Interview with Iron Maiden

Interview with Iron Maiden

You’ve plainly eclipsed all the ambitions you had when this line-up came together at the turn of the century...

Bruce: “Yeah, I think we’ve gone beyond that now. We don’t actually need to be thought of as being bigger than anybody now. We’re our own little entity- it seems to feed off itself, this sort of level of success. It’s great. People are genuinely coming to the band and seeing the band that maybe would never have done so before. I don’t think that dilutes it. They get swept up in it. I’m still meeting people who have never seen the band before, who come along and say, ‘Wow, I never realised it was like this!’, so as long as people like that are coming along, we can’t complain.”

Presumably you didn’t expect to cap it all by winning a Brit award?

Bruce: “It’s a bizarre thing. I think it meant an awful lot more to everybody else than it does to us. My phone ran out of text space three times, with everyone texting me! The thing about it that means so much to us is that it was actually voted for. It wasn’t something that was decided by some committee. It was voted for by fans. That’s what makes it valid, if you like. We’ve had awards before. We got and Ivor Novello award, which is kind of an industry kind of thing but we quite liked that one in a quiet sort of way. It was a musical acknowledgement from your peers, but with the Brits, it’s a big back-slapping fest with all these wankers that present it and all the toadying that they get up to, and that’s not our style.”

Janick Gers: “I don’t need anyone to tell us how good we are. I know how good we are. I don’t need someone to give me a tin cup. Awards are great, but my Ivor Novello award’s in the bog, so every time I go for a wazz I think, ‘Oh, there’s my Ivor Novello!’ It’s great when people say. ‘Congratulations, you’ve done well. ‘But we’re a cult band. It’s a nice thing to be given and we accepted it with dignity and we won it on our own terms. We didn’t sell out and that’s a great thing.”

That relationship with the fans seems to be the central focus of flight 666, was that the original intention when you agreed to make a film about this tour?

Steve: “Yeah, it is about the fans, and it’s about the crew and everything else. Obviously it’s about the plane too, because this is the first time we’ve done that, so that’s part of it as well, but yeah, it’s about the fans. Maiden has always been about the fans so it’s great to have them as the real stars of the show.”

Bruce: “I think that is, by and large, the real story of Maiden. The story is about the band and the fans, because that’s what’s created everything. All the media that’s been focussed on Maiden over the last few years would be utterly meaningless if it wasn’t for the fans responding to it.”

Did any of you have reservations about letting a camera crew into your lives, 24 hours a day, for such a long period of life?

Bruce: “I probably had less than the other guys because I’m used to doing lots of interviews and things like that. Adrian was a little wary but I think he kind of warmed to them because they were nice guys and they did just join in and became part of the crew. If we’re all arsing around dressed as transvestite Scotsmen wearing Ken Dodd wigs and some of the crew get out their mobiles and start taking pictures, you don’t say ‘No pictures!’ because they’re your mates and everyone’s having a laugh, and it was actually the same with the documentary crew, which could’ve been a dangerous thing if they’d decided to fuck us over!’”

 

Adrian Smith: “Ironically, out of everybody I probably got on with the film crew really well. I knew the guys from before and I just like them as people. I thought their metal, and the stuff I’ve seen them do was really from the heart and it was interesting and it was intelligent and I thought they’d do a good job, so I felt quite open to it.”

Janick: “I was really very happy about it. I don’t want to be a film star! Bands should have a bit of mystery about them and I think a lot of that is better left unsaid- once you demystify it, it’s not as interesting. So I wasn’t really up for it. I kept my head down and kept as much out of the way as I could. But the guys were commendable; they came in and tried not to get in everybody’s way.”

Dave Murray: “Over the years there have always been people around, filming a lot of shows, so after the initial thing you forget they’re there. They were a nice bunch of lads too, so it wasn’t right in your face.”

Nicko McBrain: “Sam and Scott were absolutely amazing guys to work with. They weren’t really in our faces that much. I did tell then to fuck off a couple of times. Usually when I was closing the toilet door. Ha ha ha!”

In the film, Bruce says he wants Maiden to be a band that people can believe in. Is that fundamental to your success and the way you conduct yourselves as a band?

Steve: “I’d like to think that we’ve always been that from the beginning. I think that’s why so many people really follow us so fervently. I’d like to think that’s what it is anyway. Obviously it’s the music first and foremost, but the fans really do believe in us, sometimes obsessively, but that’s a positive thing, I think.”

Bruce: “Years ago, someone asked ‘What’s the secret of Maiden’s success?’ and I said that I wished it was complicated, but it’s just ‘Don’t let people down.’ You can count on Maiden. Always try your best and always be honest and don’t let people down. People will forgive you a duff album if they know you weren’t taking the piss and you tried to make a good record. They’ll forgive you if the honesty and the intention are here. If you turn around and suddenly get rid of the whole Maiden sound and do something crass and commercial and it’s a duff album, revenge will be merciless and probably well deserved.”

Adrian: “I think it’s been an important part, because of the philosophy behind the band. There’s a bigger picture that develops a life of its own. It’s important that people see that we’re a real band because there’s so much bullshit in music now.”

Do you ever stop to consider what an effect you’ve had culturally in so many countries, cities and continents?

Steve: “I think you notice it more when you come to a country where we’ve never been before, and the people are just so pleased that you’re here. When we first went to India, the fans were saying that they’d grown up with the music and they totally knew all the words and they’re learning to play Maiden songs and all that, and it’s kind of hits you more. It’s quite amazing really. It does hit home sometimes. You do have to keep it in perspective, but you see banners saying ‘Iron Maiden is my religion’, and for some people it is! It’s really, really important part of our lives.”

  

The audiences in South America seem to have an extraordinary passion for Maiden, and that really comes across in the film. Why do you think those kids love the band so much?

Adrian: “It’s not the richest of continents in terms of people’s standard of living. There’s a lot of poverty. When you get poverty, music is very important. I think it’s what the band stands for. We do have principles. We’ve never gone down the radio route, the semi-cabaret approach. The fans can see that the band’s real and they can relate to that. There’s a loyalty there, like a football crowd. And they like the music, obviously! Ha ha ha!”

Nicko: “It’s difficult to explain, because we give it 100 percent plus wherever we are. One show isn’t different from any other in terms of what we put into it, but there’s this passion down here in South America. Like Bruce says, ‘The further South you go, the hotter it gets.’ The great thing is, the crowd takes over for you. You get breathing time between songs because the kids are going crazy and you’ve got to let them vent. You can see it in the movie. It’s such passion.”

Steve: “They’re the best audiences in the world. That’s not taking anything away from the other Maiden audiences, because they all know how good they are. Everyone’s passionate about Maiden to a certain degree, but if you wanted to rent a crowd, you’d go to Chile, Argentina or Brazil, any of those places.”

Since the last Album you’ve been around the world twice more and now there’s a lot more people looking to what you’re going to do next. Is there pressure to make the next Album a truly great one?

Janick: “In all honesty, if we want to be a valid band, we have to do that. The last album’s a great album. This has been a retrospective tour and that’s great, but I don’t want to live in the past. I want to live now, not 20 years ago. This has been a great tour and I’ve loved it. It’s been one for the kids. We’ve played songs which we’ll never play again and songs which we’ve never played before. I’ve loved playing the stuff, but if we’re a real band then we need to write new stuff that is as strong as the last album.”

Adrian: “What are we gonna do? We write music, we’re musicians, so we carry on. The great thing is you’ve got an audience that wants to hear what you’re gonna do. In the real world that’s not very common situation, so you’ve got to appreciate it”

Dave: “I don’t think it matters that there’s more people. We’re not suddenly thinking that we’re under a microscope. You block that out and focus on what you’re going to do. You can’t start changing the way you think because you’re hugely successful. It’s wonderful that it’s happened, but fundamentally we’ll go back and do another album and approach it as we’ve done before.”

Steve: “We never plan anything. We don’t write on the road. The beauty is that we never know what we’re going to do next. Last time, we didn’t sit down and say we were going to write a load of long songs. I like that spontaneity and we don’t have a direction. We just go where we feel like going at the time.”

You’ve been quoted as saying that the 15^th Album could be the last one. That’s the next Album. But you can’t possibly stop now, surely?

Steve: “I personally think there’ll be more, but it’s hard to say. It really is a question of time, fitting everything in it. We’re in so much demand for live shows, which is really nice, but we still want to do our studio stuff, so if there’s time and everyone wants to do another one, we’ll hopefully do more. At this point, everyone does want to, but three years down the line, who knows? You can’t go on forever. We all know that. I think that’s why we’re enjoying it so much as well, because we know that it’s not too far away that we’re going to end up knocking it on the head.”

Bruce: “We might have to carry on. We’ll just have to manage it, and get some bionic implants. I’ll put some springs in my legs.”

Do you ever take stock, look out of the Hotel window when you’re in Ecuador or wherever, and think ‘This is a long way from the Ruskin Arms’?

Dave: “Absolutely. Sometimes it just hits you. It’s quite amazing. You’re in some massive city in Ecuador, surrounded by mountains, and you see the whole culture and it’s a great thing to be able to travel like this. But yeah, it’s a hell of a long way from the Ruskin Arms, but it’s been a great journey.”