedder and the other one is Chris Cornell from SOUNDGARDEN.

– Those guys and many others are involved in this tribute album mania. And you took a part in the Alice Cooper tribute too. Was he an influence as well?

– I was pumping gas at a gas station, aged sixteen years old, when “School’s Out” came on the radio. Alice was not so much in the singing stakes, more of just whole attitude thing at the time when you’re fifteen-sixteen years old. Alice is much a focused rebellion, he’s a fantastic cartoon character almost, if you like, and therefore he’s still successful today – my kid, eleven years old, loves Alice Cooper. (Laughs.) And Alice’s character – you see him in the Marylin Manson thing, and all the things related.

– Do you like Marylin Manson?

– Yeah, I do like Marylin Manson, actually. I think, he’s very talented and he did make some great music.

– The song from Alice Cooper tribute, “Black Widow”, who chose it for you to sing?

– I think, it was the only one left. Actually, it surprised me, because I didn’t know how it was going to sound, but I think it’s done OK in the end. And certainly people who bought the record seem to like my version. And there obviously Adrian [Smith] was on the record but everybody else – all thing was put together by Bob Kulick, and the backing tracks were already done.

– And yet with MAIDEN you covered a couple of things too – LED ZEPPELIN, FREE… Were their influential too? I mean, Paul Rodgers, Robert Plant.

– Oh yes, completely! We’re all from the same era, we were all brought up on basically all those classic rock bands from the Seventies.

– You mentioned Ian Anderson’s lyrics. What are the sources for your lyrics? You’re deep into poetry, and your own lyrics are very different from many of other metal guys.

– Yes, it’s possibly true but it’s just the way it is – I’ve always enjoyed reading lyrics, trying to do them more than just lyrics, trying to have some more meaning in them. I know a lot of people are just happy to have a kind of broken word lyrics. I just wonder why, there’s no reason why they can’t at least attempt to do something a bit better.

– Why you went for Blake for “Chemical Wedding”?

– Oh, Blake’s fantastic, Blake was such a genius. He was so misunderstood during his time period. I mean, he has been an inspiration to generations of artists of all types, he was one of the very first multimedia artists.

– You talked about Arthur Brown’s “Fire”, that with Carl Palmer on it.

– Yeah, Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer were in the band. Vincent Crane was…

– In ATOMIC ROOSTER.

– …was the organ and bass player – yes, he used to do bass as well on his keyboard for ATOMIC ROOSTER. And the album was actually executively produced by Pete Townshend.

– How did you get in touch with Brown?

– I know him, he’s a friend of mine, and I have a beer with him now and again. That’s why I asked him to read the sections of Blake on the album.

– Interesting, there’s Blake, all this mystical thing, and you have a song called “King In Crimson”. I read the explanation as of who was the King Crimson, but is there any connection with the band?

– King in Crimson is actually an alchemical term. King Crimson is a metaphor for Devil or Satan, but at the same time it’s also a metaphor for one of the statures in the purification of man and the purification of mankind soul towards union with God and with Infinite, which is the philosophical aim of alchemists. Blake was also very into alchemy and alchemical symbolism, and that’s where to be a reference to King in Crimson. But knowing the background of the band, I’m sure than KING CRIMSON had a definite grounding in it.(Laughs.)

– Another song of yours is “Killing Floor”, and the first association comes with blues tradition. You know, this old blues, “Killing Floor”.

– Yes, but no-o-o, that song has no blues in it, whatsoever. (Laughs.) The title for it is an old blues song title, and that’s one of the reasons I picked it – just in case people thought it was no blues song and they would get such a surprise. (Laughing.)

– A kind of wordplay is always interesting. So there’s an album “Scream For Me, Brazil” – was it wordplay on “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina”?

– No! (Burst of laughter.) No! The title “Scream For Me, Brazil” is simply because of this expression “scream for me”, it just became a kind of a personal catchphrase that I ended up saying on-stage a lot with IRON MAIDEN. It’s like Ozzy Osbourne says, “Let’s go crazy!” I would say, “Scream for me, Milan” or “Scream for me, London”, so “Scream For Me, Brazil” just struck me as being a good title. There’s no reference to “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina”.

– Ah MAIDEN. What’s curious is that many singers, who break up with their bands and then get back, never sing songs recorded with their replacements – as, say, Gillan never sings songs from the Coverdale-period PURPLE. However you dared and sang the Blaze Bailey material. Was it hard?

– (Laughing.) No! I’m a singer! When I left the band, what the band did is really their own business. And their career – they got on with it, and I got on with my career. Everybody in that band, including Blaze, tries to offer the best of their abilities, I know that – and that’s all you can ask. I’m not the kind of guy who turns around and says, “Because I wasn’t in the band therefore it must be inferior”. That’s nonsense.

– The most successful MAIDEN song was “Bring Your Daughter… …To The Slaughter”, and it was taken off your solo album. How did it come about?

– They’ve heard it – I mean, Steve [Harris] heard the song and just loved the song so much that he said I had to record it with MAIDEN. So I said, “Oh OK, fine”, and of course it ended up breaking number one as a single, so that was pretty good. But at the same time the original version was still sitting around, so I thought it was about time that people heard it.

– But at this moment, when you’re in the band, where is the division between MAIDEN and your solo career?

– The division… I’m going to be working with Roy Z to do the next solo album early next year, and then I’ll go straight into making the new IRON MAIDEN album.

– Will you have enough songs for both projects?

– Oh yeah, absolutely! I mean, I keep the two things pretty separate. When I write with MAIDEN then I write only with the guys in MAIDEN, we don’t do songs from outside people.

– OK, but “Daughter” was meant for your solo album. Are you sure there won’t be a situation like this in the future?

– I doubt it, I doubt it very much, and I’m not worried about that. If it is, I’ll be discussing with everybody when it happens.

– Is Roy Z very different from the guys in MAIDEN?

– Yes in some ways, and in some ways not. He’s a musician like everybody else but he has immense ability to get inside the head of the person who he’s working with and really understand the world from their perspective, which is fantastic.

– Where did you find him?

– I met Roy years ago in Los Angeles with his own band TRIBE OF GYPSIES, they were very very good, and I was interested in his album, because he made a “Roy” album, and that’s how I met him. It turned out he was a fan of MAIDEN, and I said, maybe we should do some writing, so we wrote two or three songs. I loved it and I thought, the guy’s really great. Of course, now he’s a very successful producer but he deserves all the success that he’s getting because he’s so talented.

– Was it you who introduced him to Rob Halford?

– I was one of the people who suggested they should work together, yes.

– And that song you sang with Halford…

– “The One You Love To Hate” was the song that Roy and I wrote for my solo album, and we went, “Ah, that’s a cool song and for next solo album we must record that one”. Then Roy got the job with Rob Halford, and I forget whether it was me or whether it was him who said, “Why don’t we do “The One You Love To Hate” as a little duet, that will be funny and ironic, everything, it will be cool.

– Was it the same time that idea of the TRINITY project came about?

– Yes, for obvious reasons, but the TRINITY project is not going to happen for some time because nobody has any time to do this. (Laughs.) I mean, Rob [Halford] is busy and Geff [Tate, of QUEENSRYCHE] is busy and I’m busy, so…

– You were involved with AYREON project. What’s happened with that one?

– I’m not going to be doing anything with Arjen [Lucassen]. I did one track with him [“Into The Black Hole”], he’s a very talented guy. I was thinking to do some writing with him, possibly doing an album project, but what happened was this all got out into the Internet because he released details of it – either the e-mail or something to his fan club. And all of a sudden it was all was released, that I was doing an album with Arjen. So I asked him, I said this is not true, is it you who put everything out, there’s no professionalism. And he mailed me back saying, “Oh no-no-no, I’d never do anything like that”, but I found out that actually he did it. So I don’t have any plans to do anything with Arjen. He’s talented, he has his own career, and I wish him all the success.

– His are concept albums, like yours.

– That’s right!

– But are you going to do something concept with MAIDEN?

– I don’t know. We have to wait and see.

– Back to MAIDEN, this three guitars thing, does it work good?

– It works great, yes. The more guitars we have on-stage the better, as I’m concerned. (Laughs.)

– I mean, at the time of you coming back to MAIDEN I talked to Adrian and Dave [Murray], and they were worried of all these cords and three guys running across each other and falling.

– They run hand in hand! (Burst of laughter.)

– What about a guitarist called Stuart Smith?

– Well, Stuart Smith… Good Lord, yes! I early was kicking around with him and some friends. I’m afraid I’ve lost his number but somebody said he was around, he goes back from a long long time ago.

– Did he asked you to join his project? On his first album he had Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner and others.

– I’m afraid I don’t have any information about Stuart Smith project, so I can’t help.

– But if you knew, would you?

– Probably not, because I’ve got enough stuff going on at the moment and I’d hate to add to the confusion.

– You took part in the “Rock Aid Armenia” project.

– It seemed a good idea, and we could raise some money that would go to a lot of people who were suffering.

– So could you comment on the current situation in the world?

– (Slowly, carefully choosing the words) What’s going on in the world at the moment is very tragic, and that’s really the only word for the situation. Nobody is being helped out by this at all. I think the best thing that people can do at the moment here, in the West and, particularly, in America, is to carry on living their lives as normal. And the best way to fight the kind of seemingly invisible enemy is to fight it by functioning as a democratic society, which is what they’re seeking to destroy. That’s the best thing that people can do at the moment, and just leave the rest of it up to security services.

– You sang about the brand new world, so this is not the kind of the world you wanted to see?

– “The Brave New World” – ironic, my friend. I have to revisit the lyrics but I think the world is still moving in that direction.

Credits: http://dmme.net/

[Archive] Q&A: Bruce Dickinson on Iron Maiden Playing Behind the Iron Curtain and Never Being Punk

"We don't know how to be cool, and we don't care"

Many metal bands sing of demons and other creatures from unreal planes of existence. Iron Maiden are one of the only bands who actually might be inhuman themselves. They’ll give any band a third of their age stage fright live, as they’ve somehow managed to retain their 1980s heyday spunk well into their 50s. Their trio of guitarists – Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, and Janick Gers – still twirl and shred with a grace and power so Olympic. Frontman Bruce Dickinson in particular runs damn near a marathon every show, and The Air Raid Siren still has enough vocal power to make every Maiden show into metal’s premier workout plan. This is in addition to Dickinson flying the band on their own plane – well chronicled by now but still no less impressive – and beating about of cancer in the tongue.

Maiden also just released The Book of Souls, their 16th studio album, which stretches out the prog influences that the band first displayed with Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son in the late-’80s. Most of their peers wouldn’t bee attempting an 18-minute closer (“Empire of the Clouds,” written solely by Dickinson) 40 years into their career, but Iron Maiden aren’t their peers. They’re nowhere close to being done — “Heaven Can Wait,” after all.

Dickinson recently talked with SPIN about playing in Poland during the Cold War, his band’s secrets to longevity, and Souls.

I know you had a bit of a health scare recently. Did that make you reflect on the fact that a lot of our “metal heroes” are humans too?
Well, we never suspected they weren’t. Obviously, people get sick and people die, people get old and people die. Once you get past the age of 27 — having survived that, the most lethal age in rock’n’roll — once you get past that and you haven’t OD’d, then you’re probably gonna succumb to something really dumb, like a piano falling on your head or a car crash or falling off your bicycle, you know?

It seems like you’re running a marathon at every show. You’re going all over the stage. What’s your secret? Do you have a regimen?
I don’t do anything on tour except go around and jump on stage. When I’m on tour, all I do is what I do on stage, and the rest of the time I chill out. I do put out a lot of energy on stage, and because of that I need a decent recovery time. The last thing I do during recovery time is run right up. I just try eat sensibly and don’t drink too much – I drink beer, but I don’t drink anything else. I drink too much coffee, but hey, I like coffee. That’s about it. The reason that I get the energy to get fired and leap around the stage comes down to the music.

Your next tour will have you playing China and El Salvador for the first time. How do you feel about that?
To play China – I’ve never been to China in any capacity. I hope it’s gonna be a perfect, extraordinary experience. The equivalent of the last time we did something like that was when we played in Poland behind the Iron Curtain. We’ll see what kind of reception we get in China. The first time we played India we had a similar sort of vibe, kids besieging us everywhere. El Salvador I’m sure will be absolutely nuts.

What do you remember about the Poland experience?
It was fantastic. We were mobbed everywhere we went. It felt like we were liberating the entire country. It was brilliant, fantastic experience.

It’s really fascinating how Maiden’s music has spread all over the globe.
Obviously, we’re very pleased, and the new album I think it’s gonna cement the relationship we have with all the fans, especially new ones who’ve joined us in the last 4-5 years.

Do you feel a responsibility to get younger people into Maiden?
I don’t see it as a responsibility, I just see it as something that hopefully comes naturally. People who like what we do find out about the new record.

You do see old-schoolers taking kids to their shows now.
Occasionally, you might see somebody like that. But if that’s taking place, I don’t think it’s taking place nearly as much as people think it is. Our audience, the core audience that really keeps the live scene alive, is 15-to-25-year-olds. The front rows of our shows in most places in the world are populated by much, much younger kids.

That’s pretty important.
You see, as a band, you get feedback from the audience and it spurs you onto greater things on stage. If I turned up and the audience was a bunch of people my age I think I’d go home and shoot myself.

I suppose that goes to a bigger question – how has Iron Maiden continued to stay relevant for so long?
Because we do what we do honestly. We don’t pander to commercialism, we ignore fashion, we don’t know how to be cool, and we don’t care. And it’s all about the music.

Compared to a lot of metal greats, there isn’t a moment where Maiden tried to go commercial. There’s not a Turbo or The Black Album. How did you resist giving in to those pressures?
We just ignored it. I’m sure the record label would have loved it if we came up with three or four radio tracks, but that’s never ever gonna happen. Hell would freeze over before we do that s–t.

Luckily, we have a very good manager, and he would tear the heads off of anybody that tried to pester us artistically. The record labels never, ever, in the all the years I’ve been in Maiden, never set foot in a recording studio. In recent years, not even the management sets foot in the recording studio. We make the record, we’re happy with it. Then, that’s it. Done.

This record especially is lengthier and goes further.
We’ve been going that way for quite a while with the previous records. And [Souls], we recorded it in a slightly different way — we went into the studio and camped out from the very beginning, rather than transferring music into the studio from our rehearsal studio. Because of that, it was easier to put down some of the longer songs, but still keep the energy and the spontaneity. I think if we had to rehearse them and fix them all in space and time, we wouldn’t have gotten as good of a result.

The fact that it’s a double album is more or less a happy accident. It was never conceived to be a double album, but it just worked out that way. We got to six tracks and went, “we’re not gonna stop now, there’s only gonna be six songs on the CD” because we’re still thinking in terms of CDs. In fact we still think in terms of albums, with 20 minutes on each side. We’ve got a triple vinyl gatefold album now, which is f–king amazing.

The first single “Speed of Light” is like if you took a Deep Purple song and gave it the classic Maiden touch. Were you reaching back into your formative years with this record, in some ways?
Not exclusively, but all of us in the band are huge Deep Purple fans. Adrian wrote the riff and I thought “that sounds like something off Burn!” Let’s do a homage to Purple with an Ian Gillian-type scream in the beginning – the rest of the riffs sound like something that could have been on [1983’s] Piece of Mind.

This record, too, definitely shows the prog influences that Maiden’s always had.
Maiden were brought up on stuff like — Steve in particular — Genesis’ “Supper’s Ready” and stuff like that. And yes, I was a big Van der Graff Generator fan, so yeah we’re brought up on all that stuff as well as the Doors, Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and Jethro Tull. To us, it all one type of music — there was no segmentation.

Some of the older stuff had a bit of a punky flavor too.
If you look at all the old Steve Harris interviews — he hates punk rock. The first Maiden album sounded punky because it sounded like a sack of s–t. He hates that record. The first singer [Paul Di’Anno] gave it a little bit of that kind of vibe, but the punk thing was nailed to the band by the press. The band absolutely hated it, because there was no way on God’s green earth Maiden were ever, even remotely, a punk band. As soon as Killers came out, which was a proper sounding record, it was obvious — where’s the punk thing on Killers? You’ve got “Murders in the Rue Mourge” which basically could have been off of Deep Purple’s In Rock, you’ve got “Prodigal Son,” a proggy, sweet little ballad, you’ve got “Twilight Zone,” all this kind of stuff — where’s the punk thing? Don’t get it.



Credits: spin.com

[Archive] INTERVIEW WITH BRUCE DICKINSON - JUNE 1992

Fear Of The Dark is supposedly the album of the "rebirth" of Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson is convinced of it as he whole-heartedly comments the lyrics of the various songs on the album and describes the current state of mind of the band. Although it was early morning and the night had been – according to Bruce himself – quite "heavy", he was once again quite happy to discuss this album that you most probably already own.

So, Bruce, have you listened to the new Iron Maiden album?

I might have!

What do you think of it?

I think it's really incredible. It's without any doubt the best album we ever recorded!

I think you're going a bit too far to be believed on this one!

But I'm being honest. I think it's the album that sounds the best in the band's discography. As far as I'm concerned, I don't think I've sung so well since Piece Of Mind. I think that my voice has never so perfectly matched the songs than on Fear Of The Dark.

So, Iron Maiden seem to have found a new orientation...

I think that's right. Iron Maiden are now focussing on the future. We don't look back anymore, we don't compare what we're doing now with what we've done in the past. It's really a new beginning for the band.

But you seem to have found a frame of mind that's very similar to that of the beginnings of the band

Yes, this is also right. We've kept the best of the past. It's also true that we are now more direct and that there's no doubt anymore concerning the topics we deal with in our songs. And the music's really really heavy, much more than during the period covering Powerslave to Seventh Son.... We are nowadays much more "real".

Can you tell us more about the themes of the songs, as they seem to be very important to you?

'Be Quick Or Be Dead' deals with money, dodgy business, and corruption. Some people are supposed to rule your life, deal with financial stuff, but you just can't trust them because they try to cheat you at the first opportunity. But if you have no choice but to work with them, then the only way you can deal with it is to be more clever than them.

Do you feel that this applies to you?

No, we have managers that are quite adapted to this kind of situation! Let's take an example: if you're a band and you do just what your record company wants you to do, then they don't hesitate to cheat you. But if your management is powerful enough, they can weigh in and deal efficiently with the record company. It's the only way not to be cheated.

Is a record company able to cheat even a band that's older and supposedly "wiser"?

Oh, without a doubt! And this happens all the time. You have to be careful, to know who the baddies are, what they do, and when you deal with them, you simply have to be more clere than they are.

Does the second track, 'From Here To Eternity', also deal with such a serious topic?

No, it's just a good laugh, a joke. In the song, we talk about the return of the famous Charlotte The Harlot, who's back on the back of a motorbike. There's nothing really important in this song, text-wise anyway. However, it will be our second single because it's got a really catchy tune, even if the lyrics aren't very serious.

Right, let's carry on with the rest of the songs on this new album.

'Fear Is The Key' is about the fear that exists nowadays in sexual relationships because of AIDS, of course. "Sex" has become a synonym for "fear". When we were writing the songs, we heard about Freddie Mercury's death. There's a line in 'Fear Is The Key' that goes: "nobody cares 'til somebody famous dies". And that's quite sadly true. In the States, mostly, nobody really cared about AIDS until "Magic" Johnson, the basket-ball player, announced publicly that he was HIV-positive. As long as the virus was confined to homosexuals or drug-addicts, nobody gave a shit. It's only when celebrities started to die that the masses began to feel concerned.

Another song is called 'Childhood's End'. Did you know that this is also the title of a song by Marillion?

No, I didn't. I didn't write this song, Steve's the one to blame! (laughs) This one mentions the fact that there isn't a single place in this world where humans can remain kids. In ten years, we've made almost completely disappear the water, the air, the sun... and now, you have to be out of your mind to be willing to give birth to children when you see the current state of the world. So we wonder where this will all end.

Next song...

I almost forgot 'Afraid To Shoot Strangers'. This is about the Gulf War. It's about a soldier who starts shooting during the Gulf War, and he doesn't want to kill anybody, but he knows that his duty will force him to do it (Note: to be honest, he wasn't forced to join up, if he feels this way). But if he doesn't shoot, maybe another one will shoot him. So, he hasn't got much choice. It's a cruel dilemma, but there's no other way to get out of it.

Do you think that the Gulf War was, as some claimed, "necessary"?

I think that what the politicians really wanted to achieve was to suppress Irak's military potential, all those chemical weapons and those plans to make a nuclear bomb, in order to render that country harmless. I think that no war is good. I really have a lot of mixed feelings regarding this offensive in the Gulf. I'm not really able to decide whether it was justified or not. I must admit that I'm not a great pacifist either, some things have to be done. You have to be able to fight for the right cause, and I'm convinced that what Saddam Hussein did was entirely reprehensible. What is not so clear are the real reasons why the countries took part in this war. Anyway, we've been told too many lies to have an clear idea about this.

Let's move on to 'Chains Of Misery'...

'Chains Of Misery' is about the little devil that sits permanently on our shoulder. This little devil who can ruin your life. For instance, you meet a girl, you have a great relationship, and all of the sudden you do something stupid with no apparent reason, and you wonder... "Why am I doing this?" You don't really know why you act the way you do, but you feel that you have to do it. Maybe it's a feeling of guilt that drives you, maybe you feel that you're not "good enough" to deserve all this... In any case, you act against your own interest without really knowing why.

'Wasting Love'

It's about those who jump from one bed into another, those who sleep with whoever comes their way, without giving or receiving whatever they're looking for, because they are very lonely. They are lonely within themselves, but they are continuously in action, collecting short-term relationships in order to fill the void they feel.

It is often said that musicians are like this, that they have many one-night-stands during the tours...

That's right. I've often seen people like that. Life on the road is tough and I know that many musicians find it hard to emotionally "open-up", because they have those worries and those feelings that they cannot share with anyone, and that they keep buried within themselves. They believe that, in their position, it is impossible to have "true" relationships with people, so they end up in bed with those of the opposite sex without thinking any further.

Do you think that relationships within the world of music are warped?

No, not all of them. To be honest, I think that, among all relationships, those with the fans are the purest. Because they're just fans and that's it. They like the music and don't care about the rest.

How about the groupies?

I think that if a groupie goes up to a musician and says, out of the blue, "I want you to fuck me because you're a musician," he won't be interested. But if the groupie starts having a chat with the musician, lying to him, telling him what a great guy he is, if she rubs him the right way, then he'll be more likely to say, "well, you're right!" (laughs). Then he starts believing it, they sleep together, and she goes back to her mates to tell them she's slept with a musician, that he's not so good and that he's got a small willy! Groupies are no answer to any problem. I don't know anyone who was ever happy in this type of relationship, no musician, and the groupies aren't happy either in the end.

So it's one of the bad sides of being a musician, basically?

No, I wouldn't go that far. The problem is that, when you're young, you find those girls and it's great, you're happy 'cause you've never fucked so much in your life. But after a while, you start thinking and you realise that you don't know anything about them, their names, or what they did before. So you reach the conclusion that life must be made of other relationships than these ones. So you have a clear choice: either you carry on, knowing perfectly well that these relationships are shallow, or you simply stop.

And what choice did you make?

I stopped fucking groupies when I met someone I really loved. That was eight years ago.

But isn't it difficult to find people and to have honest relationships when you're famous?

Personally, I try to remain naive in my relationship with people. This is very valuable to me. The fact that there are people who are evil or ill-intentioned doesn't make me change. Why should I become like them? If they want to be paranoid or anything, I just don't follow them into it. When I find out that someone isn't quite who I thought that person was, I just say, "Never mind, I thought you were someone nice, but it isn't the case. It doesn't matter, see ya!" Basically, I trust people. I prefer that because, for 10 dishonest people, I get to meet one nice person, and it's that one who matters. And anyway, I have developped a good nose to detect those leeches by now!

Let's continue with the album. The Fugitive'.

That's one of Steve's. The story is pretty straightforward, a bit like an adventure. It's about someone who's on the run, he escaped from prison and everyone's after him. The lyrics are thereofre quite paranoid, to tell the truth! He eventually makes it, he gets out, and he's still running at the end of the song.

'The Apparition'.

Roughly, these are Steve's views on the world (he wrote this song). He exposes all his feelings, his anguish, his fears, his preoccupations.

'Judas Be My Guide'.

This is a pretty ironic song, actually. I don't know if it will be well received 'cause it's somehow perillous to to be ironic in the world of rock music. It's about the dark side in all of us, and I decided to call this dark side "Judas". It's this trend that would make anyone sell anything, that would make them care about nothing, that's this little Judas who's inside all of us, and if he becomes powerful enough to rule the world, then... bye-bye! (laughs)

'Weekend Warrior'.

That's a very good song. Steve wrote it. It's about football and all the violence that surrounds this sport. Hooliganism is a terrible thing. You have those people who don't have any other interest in life but the football game on the week end. Those people indulge in whatever violence they're capable of during the game, having fights with supporters of the other team, screaming insults, then they go back to their little jobs on Monday morning, and that's when you realise that they're nothing.

Steve knows what he's talking about! – the score of the game played by the French press versus Iron Maiden (7 or 8 – 0 for Maiden) was quite violent too!

Well, I have to admit that Steve loves football!

'Fear Of The Dark'

That's also a bit of a song! Steve, who wrote it, is really afraid of the dark. It's the story of a man who walks in a park at night and, as it's getting darker, he sees all sorts of worrying things. He becomes totally paranoid 'cause his imagination is working overtime. It's a great track.

All in all, it looks like Fear Of The Dark is musically very similar to No Prayer For The Dying, but maybe with more atmosphere.

Yeah. I think that, basically, there's a break between Fear Of The Dark and the old Maiden albums. I really believe that it will make a hauge impact, we're going straight into the 90s, this time. But the Iron Maiden style remains, we didn't do any compromise, we didn't renounce, but we really focussed on the song writing process. We took some of the energy that's currently in the world, and we transposed it into our music.

Anyway, it looks like you've found a new motivation and that you really want to play.

That's obvious. We had a really good time recording our last album and we had great fun during the tour that followed. Since Janick is in the band, I think that each of us has got his enthusiasm back.

Do you think that you'll do as well in the 90s as you did during the previous decade?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I know that there's still a long way to go, but I'm convinced that many people will be very surprised by Fear Of The Dark and very surprised that we could record such an album. When they'll listen to it, I hope they say, "We thought that the last Metallica was good, but check THIS out, now!"

Earlier on, you were talking about not making any compromise. Did this attitude play a part in your success and do you think that honesty always pays in the end?

Sometimes. The thing is, we've got fans and we never let them down. We never cheat them and if we were to quit tomorrow, that'd be the most important thing to our eyes.

Will these fans you cherish so much have the opportunity to see you on stage soon?

Yes, we're about to start a big tour and be sure that we'll visit Paris next summer, as we're headlining the Monsters Of Rock festival. This time, we'll be back with a lot of equipment, we'll have this famous 3-D stage set, pyrotechnics, monsters, and explosions. We decided to make it big this time. For the No Prayer For The Dying tour, we had decided to have the minimum, and that was good. Now, we'll have the maximum! But you'll still be able to see the amps, there won't be anything to cover them. There will be the five band members, the equipement, and explosions all around!

How about this famous live album that everyone is expecting?

Tell everyone that we'll record it in Paris! In Paris and during the whole tour. This time, we've really decided to release a live album.

Credits: http://ironmaiden-bg.com/