{"id":723359,"date":"2026-06-24T15:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T15:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/723359\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T15:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T15:04:17","slug":"iron-maiden-interview-50-years-and-still-going-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/723359\/","title":{"rendered":"Iron Maiden interview: 50 years and still going strong"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first time Bruce Dickinson<\/a> sang on stage with Iron Maiden<\/a>, he kept his eyes shut for the first half of the set. \u201cI don\u2019t think I opened them until we did Killers,\u201d he says today.<\/p>\n

The band endured an arduous three-day bus journey before that show, on October 26, 1981, at Palasport in Bologna. \u201cWhen we got to Italy, it was a bit dodgy \u2013 people being threatened with hand grenades and all that,\u201d understates the singer. \u201cNone of which bothered me in the slightest, because the main event was my big moment with Maiden.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So why the closed eyes?<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I had to get my own world straight before I could go into the outside world.”<\/p>\n

Dickinson joins Classic Rock, via modern technology, from a living room devoid of gold discs or images of Maiden\u2019s immortal mascot Eddie; just exposed woodwork and a tasteful paint job that might be magnolia. With his gunmetal grey ponytail and habit of heading off at tangents, Dickinson has the air of an upbeat, but easily distracted, hippieish university lecturer.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden have two high-profile events taking place this summer. Last month saw the release of a new documentary, Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition<\/a>, which tells their story through archive footage, animation, and interviews with fans and celebrity supporters, including Hollywood royalty Javier Bardem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In July the band headline \u2018Eddfest<\/a>\u2019 at Knebworth Park as part of their Run For Your Lives 50th-anniversary tour. There, themed bars, fairground rides and the Infinite Dreams Museum Experience promise to transform the grounds of the Hertfordshire stately home into \u2018Maiden World\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

The idea of Iron Maiden existing in what Dickinson later describes as \u201cits own bubble\u201d is a prevalent theme in the documentary. Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris<\/a>, drummer Nicko McBrain and guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers (as well as Dickinson\u2019s predecessor, the now late Paul Di\u2019Anno, and his former temporary successor Blaze Bayley) are all interviewed, but appear in the film only as their younger selves. \u201cBecause we\u2019re not as good-looking as Eddie,\u201d Harris deadpans.<\/p>\n

Instead, an animated Eddie (a constant presence on every Maiden single, album sleeve and piece of merchandise since the dawn of time) illustrates some episodes, while the modern-day Maiden narrate off-camera, like a crew of seasoned ancient mariners.<\/p>\n

Steve Harris came up with the idea for Iron Maiden in 1975, and burned through singers, guitarists and drummers until hiring vocalist Paul Di\u2019Anno in \u201978. Following one disagreement too many, Di\u2019Anno quit after Maiden\u2019s second album, 1981\u2019s Killers. Enter Dickinson, from fronting jobbing hard rockers Samson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

\u201cNever has anyone been better equipped for world domination in his mid-twenties than Bruce Dickinson,\u201d suggests one of the film\u2019s talking heads, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer writer Dom Lawson.<\/p>\n

Would you agree with that?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, no\u2026 maybe,\u201d replies Dickinson. \u201cIt\u2019s very nice of someone to big me up, but I didn\u2019t quite view it in those terms. I do think me and Steve was a really good match up, though. The film\u2019s title is Burning Ambition, and that\u2019s what Steve\u2019s all about too.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Dickinson on board, Iron Maiden built on the success of the first two albums and turned themselves into what he calls \u201ca global band\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

A youthful Iron Maiden in London\u2019s Soho, October 1979: (L-R) Tony Parsons, SteveHarris, Doug Sampson, Paul Di\u2019Anno and Dave Murray (Image credit: Ross Halfin\/Idols)<\/p>\n

Harris entrusted band manager and \u201cbombastic Yorkshireman\u201d Rod Smallwood to help him realise his vision (\u201cTo build a creative fence around the band,\u201d as Smallwood says in Burning Ambition). But there would be conflict. Not least with his new lead singer.<\/p>\n

The dynamic between East End-born ex-Waltham Forest Borough Council road sweeper Harris and former Oundle public school boy-turned-rock star, champion fencer and airline pilot Dickinson is a constant presence in the Maiden story.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve is the introverted, quiet, thoughtful young man from the East End working class,\u201d explains Burning Ambition\u2019s director Malcolm Venville. \u201cAnd then you\u2019ve got this public schoolboy, who is very expansive, very educated and \u2013 how can I say it? \u2013 volcanic. There\u2019s a lot of mutual respect, but I think over the years there\u2019s been a crazy energy between them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickinson gleefully recalls Harris jockeying with him for a centre-stage spot at Newcastle\u2019s City Hall, and the pair almost coming to blows later. \u201cWe needed to butt heads, though,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause Steve needed to realise I wasn\u2019t a pushover.\u201d Harris also needed Dickinson\u2019s voice to help realise his musical ambition (that word again).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m never going to slag Paul Di\u2019Anno,\u201d Dickinson insists. \u201cHis voice was very charismatic and intrinsic to those first two albums. But Steve wasn\u2019t just into heavy metal<\/a>. He was into prog rock too. When he was looking for a singer, he wanted someone who could encompass a bigger range \u2013 not just notes, but storytelling, dramatising\u2026 all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Steve\n<\/p>\n

Steve Harris and Maiden manager Rod Smallwood in the Bahamas (Image credit: Ross Halfin\/Idols)<\/p>\n

The drama went up a notch for 1982\u2019s The Number Of The Beast<\/a>. Dickinson \u2013 like a heavy metal town crier in a studded leather jerkin \u2013 became the voice of persecuted Native Americans in Run To The Hills, and a prisoner facing the gallows in Hallowed Be Thy Name, and Iron Maiden scored their first UK No.1 LP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d changed the singer and everyone went: \u2018Oh god!\u2019 But then we put down the marker with the magic third album\u2026 And then we changed the drummer,\u201d he adds, laughing.<\/p>\n

The widely experienced Nicko McBrain replaced Clive Burr for 1983\u2019s Piece Of Mind<\/a>, and occupied the drum stool for the next four decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved Clive, but the range of things we were able to do with Nicko was pretty much limitless,\u201d admits Dickinson. Or, as Javier Bardem puts it, \u201cNicko was a gift from the gods of metal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the documentary\u2019s footage is poignant; both Di\u2019Anno and Burr are no longer with us, and McBrain announced his retirement from touring in 2024. However, Piece Of Mind marked the beginning of Iron Maiden\u2019s first imperial phase.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the difference from Number Of The Beast to Piece Of Mind to [1984\u2019s] Powerslave, which was just banger after banger,\u201d suggests Dickinson, who thinks this is the era when he learned how to write an Iron Maiden song. \u201cIf I were to choose two songs of mine from that time it would be Revelations and Powerslave. But there are others too \u2013 Flash Of The Blade, Slice Of Liquorice\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Pardon?<\/p>\n

\u201cFlight Of Icarus,\u201d he says, grinning. \u201cWe have lots of stupid names for our songs. We take the piss gently but frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it ever written down as \u2018Slice Of Liquorice\u2019 on the set-list?<\/p>\n

\u201cGod no,\u201d he shudders. \u201cBecause one night I might actually say it \u2013 \u2018Hello Cleveland! Slice Of Liquorice!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Steve\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Ross Halfin)<\/p>\n

Adrian Smith made his Iron Maiden debut on Friday, November 21, 1980, in the Sports Barn at Brunel University in Uxbridge. I know it was a Friday, because this writer (then an impressionable schoolboy in a Rush<\/a> T-shirt) was in the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember it vividly,\u201d Smith says today. \u201cBecause Steve said to me before the show: \u2018I\u2019m going for a walk in the audience. Come with me.\u2019 He was happy to go out and talk to people. And \u2013 I\u2019ll never forget \u2013 someone looked at me and said: \u2018You better be good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While Dickinson, in the nicest way possible, loves the sound of his own voice, Smith is more reserved. Talking to Classic Rock via Zoom from Milan, where he\u2019s performing with his own group Smith\/Kotzen, he yanks down his baseball cap and fumbles with his beard while talking.<\/p>\n

Smith was childhood friends with guitarist Dave Murray, and his band, Urchin, and Iron Maiden sometimes shared a bill, including a gig playing in front of drunk American servicemen at the USAF base in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaiden played a few Van Halen songs that night, including Ain\u2019t Talkin\u2019 \u2018Bout Love,\u201d Smith remembers. \u201cThey were more aggressive and heavier than Urchin. But they had to use our PA, so I had to ask Steve for five quid after the gig.\u201d<\/p>\n

One week Smith was travelling to a pub gig with his wah-wah pedal in a Tesco carrier bag; the next he\u2019d replaced fellow East Ender Dennis Stratton in Iron Maiden, and his world was about to change forever.<\/p>\n

In reality, though, Smith was a frontman who gave it up to become part of a band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit of a contradiction,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople think I\u2019m shy, but really I\u2019m a bit of a ham. In Urchin I\u2019d been the lead vocalist, the songwriter, and I\u2019d taken on a lot of responsibility. But when I joined Maiden I quickly found my place.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul, Steve and Rod were all strong characters. Dave Murray was incredibly important musically but just happy up there playing guitar. Sometimes you have to curb your natural instincts to make it work as a collective. A band is a compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Iron\n<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden on stage, 1983 (Image credit: Ross Halfin)<\/p>\n

Maiden\u2019s newest arrivals, Smith and Dickinson gravitated towards each other. \u201cThe other guys had regular girlfriends, who they all used to call \u2018the missus\u2019. After rehearsals they\u2019d say: \u2018I\u2019ve got to see the missus.\u2019 I couldn\u2019t understand that, because it\u2019s not like they were married,\u201d Smith says, smiling. \u201cI was footloose at the time and I think Bruce was, so we\u2019d go for a beer and a game of pool, and then we started writing together.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually, we were on the road so much I gave up my flat. So when we played London I\u2019d stay at my parents\u2019 place in Clapton. Bruce would come round, we\u2019d do a bit of writing, and my mum would bring us tea and sandwiches.\u201d<\/p>\n

From this cosy domestic set-up a writing partnership developed, which eventually lead to songs such as Flight Of Icarus, Two Minutes To Midnight, Moonchild\u2026<\/p>\n

At Brunel University, Eddie was still a disembodied head, spewing dry ice from behind the drum riser. A month later, Eddie was on stage at London\u2019s Rainbow Theatre, brandishing a hand-held spotlight. Every generation of Maiden\u2019s mascot is represented in Burning Ambition. \u201cYou\u2019ve got \u2018Beginning Eddie\u2019, \u2018Middle Eddie\u2019, \u2018Powerslave Eddie\u2019\u2026\u201d Malcolm Venville explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cEddie was Rod Smallwood in the early days,\u201d recalls Smith. \u201cWhen we went to the States the first time [summer 1981], Rod would drive us to a radio station and say: \u2018Right, you and you \u2013 meaning me and Clive \u2013 you\u2019re doing this interview.\u2019 He\u2019d put the Eddie mask on in the car, drag us into the building so we were cowering behind him, and then go roaring around the office, chasing the secretaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did Eddie give the band something to hide behind?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo an extent, yes. Years later, when my son was about eleven or twelve, him and his mates were looking round the house, picked up the Maiden albums and all went: \u2018Wow, look at this!\u2019 They got drawn in by Eddie and the artwork.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Dave\n<\/p>\n

Dave Murray and Adrian Smith onstage, 1987 (Image credit: Ross Halfin)<\/p>\n

Burning Ambition also revisits footage from Iron Maiden\u2019s first Polish tour, in 1984. The country was then still part of the Communist Bloc, and the authorities treated Western heavy metal bands with suspicion.<\/p>\n

The group look stunned as cheering fans surround their bus, banging on the windows and waving banners. \u201cThey could not believe we\u2019d come there to play for them, because so many bands didn\u2019t,\u201d explains Smith. \u201cIt was the same when we first went to South America. The more deprived people are of comforts, the more music becomes important.\u201d<\/p>\n

After one of the Polish shows, Dickinson and the then Kerrang! writer Howard \u2018HoJo\u2019 Johnson broke curfew and went with a couple of fans to what the singer calls \u201ca Soviet-style apartment complex in the middle of nowhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in the back of a Trabant and our hosts told us to stay quiet and look Polish if we got stopped by the cops,\u201d Dickinson recalls. \u201cIt was all very Spy Who Came In From The Cold.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018HoJo\u2019 and I sat up drinking with them, and they played us compilation cassettes they\u2019d made of Western rock music. All they wanted to do was play that music, to let us know they were civilised people and they loved what we did. It was humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burning Ambition\u2019s true stars are the non-famous interviewees. Like the retired NYPD cop who used Maiden to blot out the horrors of 9\/11, and the journalist who says that 1992\u2019s Fear Of The Dark<\/a> soundtracked her experience growing up during the Lebanese civil war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the resilience of people,\u201d Dickinson suggests. \u201cThe resilience and hope that music gives people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being in Iron Maiden from the mid-80s onwards also required resilience. \u201cBy then we didn\u2019t have much chance to draw breath,\u201d admits the singer. \u201cBecause it was tour, stop tour, start writing, start recording. Boom! Off you go again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the documentary, 1984-85\u2019s aptly named World Slavery tour (189 shows in 331 days) is illustrated by an animated Eddie struggling to scale a pyramid. This was Maiden in their stadium pomp, with on-stage sarcophagi and a giant mummified Eddie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in Brazil doing Rock In Rio<\/a>, then back to America and six-foot snowdrifts,\u201d Dickinson recounts. \u201cWe had seven nights booked at [New York\u2019s] Radio City. But I got bacterial bronchitis and had to cancel two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickinson wasn\u2019t the only one affected. Nicko McBrain\u2019s hands became so severely blistered that he contracted blood poisoning. \u201cAll the veins in his arms turned red and they had him in hospital on an intravenous drip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of drinking and, yes, late nights too,\u201d admits Smith. \u201cWhen you start a band, you need money for petrol, food and guitar strings. Drugs are way down that list. Then you make more money, and what starts as a bit of fun starts to take the energy out of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The absurdity of this period peaked when Dickinson was detained at Montreal airport for having a studded wristband in his hand luggage.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fan had given it to me, but it was a fashion wristband, with flattened decorative studs,\u201d he protests. The Mounties were called, and claimed Dickinson was in possession of an offensive weapon. He was fingerprinted but eventually released without charge.<\/p>\n

Yet the wristband returned to haunt him when he was flagged up as a person of interest at Baltimore airport. But a security official took pity and erased the incriminating entry on the computer: \u201cShe told me she\u2019d had to do the same for one of The Beatles when he was caught with a quarter of a joint in 1968 or whenever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concerts and the people were great,\u201d Smith says in the film. \u201cEverything else was horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only person that didn\u2019t seem to be affected was Steve Harris.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Bruce\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Ross Halfin)<\/p>\n

In Burning Ambition, Iron Maiden\u2019s bassist lists some of the names he\u2019s been called over the years \u2013 \u201cSergeant Major, Ayatollah, Headmaster\u201d \u2013 in a voice that no matter how many times he travels the world hasn\u2019t lost one iota of its Waltham Forest accent.<\/p>\n

Harris talks to Classic Rock from his home in Cable Beach in the Bahamas. It\u2019s 10:15am his time, but he\u2019s not catching any rays. \u201cNah, not at all,\u201d he says, surprised by the suggestion. \u201cI\u2019m doing some DIY on the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Steve Harris\u2019s world, if a job\u2019s worth doing \u2013 be it writing 90 per cent of Iron Maiden\u2019s music or undertaking home improvements \u2013 then it\u2019s worth doing yourself.<\/p>\n

Even when playing with older musicians during Maiden\u2019s formative years, 20-year-old Harris was always in charge. So much so that one of his lasting memories of the band\u2019s first gig, on May 1, 1976 at St Nicholas\u2019s Church Hall in Poplar, East London, is the brief moment he lost control. \u201cI was so nervous I cocked up the bass intro on one of the songs, and the rest of the band thought I was tuning up,\u201d he sighs.<\/p>\n

Playing gigs is still everything. Burning Ambition includes footage from 2025\u2019s homecoming show at the London Stadium; Harris bounding on stage like a greyhound out of the traps the same way he\u2019s done almost since Iron Maiden began.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early days when we had frontmen that didn\u2019t move so much, I had to cover the stage more. It was my job,\u201d he stresses. \u201cAfter Bruce arrived, I didn\u2019t need to be in the middle of the stage \u2013 despite what he says,\u201d he adds, laughing. \u201cBut I always wanted to keep moving. These days it takes more effort to get across the stage, without slipping over in my own sweat. I\u2019ve always done a lot of sports, though. I still do a lot of running and I just played tennis this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris thinks Maiden took their biggest leap between the first and second records (\u201cI know people love the first one, but Killers was a more professional-sounding album\u2019), and that the greatest lesson he learned, from supporting the likes of Kiss<\/a> and Judas Priest<\/a> in the early days, was \u201cto be nice to people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m not naming names. But there was a lot of things going around, with headline bands worrying you were going to go down better than them. I\u2019ve always felt you should give up if you\u2019re worried about support bands. Any band supporting us, their job is to go out there, push us hard and try and take our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Nicko\n<\/p>\n

Nicko McBrain lays back a bit during one of the quieter songs (Image credit: Ross Halfin\/Idols)<\/p>\n

After Maiden played Rock In Rio, Brian May<\/a> cornered Harris before Queen<\/a>\u2019s headline appearance. \u201cBrian said we\u2019d frightened the life out of them. I thought: \u2018Good, we\u2019ve done our job.\u2019 Of course it didn\u2019t make any difference to Queen, they still went down amazing. But it\u2019s good to ruffle feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the others were going mad on the World Slavery tour, how did he manage to keep his head? \u201cI figured I had to be more sensible. Someone had to keep it all together and get on with it, whether I wanted to or not.\u201d He pauses. \u201cYou know, it was boring at times. Sometimes I wanted to get a few beers down me. But there\u2019s a time and place for it, and I always felt I was walking a bit of a tightrope.\u201d<\/p>\n

In early 1986, Iron Maiden hired an out-of-season hotel in Jersey in the Channel Islands to prepare songs for a sixth album, what would become Somewhere In Time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no one there, it was freezing cold, Bruce was off fencing, and, frankly, I was depressed,\u201d recalls Adrian Smith, who channelled the experience into his songwriting. \u201cIf you look at the lyrics for [the album\u2019s first single] Wasted Years, they\u2019re written by someone who\u2019s feeling alienated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encouraged by Smith and Dickinson, Maiden broadened their palette with acoustic guitars and synthesisers on Somewhere In Time and 1988\u2019s Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.<\/p>\n

But for 1990\u2019s No Prayer For The Dying<\/a> Harris insisted on going back to basics musically, and instead of using high-end facilities such as Compass Point studios in the Bahamas he wanted the band to use his Essex home studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like going backwards, bashing it out in Steve\u2019s barn,\u201d says Smith, who quit during the early sessions. Dickinson followed Smith out the door three years later. Maiden soldiered on for two albums with new guitarist Janick Gers and ex-Wolfsbane vocalist Blaze Bayley.<\/p>\n

Burning Ambition doesn\u2019t gloss over this period, and one fan recalls watching the group playing to just 500 people at Philadelphia\u2019s Electric Factory.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Janick\n<\/p>\n

Janick attack (Image credit: John McMurtrie)<\/p>\n

Harris, who was also going through a divorce at the time, seemed to take a perverse pride in such adversity. \u201cI liked it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In the film, however, Nicko McBrain complains bitterly about Dickinson revealing his plans to quit while they were halfway through a tour. \u201cI had to look at his sorry arse every night,\u201d the drummer grumbles. \u201cWe could have all handled it a bit differently,\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickinson agrees today. \u201cThe problem was the first person I told was Rod Smallwood, and he tried to control it. That creates a conspiracy. I don\u2019t do shit like that any more. Nowadays I\u2019ll come right out and say it to someone\u2019s face. And I don\u2019t mind what Nicko says about me in the film. We\u2019re like a family. People say things and do things and people get over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did he learn during his six years out of Iron Maiden?<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I learned how two-faced fifty per cent of the world was,\u201d he says, grinning. \u201cAnd, after I\u2019d gotten over that I learned an awful lot about creativity and singing that, frankly, I would never have learned if I\u2019d stayed in Maiden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both musicians returned to the band, now with three guitarists, in time for 2000\u2019s Brave New World,<\/a> with Smith, Murray and Gers nicknamed the Three Amigos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was much stronger as a person,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIf there\u2019d been three Ritchie Blackmores or three Yngwie Malmsteens it would have been like an atomic explosion. But we\u2019re all band guys, so it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Steve was suspicious at first and thought I just wanted to trouser some money,\u201d Dickinson acknowledges. \u201cBut my attitude was: \u2018The band are underdogs right now, so let\u2019s start again and nip everybody in the nuts.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Iron\n<\/p>\n

What a shower. Very early-80s Maiden: (L-R) Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Clive Burr, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson. (Image credit: Ross Halfin)<\/p>\n

Unlike some of their peers, Iron Maiden never embraced hair metal, grunge and the rest to try to stave off obsolescence, and No.1 albums such as The Final Frontier<\/a> and The Book Of Souls<\/a> re-established them as a global band and brand. Yet watching Dickinson singing about the Charge Of The Light Brigade while clad as a 19th-century \u2018redcoat\u2019, or Harris, wearing his West Ham FC shirt, foot on a monitor, mouthing the lyrics, it\u2019s difficult to imagine a more quintessentially English group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just made a documentary about Churchill [2024\u2019s Churchill At War mini-series],\u201d says Malcolm Venville. \u201cAnd there is an Englishness to Iron Maiden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Harris compares the forthcoming Eddfest at Knebworth, with its Friday-night preshow party, to a \u201cmedieval fair\u201d. Maiden also handpicked Saturday night\u2019s opening acts, who include vintage blues rockers Stray, The Almighty, The Hu, Airbourne and The Darkness<\/a>. \u201cI know The Darkness are a different type of band,\u201d he stresses. \u201cBut I think they\u2019re really entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Either way, Harris knows it\u2019ll be better than the time he went to see the Rolling Stones headline Knebworth<\/a> in 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh it was ridiculous,\u201d he says. \u201cAs soon as you put your foot out, you had to step over somebody, people were getting really ratty. I watched [opening acts] Lynyrd Skynyrd<\/a> and Todd Rundgren<\/a> and thought: \u2018Nah, I\u2019ve had enough, I\u2019m out of here.\u2019 Do you know, I\u2019ve still never seen the Stones, which is a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickinson claims they\u2019ve been speaking about an event like this for years. \u201cEddfest could even become a festival that didn\u2019t have Iron Maiden in it, just bands in the same spirit,\u201d he marvels.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Iron\n<\/p>\n

The enduring Iron Maiden 1999-to-present line-up: (L-R) Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers, Nicko McBrain (non-touring member). (Image credit: Ross Halfin\/Idols)<\/p>\n

Bruce Dickinson claims that Iron Maiden has always been \u201crun in a very eccentric way, and that\u2019s never changed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Would he describe it as a benign dictatorship, then?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s not even that,\u201d he replies. \u201cMaiden is a very big bubble that seems to be getting bigger. But it\u2019s never going to be a Metallica-sized bubble, because we didn\u2019t do the Black Album and the ballads.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the difference is, we have a creative little world in Maiden. There\u2019s the musical world and a weird little social world. Our families are interlinked \u2013 quite literally. So we look at the outside world as weird.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BRITs, the Grammys, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, all of it is utterly irrelevant to us. What\u2019s Number One at the moment? I couldn\u2019t tell you. It\u2019s meaningless. All I care about is what Iron Maiden are doing next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickinson stops and laughs. \u201cOf course, one of the reasons I left the band is because I was in that bubble. I had to escape to find out if there was anything I could do in the outside world. When I came back, I realised it was actually possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickinson has another solo album in the works (\u201cAnd it\u2019ll blow your mind\u201d), Smith has his ongoing collaboration with fellow guitarist Ritchie Kotzen (they recently released a second album), Harris has his side project British Lion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Iron\n<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden onstage in Monterrey, Mexico, 2016 (Image credit: John McMurtrie)<\/p>\n

Will there be another Iron Maiden album?<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep saying to Steve: \u2018Do you want to do another album?\u2019 And he\u2019s like: \u2018Well, no, not really,\u2019\u201d claims Dickinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be up for doing one,\u201d Harris insists. \u201cSo you can\u2019t rule it out, but we haven\u2019t planned one as yet. The rest of them wanted to take next year off, and I didn\u2019t, to be honest. But it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris is fixing up his house before a visit from his friends, including \u201call my football herberts\u201d, for his 70th birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve\u2019s as old as the speed limit,\u201d quips 67-year-old Dickinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh I don\u2019t want to talk about that,\u201d Harris groans. \u201cIt\u2019s just a number. I\u2019m always busy doing something, because I\u2019ve known people who retire or even semi-retire and a few months later they pop their clogs. I was talking to a guy the other day who said his boss was ninetyone and still busy. I thought: \u2018Well there\u2019s hope for me yet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickinson is not long back from a much-delayed honeymoon in Vietnam with his wife Leana. \u201cAnd it provoked at least one new song,\u201d he announces. \u201cThere\u2019s always that little musical radar going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Harris, though, Dickinson claims that he\u2019s also happy to spend time at home doing nothing. Daytime telly?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, absolutely,\u201d he says with laugh. \u201cAnd if I can\u2019t watch daytime telly, I\u2019ll record daytime telly. How sad is that? With all the adverts it has for funeral arrangements and what to do if you have thrombosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, there will be an end at some point,\u201d one fan says in Burning Ambition. Not right now, though. Iron Maiden\u2019s big bubble isn\u2019t ready to burst yet.<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden celebrate their 50th anniversary headlining their two-day Eddfest at Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire on July 11. Tickets are still available<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first time Bruce Dickinson sang on stage with Iron Maiden, he kept his eyes shut for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-723359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}