@database Iron_Maiden_2000.guide @author "Sebastjan Zupan - ZUBi" @(c) 2000 @$VER: 1.9 @index Index @node "Main" "Iron Maiden 2000 guide" @font topaz.font 8 =========================================================================== @{b} | |^\ /\ \ | \ | /| | |\ +--- \ | G u i d e 2000 | | / / \ | \ | | \/| X | | | \ |-- | \ | Version - 1.9 | | \ \____/ | \| | | / \| | |__/ \___ | \| \ | | | 02 Aug 2000@{ub} =========================================================================== © 2000 @{" Sebastjan Zupan " link "Author"} What's @{"new" link "History"} in this version? My IM @{"collection" link "ZUBi"} My IM @{"concerts" link "ZUBi & Iron Maiden concerts"} @{" x " link "Lineup"} Lineup @{" x " link "Biography's"} Biography's @{" x " link "Interviews"} Interviews @{" x " link "Album"} Brave New World @{" x " link "Birthdays"} Birthdays @{" x " link "Singles"} BNW Singles @{" x " link "Fan Zone"} Fan Zone @{" x " link "Tour"} Tour 2000 @{" x " link "Helps"} Woe to you ... @{fg shine}@{i}"Iron Maiden's gonna get ya no matter how far"@{fg text}@{ui} -- @{bg text}@{fg shine} Steve Harris '79 @{fg text}@{bg back} @{b} UP THE IRONS!@{ub} P.S. I was born exactly 23:58 pm! YEAH, that's 2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT! @endnode @node "Author" For suggestions, observations and proposals you can contact the author: SEBASTJAN ZUPAN - ZUBi (my Nickname) Ulica talcev 1/a 1410 Zagorje ob Savi sLOVEnia EUROPE @{b} Telephone:@{ub} +386-601-61-107 (home), +386-401-874-345 (GMS) Click here @{" x " link "ZUBi"} to see my IRON MAIDEN CD/tape(s)/bootlegs etc. collection. @{b} E-mail:@{ub} sebastjan.zupan@email.si OR zubi@email.si sebastjan_hotmail@hotmail.com ZUBi@ironmaiden.com @{b} IRC: @{ub} go to hell with IRC! :-) This guide is @{b}POSTWARE@{ub}. If you like it, please send me a postcard. @endnode @node "History" Vers. 1.9 - add an interview with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris - @{"CONQUERING THE BRAVE NEW WORLD" link "Conquering the Brave New World"} (02.08.2000) 1.8 - add first @{"USA tour dates" link "tour USA"} & @{"JAPAN tour dates" link "tour JAPAN"} (22.07.2000) 1.7 - add @{"3 extra UK Tour dates" link "tour EUROPE"} (07.07.2000) 1.6 - add @{"American Tour Dates" link "tour USA"} 1.5 - add @{"Izola concert setlist" link "Izola setlist"} (12.06.2000) add @{"My Iron Maiden concerts" link "ZUBi & Iron Maiden concerts"} (12.06.2000) 1.4 - My @{"IM collection" link "ZUBi"} is bigger for one song. (30.05.2000) ... and ofcourse by brand new album BRAVE NEW WORLD (29.05.2000) ... & the 2nd part of B.Dickinson interview is now also included. 1.3 - add @{"Brave New World LYRICS" link "Album"}. (29.05.2000). 1.2 - add an interview with Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson. add @{"METAL-IS (Part 1)" link "Metal-Is 1."} (10.05.2000) add @{"METAL-IS (Part 2)" link "Metal-Is 2."} (03.06.2000) My @{"IM collection" link "ZUBi"} is bigger for one CD bootleg. (10.05.2000) Very big thanks to @{" Fabio Sanna " link "Helps"}. 1.1 - add an interview with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris about the new album, single and tour. add @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 1)" link "intense 1"} (10.04.2000) add @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 2)" link "intense 2"} (13.04.2000) add @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 3)" link "intense 3"} (18.04.2000) add @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 4)" link "intense 4"} (20.04.2000) add info about the new single @{"The Wicker Man" link "The Wicker Man - single"} (06.05.2000) 1.0 - First public release. To do: - Addition of further material within year 2000... @endnode @node "Lineup" @{b}IRON MAIDEN lineup (from January 1999)@{ub} ====================================== Bruce Dickinson - Vocals Dave Murray - Lead & Rhythm Guitars Adrian Smith - Lead & Rhythm Guitars Janick Gers - Lead & Rhythm Guitars Steve Harris - Bass, Keyboards Nicko McBrain - Drums @endnode @node "Album" @{b} BRAVE NEW WORLD@{ub} (67:03 min.) released: 29.05.2000 1. @{"The Wicker Man" link "The Wicker Man"} 2. @{"Ghost Of The Navigator" link "Ghost Of The Navigator"} 3. @{"Brave New World" link "Brave New World"} 4. @{"Blood Brothers" link "Blood Brothers"} 5. @{"The Mercenary" link "The Mercenary"} 6. @{"Dream Of Mirrors" link "Dream Of Mirrors"} 7. @{"The Fallen Angel" link "The Fallen Angel"} 8. @{"The Nomad" link "The Nomad"} 9. @{"Out Of The Silent Planet" link "Out Of The Silent Planet"} 10. @{"The Thin Line Between Love And Hate" link "The Thin Line Between Love And Hate"} Produced By Kevin Shirley. Co-produced: Steve Harris. Engineered and mixed by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley. 2nd Engineer: Denis Caribaux. Assistants: Nicolas Meyer, Rory Romano. All Keyboards: Steve Harris. Orchestration on 04 and 08 by Jeff Bova, written By Steve Harris. Special thanks to Micheal Kenney. Recorded at Guillaume Tell Studios, Paris. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York. All titles administrated by Zomba Music Publisher Ltd. except tracks 01, 02, 03 and 09 administrated by Zomba Music Publisher Ltd. & Warner/Chappel Music Ltd. © 2000 EMI Records Ltd. @endnode @node "Singles" @{b} BRAVE NEW WORLD singles@{ub} @{"The Wicker Man" link "The Wicker Man - single"} released 08.May.2000 @endnode @node "The Wicker Man - single" @{b} The Wicker Man@{ub} Written by: Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson Release date: 8th May 2000 Go straight to the charts at number 9 in United Kingdom, number 5 in Sweden, number 3 in Italy, number 39 in France, number 38 in Germany. THE WICKER MAN - SINGLE FORMATS (03.May.2000) Iron Maiden release their new single entitled 'The Wicker Man' on Monday May 8th through EMI Records. If you're outside the UK and fancy getting your hands on the UK versions of the single, the lovely people at What Records are standing by to help you out. UK Formats - CD1, CD2 and 12" Picture Disc CD1 will contain the enhanced video, a double sided poster and some good news for the UK fans. CD2 also contains an Enhanced video track to accompany the live recording of Futureal which can be played on a regular PC. The video is footage taken from the Ed Hunter Tour last year and gives a little taste of what is to come this year. The single formats are: CD1 - Double sided Poster, Double CD Jewel Case (CD1 with room for CD 2) Track 1 - The Wicker Man Track 2 - Man On The Edge - Live recording Track 3 - Powerslave - Live recording Enhanced Video - The Wicker Man - Directed by Dean Karr CD2 - Special Transparent CD design Track 1 - The Wicker Man Track 2 - Futureal - Live recording Track 3 - Killers - Live recording Enhanced Video - Futureal - Footage taken from shows during The Ed Hunter Tour 1999. 12 Inch Picture Disc: The Wicker Man Powerslave - Live recording Killers - Live recording Want some of these cool UK single formats (released Monday 8th May) but you don't live in the UK? Well you can now buy them from the very metal friendly staff at What Records UK. All formats are £2.99 each plus post & packaging (P&P). Anyone who purchases both cd singles gets them at £5.50 plus P&P. They accept all major credit cards, International Money Orders in £ Sterling and cash. All you need to do is email whatuk@aol.com with you name, COMPLETE address and order. What Records UK will email you back with the total cost of the order including P& P and details on methods of payment. --- International Formats - CD1, CD2 and 12" Picture Disc The single will feature exclusive live tracks from the band's sold out Ed Hunter Tour of Europe and America last year. The two live tracks showcase Bruce singing songs he's never performed before from Maiden's last two albums. It will also contain a collectors Eddie Beermat. There will also a Limited Edition 12 inch picture disc available with special 'The Wicker Man' artwork. The single formats are: CD1 - Special Beer Mat, Jewel Case Track 1 - The Wicker Man Track 2 - Futureal - Live Recording Track 3 - Man On The Edge - Live Recording Enhanced Video - The Wicker Man - Directed by Dean Karr CD2 - Slimline Case Track 1 - The Wicker Man Track 2 - Futureal - Live Recording Track 3 - Man On The Edge - Live recording Enhanced Video - The Wicker Man - Directed by Dean Karr 12 Inch Picture Disc: The Wicker Man Powerslave - Live Recording Killers - Live Recording @endnode @node "The Wicker Man" @{b} THE WICKER MAN@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson Time: 4:35 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} Hand of fate is moving and the finger points to you He knocks you to your feet and so what are you gonna do Your tongue has frozen now you've got something to say The piper at the gates of dawn is calling you his way You watch the world exploding every single night Dancing in the sun a new born in the light Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death Hello to eternity and live for every breath Your time will come Your time will come (2x) The ferryman wants his money you ain't going to give it back He can push his own boat as you set up off the track Nothing you can contemplate will ever be the same Every second is a new spark, sets the universe aflame You watch the world exploding every single night Dancing in the sun, a new born in the light Brothers and their fathers joining hands and make a chain The shadow of the Wicker man is rising up again Your time will come Your time will come (2x) [solo] Your time will come ... (8x) O o o o o o ... @endnode @node "Ghost Of The Navigator" @{b} GHOST OF THE NAVIGATOR@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Janick Gers, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris Time: 6:50 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} I have sailed to many lands now I make my final journey On the bow I stand, west is where I go Through the night I plough still my heart, calculate and pray As the compass swings my will is strong I will not be led astray Mysteries of time clouds that hide the sun But I know, but I know, but I know I see the ghosts of navigators but they are lost As they sail into the sunset they'll count the cost As their skeletons accusing emerge from the sea The sirens of the rocks, they beckon me Take my heart and set it free Carried forward by the waves Nowhere left to run, Navigator's son Chasing Rainbows all my days Where I go I do not know I only know the place I've been Dreams they come and go, ever shall be so Nothing's real until you feel I steer between the crashing rocks, the sirens call my name Lash my hands onto the helm, blood surging with the strain I will not fail now as sunrise comes the darkness left behind For eternity I follow on there is no other way The mysteries of time clouds that hide the sun But I know, I know I see the ghosts of navigators but they are lost As they sail into the sunset they'll count the cost As their skeletons accusing emerge from the sea The sirens of the rocks, they beckon me Take my heart and set it free Carried forward by the waves Nowhere left to run, Navigator's son Chasing Rainbows all my days Where I go I do not know I only know the place I've been Dreams they come and go, ever shall be so Nothing's real until you feel [solo] I see the ghosts of navigators but they are lost As they sail into the sunset they'll count the cost As their skeletons accusing emerge from the sea The sirens of the rocks, they beckon me Take my heart and set it free Carried forward by the waves Nowhere left to run, Navigator's son Chasing Rainbows all my days Where I go I do not know I only know the place I've been Dreams they come and go, ever shall be so Nothing's real until you feel O o o o o o ... @endnode @node "Brave New World" @{b} BRAVE NEW WORLD@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Dave Murray, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson Time: 6:18 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} Dying Swans twisted wings Beauty not needed here Lost my love, lost my life In this garden of fear I have seen many things In a lifetime alone Mother love is no more Bring this savage back home Wilderness house of pain Makes no sense of it all Close this mind dull this brain Messiah before his fall What you see is not real Those who know will not tell All is lost sold your souls To this brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world Dragon Kings Dying Queens Where is salvation now Lost my life lost my dreams Rip the bones from my flesh Silent screams laughing here Dying to tell you the truth You are planned and you are damned In this brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world [solo] A brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world In a brave new world A brave new world Dying Swans twisted wings Bring this savage back home @endnode @node "Blood Brothers" @{b} BLOOD BROTHERS@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Steve Harris Time: 7:14 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} And if you're taking a walk through the garden of life What do you think you'd expect you would see? Just like a mirror reflecting the moves of your life And in the river reflections of me Just for a second a glimpse of my father I see And in a movement he beckons to me And in a moment the memories are all that remain And all the wounds are opening again We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers And as you look all around at the world in dismay What do you see, do you think we have learned Not if you're taking a look at the war torn affray Out in the streets where the babies are burned We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers There are times when I feel I'm afraid for the world There are times I'm ashamed of us all When you're floating on all the emotion you feel And reflecting the good and the bad Will we ever know what the answer to life really is? Can you really tell me what life is? Maybe all the things that you know that are precious to you Could be swept away by fate's own hand We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers [solo] When you think that we've used all our chances And the chance to make everything right, Keep on making the same old mistakes Makes untipping the balance so easy When we're living our lives on the edge Say a prayer on the book of the dead [solo] We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers And if you're taking a walk through the garden of life @endnode @node "The Mercenary" @{b} THE MERCENARY@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Janick Gers, Steve Harris Time: 4:42 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} Pay to kill, die to lose Hunted, hunter which are you Diablo come again To make trophies out of men Lose your skin, lose your skull One by one the sack is full In the heat dehydrate Know which breath will be your last Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide You've got to kill to stay alive Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide You've got to kill to stay alive Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Human heart, human mind Intellect intertwined Focus sharp in the night Watch the jungle burning bright Toe to toe throw the line Everyone's caught hand tied Iron will Iron fist How could it have come to this? Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide You've got to kill to stay alive Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide You've got to kill to stay alive Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain [solo] Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain Show them no fear, show them no pain @endnode @node "Dream Of Mirrors" @{b} DREAM OF MIRRORS@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Janick Gers, Steve Harris Time: 9:21 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} Have you ever felt The future is the past But you don't know how ...? A reflected dream Of a captured time Is it really now, is it really happening? Don't know why I feel this way Have I dreamt this time, this place? Something vivid comes again into my mind And I think I've seen your face Seen this room, been in this place Something vivid comes again into my mind All my hopes and expectation Looking for an explanation Have I found my destination? I just can't take no more The dream is true, the dream is true The dream is true, the dream is true Think I've heard your voice before Think I've said these words before Something makes me feel I just might lose my mind Am I still inside my dream? Is this a new reality Something makes me feel that I have lost my mind All my hopes and expectation Looking for an explanation Coming to the realisation That I can't see for sure I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I am alive I only dream in Black and White To save me from myself I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I'm alive I only dream in Black and White Please save me from myself The dream is true, the dream is true The dream is true, the dream is true I get up put on the light Dreading the oncoming night Scared to fall asleep and dream the dream again Nothing that I contemplate Nothing that I can compare To letting loose the demons deep inside my head Dread to think what might be stirring That my dream is reoccurring Got to keep away from drifting Saving me from myself I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I'm alive I only dream in Black and White To save me from myself I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I'm alive I only dream in Black and White To save me from myself Lost in a dream of mirrors Lost in a paradox Lost and time is spinning Lost a nightmare I retrace Lost a hell that I revisit Lost another time and place Lost a parallel existence Lost a nightmare I retrace I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I'm alive I only dream in Black and White To save me from myself I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I'm alive I only dream in Black and White To save me from myself [solo] O o o o o o ... [solo] O o o o o o ... I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I'm alive I only dream in Black and White To save me from myself I only dream in Black and White I only dream 'cause I'm alive I only dream in Black and White To save me from myself The dream is true, the dream is true The dream is true, the dream is true @endnode @node "The Fallen Angel" @{b} THE FALLEN ANGEL@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Adrian Smith, Steve Harris Time: 4:00 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} Azazel is beside you and he's playing a game Demons are inside you and they're making their play Watching and they're hiding as they wait for the time For a devil to get ready and take over your mind You and only God would know what could be done You and only God will know I am the only one You and only God would know what could be done You and only God will know that I am the chosen one Could it be it's the end of our world? All the things that we cherish and love Nothing left but to face this all on my own 'Cause I am the chosen one (2x) Beaten fallen angel but I've risen again And the power is inside me, I've decided to pray As I wait for Armageddon and it's coming my way It's an honour to be chosen and I wait for the day You and only God would know what could be done You and only God will know I am the only one You and only God would know what could be done You and only God will know I am the chosen one Could it be it's the end of our world? All the things that we cherish and love Nothing left but to face this all on my own 'Cause I am the chosen one (2x) [solo] Could it be it's the end of our world? All the things that we cherish and love Nothing left but to face this all on my own 'Cause I am the chosen one (2x) Yeah, yeah @endnode @node "The Nomad" @{b} THE NOMAD@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Dave Murray, Steve Harris Time: 9:06 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} Like a mirage riding on the desert sand Like a vision floating with the desert winds Know the secret of the ancient desert lands You are the keeper of the mystery in your hands Nomad rider of the ancient east Nomad rider that men know the least Nomad where you come from no one knows Nomad where you go to no one tells Undercover of the veil of your disguise The men that fear you are the ones that you despise No one's certain what your future will behold You're a legend your own story will be told Nomad rider of the ancient east Nomad rider that men know the least Nomad where you come from no one knows Nomad where you go to no one tells No ones dares to even look or glance your way Your reputation goes before you they all say Like a spirit that can disappear at will Many claim of things but no one's seen you kill Nomad, you're the rider so mysterious Nomad, you're the spirit that men fear in us Nomad, you're the rider of the desert sands No man's ever understood your genius [solo] Those who see you in horizon desert sun Those who fear your reputation hide or run You send before you a mystique that's all your own Your silhouette is like a statue carved in stone Nomad, you're the rider so mysterious Nomad, you're the spirit that men fear in us Nomad, you're the rider of the desert sands No man ever understood your genius [solo] Legend has it that you speak an ancient tongue But no one's spoke to you and lived to tell the tale Some they say that you have killed a hundred men Others say that you have died and live again Nomad, you're the rider so mysterious Nomad, you're the spirit that men fear in us Nomad, you're the rider of the desert sands No man ever understood your genius @endnode @node "Out Of The Silent Planet" @{b} OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Janick Gers, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris Time: 6:25 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} Out of the silent planet Out of the silent planet we are (4x) Withered hands, withered bodies begging for salvation Deserted by the hand of gods of their own creation Nations cry underneath decaying skies above You are guilty, the punishment is death for all who live The punishment is death for all who live Out of the silent planet Dreams of desolation Out of the silent planet Come the demons of creation (2x) The killing fields, the grinding wheels crushed by equilibrium Separate lives no more disguise, no more second chances Haggard wisdom spitting out the bitter taste or hate I accuse you before you know the crime it's all too late Before you know the crime it's all too late Out of the silent planet Dreams of desolation Out of the silent planet Come the demons of creation (2x) [solo] Out of the silent planet Out of the silent planet we are (2x) [solo] Out of the silent planet Dreams of desolation Out of the silent planet Come the demons of creation (2x) [solo] Out of the silent planet Dreams of desolation Out of the silent planet Come the demons of creation (2x) Out of the silent planet Out of the silent planet we are (6x) @endnode @node "The Thin Line Between Love And Hate" @{b} THE THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE@{ub} @{fg shine} Author: Dave Murray, Steve Harris Time: 8:26 Year: 2000 Album: Brave New World @{fg text} When a person turns to wrong Is it a want to be, belong? Part of things at any cost At what price a life is lost At what point do we begin Fighter spirit a will to win But what makes a man decide Take the wrong or righteous road There's a thin line between love and hate Wider divide that you can see between good and bad There's a grey place between black and white But everyone does have the right to choose the path that he takes We all like to put the blame On society these things But what kind of good or bad A new generation brings Sometimes takes just more than that To survive be good at heart There is evil in some of us No matter what will never change I will hope My soul will fly So I will live forever Heart will die My soul will fly And I will live forever [solo] Just a few small tears between Someone happy and one sad Just a thin line drawn between Being a genius or insane At what age begin to learn Of which way out we will turn There's a long and winding road And the trail is there to burn There's a thin line between love and hate Wider divide that you can see between good and bad There's a grey place between black and white But everyone does have the right to choose the path that he takes [solo] I will hope My soul will fly So I will live forever Heart will die My soul will fly And I will live forever (2x) [solo] The thin line between love and hate [solo] The thin line between love and hate @endnode @node "Biography's" @{b} IRON MAIDEN - THE OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY (10/02/99)@{ub} In 1999, Iron Maiden is a household-name in every part of the world. After 20 years and almost 50 million album sales, Maiden is now rightly regarded as the 'classic' rock band in every sense: modern masters of that most emotionally extreme and technically dazzling form of rock music - the black sheep they call heavy metal. A genre Maiden single-handedly reinvented for the Eighties, when they released their first single, the punk-metal collision, 'Running Free', and their uncompromisingly raw debut album, 'Iron Maiden', in 1980. And a genre which is once again currently enjoying a vast renaissance worldwide with Maiden very much involved as always. Back in the early eighties, Maiden was the band at the forefront of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal - a short-lived media-led phenomenon that would propel them onto the world stage. "People always used to call us punk-metal when we first started getting reviewed in the music papers in Britain," bassist and founding member, Steve Harris, recalls with a rueful smile. "But I think that was partly to do with the fact that our singer then, Paul Di'Anno, had quite short hair and the fact that we used to play so fast. We used to come across as really aggressive. But that was never really a punk thing to me - that was a pure metal thing. We used to frighten the life out of the punks·" Despite receiving no radio play whatsoever, 'Running Free' their debut single leapt into the UK Top 40. When the band were then offered their first appearance on Top Of The Pops, the UK's biggest weekly TV chart show, Maiden refused to do it unless they were allowed to play live - something no artist had done on Top Of The Pops since The Who demolished the studio during a performance of their 'Quadrophenia' hit, '5.15', in 1972. The BBC execs were sceptical but eventually relented and such precocity was rewarded when their debut album, 'Iron Maiden', was released a few weeks later and immediately crashed into the UK albums chart at No.4! It was this take-no-prisoners attitude the band started with, and still adopt to this day, which has served them so well throughout their career. Since then, every one of the 11 studio albums and three live albums that Maiden have released have been major Top 10 successes both at home in the UK and more than 25 other countries around the world, including over 20 hit singles - a fact that sometimes gets overlooked as so few of them have ever been played on radio - and no less than five consecutive million-selling albums in America. Along the way, despite numerous line-up changes the quintessential Maiden sound - the rumbling-earth bass, searchlight guitars, spatter-gun drums and lion's roar vocals - remained mercifully undimmed throughout. Their second album "Killers" followed in 1981 which saw the band paying first time tour visits to America, Canada and Japan. The album achieved the band gold album status around the world but at the end of the tour singer Paul Di Anno left heralding the arrival of Bruce Dickinson. 1982 was to exceed all expectations for the new line up. After a couple of warm up shows with Bruce the band went in to record the legendary "Number of The Beast" album. This blew away all competition to enter the UK Chart at No.1 while the classic Maiden track, "Run To The Hills", got the band their first UK Top 10 single. This success was mirrored across Europe and also the American charts. The gruelling 180 date, 8 month 'Beast on The Road Tour' again broke new ground for the band as they did shows in Australia and New Zealand and saw the band headline their first sold out US Show at the New York Palladium proving a portent of things to come. Once again there was a band casualty with Clive Burr, the bands drummer, leaving to make way for the now infamous drummer/ prankster/headcase Nicko McBrain. The band immediately started work on Piece Of Mind which they recorded in Nassau in the Bahamas. The album went in the UK charts at No.3 when the band started their "World Piece Tour" in the UK. As before there was to be no let up in pace and Maiden found themselves playing to larger and larger audiences selling out everywhere and gathering more momentum in America with their first - of many - full scale arena headline tour. Powerslave was recorded in Nassau in 1985. The "Slavery Tour" was to give fans a massive stageshow of lights and production featuring Eddie, the bands hugely popular mascot and icon, now being transformed from a walk on part to a huge twenty foot mechanised monster. The groundbreaking tour started behind the Iron Curtain in Poland which was the first time a major band had taken full western production behind the Iron Curtain. By the third week of the tour the album itself was released, going straight in the UK Album Charts at No.2. The band found themselves breaking records everywhere playing the Rock In Rio Festival to 200,000 fans, selling out Radio City Hall in New York five nights running (illness preventing it from reaching seven) and the first act ever to sell out Long Beach Arena (Capacity 13000) for 4 consecutive nights. This Long Beach success was captured in the bands next release "Live After Death", Maidens first Double Live album and video of the same name. The Live album charted at No.2 and the video went to No.1 in the video charts and remained there for some time. These releases are still regarded by many as one of the best live albums/videos of all time. "Somewhere in Time" was released in September 1986, this time recorded in both Nassau and Munich. This album marked a slight change in their style with the inclusion of keyboards for the first time but in no way diluted Maidens classic style. The first single released off the album "Wasted Years" reached the UK top twenty and was a track written about the rigours of their previous tours. The album continued to go gold or platinum in practically every major territory. The live show as before was a dazzling spectacle. The highlight featured Eddie, this time an understage inflatable and portrayed as a cyborg from the cover artwork, lifting the band off the stage with his two hands and sending Nicko and drumkit skywards balanced on his head. "Somewhere On Tour" again started in Eastern Europe and included six sell out nights at the Hammersmith Odeon before again spending the spring of 1987 touring through the US and finishing in Japan some eight months later. 1988 brought "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son", Maidens' first and only concept album. This wasn't the original idea at the outset, but in writing and followed by rehearsals it seemed the material had a common theme running through out. The first single "Can I Play With Madness" went to No.3 in the UK Charts and was followed by 3 other singles from the album all reaching the Top 10 - quite a feat without Radio support. The "Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour" saw them begin in the US. The high spot of the tour was to be the headlining of the legendary "Monsters Of Rock Festival" at Castle Donington which with support by the likes of Kiss, Dave Lee Roth, Guns and Roses and stablemates Helloween, they played to a all time record breaking 107,000 fans. The "Monsters" festival also had repeated success in Europe after which the band continued back to the UK to complete the tour with sell out shows at Wembley Arena for 2 nights, the Birmingham NEC 2 nights and 4 nights at the Hammersmith Odeon. The band had previously decided to take the whole of 1989 off however, unable to rest, Bruce and Adrian spent their time recording their first solo albums and November 1989 saw the group team up again for the launch of the "Maiden England" video. In January 1990 work had barely begun on the "No Prayer For The Dying" album when Adrian decided to leave the band, this being their first personnel change for some seven years. Bruce meanwhile had been working through the previous summer with ex-Gillan and White Spirit guitarist, Janick Gers who after auditioning was invited to join. The new line-up recorded the album in the UK at Steve's own Barnyard studio. Released October 1st the album entered the UK Chart at No.2. This album was to finally bring the band their first elusive No.1 single with "Bring Your Daughter to The Slaughter" going straight to No.1 for Christmas 1990. Work on "Fear on The Dark" started early in 1992 and Eddie went through a transformation as for the first time artist Derek Riggs did not supply the cover art but instead the band took a more sinister image drawn by Melvin Grant. "Fear Of The Dark" was to be the bands third No.1 album and with an elaborate show the band hit the road again starting this time in Scandanavia. Again the opportunity to play Castle Donington came to the band. The show was filmed and later released on video while several other shows on the tour were being recorded for a possible live album. Finishing in Japan in November the band returned unaware of what was lurking around the corner. In March 1993 Bruce announced his departure feeling he had got to saturation point with other projects and the band set to work on finding a replacement while doing a final "Real Live Tour" tour with Bruce. The band visited Moscow for the first time and received an amazing reception and went on to complete 44 shows across Europe. Bruces final show was to be a live pay-per-view televised spectacular "Raising Hell" featuring the magician Simon Drake performing grisly tricks interspersed with live performance by the band. This included Simon playing a guitar solo with guitarist Dave Murray severed hands and Bruce being decapitated! After an intensive search Blaze Bayley of Wolfsbane was announced as Maidens new vocalist. The band and Blaze had already crossed paths as Wolfsbane had supported Maiden on 1990 UK Tour. This new partnership started work on the darkly smouldering "X Factor" album, again recorded at Steve's Barnyard Studios but with Steve himself co-producing it with Nigel Green. The X Factour started prior to the album launch in October 1995 with shows in new territories Israel and South Africa. The album itself went to No.8 in the album chart while the band continued to tour comprehensively in Europe and the UK, highlighted with the bands Brixton Academy show before they continued throughout Western Europe, America, Japan and headlining many major festivals including the "Monsters of Rock" in Sao Paulo to 50,000 fans. 1997 saw work start on Virtual XI, aptly named, this being their Eleventh Studio album. The cover artwork supplied by Melvin Grant depicted a boy watching a football match through a Virtual Reality headset while being surrounded by Armageddon and Eddie. This being a comment on technology taking over everything and the concern society shares as we approach the Millennium. This sentiment was also reflected in the material on the album with tracks such as "Futureal" and "When Two Worlds Collide". The football theme was carried through as Maiden, always being massive football supporters, decided to promote the album launch with their own Football tour, 1998 being World Cup year. The band set to work on putting together a dream team of world professionals such as Paul Gascoigne, Ian Wright, Faustino Asprilla, Marc Overmars, Patrik Viera and Stuart Pearce, Stuart being an immense Maiden fan. A Virtual XI team which featured ex-England stalwarts Terry Butcher, Tony Woodcock, Neil Webb and Paul Mariner toured throughout Europe playing games against teams with similarly famous names like Anders Limpar in Sweden, Gentile and Altobelli in Italy and even meeting up with the great Eusebio in Portugal. The first single "The Angel and The Gambler" featured an amazing video, seeing the band placed in a completely computer generated environment depicting Eddie in his new guise along with characters that appear in "Ed Hunter", the forthcoming computer game. Their successful nine month "Virtual World Tour" saw them in Europe, Japan, North America and finally South America. And so to now ...... January 1999. With the departure of Blaze Bayley, the return of both Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith brings a new twist to the Maiden tale. Now a six piece with a formidable three guitar onslaught, plans are currently taking shape for a Spring release of "Ed Hunter", touring in July/August/Sept., recording a studio album at the end of the year and a full World Tour in 2000. Metal is currently enjoying a World wide resurgence in popularity and Maiden will once again be in the vanguard. And that's where they intend to stay for many more years to come. @endnode @node "Interviews" All thanks goes to: http//www.metal.is.com @{b} STEVE HARRIS INTERVIEW@{ub} Metal-is Editor Valerie Potter sat down with Steve backstage at the final show on the European tour (as the rain poured down outside!) to chat about the shows and the forthcoming "Brave New World" tour of North America. @{"CONQUERING THE BRAVE NEW WORLD" link "Conquering the Brave New World"} 28.07.2000 @{b} STEVE HARRIS INTERVIEW@{ub} Read an interview with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris about the new album, single and tour: @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 1)" link "intense 1"} 10.04.2000 @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 2)" link "intense 2"} 13.04.2000 @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 3)" link "intense 3"} 18.04.2000 @{"INTENSE PERCEPTIONS (Part 4)" link "intense 4"} 20.04.2000 @{b} BRUCE DICKINSON INTERVIEW@{ub} Metal-is Editor VALERIE POTTER caught up with the weary singer in Paris, where he talked about the rigours of an arduous promo schedule and revealed that video shoots in Los Angeles are not always as glamorous as they sound! @{"METAL-IS (Part 1)" link "Metal-Is 1."} 10.05.2000 @{"METAL-IS (Part 2)" link "Metal-Is 2."} 03.06.2000 @endnode @node "intense 1" @{b} INTENSE PERCEPTIONS@{ub} ... Part 1 (10.04.2000) An interview with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris about the new album, single and tour. The album is just finished. The band have been really pushing to get the album finished on time and are now ecstatic that not only is it finished but they class it as one of the best they have EVER done. After a weeks break, they will jump on the Rock'n'Roll merry-go-round that is called "Promotion". They will travel in pairs to far off countries to talk about the album and the tour that is coming. Once they have returned from that they will get together again to discuss the tour, singles, artwork... in fact a whole plethora of matters that will ensure that you, the fan, get the best album and tour Maiden can provide. Then they move into rehearsals and before they know it ... the tour begins! There is no better time to grab bassist Steve Harris and fire a few well chosen questions at him about the album, tour and anything else that comes to mind. He was more than happy to oblige and gave a very open and frank insight into the thinking behind "BRAVE NEW WORLD" and the forthcoming METAL 2000 tour. @{b} JOHNNY B: You've gone into writing an album so soon after finishing a tour, you were obviously up for it. Was it the fact that you had a new line up and you wanted to get into the studio and get on with it?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Oh that was part of the process of getting prepared to go into recording. One or two weeks into the tour we knew we would go in and be fresh off the tour. It was only a short tour obviously, the shortest tour we've ever done." @{b} JOHNNY B: It was a good tour though.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, It was a great vibe playing together again and the crowds seemed to love it." @{b} JOHNNY B: And you were all up for recording?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah. It was just getting the vibe getting together again and playing together again. We just thought we'd go straight in fresh off the tour and do a new album. We could just gone in and done an album but we thought it best to go and do some shows first. There was the Ed Hunter PC game to tour with as well. We did a completely different sort of show for that than obviously we will do for the next tour. Basically we wanted to go in the studio and add all the vibes, all the freshness of coming off a tour and playing together again." @{b} JOHNNY B: Did you find this album any harder of easier than previous albums?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Well ... this album we approached differently and we actually rehearsed for quite a while before going in and doing it. Normally we just go in and do it and rehearse the songs in the studio and we would allocate ourselves a specific period of time before that when we write the songs. This time however we had a sort of on and off period, a sort of longer period to write. We were writing bits and pieces here and there, then going in to finish off the writing then basically rehearsing the songs at the end. Normally we just rehearse a song and then just do it as we're going along. It's just a different way of approaching it when we're recording at my studio, at home, as we haven't got a time problem there. It's a totally different approach. The recording and the rehearsals are all one and in the same place. Whereas you can't really go and start spending the same sort of money it would cost for the recording to just rehearse. It's just insane to rehearse for a month in a recording studio that is costing ... whatever a day it's just stupid. So it just has to be a different approach. So we rehearsed the new stuff in a rehearsal room rather than in a recording studio. We rehearsed the stuff really well first so that when we went in to do the backing tracks they went down obviously a lot quicker. We'd rehearsed the songs as if we were going to play live." @{b} JOHNNY B: Did you like that way of working?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Well yeah. We've done it that way before years ago and we enjoyed it and it worked. Either way really it works because the end result is the same in the sense that you just want to get the best performance down. It is just two different ways of doing it basically. I mean either way I like doing it, it doesn't matter one way or the other really." @{b} JOHNNY B: Why did you choose Belgium for your writing?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Well ... Dick Bell (Maiden Production Manager) found the place and it's just a really good place. It's just a great place to rehearse, the people are nice and the whole atmosphere was relaxed and friendly." @{b} JOHNNY B: What makes it a good place to rehearse? Why was that such a great place?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Simple ... because it was just a really good size and sound. For me it was just a good vibe there. Like I said, the people were friendly and stuff like that and that means a lot. The facilities were good and relaxed. You could just relax and nobody knew where we were. We weren't getting hassled by anybody and we could just go there, do a job and get on with it basically. Conversely that's also what's good when we rehearse at my place. I know nobody will bother us there. I know it was kinda out the way but it's good. Yeah it was a great place." @{b} JOHNNY B: Did you have to completely change your recording technique, seeing as how you've got three leading guitarists this time?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Well to be honest with you that's a kind of difficult question to answer because we were using a new guy. I mean we were using a different producer, Kevin Shirley. So I don't know if we would've approached it in the same way using three guitarists as two. Obviously, you have to approach it slightly differently for mixing the stuff but as to whether he would recorded it the same with two guitar players, I don't really know. I haven't worked with him before but I don't think it probably would have been. After having worked with him, he's just a straight head sort of bloke and he just goes in and gets on with it. I don't think he would of done things much differently." @{b} JOHNNY B: How was it working with Kevin Shirley?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, it was great. I mean it was really great working with him. I was a little worried about working with a different person you don't know. I always would be because you don't know what they're going to be like. Obviously, you know what they've done work-wise and their reputation. We met him and he seemed like a nice guy. However until you get down to it you don't know if you're going to click with somebody or not ... but it clicked perfectly. It's just the way he works. It's very similar to the way we've been working the last two or three albums anyway, in a lot of ways, There were some things that he was doing that we hadn't been doing before but it was really good working like that. For instance we'd lay all the guitars down, the rhythm guitars, some over dub guitars and they would all go and record them altogether, rather than do them individually. This system worked out great. However, again I think that was because we were so well rehearsed we could do that. I think that if you weren't as well rehearsed and you'd just gone in and done them as we usually do them, by taking each song at a time, it may have been different. It is after all just a different approach but the fact that we had rehearsed for a month beforehand meant that we could just do things like that ... and easily. Everybody could just do their bits and it meant that we could just do it like that." @{b} JOHNNY B: Does the producer influence an album in a way then?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "He influences the sound obviously of course, to a certain degree. If we were doing sounds that he didn't like he would say so. But yeah, he influences the sounds, the way you record, he's the engineer as well. He doesn't influence you in the writing of it. The right songs are already arranged and written beforehand anyway, so he doesn't influence you like that. He might have odd ideas, it's the same with other producers we've worked with like Martin Birch. It's the same type of thing ... they may have odd ideas but as to whether we used them or not is another thing. It depends as to whether you liked them or not. It's not a situation ... Well Maiden has never been the situation, where someone comes in and starts dictating what kind of sort of songs we write." @{b} JOHNNY B: It is so important to get the right sort of person then?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, it's important to get someone in that wants to get the right sort of performance out of you. You don't want someone that wants to just change the songs around. We knew that he wasn't that type of guy or we wouldn't have entertained him." @{b} JOHNNY B: You knew that from his reputation?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Not really because he's capable of doing that if need be and I should imagine there are some band's that may need that approach. Some bands need that, or want that. We don't want that and he knew our reputation also. He knew that we wouldn't be wanting that and that's fine and it worked out great." @{b} JOHNNY B: So would you work with Kevin Shirley again?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Oh definitely yeah. We really enjoyed working with him and we had good fun doing it." To be continued in @{"PART 2" link "intense 2"} ... @endnode @node "intense 2" @{b} INTENSE PERCEPTIONS@{ub} ... Part 2 (13.04.2000) @{b} JOHNNY B: Yeah he seemed a good fun guy in the studio!@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah he is. When you're stuck in the studio for all that time together you need to have fun. What I mean is that I'm the one that's in the studio with him every day, day in and day out. I am there more so than the others so I need to get on with him. We got on really well together. It is so important to have a good working relationship. I imagine that there can't be anything worse than going into a studio if you don't like the person that you're working with. We were really lucky because we all got on really well with him and we would definitely work with him again." @{b} JOHNNY B: After doing a couple of albums at Barnyard studios would it automatically have been a change to go anywhere else?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "We did Fear of the Dark, X Factor and Virtual 11 and we also did a bit of No Prayer there, although it wasn't properly in the studio, as we did it in the mobile studio. We also mixed a couple of live albums there as well. So we did quite a bit of stuff there and we just felt like it was time to go somewhere else really. It's the same as in the 80's when we did three albums in Compass Point in the Bahamas. We did the recording there and then went and mixed the stuff in New York, at Electric Lady studios. We did that for three albums and it felt good to go somewhere else. So we did some other stuff, like Somewhere In Time at Wisseloord Studios Holland. Who knows whether we'll go back to that one or somewhere else. I mean I really like the latest studio, the studio was great. Great environment to work in and really enjoyable. Professional people there. @{b} JOHNNY B: Was it well equipped there?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah fantastic. Very well equipped. The people were really well on the button with professionalism and totally together. I was very impressed with the studio. I would work there again definitely. Whether we'll do that next time round who knows, that's not something we're thinking about yet. Whatever we decide now will probably change in a few weeks anyway ... such is the nature of the Beast." @{b} JOHNNY B: Normally there's a good theme running through the album!@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "I am glad you asked this because it may clear up a few misconceptions before we get asked this on tour for the millionth time. Some people do think the albums are like concept albums when they are not. That's usually because of the artwork and the strong imagery that we use. What with the booklets and graphics and everything else and stuff like that. People get that impression. I say it with every album it's the way it is, it's a pretty simple approach and we try and get together the best collection of songs as best we can at any given time ... and you go with that. I mean you might look at it a year later and go back and think. Oh we could have done this or we could have done that'. You may think we could have second guessed this or that and we could have written a better song than that one. However at the time you're enthusiastic about your stuff and you think that's the best that you can come out with ... at that time ... you just HAVE to go with it. I don't think you should look back over your shoulder at all, that's always been our attitude. So that's something that's never changed in that respect. I mean that goes for with whatever the line up is, that's always been the attitude. I hope that clears it up. We write the best collection of songs we can at the time and everything else fits around them ... not the other way around." @{b} JOHNNY B: So when you were working away from your own Barnyard studios, did you work on one song till it was finished or did you do a bit of each, seeing as you were now working to a time limit?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "With guitars and stuff as far as we could we were working on each track as we were going along, getting the sounds we needed. That's what made mixing easier because we were building a track up layer by layer, one at a time really. You just do bits and pieces what ever is needed and whoever is available at the time. You just get them in to do bits and pieces and that's how you carry on really. You get a working format going. You have to be very strict in your procedures as you only have limited time." @{b} JOHNNY B: Do members of the band come in and say "Look I've got a cool riff, or do you want to hear this", or is it pretty well set before you go in?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Whatever work you need to do next ... you do it. You call them in and they do it. If they say they can't come in that day because of whatever but they can come in at the end of the week, or that they are absolutely itching to get in, then you just work it it like that. What I mean to say is that we've all been doing this a long time so it's not really a problem We just work it all out as you go along really. Some might say it's a bit disorganised but it's not really. @{b} JOHNNY B: Organised chaos!@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah. Exactly." @{b} JOHNNY B: Where did you come up with the name "Wicker Man" for the first single?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "I don't know if people reading have ever seen the film. It's a classic sort of British style of film. I like all British classics and British made films. It's got Christopher Lee in it and it's worth checking out, the scenes in that sum up the Wicker Man really. All that good pagan ritual stuff ... ho ho. Now I'm pigeon holing us!" @{b} JOHNNY B: It was strong imagery in the Wicker Man, very eerie!@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah definitely, we've always liked a bit of imagery, a bit of light and shade in our songs and a bit of atmosphere. It conjures up all sorts of things in your mind and imagery carries it even further so." @{b} JOHNNY B: What theme will you carry into the stage show?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "We're still deciding what we'll do with the stage show, we're talking about designs and stuff. To be honest at this point in time we haven't even got finished artwork so I wouldn't really want to comment completely on that. @{b} JOHNNY B: Will it be a big theatrical show again?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, a big show definitely. I hope it'll be one of the biggest. Again it's difficult to really talk about that too much without knowing what the artwork is. I mean we've seen some stuff but it's not finalised." @{b} JOHNNY B: Can we go through the idea and concept behind each track?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "It's pretty boring!" @{b} JOHNNY B: Well not really. It might be for you but not for the people reading this who don't know anything about the album yet.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "There's no concept really". @{b} JOHNNY B: OK concepts the wrong word but there must be an idea behind the lyrics?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "No. You see the thing is when people ask you what the lyrics are, we get asked this question all the time and it's one of the most boring and difficult questions and you can quote me on that if you want to. You just write at the time whatever you're feeling at the time. You draw your influences from anything at the time, it could be films, books, history or circumstantial events, whatever. Or whatever you come up with out of your imagination at the time and that's what it is. You know, people kind of read into them all sorts of things. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don't. I think that's good that they have a bit of imagination. They are thinking what they perceive about the lyrics. It is great because the lyrics are obviously strong enough that they make them think. The fact that they're doing that and they have their own impression is a good thing. For me to exactly spell out what I was thinking (or whoever wrote those particular lyrics) at the time is wrong as far as we are concerned." @{b} JOHNNY B: Is it pretty even the song writing, or was it just mainly you and Bruce?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Well you just have to look at the credits on the web and take it from that. Sometimes we just pair up or sometimes it was whoever was around at the time. Sometimes it was whoever was available for writing. Sometimes you think you might want to take a song in a certain direction with one person or another. Sometimes it's not even like that, it's whoever is up for doing stuff at that particular time you are working on that particular song. There's no big deal about it." To be continued in @{"PART 3" link "intense 3"} ... @endnode @node "intense 3" @{b} INTENSE PERCEPTIONS@{ub} ... Part 3 (18.04.2000) @{b} JOHNNY B: The Wicker Man is a great song, it's fast!@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, I think it's a really good single because we thought as soon as we wrote it that it could be a good single with a good catchy chorus, we've had a lot of really good catchy chorus's in the past as well but what do we really know about singles? We've released singles in the UK but they never really get played on the radio anywhere. Maybe we've been releasing the wrong songs as singles ... who knows! Even if we release the RIGHT kind of song, whatever THAT is, would it do anything anyway? I don't think so probably. I mean I don't think it really matters what we release as a single really. Sometimes I would just prefer to go the completely opposite way and release the bloody longest song on the album basically saying fuck you. I mean they wouldn't play it even if it was three, four, five minutes long so they're not going to play something that is eleven minutes long are they." @{b} JOHNNY B: It is refreshing though that you are happy recording the songs the length they are rather than edit things down to a more "Radio Friendly" size.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "We never time anything ... in fact I asked you to time the album for me yesterday and that was the first time I had any idea of the full length of the tracks. None of us really pay any attention to the length of the songs. We never have done really." @{b} JOHNNY B: That's excellent really don't you think?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, I suppose! It is normally only after the event that people say can we do an edit on this ... or that. I don't have a problem doing an edit for a single if the song isn't a story from beginning to end, where chopping bits out will destroy the idea. Years ago the Americans asked us to edit "Hallowed". We told them to forget it because that would have just ruined it completely. On the other hand we did an edit on "Angel and the Gambler" because that was written on the album as a long version because it was written as it was, as if it was a "Live" version. What I mean by that is it was written as how we would do it with a crowd ... bringing it down quiet and getting the audience involved and stuff like that. So we could edit that and it wouldn't do the song any injustice at all. What I am trying to get across is that there are certain songs you can do that with and certain songs you cannot. You couldn't edit "Sign Of The Cross" for example, it would be ridiculous." @{b} JOHNNY B: It's seems amazing then that some bands purposely change album songs so that they are shorter and more designed for singles.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah it's madness. That's because they think it's because they are gonna get played but they don't get played anyway. So they have probably spoilt a good album track by limiting themselves to a particular length of track and still they don't get played. I suppose that at the end of the day they think they are playing fair and that they are giving someone the chance, giving them the ammunition to go out there and do something. Otherwise, people turn around and say hey, we couldn't do anything with this track as you didn't give us the right length of song and all that crap. It makes you then think ... okay this song could withstand an edit and it doesn't really matter if it is edited or not. It might actually be nice to have a different version on the single to the album anyway but ... only with certain songs. That's fine if the song can take it. We did it with "Angel and the Gambler" and stuff like that and I don't have a problem with that." @{b} JOHNNY B: Do you think singles are still relevant to your album market?@{ub} (Steve pauses for quite a while and then answers,) STEVE HARRIS: "No, not really, I don't think they have ever been that relevant. I think their relevance is as a taster for the album, that's what they are and should be. A little teaser for the album that's all they have ever been for us. They have always done well in the UK as the fans go out and buy them and they get into the chart, well, hopefully anyway. They never stay there. We have never had a true hit single, in that sense, as they don't stay there long enough. However, we have never been that bothered about that kind of thing. We just release what song we thing will be the most viable one as a taster for the album. Whether that's of any use for anybody to go out and sell the thing as a single is another matter." @{b} JOHNNY B: Obviously I have only just heard the album for the first time a short while ago but already I remember some of the tracks being very "Thematic" as in film theme tracks. They're great songs.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Thanks, but we have always done stuff like that really. There are songs that we have done in the past that could have been used on film soundtracks I think. I am really influenced by big epic film theme type music. I love that type of music." @{b} JOHNNY B: I am specifically thinking of things like "Nomad" and "Blood Brothers" etc.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Certainly, Nomad is a fine example. It is a big "Lawrence of Arabia" type vibe. That is the sort of stuff I really like, the sort of stuff I get off on, film theme music. It is a big influence really. It always has been though, so it's not as if we have gone off in a different direction. That is the sort of thing people ALWAYS ask us when we start writing whether or not we are gonna go off in a different direction or not. We don't go off in any direction, we play what we feel. We don't try and be this or that or let trends dictate to us." People or bands who do that are just chasing their tails around half the time. You just cannot make an album worrying about what other people like. You have to like it yourself first. If they like what we have created all well and good. Thinking about it logically what else are you gonna do? Have a survey of fans and then write a song that sounds like so and so? Or decide to write a song that sounds like Number of the Beast 2 ... I don't think so! You can have the biggest survey in the world but it doesn't prove a thing. What's the point of having part two of anything anyway. A great song is a great song. A sequel won't make it any better". @{b} JOHNNY B: Can I ask about "Ghost of The Navigator" which just blew me away on first hearing.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "You can but Bruce wrote the lyrics to that one. You had better ask him. @{b} JOHNNY B: It is just a very intriguing title though "Ghost of the Navigator."@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah but when he was first warbling away with it in rehearsals we all obviously thought it must be about flying ... but it's not! It is in fact about ships and stuff. It fooled us as well!" @{b} JOHNNY B: I love the way the way the beginning builds up to a manic crescendo.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "See ... that's what's interesting. You obviously have picked up on that one after just one hearing. What I personally think is good about Maiden albums is that different people will all pick up on different songs from their first hearing. I think that is absolutely great. To me that shows that the album has good depth. How many albums in present times do you pick up and there are just a couple, maybe only one song that you will remember or want to hear again. Too many in my opinion. Invariably, most of the time people have different favourites of ours that they pick up on and tell us about. I think that is really good and very pleasing to the band, who have spent a lot of time and effort trying to make it as interesting as we can." @{b} JOHNNY B: You have "Fallen Angel" and "Mercenary". Which to me are typical brilliant fast Maiden songs. Then you have the thematic "Nomad" and "The Thin Line between Love and Hate". Yet you then have "Brave New World" and "Dream of Mirrors" which are so different again.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Obviously, that shows the depth I was talking about. It is difficult however to analyse it all. Obviously it is a new fresh album and whether they are different or not different who knows. Only time will tell. Everyone is gonna have a different opinion. Rod likes ones you don't and Laz might like ones neither of you do. You have come out and said certain things about what you are hearing and feeling about this album but when I talk to the next person they might have a completely different opinion. They might say ... that one sounds the same as this one ... or this one sounds like the one a few albums ago ... or this one way influenced by that song. It is totally amazing the different reactions I will get over the next few months. That just the way things are. I think you can worry too much about other peoples opinions. Obviously I want everyone to like it but it is just impossible. That's what makes us all human ... well some of us!" @{b} JOHNNY B: I think that shows what a good band and a good album it is. It is not just a couple of good songs and the rest is a pile of cack.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Exactly. I have always said it ... Songs are the Lifeblood of any band. That really is half the battle, well most of the battle really, having good songs is what will see you through. Songs and lyrics are sometimes about moods and how you are feeling at the time." @{b} JOHNNY B: You should have written a song after the Villa match.@{ub} (Steve laughs) STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah I should have but we wouldn't have been allowed to play it. The lyrics would be banned. I might pen it anyway and give a copy to Coxie. (Steve Cox, Iron Maiden's Tour manager)." @{b} JOHNNY B: How about Blood Brothers?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "It mentions about life after death, getting in touch with the "Other side". It touches on the Dark Side of your thoughts. It is also about feeling ashamed about what is happening in the world. It is about all these horrific things going on and people read about it in the paper but they just turn the page over ... and the horror is ... well muted. I am not saying it's forgotten because it might be on their minds but there's not really a lot they can do about it. It just kind of gets put to one side and we hope somebody somewhere takes control and guides those who can do something about it. The lyrics are about all sorts of things. There is a lot of elements to it". (Steve seems to be deeply affected by the thoughts running through his head on this subject. He seems slightly reticent to show that his lyrics are sometimes very deeply embedded in his own thoughts and they are of an extremely caring nature for the environment that his kids will grow up in. He pauses what seems a long while when he suddenly carries on.) STEVE HARRIS: "Basically it is saying that we are all made up of blood and tissue and there is good and bad in the world, some people are unlucky in life ... things like that all rolled up into one. You are right it is very thematic though. I have always wanted to include orchestral type sounds on our stuff and we have used that sort of sound on keyboards before. This time however it was slightly different as Kevin (Shirley) knew this guy in New York who does that kind of thing and layers it up. We sent him a tape. I put down on the tape the kind of things I wanted and I was amazed that he came back and did exactly what I wanted. That in itself was very unusual!" @{b} JOHNNY B: Who was this keyboard guy?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "It was a guy called Geoff Bova. He is a guy that just sits there in his room surrounded by all different keys and sounds and he then takes them and layers them up. The layered version sounds really like an orchestra. I was really pleased with that. I was actually so pleased with how it turned out because I was a bit tentative when I sent out the tape to him, as I wondered what on earth he was going to come up. I was just hoping he'd do what I wanted him to do. I was a little worried in case he went completely over the top but he actually came up with exactly what I wanted so I was well pleased. I had a vision of the direction I wanted to take the song in and the work he did fitted in great. I was very pleased." @{b} JOHNNY B: Did he do any work on the "Nomad"?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, He did a little bit on the middle section and again he did exactly what I wanted him to do. The rest of the "Nomad" ... believe it or not ... I actually played the keyboards. The main reason for that is because I know what I want and I know the timings I need. I could get Michael (Kenney) to do it but I think by the time he has sat there and learnt it and the timings ... I might as well do it myself and save time and get exactly what I want." @{b} JOHNNY B: How will you do that Live?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Michael Kenney will do it because I won't! I have done my bit! To be honest a lot of it's not that difficult. I am not any master keyboard player by any means of the imagination. It will be slightly harder for him because if I go and mess it up in the studio I just go and record it again. Michael has to go and learn it thoroughly but it shouldn't be that hard as I am not an accomplished keyboard player by any stretch of the imagination. Everyone MUST remember that it really is used as an effect for enhancing the song." @{b} JOHNNY B: I think it works great. I think the whole mix is great. It is very deep and full. I love the way everything shoots all around you and from speaker to speaker without sounding effect laden.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Good, that's where Kevin comes into his own. He is a superb mixing man without a doubt. That is just another reason why we wanted to use him. I learnt a few little tricks from him. His expertise is great and we knew we wanted someone really competent. With three lead guitar players we knew it was gonna be tricky to say the least." @{b} JOHNNY B: He did brilliant then because some of the guitar sections are superb.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah the solos are, they really are. However when you are trying to cram it all in with three guitars, rhythm guitars, drums and stuff, it is very hard. There is a hell of a lot going on. It really is not easy to do. We have always tried to have albums where there is a whole lot of stuff going on." @{b} JOHNNY B: Dream of Mirrors ... can you explain the thinking behind that track?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Well ... It is about the dark side of things. It's about people's thoughts and how they suffer from dreams and nightmares and all sorts. That was the main influence and source of materialI think dreams are so intriguing and you never really have an answer for them so therefore it is endless. I feel there are more songs than pictures about that sort of thing and I find it a fascinating subject." To be continued in @{"PART 4" link "intense 4"} ... @endnode @node "intense 4" @{b} INTENSE PERCEPTIONS@{ub} ... Part 4 (20.04.2000) @{b} JOHNNY B: It starts fast and then goes to a slow dreamlike sequence which you imagine in black and white because of the clever lyrics.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Nine times out ten we will already have a melody, a really strong melody and we will write the lyrics to the melody. That's how we do things usually. So then we are trying to fit a lyric to a melody that may have already created a mood. You then have to write something that will suit that, you can't really write something that won't suit that song. That is where lyrically I get my inspiration from, the vibe and the mood of the song." @{b} JOHNNY B: I thought it was a great song to follow "The Mercenary" which is a real fast blockbuster of a song.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "When we pan an album out we try and have light and shade in your album. We had "Blood Brothers" which is a quiet at the beginning and end. We thought that "Mercenary" will bring the tempo back up again. We then thought that "Dream of Mirrors" which has those quiet sequences near the beginning will slow the pace again. @{b} JOHNNY B: Is there a reasoning behind "The Mercenary".@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah but it really is about a bounty hunter. We named it "The Mercenary" purely because we didn't want to call it "The Bounty Hunter". @{b} JOHNNY B: What about the "Fallen Angel"?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Age old thing really. It is all about Good Versus Evil. To me the whole song is musically influenced by "Thin Lizzy". It has that celtic vibe to it at the beginning that is very "Lizzy". I think the song is very ... well not commercial ... but the chorus hook is very catchy. @{b} JOHNNY B: I loved the whole thing about "The Nomad", the long guitarfests, the epic feel of the whole track, the orchestral bit, the stirring lyrics I thought it is a highlight of the album.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Thanks ... lets hope everyone else thinks so. We called it "The Nomad" as it has that whole Arabian vibe to it. "The Nomad" summed up the whole feel and vibe of the song. The theme of the music was great and this is what I was talking about before, where the vibe of the music sends us in the right direction for the lyrics. It was definitely one of those sort of tracks. The vibe was very middle eastern and that is what inspired the lyrics. We were all thinking of the desert and stuff." @{b} JOHNNY B: Then we have the track "Silent Planet" which if you were looking for that "taster" you described earlier surely this is commercially friendly?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Well ... it definitely has a catchy chorus, well two choruses really. It has a chorus and a sub chorus really. It had a feel about it when we were recording like when we did "The Evil That Men Do". That had a strong bridge, which could have been a chorus and then you hit the real chorus which takes you even higher. Bruce wrote the lyrics for that one." @{b} JOHNNY B: Was it based on the film?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Don't think so. Again it sets off quiet and builds up to violent ending. We love doing that type of stuff." @{b} JOHNNY B: The Thin Line Between Love and Hate" ... that's got to be one of the longest Maiden titles in years hasn't it?@{ub} (again Steve laughs out loud) STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah ... "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" was pretty long. Again the song has lots of different moods in it. The bits in the middle and the end are real favourites of mine. They really have a great moody feel to them. There was a different direction for some of the writing. Some of it was new for us as we wanted to try a few new and different things." "Despite what some people say and again it really depends on who you are talking to, some people say we are not different enough. Other people say we are too different from our last albums ... we don't really analyse it but I think there is quite a lot of different stuff going on here. I don't really think that people should try and pigeon hole us. It's not just this album, over all the albums we have had new stuff going on all the time. We write from the heart and how we feel at the time. We are all changing all the time and experiencing different and new things so that obviously affects how we write and play. All those people who say we just play one type of thing have obviously never listened to one of our albums properly. I really think that Maiden albums are something that you have to listen to a few times to appreciate it. Our albums are not instant stuff. One or two of choruses maybe but there is a hell of a lot of instrumental stuff. We hope that there is a little bit more to our albums that make them thought provoking. They are not something that you can take in instantly ... well not the whole album anyway. It doesn't matter who the artist is sometimes you have to persevere a little bit and some people can't be bothered with that. The attention span of some people is ... well ... pretty minute to say the least!" @{b} JOHNNY B: I felt the album was a lot rockier this time ... or was that just me?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "It is your perception of it. This is probably gonna be the first released interview about this album and we are gonna get asked this question so many times so don't feel bad about asking it. However ... I'll give you the answer I probably will give all of them ... people perceive things in different ways. Some people are going to say it's a rockier album. Some are gonna say it's a more progressive album, some will even say it's more commercial. It will amaze us as always with what perceptions people will come up with. The answer to all of them is ... GREAT! Get out of it what you want but don't go pigeon holing us. Listen to it a few times and then see if your original perception is the same." @{b} JOHNNY B: Are there any songs that you finished off that didn't make the album?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "No, not at all. We don't work that way. We write and then work on whatever we need. We never write say twenty songs and then just use ten, we would never do that." @{b} JOHNNY B: I guess it is all steam ahead now. The albums finished so I guess it is off to mastering, shoot a video and off on tour.@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Sounds scary but yeah, that's basically our lives mapped out. We master the album and then after a few weeks of promotion, where we pair off and go off doing press all around the world, we rehearse. We have to go out and do the press stuff so that we give the album a good opportunity to do well. It allows all the record company and our guys to go out and promote the thing properly. People will not know it's there unless we put the ground work in promoting it. We can never take things for granted. We have a pretty hardcore following but you cannot just expect people to cough up, hard earned cash for something they have not heard about. The groundwork is important so you have to go out and do that sort of thing. Now we go and rehearse the tour and do the best show we can. What will be nice about this tour is that we are going out based on a new album. It was kind of hard for me on the last tour to go out and play a set where we didn't have any new songs. It was great on one hand for us all to get back together and for it to go so well but I found it particularly difficult myself. That's because I like to go out on tour with new stuff. I like to have the conviction in new material and give an impression like that. I am looking forward to this tour more. I really am ... purely for that reason. I love to see the crowds reactions to new songs. I think it is a great challenge to go out and play new stuff." @{b} JOHNNY B: But don't the fans love to see you come and play your greatest songs?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Yeah, of course. They want to hear old stuff as well but it is really nice to go and play new stuff. You can look at it from another way. If we DON'T go and play brand new stuff how will any of the new songs ever become great live songs. Everyone seems to have a different song they like to us playing live. Some like Run To The Hills, others love Fear Of The Dark. How would they know that these are great songs live if we had never had the faith in our convictions to play new stuff, on previous tours. I think it is challenging and sometimes I even think it's quite brave of us to play the amount of new stuff that we do. Whenever we go out on tour with a new album we always play at least 6 new songs. A lot of people don't do that. They are scared of reactions so they only play one new song. They are worried about people bitching about new material but I think it just shows a lack of confidence in their new product. I have always wondered at that myself ... I think it is a bit strange. If they think they have written a good new album ... go out and play it to the fans ... that's the only way you will find out if it really is any good." @{b} JOHNNY B: Are you going to play any places that you have never played before?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Oh yeah ... there are places already lined up and hopefully there will be more. We are playing Estonia, Ukraine and places like that. I always like playing new places it is a challenge. It is still a challenge to go back and play at places you have played before because you still have to go and prove yourself all over again. Hopefully, the fans will leave thinking you were even better than the last time they saw you. Having said that I really like to go to new places to see crowds reactions and obviously ... as a tourist. I finds it refreshing to go to new places." @{b} JOHNNY B: Will you get to more places than you did on the Ed Hunter tour?@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Oh yeah, Ed Hunter was a very short tour. It was really only a couple of dozen shows, which is nothing for us really. This will be quite a long tour. Not as long as some of the previous long tours purely because we are doing a festival tour. With the festivals you can play one show and reach the same amount of people as you would reach with five or six shows. This is different because it is a summer tour. If we do a winter tour then obviously we cannot play festivals so we do a longer tour to make up for it." @{b} JOHNNY B: Well I wish you all the best for the tour and the new album. I think the new album has a real depth to it. I absolutely love some of the new tracks and cannot wait to be jumping up and down with the crowds to "Navigator".@{ub} STEVE HARRIS: "Thanks. See you all there ...... somewhere!" @{b} THE END.@{ub} @endnode @node "Conquering the Brave New World" @{b} CONQUERING THE BRAVE NEW WORLD@{ub} (28 July 2000) Throughout June and July, Iron Maiden laid waste to Europe, playing to thousands of fans on their mighty Metal 2000 tour. The tour hasn't been a completely smooth ride - it's been dogged by bad weather and more seriously, three shows had to be cancelled after guitarist Janick Gers fell more than ten feet from the stage at the end of their show in Mannheim, Germany. However, on the whole, it's been a triumph, with the band showcasing their new revamped line-up of Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Steve Harris (bass), Nicko McBrain (drums) and Janick, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray (guitars) and songs from their latest album "Brave New World" to thousands of enthusiastic fans. Metal-is Editor @{b}Valerie Potter@{ub} sat down with Steve backstage at the final show on the European tour (as the rain poured down outside!) to chat about the shows and the forthcoming "Brave New World" tour of North America. @{b} How has the European tour been for you?@{ub} Fantastic. There have been great audiences everywhere; they know every word of every song. It's kind of what we expect from Europe anyway, it's always been Maiden's stronghold, but as we've had a No. 1 album in Greece, Sweden and places like that, Top 10 pretty much everywhere and a gold disc in Spain already, it's been amazing. @{b} You must be pleased with the reaction that 'Brave New World' has received all over the world, though.@{ub} Yeah, we're playing a lot of new material - we always do anyway with every new album - but the reactions have been great, so it's been very positive. @{b} I have seen a few reviews which complain that you're not playing enough old material on this tour...@{ub} Oh, you always get that! It's just ridiculous. If they wanted that, they should have come on the (1999) 'Ed Hunter' tour. Whatever. "Bugger off!" is the answer to that one! @{b} ...but I think they have been balanced by critics saying how much they've enjoyed hearing the new songs live.@{ub} We enjoy playing it, and that's the main thing, really. We've got to please ourselves first. The audience come close second obviously, but we've got to feel that we're going out there with a refreshing attitude and playing something that's a bit of a challenge. We know we could go out and play greatest hits sets and go down fantastically well, but what would that prove? Not a lot. @{b} And of course, as you say, you did that last year on the 'Ed Hunter' tour.@{ub} We did it only on a few shows, I know, but if we had a 'best of' album out, it might be different. It's a new album, and it's important to play the new stuff - this is where we are now. There's always cynical people about - especially journalists... "Miserable gits!" is what I say! @{b} The omission of "Run To The Hills" from this year's set has been most noticed, I think. At this stage in your career, it must be very difficult to figure out a setlist - you can't play all the old hits, after all.@{ub} 'Course you can't. It's just one of those things. You've got two hours - and in the States, we'll probably have slightly less, because you have to deal with all the union stuff which you don't have in Europe - so it's difficult... very difficult. @{b} How do you go about it? Do you decide what you want to play off the new album first and then fit everything else around it, or are there certain old songs you feel you have to play at every show?@{ub} Yeah, we sort out what we want to play from the new stuff and then we go through each album and play one or two songs off that. Everyone puts in their ideas as to what they fancy playing and we mess around with it for a while, get some semblance of a set together and start rehearsing it, see how it feels. And this set feels good. @{b} Are there any songs from the new album that are standing out as your favourites, now that you've been playing them a while?@{ub} I don't know really. I suppose, because we open up with three new songs, that's good, because I think a lot of bands wouldn't do that, so that's quite a challenge. There's not really any songs that I would say I musically prefer playing more than any others; I enjoy playing them all really. @{b} Is it true that a thundercloud has followed you all round Europe on this tour?!@{ub} In actual fact, someone said we were like The Addams Family, because there was thunder and lightning everywhere we went! Yeah, we did have a lot of that. There were a couple of nice days here and there, but it seemed to be any time we were playing out of doors, it was raining, apart from when we were playing in Spain and Portugal. Luckily enough, we are actually indoors tonight! We blame it on the tour manager - every time he turns up somewhere, it starts raining! @{b} And you told me earlier this year that the thunderstorm you played in when you headlined Holland's Dynamo Festival was the worst weather the band has ever played in?@{ub} We've been very, very lucky over the years, because we've played loads of outdoor shows and there's been quite a few of them where it's been crap weather, but it's stopped raining just before we went on and started again just as we were coming off. That's happened many times and quite often, you think to yourself, "There must be somebody upstairs that likes us!" But Dynamo definitely was the worst. It was pissing down throughout the whole show and I thought total respect for the fans, because they didn't leave, they were determined to have a good time no matter what, so it was fantastic. And it wasn't warm either, it was pretty cold, and getting pissed upon when you're freezing as well can't be much fun! We got wet as well, despite what some people (journalists) might have said, because the catwalks were absolutely soaking. It was very frustrating; we couldn't run around and do our normal show, because it was so slippery and wet on the stage. The rain was sweeping in and getting us wet as well, but obviously, we weren't getting as wet as they were out front. @{b} Speaking of mishaps on the tour, how is Janick now?@{ub} He's alright. Well, he's not 100 per cent alright, but he's getting better, day by day. He was pretty bad... I suppose it could have been worse, in a way... He had quite a few stitches in a cut on his left eyebrow and a cracked collarbone, he had concussion, unbelievable bruising - he looked like somebody had painted him! Luckily enough, he doesn't remember any of it. He only remembers waking up in the ambulance and hearing us do "Hallowed..." and thinking, 'I should be playing my solo on this!' That's what he said, yeah! The weird thing was, when they took him off on the stretcher, we thought maybe he wasn't too bad, because, although he was covered in claret everywhere - I could see the cut was above the eye and you always bleed badly from a cut there anyway - he was waving to us, but he doesn't remember any of that. I never saw it happen, 'cause I was right on the catwalk on the other side. I heard one of the guitars go off, but I thought the gear had packed up. Then Bruce said about stopping the show, and first and foremost in my head was that someone had been hurt in the audience, because all the paramedics were going over. And then of course, as I ran over the other side and looked over, it was dear old Jan. @{b} It must have been a terrible shock.@{ub} Yeah, it was a bit strange - it didn't look too good, because he was laying on his back, covered in blood, and he wasn't moving too much. That was during "Number Of The Beast" and we decided to carry on and do that song again and then do "Hallowed..." and then we didn't bother to do "Sanctuary". And it felt weird, I must admit, doing them. But with 14,000 people in the audience, we thought we couldn't just stop. I suppose, because it was old stuff we were playing in the encores, we could get by doing it with the two guitar players, but that's why we had to pull the other three shows - Essen, Sofia and Athens - because he plays a lot of key parts on the new material and there's no way we could have done it with two guitars. @{b} You just mentioned trouble in the audience. You played the Roskilde festival the night before the tragic deaths during Pearl Jam's set, and of course, you had a similar experience 12 years ago, when two fans died the day you headlined the Donington Monsters Of Rock festival, although the accident didn't actually occur during your set. Any thoughts on what Pearl Jam must be going through at this time?@{ub} I suppose it's difficult to know what it feels like, because it's never actually happened to us. It did happen at Donington, but it didn't happen during our set, as you say, and we didn't know about it either, no one told us about it until after the show, so, you know... It must be awful really, to think that this happened during their set, but... I don't know, we've played for 20 years, gigs all round the world, and we've never really had any problems. When something like this happens, you can't start pointing fingers and saying it's this or that. Roskilde's been running for so many years, with that many people very year, it's been a very traditional kind of festival. In fact, we played there once before and it was absolutely peeing down with rain that particular time as well - most of the weekend in fact - and it was very muddy, and there were no problems that time at all. I heard different conflicting reports as to what had happened and why, so I'm not really qualified to say what happened, 'cause I wasn't there obviously. All I can say is, the night we played, there were no problems and then it absolutely peed down all that night apparently and all day as well, and maybe that contributed to the problem, I don't know. @{b} Okay, we've talked about some of the low points on this tour. What about the high points?@{ub} As I said, it's been a fantastic tour. San Sebastian was great, Madrid was great, Paris was great... There were so many great shows, it's difficult to pick one and say that was the high point, really. In fact, one of the shows that I really enjoyed was in Banska (Slovakia), and that was just fantastic. That was because it kind of almost didn't happen. It was bad weather as well. When we got there, the crew were wondering whether we should do the show, because the stage was totally soaked and there were problems with the power... and we just said, "No, there are all these fans waiting outside - as long as you can sort the problems with the power out, we'll do the show." And I'm glad we did, because it was great. @{b} Do you feel warmed up and ready for the US tour now - which is quite a long one?@{ub} It's a couple of months, but we've already been out a couple of months anyway. Yes, it's long and there's not a lot of days off, so it's going to be a tough tour, but, you know.. that's nothing new, is it - specially with Rod (Smallwood, Maiden manager) in charge?! But I think it's going to be good. The bill is strong. I'm looking forward to seeing Halford, because I like the album and it will be interesting to see what reception he gets. Queensrÿche, obviously, we've done gigs with before and I like them anyway. @{b} I hear you're taking your family out and travelling by bus around the States?@{ub} I'm flying some shows with Bruce, but I'm taking the family out for about five weeks during the school holidays, so that will be good. When I told them I was going to use a tour bus or a motor home, they were totally excited about that, because they love being on the bus, they don't get off on flying around everywhere. It's a good vibe, isn't it, I suppose, an adventure? As it's a summer tour, we'll probably stay out of town on camp sites and stuff like that - it'll be fun. @{b} Will you be able to organise any football matches for the band team, as you have on this European tour?@{ub} I doubt it, because we're all doing different things, staying in different areas, Bruce is flying his plane, the rest of them are flying scheduled and I'm off doing my thing with the kids in the bus. We haven't really got a team either, and we can only really play on days off because of the crew working on show days. What I'm really hoping to do is find a couple of teams who have games, so I can star in their team - or not star, as the case may be! - but just get a game. So any offers of having the odd game here and there would be great, I'd be up for that. But I've got to say, it has to be proper 11-a-side, with the full strip, a referee and proper goals and nets and stuff! I ain't gonna turn up just to have a kickabout in a backyard somewhere - I'm not into that! @{b} You must be very pleased with the fact that your show at Madison Square Garden sold out so fast?@{ub} Two hours - I think it's pretty amazing. And I suppose it's a prestige gig. We've done it a couple of times before and I can't remember whether it sold out really quickly last time, it's been a long while since we did it, but it's a vibe to play there anyway, and to sell out so quickly is great. I dare say the fact that it's a strong bill must have helped, but having said that, not taking anything away from ourselves, I think it's great. @{b} Do you still enjoy touring now as much as you used to?@{ub} I enjoy the gigs as much as I've ever done, but the travelling becomes a bit tiresome, I've got to say. Being away from the family is the hardest part, but the fact that they will be out with me in the States makes it fine. It's not easy, touring. That's the thing, I think... if the band ever knocks it on the head, it's because of that, because we're fed up with being away from our homes and families. But once we've had a bit of time off and recharged the batteries, I think everyone will probably be itching to get out there again. But who knows? Maybe they won't. They might feel, 'I could get used to this, being at home!' We'll see. @{b} When I interviewed Bruce earlier this year, I was really surprised that, after all these years, he told me that he gets very nervous before shows when he's had a lay-off from the road for a while. Do you feel the same?@{ub} Well, of course, 'cause you're not confident, I suppose. You still get nervous anyway, to a certain degree, but you're bound to be nervous, if you've been off the road for a while doing an album. No matter how much you rehearse, it's not the same as getting out there and doing it, so yeah. But there's no harm in that, really, is there? @{b} What happens at the end of the North American tour?@{ub} We've got Mexico and then we go to South America - Brazil, Argentina, Chile - and then Japan. Then three shows in the UK, and that's about it. I don't think anything is going to happen after that - but knowing Rod, it's difficult to say! Certainly, I think, if anything else gets added in there, it will be finished by mid-November. @{b} Metal-is had an e-mail from a Maiden fan who wanted to know why Australia had been 'excluded' from the Brave New World tour (hi, Victoria!). What's the story there?@{ub} I think originally we were hoping to do some shows down there and then it got shortened down to a couple of shows and then nothing at all. I think that's mainly through the problem of physically freighting everything everywhere. I'm pretty sure we'll do it on the next tour - and I'd like to do New Zealand as well. But, I suppose, to be honest - not from our point of view, but from Rod's point of view - the albums haven't sold as well there as anywhere else either. You go where you're wanted, basically, and I know there's some fans that want us down there, but maybe Rod felt there wasn't enough, I don't know. @{b} What is the plan for 2001? Will you record another album?@{ub} No. Next year will be off, other than we're thinking about doing a live album and if we do that, it will need to be mixed, so I'll do that. But other than that, it will be off. I think we deserve it. This is the end of a three year cycle for four of us, which goes way back to before doing the 'Virtual XI' album. We had ten weeks at home after that nine month 'Virtual XI' tour and apart from that, we've been home the odd day here and there, so it's been almost three years. @{b} With the band riding the crest of a wave at the moment, this must be a good time to be a member of Iron Maiden?@{ub} Yeah, it's probably a good time to be in any band playing this kind of music at the moment, because there seems to be a buzz out there for it again. We're doing very well and it's gone from strength to strength. The last three albums, the last three tours, have been going up and up and up, and it's great. I think metal has been on the incline, definitely. @endnode @node "Metal-Is 1." @{b} AROUND THE WORLD IN 15 DAYS!@{ub} ... Part 1 (10.05.2000) Jules Verne's heroes did it in 80 days - but IRON MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson circumvented the globe in just a fortnight on a recent worldwide promotional trip. With "Brave New World", the much-anticipated new Iron Maiden album - the first to be recorded with the revamped line-up with frontman Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith rejoining bassist Steve Harris, guitarists Dave Murray and Janick Gers and drummer Nicko McBrain - scheduled for release on 29th May, it seems that every music publication in the world wants to get the scoop on the latest recordings. Hence Bruce's global excursion. Metal-is Editor VALERIE POTTER caught up with the weary singer in Paris, where he talked about the rigours of an arduous promo schedule and revealed that video shoots in Los Angeles are not always as glamorous as they sound! @{b} VALERIE POTTER: You've just flown completely round the world.@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: I will have done by tomorrow, yes. I started in L.A. on Saturday, arrived in Sydney on Monday morning, then arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday morning, then I was in Stockholm on Saturday night, Cologne on Monday, Milan on Wednesday, Brussels on Wednesday night, Paris on Thursday and I'm back to L.A. tomorrow. Then I go straight to Mexico City, then to New York for three days, then to Brazil for three days, then back to L.A. and I'm missing a day somewhere - I don't know what happened then! @{b} VALERIE POTTER: And you haven't really had time to see much of the countries you've visited.@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: When I flew from L.A. to Sydney, it took 14 hours. You get there at eight in the morning and you start interviews at 12 o'clock and then you work through 'til the next night, when you fly off to Tokyo at ten o'clock, get there at six in the morning and you start interviews at 11 o'clock the same day. So you're just cracking through this schedule and it's not actually been that bad, but, of course, when it gets to the evening, all of a sudden, you fall asleep in the sushi if you're in Japan or the meat pie if you're in Australia, and it's 'Sorry, I have to go to bed now!' @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Don't you find it disorienting that, although you're constantly travelling from country to country, many of the questions you're being asked every day must be the same?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: It's not been too bad so far - but it's very strange that the closer I get to England, the bitchier people get! When we were in Germany and Sweden and Italy, they were all 'Great to hear the album, it's really cool, and it's great that you're all back together!' Then as soon as we land in France, it's like 'Aha, I see that you and Steve are in separate rooms doing interviews - what does this mean?!' 'That way we can get twice as many interviews done.' 'But it really means that you hate each other, doesn't it?' 'No, it doesn't actually and I don't believe we do, unless this is news to me!' 'Yes, this is the company line, isn't it?' 'NO!' Jesus Christ! I've just spent a whole day of UK interviews here, saying the same thing. Everybody in the UK wants it to be Mick and Keith, or Daltrey and Townshend, or something! I might have to start lying in future and tell them that only the other morning, we were duelling with baseball bats at breakfast, or some crap like that! @{b} VALERIE POTTER: What is the best question you've been asked in this round of promotion?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: There's actually been a singular lack of 'best questions'. In Australia, I had to do an interview with Australian "FHM" to see if I passed the 'Bloke Test', so there were 20 questions on whether or not I was a true 'bloke' - and bear in mind, you had to be a true Aussie bloke, so you really had to be pretty gross to pass this test! One of the questions was, 'Had I ever fallen asleep while shagging?' Another was, 'What would I do if my lawnmower broke down?' And 'Had I ever fallen off a motorbike?' I said no, but I'd fallen off a moped - would that do? I think I was a bloke, 'cause I'd done all of the worst things that they could imagine - and more! - but the lawnmower one got me a bit flustered! @{b} VALERIE POTTER: And what was the worst question?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: 'What is the most outrageous thing that anyone has ever said about you?' 'Cause I couldn't think of a single outrageous thing that anybody had said about me that wasn't true, and therefore it wasn't outrageous to me. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Are you sick of doing promotion and ready to get back to playing music again?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: I've got a little bit of 'grin and bear it' and actually, I've still got a few more 'Avengers' episodes to watch on DVD. I do find that the long plane flights are pretty good, because I can get two or three episodes done before I get to the destination and I can crack a couple of beers. If you're doing promotion whilst pissed, eventually the mouth stops moving, so you stay extremely straight! But it's not too bad. I'm going to be really glad when we start rehearsing and get stuck into it properly, 'cause I must confess, at the moment, I am a tad apprehensive about the first gig - and the second gig, and the third gig! Because we won't have done a gig this year and the first one we're going to do is in front of 30,000 people, so I am mildly crapping myself - but not yet I don't think there's any purpose in letting it get to you just yet - there are, after all, two months to go! @{b} VALERIE POTTER: After all these years, you still get nervous before shows?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: I definitely do when I haven't done any for a while. It's the fear of screwing up and the fear of losing your voice and all of those other type things. And then after a while, it turns into a positive thing, an excitement where you're really looking forward to doing the show, because you know you have the confidence to deliver, so the adrenaline of 'Oh God, please don't let me screw up!' turns into the adrenaline of 'This is going to be great, let's go and do it!' @{b} VALERIE POTTER: But the Maiden shows last year went so well, you must have taken confidence from that.@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Oh yeah, but it doesn't last very long. It only lasts 'til the next gig! It's very bizarre, but it's true. With me, that aspect of it goes after three or four shows, so if I have a break of a week, I'm like, 'Oh help, here we go again!' for the first couple of gigs and it's a relief to get the first one over with. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: When you were last in L.A., you shot a video for the first single from the album, "The Wicker Man".@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Yes, under massively adverse circumstances! Three Celsius, torrential rain and me and Janick were up for 25 hours straight! Steve got food poisoning and did his performances between visits to the toilet - for which a French magazine gave him a terribly bad write-up. They said he was an awfully bad sport and didn't look cheerful! Get a fucking life! The guy had the drizzling shits, it was freezing cold and pissing down with rain! At least we had nice, warm winnebagos. The audience were stuck with space heaters and a tent - and that nearly blew down in the middle of the howling rain! Not to mention the semi-naked nymphs, who didn't have anything except a couple of torches to keep them warm. In fact, one of them was a real pyromaniac and had actually set fire to herself on a previous occasion. We were all standing around, shivering, and she kept saying, 'I'm not cold at all - I'm generating my own inner fire! You should get in touch with it, you know!' We all went, 'Ah, yeah, okay - we'll take the winnebagos!' @{b} VALERIE POTTER: And while you were on the set, you were also hanging out with Twiggy from Marilyn Manson and Dave Navarro?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Oh yeah, they showed up in the back of the truck and had their pictures taken. I'm not sure anybody knew who they were Merck came in and said, 'Here's Twiggy and Dave Navarro!' and a lot of the guys in the band went, 'Ah, great - who are they?' @{b} VALERIE POTTER: There has been much debate about the forthcoming album on the Internet, and a lot of misinformation has been posted there too. Do you see the Internet as a blessing or a curse?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Honestly - if I had to pick whether I prefer my life pre- or post-Internet, I prefer pre-Internet, because it was a lot easier to keep secrets and to keep things more dramatic, if you like. Basically, the Internet is almost like having someone eavesdrop your every thought and from that point of view, it's a pain. Yes, it's nice to be able to converse with fans directly - but you can't possibly converse with 2 million people directly and if people get into the habit of imagining that they can, it becomes a tyranny, because they then get pissed off that you never talk to them. So I think the best thing to be is a sort of Internet recluse. I'm an Internet recluse, 'cause I can't even get my computer to get on the Internet except in America, so I am by definition a person who never reads his e-mails. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: So that wasn't really you, causing consternation and confusion, by purportedly posting messages on Iron Maiden's official website last night then?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: No, I've never been on the Iron Maiden site, except for a couple of times in the last year. How exciting! Phantom Internet imposters! The flipside of this is I did an official thing with a radio station in Berlin about a year ago and it was set up that I would be online and broadcasting at the same time. So there I am online and nobody would believe it was me! They were asking me questions like, 'It's not really you, is it?' and I was like, 'It IS me! I'm supposed to be here!' so then they'd say, 'If it is you, then answer THIS!' and they'd ask me a question about one of my albums. I didn't fucking know the answer! I was like, 'I can't remember!' 'If you WERE Bruce, you'd know!' @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Do you find it a big difference, after your years as a solo artist when you were having to sell yourself, to now, when there is so much interest in Iron Maiden, you're practically having to beat the journalists off with a stick?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Actually, it's not that big a change, because when I was a solo artist, they still managed to find 57 people to do interviews with me in three days. So I was sat in a small, airless room in Cologne for three days, doing 17 interviews a day, and now I do maybe six or seven or eight interviews a day, so from that point of view, the workload has halved, which is a good thing! Obviously, the impact of the interviews is much greater, because you're talking to a bunch of big magazines or an interview for national TV, so you've got to be more of a switched on cookie when people start asking you sometimes interesting or probing questions, which could open up a can of worms if you don't give a response with your brain switched on. But I don't mind that. I'd rather have to use my head for six hours and talk than go onto autopilot for ten hours and just blather out the same thing over and over and over again, when you could half the time stick all the journalists in one room, give them all one tape recorder and say, 'Now, listen carefully…', because sometimes you can virtually predict a lot of the questions. But with some of the interviews I've been doing recently, it's been quite entertaining, and there have occasionally been quite thought-provoking questions - but there's been so many of them, I can't necessarily remember any of the fucking questions! @{b} VALERIE POTTER: On the verge of releasing a new album, how does it feel to be part of a team again, as opposed to carrying it all on your shoulders as a solo artist?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: It's actually very good. When we were recording the record, that's when it really hits home that you can look over your shoulder and there's somebody there on the wing and there's a full-back over there and Nicko's in goal sort of deal. You really get that sensation that it's a team effort in the studio, particularly because we recorded the album live. Then you get it again when we're all together and listening to what we've done collectively, and we all get real good vibes off it. And then we take off to the four winds, doing our promo. Steve and Janick are in Europe, Dave and Adrian are in South America and then we're all meeting up in Mexico City to go through the setlist and doing some jamming on what tunes to pick for the next tour. So the next time that the A Team gets together is actually on Tuesday and I'm kinda looking forward to that, because I must say that, after whizzing round doing all these interviews on my own, it's going to be a relief to get back together under one roof, shut the door and start playing music together again. That's when you really get the feeling that it's a team. Look out for the @{"second part" link "Metal-Is 2."} of this interview, in which Bruce Dickinson talks about the new album, on METAL-IS in May! @endnode @node "Metal-Is 2." @{b}AROUND THE WORLD IN 15 DAYS!@{ub} ... Part 2 (03.06.2000) @{b}THE TIME HAS COME!@{ub} Last month, Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson had a chat with metal-is from the middle of his hectic promotional trip round the world. This month, in the second part of that interview, he tells us about some of the songs on the band's new album, 'Brave New World'. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Who came up with the title 'Brave New World'?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: I suggested 'Brave New World' for the title within a couple of months of rejoining the band and everybody pretty much thought it was a decent idea, so I set about re-reading Aldous Huxley and writing the words for the song. Then after recording 'Wicker Man' or thereabouts, in a sudden fit of enthusiasm, we all decided that 'Wicker Man' would be a great idea for an album title, because of the fantastic imagery to do with the movie. So we stayed with that until we got the artwork back just after Christmas and that just didn't cut it, so then it went back to 'Brave New World' and by this time, there was a massive panic, because everything had to be changed around! @{b} VALERIE POTTER: As you say, some of the song titles on the new record, such as 'Brave New World' and 'Out Of The Silent Planet' seem to relate to book titles.@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Yes, although with 'Out Of The Silent Planet', what I did in my tiny infantile brain was that I based the song on a chunk of the movie 'The Forbidden Planet', whose sub-title is 'Monsters From The Id'. So it's a pretty straight sci-fi romp. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: And was 'The Wicker Man' inspired by the film of the same name?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: I came up with it and the song is really actually nothing to do with the film, but it does have the line in it, "The shadow of the Wicker Man is rising up again". I was going to call it 'Your Time Will Come', but Steve said, 'The Wicker Man's cool' and I said, "Yeah, it is kinda cool oh stuff it, yeah, 'The Wicker Man'. Bang! There's a video!" @{b} VALERIE POTTER: So 'The Wicker Man' is only to do with the song by association.@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: What the song is about is destiny and that it's your turn today to have your day in the sun. It's your turn to change the world, the day when you wake up and think, 'God, I could do anything today!' It's like the first day of spring - and that's the 'Wicker Man' association, because in the movie, the Wicker Man is the sacrifice that creates this island of eternal spring on which Britt Ekland leaps about covered in blue dye! I tried in the song to get the idea of what it was I felt when I was standing in front of 50,000 people on a really, really great day, like a Bercy (an arena in Paris) with Maiden, when you're singing something and everybody gets it and they're singing along with you - exactly what it feels like at that moment - and I tried to encapsulate that in different little ways in the lyrics, as if to say, "You can do that too in your own life, your time will come" sort of vibe. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Does 'Ghost Of The Navigator' have anything to do with the film called 'Flight Of The Navigator'?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: 'Ghost Of The Navigator' is a sort of a metaphor for life. I won't go into all the various bits of free association by which I arrived at the lyrics, but it's basically a navigator smashing his way through the seas on a journey which is uncertain even why he's making it. He might not make it, it's like he's destined to do this journey because of his past, why he doesn't know, where it is even he doesn't know, he just has to go there, and he's determined that he's not going to get distracted by the ghosts of all the other navigators who failed before him. He ploughs on through day and night and all the hallucinations of lack of sleep, his compass is swinging crazily, and he's still going on. And that's what the song is all about, it's kind of a metaphor for life. It's like, why do people carry on? It's because they want to feel things. And that's what the message of the song is. The line of the song is "Nothing's real until you feel" and that's what the navigator is searching for the whole time. He's just gonna carry on 'til death, until he feels it. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Another song which sounds like it has an interesting story behind it is 'Dream Of Mirrors'. That's one of Steve Harris', isn't it?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: He has a lot of dreams. He's always been a bit of an insomniac. Steve's obviously fairly introverted and has a lot of stuff to do with déjà vu and out of body experiences and this kind of stuff, and 'Dream Of Mirrors' has a lot of themes that he's dealt with in other songs, but this one is just really, really well-executed and the chorus is drop-dead one of the best things he's written in years. The lyric is just fantastic, it's really, really memorable and it's a great tune. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: You're describing these songs in terms of stories. Do you need to find a story line in order to write a song?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: If I don't have a story, I need to create one, a little myth just for myself to write it. I find it more difficult to relate to songs that don't have stories associated with them or don't have a story that I can manufacture in my head. If I can put a movie together in my head when I'm singing a song, then I find life much easier. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Does that mean that when you perform them live, you're acting them out?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Yes @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Getting into character?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: It's not quite like that. It's almost like channelling the song. It's not acting, the song is just playing through you and you're seeing it in your head as you tell it, you're telling a story basically. But that's how I view it, yeah. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Your voice is sounding fantastic on the new record.@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Yeah, a few people have said that and I'm dead chuffed! And I'm also pleasantly surprised, because the whole thing was live, so I sang each song five or six times when we actually put the tracks down in the first couple of weeks and that was it, it was done, so I was blown away. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: The triple axe attack of Dave Murray, Janick Gers and Adrian Smith is sounding good too.@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: We call them 'The Three Amigos' and The Three Amigos did a terrific job! Basically, I don't think you could really assemble an ego between the three of them in terms of an adverse ego, they were all incredibly collaborative and we never really noticed that there was an issue about people having a different guitar parts or arguing about solos, because they would just go off into a huddle in the corner and 15 minutes later, they'd reappear and go, "We've fixed it all up - he's doing this, he's doing this and I'm doing this", and off they'd go and do it. There was a lot of very smart guitar thinking. Between Dave and Adrian and Janick, there's three very, very clever guitarheads. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: Was 'Brave New World' an easy album to record?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: It was the easiest Iron Maiden album I've ever recorded. It was probably one of the easiest albums I've ever recorded full stop, because it was all done live, so all we had to do was go in and just do it. In fact, the worst part about it was sitting on our asses, waiting for all the performances that we'd done to be run through the microscope and assessed and graded and put in their proper positions in the order of life on the record, because that's quite time-consuming. We can rattle off performances one every five minutes and in a day, the band has done enough work to keep the producer busy for a week and I suppose that that was the bit that me and Janick found frustrating, because we wanted to be in there, getting on with it. After five weeks, when I went back in to say, "Okay, what do I have to do on my lead vocals?" and I was all geared up for a week of pain and suffering and headaches, Kevin (Shirley, producer) just said, "No, you're done." And I was. I think I had to sing two words and maybe four lines of a chunk that I hadn't sung originally, and that was it. It was strangely anti-climactic after all the work we put in on the pre-production. We rehearsed the songs like we were going to go and do a gig with them and then basically we went into the studio and did a gig, but in the studio. Kevin has a unique way of putting together the sound in the recording process. Effectively, he has a monitoring set-up that he brings with him which enables each member of the band to have their own eight channel mixer, so they control completely their own environment and you get exactly what you need to give a great live performance. For me, it was just a dream. I could really sing and let rip and of course, my voice had just come from doing all the rehearsals in Antwerp, so it was in really shape, it was fit and really strong. It was great. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: So Kevin had a major role in making this album easy to record?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Yes, he did. We couldn't have made this record without him - no question. @{b} VALERIE POTTER: You now have an incredibly long tour in front of you, stretching out until the end of the year. Are you looking forward to that?@{ub} BRUCE DICKINSON: Yeah. It's two months around Europe and then we have a few days before we do America. Then it's these big dates in America and then we've got a few days before we go down to Australia and New Zealand, and I'm doing backflips over the idea of playing down there in Oz, 'cause it's such a fantastic place, and we have a week's break at the end of that, so we can just chill out and investigate Gods Own Country. Then it's into Japan for two weeks, which is always a blast, and then it's back to South America. As I go through it in my head and I look at all the places we're going and I think of what we're going to do, it's really bloody exciting, you know? So I can't honestly say that I'm not looking forward to any part of it. @endnode @node "ZUBi" @{b} My own IRON MAIDEN collection of:@{ub} @{b} CD's:@{ub} 1980 Iron Maiden 1981 Killers 1982 The Number Of The Beast 1983 Piece Of Mind 1984 Powerslave 1985 Live After Death 1986 Somewhere In Time 1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 1990 No Prayer For The Dying 1992 Fear Of The Dark 1993 A Real Live One 1993 A Real Dead One 1993 Live At Donington 1992 (August 22nd 1992) (DB CD) 1995 The X Factor 1996 Best Of The Beast (DB CD) 1998 Virtual XI. 1998 Live After Death (DB CD + CD-ROM) 2000 The Wicker Man (song; CD-R) @{b} VINYLs:@{ub} 1980 Iron Maiden 1981 Killers 1982 The Number Of The Beast 1983 Piece Of Mind 1984 Powerslave 1985 Live After Death (DB VINYL) 1986 Somewhere In Time 1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son @{b} CD(-R) SINGLEs:@{ub} CD one (studio singles): 1. Burning Ambition (2.41) 2. Sanctuary (3.15) 3. Woman in Uniform (3.11) 4. Invasion (2.39) 5. Twilight Zone (2.36) 6. Total Eclipse (4.29) 7. I've Got the Fire (2.40) 8. Cross-Eyed Mary (3.55) 9. Rainbow's Gold (4.57) 10. King of Twilight (4.54) 11. Reach Out (3.31) 12. Sheriff of Huddersfield (3.35) 13. That Girl (5.04) 14. Juanita (3.47) 15. Black Bart Blues (6.41) 16. Massacre (2.53) 17. Prowler '88 (4.07) 18. Charlotte the Harlot '88 (4.12) CD two (live singles): 1. The Clairvoyant (4.27) 2. The Prisoner (6.08) 3. Heaven Can Wait (7.10) @{i}- INFINITE DREAMS, MONSTERS OF ROCK, Donington Park, 20.08.1988@{ui} 4. Infinite Dreams (6.03) 5. Killers (5.02) 6. Still Life (4.38) @{i}- INFINITE DREAMS, MONSTERS OF ROCK, Birmingham NEC, 27/28.11.1988@{ui} 7. Drifter (6.04) 8. I've Got the Fire (3.14) @{i}- Marquee Club, 03.04.1980@{ui} 9. Phantom of the Opera (7.12) @{i}- Marquee Club, 04.07.1980@{ui} 10. Remember Tomorrow (5.28) @{i}- live in Italy@{ui} 11. The Number of the Beast (4.59) @{i}- live version@{ui} @{b} CD(-R) LIVE BOOTLEGs:@{ub} @{i} IRON MAIDEN: Live in Reggio Emilia (Italy), March 31st, 1981 (74:58 min.)@{ui}. Thanks to @{" Fabio Sanna " link "Helps"}. 1. Wratchild (3.06) 2. Purgatory (3.35) 3. Sanctuary (4.10) 4. Remember Tomorrow (5.41) 5. Another Life (6.27) 6. Gengis Khan (2.57) 7. Killers (5.05) 8. Innocent Exile (3.56) 9. Murders in the Rue Morgue (4.11) 10. Twilight Zone (2.56) 11. Phantom of the Opera (6.58) 12. Iron Maiden (3.36) 13. Running Free (3.46) 14. Transylvania (3.29) 15. Solo Dave Murray (2.22) 16. Prowler (4.25) 17. Drifter (8.16) @{b} SINGLEs on tape(s):@{ub} I got this C-90 minute cassette with this tracks: side a side b 1. Drifter 1. Reach out < ? > 2. I've got the fire 2. The Sheriff of Huddersfield 3. Sanctuary 3. That girl 4. Women in uniform 4. Juanita < ? > 5. Invasion 5. Black Bart Blues 6. Phantom of the opera 6. Massacre 7. Twilight zone 7. Wrathchild 8. Cross-Eyed Mary 8. Killers 9. King of twilight 9. Innocent exile 10. Rainbows gold 10. Running free 11. I've got the fire 11. Remember tomorrow IRON MAIDEN: "Live in Marquee" (april/july '80) < a1-a2 / a3-a6 > "singles" < a7-a11 + b1-b6 > "Maiden Japan" mini LP - Live in Japan < b7-b11 > - Today (30.05.2000) I taped track from friend cassette: "Roll Over Vic Vella" (From Here To Eternity single). @{b} TAPEs (live bootlegs):@{ub} 1982 Live at the Palladium, New York City, USA, April 24, 1982 1986 Live in Palatrussardi, Milano, ITALY, December 12, 1986 @{b} VIDEOs:@{ub} 1985 Behind The Iron Curtain (30 min.) 1985 Live After Death (World Slavery Tour) (90 min.) 1987 12 Wasted Years (90 min.) 1989 Maiden England (90 min.) 1990 The First Ten Years - The Videos (75 min.) 1993 Donington Live 1992 (100 min.) 1994 Raising Hell (114 min.) @{b} VIDEO bootlegs:@{ub} 1999 Live in Milan, Filaforum (Italy), 23.09.1999 (bootleg). @{b} BOOKs:@{ub} 1999 MICK WALL: Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills (the official biography; 351 pages) @{b} T-SHIRTs:@{ub} ---- Eddie's head (Powerslave era) (gift) 1990 No Prayer On The Road 1990/91 (Munchen, Germany) 1992 Monsters of Rock '92 (Reggio Emillia, Italy) 1998 Best Of The Beast (album cover) with VIRTUAL XI. logo (Virtual XI. World Tour) (Trieste, Italy) 1999 Iron Maiden Ed Hunter tour 99, special guests Megadeth, 23 september, Milano, Italy (Milan, Italy) 1999 The Trooper, Europe 1999 (Milan, Italy) @{b} CONCERT BOOKLETs:@{ub} 1990 No Prayer On The Road 1990/91 (Munchen, Germany) 1992 Fear Of The Dark 1992 (Reggio Emmilia, Italy) 1995 The X Factor Tour 1995 (Trieste, Italy) 1999 The Ed Hunter Tour (with big poster inside) @{b} POSTERs (big ones):@{ub} 1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (album cover) 1990 No Prayer On The Road 1995 The X Factor (big concert poster) 1998 Virtual XI. World Tour (big concert poster) 1998 Virtual XI. (album cover) 1999 Ed Hunter (picture from the Ed Hunter game) p.s. & I got also plenty of small ones (all around 'my' walls & doors, hehehe)... @{b} FLAGs:@{ub} 1985 Live After Death (2x; small & big one) @{b} POSTCARDs:@{ub} 1982 Run To The Hills 1983 The Trooper 1986 Somewhere In Time 1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son @{b} BROOCHs:@{ub} 1980 Iron Maiden 1981 Killers 1983 The Trooper 1984 Powerslave ---- Eddie's head (Powerslave era) @{b} ICE/COCOA CUP:@{ub} 1995 The X Factor Tour 95-96 (Trieste, Italy) @endnode @node "tour" @{b} TOUR 2000:@{ub} @{"EUROPE tour dates" link "tour EUROPE"} @{"USA tour dates" link "tour USA"} @{"JAPAN tour dates" link "tour JAPAN"} @endnode @node "Tour EUROPE" @{b} METAL 2000 - IRON MAIDEN tour:@{ub} The full European Tour dates are as follows: Please note all venues are indoors apart from those marked # @{b} JUNE 2000@{ub} --------- Fri 02 - France - Strasbourg, Artefact Festival # Sat 03 - Holland - Nijmegan Goffert Park, Dynamo Open Air # Mon 05 - Czech Republic - Prague, Paegas Arena Tue 06 - Slovakia - Banska Bystrica, Amphitheatre # Wed 07 - Hungary - Budapest, Petofi Csarnok Open Air # Fri 09 - Slovenia - Izola, Izola Stadium # @{"concert setlist" link "Izola setlist"} Sat 10 - Italy - Monza, Metal 2000 # Sun 11 - Ukraine - Kiev, RocKiev Festival # Tue 13 - France - St Etienne, Palais des Spectacles Wed 14 - France - Paris, Palais Omnisport de Bercy Fri 16 - UK - London, Earls Court Tue 20 - Poland - Katowice, Spodek Wed 21 - Poland - Warsaw, Torwar Fri 23 - Germany - Leipzig, Full Force Festival # Sat 24 - Belgium - Graspop, Metal 2000 # Mon 26 - Norway - Oslo, Spektrum Tue 27 - Sweden - Stockholm, Stadium # Thu 29 - Denmark - Roskilde Festival # Fri 30 - Finland - Turku Ruisrock Festival # @{b} JULY 2000@{ub} --------- Sun 02 - Estonia - Tallinn, Song Festival Grounds # Wed 05 - Germany - Munich, Zenith Fri 07 - Switzerland - Rock Circus Festival # Sat 08 - Germany - Mannheim, Maimarktgelande Metal 2000 # Sun 09 - Germany - Essen, Georg Melches Stadion Metal 2000 # (CANCELLED !) Wed 12 - Bulgaria - Sofia, Akademik Stadium (CANCELLED !) Fri 14 - Greece - Athens, Rockwave Festival # (CANCELLED !) Sun 16 - Portugal - Festival Vilar de Mouros 2000 # Tue 18 - Spain - San Sebastian, Velodrome Wed 19 - Spain - Madrid, Bullring # Fri 21 - Spain - Mijas, Open Air # Sat 22 - Spain - Murcia, Open Air # Sun 23 - Spain - Barcelona, St. Jordi more European dates: @{b} NOVEMBER @{ub} -------- Thu 02 - UK, Glasgow, SEC Fri 03 - UK, Manchester, Evening News Arena Sat 04 - UK, Birminghman, NEC @endnode @node "Tour USA" @{b} FIRST CANADIAN / AMERICAN TOUR DATES:@{ub} (29.06.2000) More dates and further ticket info to come as they are confirmed... 1st Aug - Toronto, ONT - Air Canada Centre Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket centers. To charge by phone call 416/870-8000. Order on-line at www.ticketmaster.ca 2nd Aug - Montreal, QUE - Molson Centre Tickets are available at the Molson Centre Box Office and all admission outlets. To charge by phone call 514/790-1245. Outside Montreal call 800/361-4595. Order on-line at www.admission.com 3rd Aug - Quebec City, QUE - Colisee Arena Tickets are available at the Colisee Box Office and all Billetech outlets. To charge by phone call 418/691-7211 or 800/900-SHOW. Order on-line at www.billetech.com 5th Aug - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden Already SOLD OUT! 6th Aug - Boston, MA - Tweeter Center On-Sale now at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Tweeter Center Box Office on a limited window basis. For more information call the Tweeter Center Events line at 508/339-2333. Charge by phone at 617/931-2000 or 617/228-6000. Order on line at www.sfx.com 8th Aug - Hartford, CT - Meadows Music Center On-Sale now at all tickets.com outlets and the Meadows box office. To charge by phone call 860/422-0000. Order on-line at www.sfx.com 9th Aug - Portland, ME - Cumberland County Civic Center Tickets go on sale July 8 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Cumberland County Civic Center box office. Charge by phone at 207/775-3331. Buy tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com 11th Aug - Pittsburgh, PA - Starlake Amphitheatre Tickets go on sale July 7 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers including select NRM Music Stores and all Kaufmann's and at the Post-Gazette Pavilon box office. Charge by phone at 412/323-1919. Buy tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com 12th Aug - Philadelphia, PA - E-Center Tickets go on-sale July 15 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the E-Centre box office. Charge by phone at 215/336-2000 or 856/338-9000. Order tickets on-line through www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com Good links: www.ecentre.com 13th Aug - Scranton, PA - Coors Light Amphitheatre Tickets available at: Ticketmaster Outlets, Boscov's (Steamtown Mall, Laurel Mall), Gallery of Sound (Fashion Mall, Dallas Shopping Center, Wyoming Valley Mall, Mt. Pocono Plaza). Charge By Phone at (570) 693-4100 & (215) 336-2000 Online at http://www.ticketmaster.com 15th Aug - Detroit, MI - Pine Knob Amphitheatre Tickets go on sale July 8 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Palace and Pine Knob box offices. Charge by phone 248/645-6666. Buy tickets on-line at www.palacenet.com or www.ticketmaster.com 16th Aug - Buffalo, NY - Darien Lake Amphitheatre Tickets available at: Ticketmaster Outlets. Charge by Phone at (716) 232-1900 (Rochester), (716) 852-5000 (Buffalo), and (416) 870-8000 (Canada) Online at http://www.ticketmaster.com 17th Aug - New Jersey, PNC Arts Center Tickets go on-sale July 15 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the PNC box office. Charge by phone at 201/507-8900 and 212/307-7171. Order tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com Good links: www.artscenter.com 19th Aug - St. Louis, MO - Riverport Amphitheatre Tickets go on-sale July 15 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Riverport Amphitheatre box office. Charge by phone at 314/241-1888 or 618/222-2900. Order ticekts on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com Good links: www.riverport.com and www.contemporarygroup.com 20th Aug - Kansas City, KS - Sandstone Amphitheatre Tickets go on sale July 8 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Sandstone box office. Charge by phone at 816/561-2929 or 816/931-3330. Buy tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com 23rd Aug - Cleveland, OH - Blossom Music Center Tickets are available at all TM ticket center and the Blossom Box office every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1pm-5pm. Charge by phone at 216/241-5555 or 330/945-9400. Order tickets on-line through www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com Good Links - www.blossommusic.com 25th Aug - Chicago, IL - UIC Pavilion Tickets go on-sale July 15 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the UIC Pavilion box office. Charge by phone at 312/559-1212. Order tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com 26th Aug - Milwaukee, WI - Marcus Amphitheatre Tickets go on-sale July 14 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Marcus Amphitheatre box office. Charge by phone at 414/276-4545. Order tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com Good links: www.cellardoor.com 27th Aug - Minneapolis, MN - Roy Wilkins Auditorium Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Rivercentre box office. Charge by phone at 651/989-5151. Order tickets on-line through www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com 29th Aug - Colorado Springs, CO - World Arena Tickets go on-sale July 15 at all Colorado Neighborhood Box Office locations and the World Arena box office. Charge by phone at 719/576-2626. Order tickets on-line at www.cnbo.com or www.sfx.com 30th Aug - Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre Tickets go on-sale July 15 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers. Tickets are only available at the Red Rocks box office the day of the show. Charge by phone 303/830-TIXS. Order tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com 01 Sep - Dallas, TX - Starplex Amphitheatre Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Starplex box office on the day of the show only. Charge by phone at 214/373-8000. Order tickets on-line through www.ticketmaster.com Good Links - www.hob.com 02 Sep - Houston, TX - Woodlands Pavilion Tickets go on-sale August 5 03rd Sep - San Antonio, TX - Sunken Garden Amphitheatre Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and through ticketmaster.com Charge by phone at 210/224-9600 (San Antonio), 512/494-1800 (Austin) or 361/881-8499 (Corpus Christi). 04th Sep - San Antonio, TX - Sunken Garden Amphitheatre Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and through ticketmaster.com Charge by phone at 210/224-9600 (San Antonio), 512/494-1800 (Austin) or 361/881-8499 (Corpus Christi). 06th Sep - El Paso, TX - University of Texas at El Paso 08th Sep - Albuquerque, NM - Mesa Del Sol Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket center and the Mesa Del Sol box office on the day of the show only. Charge by phone at 505/883-7800. Order tickets on-line through www.ticketmaster.com or www.sfx.com 09th Sep - Phoenix, AZ - Desert Sky Pavilion Tickets go on-sale July 29. 10th Sep - Irvine, CA - Irvine Meadows Tickets go on-sale July 15 at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Verizon Wireless Amphitheare formerly Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre box office. Charge by phone at 213/480-3232, 714/740-2000, 805/583-8700. Order tickets on-line through www.sfx.com Good links: www.avalonconcerts.com 12th Sep - San Diego, CA - San Diego Sports Arena Tickets go on-sale July 29. 13th Sep - Los Angeles, CA - Universal Amphitheater Tickets go on-sale August 5. 15th Sep - Bakersfield, CA - Centennial Garden Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Bakersfield Centennial Garden box office. Charge by phone at 661/322-2525 or 559/485-8497. Order tickets on-line through www.ticketmaster.com Good link: www.nederlander.com 16th Sep - San Jose, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster ticket centers and the Shoreline box office. Charge by phone at 415/421-TIXS or 408/998-TIXS. Buy your tickets on-line through www.ticketmaster.com and www.sfx.com Helpful links - www.shorelineamp.com 20th Sep - Seattle - Tacoma Dome Tickets go on-sale August 4. 21st Sep - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum 23rd Sep - Edmonton, ALB - Skyreach Centre 24th Sep - Calgary, ALB - Saddledome @endnode @node "Tour JAPAN" @{b} JAPANESE DATES:@{ub} (21.07.2000) Tickets are on sale now! Further details to follow... 19th Oct - Sendai Sun Plaza 21st Oct - Tokyo Koseinenkin Hall 22nd Oct - Yokohama Pacifico 23rd Oct - Tokyo International Forum 25th Oct - Osaka Zepp 26th Oct- Fukuoka Sun Palace 28th Oct - Nagoya Shi Kokaido @endnode @node "Izola setlist" --) INTRO (music similar to Carmina Burana) 01) The Wickerman 02) Ghost of the Navigator 03) Brave New World 04) Wratchild 05) 2 Minutes to Midnight 06) Blood Brothers 07) The Sign of the Cross 08) The Mercenary 09) The Trooper 10) Dream of Mirror 11) The Clansman 12) The Evil That Men Do 13) Fear of the Dark 14) Iron Maiden ----------- 15) Number of the Beast 16) Hallowed be thy Name 17) Sanctuary @endnode @node "ZUBi & Iron Maiden concerts" 1986, 12 Sep - Ljubljana - Slovenia, Hala Tivoli 1990, 03 Dec - Munchen - Germany, Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle 1992, 12 Sep - Reggio Emilia - Italy, Arena Festa 1995, 02 Dec - Pordenone - Italy, Palasport 1996, 21 Jan - Ljubljana - Slovenia, Hala Tivoli 1998, 06 May - Trieste - Italy, ? 1999, 23 Sep - Milano - Italy, Filaforum 2000, 09 Jun - Izola - Slovenia, Stadion Izola @endnode @node "Birthdays" @{b}BIRTHDAYS:@{ub} Adrian (H) Smith - February 27, 1957 Bruce (Bruce Bruce/Air Raid Siren) Dickinson - August 07, 1958 David Michael (The Blonde Bomber) Murray - December 23, 1956 Janick (Jan) Gers - January 27, 1957 Michael (Nicko) McBrain - June 05, 1954 Steve ('Arry) Harris - March 12, 1956 @endnode @node "Fan Zone" @{b}IRON MAIDEN FAN CLUB@{ub} P.O. Box 3803, Harlow Essex, CM20 2BW United Kingdom @{b} Tel/Fax:@{ub} +44 (0)1297 442 666 @{b} e-mail:@{ub} maiden@ironmaiden.co.uk @{b} Internet:@{ub} @{"http://www.ironmaiden.com" system "C:OpenURL http://www.ironmaiden.com"} @{b} snail mail:@{ub} PO Box 666, London W14 0YU @endnode @node "Helps" @{b} Woe to you, ......@{ub} Fabio Sanna Via Andrea Doria, 64 G-10 00192 Rome Italy E-mail: Fabio Sanna @endnode