{"id":788482,"date":"2026-10-01T11:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T11:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788482\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T11:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T11:22:19","slug":"blaze-bayley-interview-iron-maiden-eddfest-and-his-uk-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788482\/","title":{"rendered":"Blaze Bayley interview: Iron Maiden, EddFest and his UK tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birmingham-born Blaze Bayley<\/a> co-founded and fronted Tamworth terrors Wolfsbane in 1984, before replacing Bruce Dickinson as Iron Maiden<\/a>\u2019s vocalist a decade later. He made two albums with the band before Dickinson\u2019s return in 1999, then launched his solo career.<\/p>\n

Below, previewing a lengthy, Maiden-themed UK tour, Bayley discusses his spot at Maiden\u2019s recent EddFest<\/a> and also his imminent induction to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.<\/p>\n

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\"Lightning\n<\/p>\n

How did you enjoy appearing at EddFest?<\/p>\n

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It was so much more than I had expected. Because the Friday part was announced late I thought I might play to, maybe, three thousand people, but apparently there were nine thousand. I had wondered how many people would be bothered, but the reaction was absolutely incredible. When I joined Maiden some people were sore about Bruce leaving, but the whole Blaze-hating thing was twenty years ago, and I realised that all of that [negativity] is totally gone. I felt included.<\/p>\n

Having overcome so many hurdles, did it feel like some kind if vindication?<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t think like that. After leaving Maiden there were ups and downs, but the band I\u2019ve got, and the team behind me, we just go for it. I don\u2019t have anything to prove to anybody. Through the dark times I won\u2019t blame anybody. All of the stupid decisions were mine. I was a drinker \u2013 that was all me. I was just happy to be there at Knebworth as part of this huge, enormous thing that was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.<\/p>\n

Steve Harris watched all of the bands he invited to play on the Friday, including your own, and the two of you were pictured deep in conversation backstage.<\/p>\n

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What was he saying to you? Just the normal stuff \u2013 \u201cHow\u2019s your kids?\u201d I never lost contact with Steve. I go to see him in Maiden on every tour and also in British Lion. We went through a lot together. At that time, people were writing Maiden off. The band was irrelevant, or even over. We stuck together, but it was tough.<\/p>\n

You stayed to watch Maiden on the following night, which must have been emotional.<\/p>\n

Very much so. Remember, I was a fan from the year dot. I loved to sing Hallowed Be Thy Name and Two Minutes To Midnight. When I hear them played live I always get a little twinge; my emotions are heightened.<\/p>\n

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Iron Maiden – Man On The Edge (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"Iron<\/p>\n

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Was there a possibility of them inviting you on stage at such a historical moment?<\/p>\n

I thought they might, but one thing I know about Steve is that he doesn\u2019t like things that are unrehearsed. He doesn\u2019t do \u2018off the cuff\u2019. That would probably have been the main reason.<\/p>\n

You are about to play 22 UK shows in celebration of the Iron Maiden albums The X Factor, Virtual XII and The Best Of The Beast. The latter being a compilation album, will you be singing songs recorded by Bruce?<\/p>\n

No. Best Of The Beast is relevant because that\u2019s where Virus comes from. It was formulated as a \u2018new song\u2019 and the whole band collaborated on it. It was never played live, and I\u2019m almost guaranteed that they [Maiden] will never do that. So it\u2019s been in my solo setlist for a few years and I\u2019ve developed the arrangement slightly. Though it started as comment on the some of the more cynical, horrible elements of the British press, it\u2019s now relevant about scammers, internet and computer viruses.<\/p>\n

What kind of a set are you planning?<\/p>\n

There will be a lot of the songs we did at EddFest. Sign Of The Cross will still be there, so will The Clansman. We\u2019re very, very excited about it.<\/p>\n

It will be your biggest solo UK tour so far, and many of the dates are sold out. Does having suffered a potentially deadly heart attack a few years ago affect your mindset?<\/p>\n

Yeah. I\u2019m very, very lucky to be alive. I\u2019m so grateful to my fans for not asking for refunds after it happened [in 2023]. The promoters stuck by me, too. I don\u2019t take that loyalty for granted. It means the world to me.<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden – The Clansman (Curitiba, Brazil – 1998) \u2022 FULL HD REMASTER – YouTube
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Post-EddFest there will be additional scrutiny \u2013 possibly more than ever before \u2013 when you return to the studio.<\/p>\n

Yeah. But I don\u2019t care. My record label is small, there\u2019s only me on it, but nobody tells me what to do. Am I feeling more pressure? No. All I\u2019m aiming to do is give my fans exactly what they want with a new album next year.<\/p>\n

Back in May you attended the London premiere of Maiden\u2019s film Burning Ambition. What did you make of the film?<\/p>\n

It was a fun night and I was grateful to be included in the movie; I didn\u2019t expect that. It was unexpectedly honest. Yeah. But what surprised me most was how they squeezed so much into one movie. An Iron Maiden biopic really should be a mini-series.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been well publicised that Maiden have zero interest in attending the ceremony where the band will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on November 24. Fellow inductee and former Maiden member Dennis Stratton seems keen to fly the flag for the band. Are you planning to join him?<\/p>\n

Right now, that Saturday is free. If I\u2019m not on tour then I will go. This is a huge thing. Who doesn\u2019t want to be where Zeppelin and the biggest names in rock are?<\/p>\n

Is there anything new happening with Wolfsbane?<\/p>\n

We are kicking ideas around for an album to come out next year. When you get these four people in a room together, magic always happens. It\u2019s the original line-up, we\u2019re all still alive and that\u2019s amazing!<\/p>\n

Blaze Bayley’s tour commences tonight (October 1) in Southend. For full dates and tickets, visit Blaze’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham-born Blaze Bayley co-founded and fronted Tamworth terrors Wolfsbane in 1984, before replacing Bruce Dickinson as Iron Maiden\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-788482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}