Bruce Dickinson says going on tour with Iron Maiden is like being a kid again. Photo / Supplied by Angela Mace
They are one of the most enduring and influential heavy metal bands of all time and they're heading back to New Zealand to conjure up some madness. Scott Kara talks to Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson about flying, fencing, and the number of the beast
For Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, flying the band's Boeing 757 around the world is like going on a summer road trip. The British heavy metallers play two shows in New Zealand on February 20 and 21 and then they're off to Mexico via the remote South Pacific outpost of Easter Island, then to the Galapagos Islands, before jetting it to their next show in Monterey on February 25.
"We could have refuelled in Honolulu, but we'll night-stop in Easter Island, take a day's sightseeing there, before the Galapagos," says the affable Dickinson, who co-pilots the plane. You see, when he's not touring and recording with Iron Maiden he is a pilot for British charter airline Astraeus.
"I mean, when would you ever get the chance to see these places again?" he chuckles.
Ah yes, the life of a heavy metal rock star. Although, unlike Led Zeppelin in the early 70s, there's no jacuzzi on board Ed Force One - the name of the plane Iron Maiden use to lug themselves and their gear from country to country for the
Somewhere Back In Time World Tour
.
"The plane is the world's biggest campervan," says Dickinson down the phone from his London home.
Iron Maiden have always been known for their epic tours - the
World Slavery Tour
for 1984's
Powerslave
consisted of 193 shows over 13 months making it one of the biggest tours in music history - and the current tour is no exception.
It started in India in February and the band played solidly until August but the second part of the schedule is more relaxed which means they will be able to do some sightseeing in New Zealand, something they weren't able to do last time they played here in 1992.
The
Somewhere Back In Time
tour will have fans of the band throwing aces - and goat salutes - high because it takes in Maiden's classic 1980s era with a set list of songs including everything from
Run To The Hills
, to
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
, and
Can I Play With Madness
.
Iron Maiden was formed by bass player and main songwriter Steve Harris on Christmas Day 1975, and by the early 80s they had started making an impact internationally with their self-titled debut and 1981's
Killers
. When singer Paul Di'Anno was fired, due to increasingly erratic behaviour brought on by cocaine use, Dickinson joined in late 1981.
"When I joined Maiden I realised this was more serious than anything I had ever been in before. If you were a rugby player it would be like being in club level and then all of the sudden, you're in the All Blacks. This is not the same," he laughs.
It was around this time the band truly took off when they came up with
The Number of the Beast
in 1982 - arguably Maiden's defining album and one of the best metal albums of all time.
"The world changed somewhat," he chuckles.
The heavy galloping groove of
The Number of the Beast
and
Run To The Hills
, and the glowering
Hallowed Be Thy Name
, reveals the influence bands like Thin Lizzy and fellow flamboyant Brits Judas Priest had on the band. The band's rampant, crusading sound also owes much to Harris's songwriting.
"We're all a bit eccentric, cranky and weird, and we play things in a funny way - nobody plays bass guitar like Steve.
"And the whole band have their unique idiosyncracies, and glue them altogether and you get Iron Maiden. That's why it sounds unique."
With the release of The Number Of the Beast Dickinson says it was like jumping on a giant rollercoaster for five years during which time they released four more albums concluding with the raging concept album,
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
.
Iron Maiden might sound like an all-consuming beast but, unlike many musicians, the band doesn't rule Dickinson's life. He's a man of many talents: he sings, he flies, he has a radio show, he writes novels, and he fences (as in sword-fighting). He took up the sport in his early teens and has been doing it ever since, even ranking as high as seventh in Great Britain in the men's foil during the late 80s. These days he trains three nights a week at his club, just down the road from his house.
"It's a bit of a lifelong sport really. I don't have to go to the gym anymore which is quite nice. I just go and have a fight with half a dozen guys," he hoots.
He's happy with his lot and looks upon being in Maiden as "a great privilege". "But we got married, kids arrived, and I realised you don't have to have it completely rule your life in order to enjoy it. It was a deliberate strategy of us saying, 'Go have a life, and when you come back to Maiden, it'll be like it's brand new'. And that's what it's like every time we go out. Yeah, we are all experienced enough to be able to play, but the issue is, can you still leap around like a puppy dog while you're doing it?
"In fact," he says, "I enjoy Maiden more now, because when I do it it's like going off with the boys in the campervan for two months. It's like being a kid again, going out with Iron Maiden."
LOWDOWN
Who:
Bruce Dickinson
What:
Lead singer of Iron Maiden
Where & when:
Mt Smart Stadium, New Zealand, February 20; AMI Stadium, Christchurch, February 21
Classic albums:
The Number of the Beast (1982); Piece of Mind (1983); Powerslave (1984); Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1987)
See also:
Live After Death (live album, 1985); Somewhere Back In Time (Best of 1980-89, out now)