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My name is Thomas and I live in Aarhus, Denmark. I was born in 1975 and I have been an Iron Maiden fan since the summer of 1989. That year I bought Live After Death on double vinyl during a holiday in the former Yugoslavia. This website is my personal tribute to Iron Maiden.

I did two interviews with Bruce Dickinson for the monthly magazine TJECK in Copenhagen. One in September 1994 and one by phone in January 1996. During The X Factour in November 1995, I was fortunate to do an interview with Janick Gers also for TJECK Magazine. That same day I met Dave Murray, Blaze Bayley and Steve Harris at their hotel in Copenhagen. Scroll down to read all three interviews.

Nicko McBrain performed a drum clinic/workshop in Copenhagen in April 1995, which was a great and entertaining evening. Nicko told the audience that he'd give a free t-shirt to the first one who asked a good question. I'm a drummer myself and quickly asked him about his stamina technique during a two-hour concert. His answer was something like this: "You really need to watch your stamina and pace yourself during a high-energy show as Maiden's. You need to know where to "relax" during the set. Like playing parts of Infinite Dreams or other songs with quieter parts, lay back and catch your breath to "recharge" the batteries for full-on songs like The Trooper. Afterwards he kindly gave me a black PAISTE t-shirt.

My Iron Maiden concerts

So far I have been to 21 shows:

05.11.1990    Denmark, Copenhagen, KB Hallen
25.08.1992    Denmark, Copenhagen, Valby Hallen
02.11.1995    Denmark, Copenhagen, KB Hallen
16.05.1998    England, London, Brixton Academy
20.09.1998    Denmark, Copenhagen, Vega
18.09.1999    Sweden, Gothenburg, Scandinavium
29.06.2000    Denmark, Roskilde Festival
20.03.2002    England, London, Brixton Academy
21.03.2002    England, London, Brixton Academy
31.05.2003    England, Download Festival, Donington
12.11.2003    Denmark, Copenhagen, Valby Hallen
12.12.2003    England, London, Earls Court
09.11.2006    Denmark, Aalborg, Gigantium
24.06.2007    England, London, Brixton Academy
05.07.2008    England, London, Twickenham Stadium
27.07.2008    Denmark, Horsens, Godsbanepladsen
30.07.2010    Ireland, Dublin, O2 Arena
02.06.2011 Germany, Hamburg, O2 World
01.07.2011 Sweden, Gothenburg, Ullevi Stadium
05.08.2011 England, London, O2 Arena
06.08.2011 England, London, O2 Arena

I've also attended these solo concerts:
24.09.1994    BRUCE DICKINSON, Denmark, Copenhagen, Pumpehuset
02.11.1998    BRUCE DICKINSON, Denmark, Copenhagen, Pumpehuset
09.11.2002    PAUL DI'ANNO & KILLERS, England, London, Camden Underworld

My favourite Iron Maiden albums

I rate Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son as the best and most complete Iron Maiden album. All eight songs are very strong and blend together immensely in a very strong production. To me, the second best is A Matter Of Life And Death, and the third best is The Number Of The Beast.

Beast_copy

My favourite Iron Maiden songs can change from day to day, but these particular songs are always standouts

Infinite Dreams
Children Of The Damned
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
Fear Of The Dark
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Revelations
The Number Of The Beast
Blood Brothers
Alexander The Great
Phantom Of The Opera
Coming Home

My three interviews

BRUCE DICKINSON interview
Balls To Picasso Tour - 24.09.1994 - The roof terrace at Hotel Ascot - Copenhagen

TM: How does it feel to be on your very own world tour - completely on your own?

BD: Fantastic. Very happy!

TM: It's easy to hear a big difference between "Tattooed Millionaire" and "Balls To Picasso". What's happened to Bruce Dickinson since "Tattooed Millionaire"?

BD: Well, I decided if I was gonna make another solo album, I would make a proper one - a real one. "Tattooed Millionaire" was fun to do, but is wasn't really that serious. We put a lot of different styles in it. 70's stuff to early 80's and glued them all together when we came up with an album, part-time record. The way music was changing and the way society was changing - and the way I was changing, I decided it was time to make a REAL solo-album. So I started with the idea of updating "Tattooed Millionaire" and made a whole album like that. And scrapped it! That was the first one. It was recorded with the band SKIN. Then I started again in Los Angeles with Keith Olsen. That was me gettin' to grips with the whole alternative kind of theatrical side of me. When I was growing up listening to music, I listened to bands who were not traditional heavy metal bands. Well, I listened to Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin - stuff like that. But I also listened to weird stuff like Magma, Arthur Brown and other bands with saxophones and synthesisers and so on. That never really came out in Iron Maiden - I mean - I was a massive Peter Gabriel fan, never a Genesis fan!! But I especially liked Peter Gabriel's third album. So I just started off just exploring stuff. I did gospel stuff - and I did some stuff with Michael Jackson's backing band. Just foolin' around in a very expensive way. And was happy with that album I did with Keith Olsen - and that I'd done somethin' different. But after living with it for some months, I thought, well, this is all very good, but I really miss......you know...... the big guitars, I miss drums. There is a bit too much thinkin' going on this record. Not enough heart. So I started writing some songs with this guy Roy Z, whom I met in Los Angeles. He's from a band called Tribe Of Gypsies. And that turned into this album "Balls To Picasso". That's what happened.

And in the meantime I left Iron Maiden. Because I decided Maiden were a very successful group - and will continue being a successful group. No question in my mind. But for me to carry on with them...eehhh...I don't think would've been possible. Me making this record. But even before I made this record, I knew I wanted to something that was different. And I couldn't do something that was this different, and then go back to playing the same stuff with Iron Maiden. It would be like acting. I would feel like a fake.

TM: Maybe it would destroy "Balls To Picasso"?!

BD: Unquestionably! Maiden is such a strong identity - which is part of the appeal, but also part of the problem. It stays the same. I've been doing this for 12 years, it's time I did something different. The other guys were really happy just staying with Iron Maiden. I have no problems with them at all. I don't wish to say anything bad about the time I was in Maiden, at all.

TM: Do you know anything about the new Maiden material? Have you heard anything?

BD: No. Not really made any enquiries, you know. I'll wait until the album comes out. Same as everybody else.

TM: But now your totally free to do what you want. Isn't that a bit scary sometimes?

BD: Sure. It's always scary when you literally grab hold of your whole life and turn it around. You don't know if people will accept it. Yeah, sure I was. Still am.

TM: "Balls To Picasso" is a very personal album, isn't it?

BD: Yes, it's pretty fundamental. And for that reason - if everyone rejected it and said "This is a piece of shit!" - it would undoubtedly had been the end for me.

TM: As you said, you recorded 3 albums before you were safisfied with this final record. Are you very critical?

BD: Very critical! There were times in Maiden where I guess we were less critical, because there was this feeling; we are Iron Maiden, and whatever we do it's Iron Maiden - so it must be good. It was good most of the time, but sometimes I think it could have been better. Especially on the production side of things.

TM: You have many caps. You are a musician, you are a writer of books, you've done a bit of acting and you also got kids and a family. How do you find time for your family when you're on tour?

BD: Well, it is very difficult. You can't do all those activities all at once. At the moment it's just; get up in the morning, first thing is a cup of coffee, next thing is sound check, then interviews and then the gig. And that's all I really think about at the moment. And in the evening we maybe sit down, drink a few beers, watch a movie, go to sleep and drive to Stockholm. That is my life until Christmas. I'm on tour - that's it really!

TM: You've been to the States for some months. How was response over there compared to Europe.

BD: The States were very good. Very good. In Europe it's totally different to any other record I had, course the record company in all the bigger countries, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, they realised that this is just not a record for Iron Maiden fans. It's for the new fans. So there attitude is much more calm. You know, with Maiden stuff, everything gets sold in 3 weeks. The album comes out and everyone instantly go out and buy it - and then it stops - and it was the same with "Tattooed Millionaire". But with "Balls To Picasso" - we sold half as many copies in the first month as "Tattooed Millionaire", but it carried on selling. So it's selling constantly now in all the territories in Europe. Which means, it's word of mouth, people are discovering it.

BD: I'm not in a major hurry. We got the tour going now, and a second single is coming out; "Shoot All The Clowns". And there's lots of b-sides I’m giving out, which is stuff from the Keith Olsen album I did. So it's a really nice package we're releasing. And the more people hear the more press, you know! It's going to filter through. It's a mistake to be in too much of a crazy hurry and to get paranoid. 'Cause if you got something you believe in that is really good, it's worth taking a little time.

TM: Was that one of the problems in Iron Maiden?

BD: In Maiden we did album/tour, album/tour, album/tour (snaps fingers) like that over and over again. Maiden didn't wanna sell albums to anyone else. They were quite happy selling records to the same people over and over again. But those people were gettin' less and less and less. Especially in America. What I do now is something a lot of people can get into. What I do live, is QUITE different to Iron Maiden. We do a lot of jamming, lots of spontaneous stuff. It's not the same every night. Every single night is different.

TM: To change the subject completely. What do you think about the football World Cup this summer (1994)?

BD: To be honest - I didn't give a shit!! I was in America during it. But best match I think was, hmmm, Bulgaria against Italy. Semi-finals. I really wanted Bulgaria to win.

TM: Neither Denmark or England were participating.

BD: Ooh, yeah. England doesn't deserve shit. I'm not a big expert. But England and all this bullshit how we won the war and how we beat the Germans, we did this and did that - and then we didn't even fucking qualify. So symptomatic to a lot of bullshit that goes on in England, I’m not particular proud of. There's lots of good things too, but its all about the war and tabloid newspapers.

TM: In music, don't you think people should focus more on the actual music in stead of rumours and tabloid news?

BD: Yes, definitely. The important thing is to have a good attitude to what you're doing and be honest about it. And then you just have to surrender to people who wants to buy the records.

TM: Are you gonna use the same musicians when you will make a follow up to "Balls To Picasso"?

BD: No, I’m gonna use the band I got with me on tour now. The Scottish, the Italian and the Welsh man.

TM: OK, Bruce, thanks for the interview.

Bruce Dickinson played a concert that evening at Pumpehuset in Copenhagen.

JANICK GERS
The X Factour - 02.11.1995 - Palace Hotel - Copenhagen

JG: Right, ask away!!

TM: The departure of Bruce Dickinson was kind of an end of an era, you could say. But then "The X Factor" is definitely the beginning of a new. It sounds like the darkest album you've made so far. Does the dark sound has anything to do with the way Blaze contributed to the song writing?

JG: I think it has more to do with how everyone is feeling - if you look around what's happening in Europe at the moment. Well, we've been off for a year, found Blaze, and then started on the album. And it does deal with lots of aspects of the dark side of human nature. The track "2 A.M." is basically about life and dealing with the daily aspect of life. There is a lot of stuff about war as well on this album, "Fortunes of War", "The Aftermath" and a couple of other songs. But it's not really about war - it's more about what war does to people. It's a bit deeper than war. It is questioning the reason for war and what happens afterwards with people. "Man On The Edge" is about urban decay. A man on the edge of society and a man on the edge falling down.

TM: Was there something you could write about in the 80's but not in the 90's?

JG: Uuhhmm. I wouldn't know, I wasn't in the band in the 80's. he he he. I was with Ian Gillan for a couple of years and then Fish for a while. Then teamed up with Bruce around 1989 for his solo stuff. I was actually with Paul Di'anno for a while too (Gogmagog). But the reason I've been involved in these things is sort of the same attitude Maiden had too. We do what we do, and if you don't like it - sod you, really. There isn't a compromise. It's always been hard rock or hard edged rock I've been doing. It also had to have a groove and a good feeling about it. I'm not really into that whole avantgarde metal, death metal side of it, 'cause it lacks melody for me. And the essence of a song for me is melody. I can't really find it in that hardcore kind of metal. It's a bit like the grunge I hear now a days. Some of it is great, but some of it is just trendy crap. If you hear Nirvana and "Smells like teen spirit", that's not grunge to me, that's Cream's "White Room" putted into the 90's. And it sounds great, it's rock to me, not grunge or metal or any other thing. It's just rock n' roll. Good music.

TM: When Bruce left, some thought that would have been the end.

JG: Yeah, sure, I was shocked as well when he left. I was in India on holiday - and I couldn’t believe it. I got a phone call from home. On the Fear of the Dark Tour we felt we were really cookin'. He had gone to America for a while and got involved with some people there. I think he wanted to go more commercial, and less heavy, less hard. But he changes his mind like the wind. But whatever he does, I wish him the best. I enjoyed "Tattooed Millionaire", and if it had sold 10 million copies Bruce would have carried on doin' that type of stuff. To me I’m not bothered about album sales. Obviously, instinctively you wanna sell records, but the bottom line is, if you enjoy it, and you wanna do it - and if you really like what you're doing then it shouldn't really matter. I'm not gonna write a pop-single so we can sell 16 million albums, I really don't wanna do that. Maybe Bruce wanted to do that, maybe he wanted that kind of "the big album" you know.

TM: Tell some more about "The X Factor".

JG: I think it's a really mature album. It's Iron Maiden in 1995, and we've done an album we feel really strong about. Going back 10 years I don't think we could have done this album. Couldn't have done a track like "2 A.M.". Even a few years ago we did a track called "Wasting Love" which was a big departure from what we've done before. And now we bring in stuff like "The Aftermath", which is really build on a groove. The distinctive sound of Iron Maiden is still there. Blaze has come in - he's hungry, he's aggressive, he's got this sort of evil persona. He's kind of Jack Nicholson on acid without the act you know (laughing). He believes in it. Something, I think, Bruce at the very end, didn't believe in anymore on the last tour. And you can tell in the performance. I'm not knocking Bruce, he just didn't wanna be there anymore. He kind of came, finished that tour, then left. So we got someone in the band now that loves doing it, and you can feel that on stage. And stuff on the album like Steve's track "Sign of the Cross", which is a definitive Iron Maiden song. It's 11 minutes long which is unheard of in these times. It's got everything in there; movements, thematic, cross melodies. I was really proud when we finished that. It took a lot of doing to get that track together. And to be honest we didn't think it would work live, but it worked really good.

TM: How much of the album did you bring out on tour?

JG: I wanted to do more, but we do about 7 tracks I think. 7 or 8 in the set. We try to keep the set just under 2 hours, which we think is enough for us to do. And we try to bring in all the new stuff we can. If you bring in too much, you're not giving the kids what they want, as they want to hear some of the old stuff too, of course. And you don't wanna bring out too much of the old stuff either, because then you become a cabaret band. So we go out and try to play a good chunk of what we do. Because that's where we are now, we got a new singer, got a new album which we are really proud of.

TM: You started the tour in Jerusalem in Israel. That was Blaze's first gig.

JG: Yeah, that's true. It was amazing. Fantastic vibe. The kids out-there were great. We did 3 gigs in Israel. We filmed a video for Top of The Pops down there as well on the Masada Mountain. We did a gig the night before, and then drove for 4 hours. We got there about 5 in the morning. We got all the gear up on this mountain. And we had a helicopter filming. We started filming about 9 o'clock in the morning and finished about 4 hours later. The sun was just so hard and we were all dehydrated and everything. Then 4 hour drive back to the hotel before we flew out to the next gig in South Africa. No sleep. But it was great, the video looked great. It was shown on TOTP to promote the "Man On The Edge" single. Brilliant.

TM: Are there plans for another single?

JG: Not at the moment. We are not too bothered about singles really. We chose "Man On The Edge" as it is sort of in-your-face. We wanted it to sort of say "we're Iron Maiden - like it or not". You could say it is the least complicated song on the album, but still not really the kind of commercial single you know from other bands.

Now a staff member of EMI comes into the room and asks us to end. Janick writes an autograph on my X Factor CD and some vinyl records. In the meantime Dave Murray has also entered the room with a couple of Danish journalists. Even though he is busy eating Burger King take-away, he is kind enough to sign a few autographs as well. Dave is known for his eternal smile, which he was "wearing" today as always!

That evening Iron Maiden played at the KB-Hallen in Copenhagen

My own photo of Janick Gers, Palace Hotel, Copenhagen 02.11.1995

BRUCE DICKINSON
Skunkworks - 21.01.1996 - Phone interview

Bruce is in a hotel in Milan. I'm at the TJECK Magazine office in Copenhagen.

TM: Hello Bruce. Nice to speak to you. Unfortunately, I haven't heard any of your new material yet as the record company failed to send me a tape of your upcoming album in time.

BD: Ooh, shit!

TM: Yeah, I was supposed to get it yesterday. So please tell me what you are up to in 1996.

BD: We made the album last year. And it's the same band as on the live album (Alive In Studio A - red.). It's the band I've been with since...uhhm... really since "Balls To Picasso" came out. Same guys. I wrote all the songs with Alex Dickson, who plays guitar. So it's sort of a band album. Much heavier sound and much more modern sound than "Balls To Picasso". It was produced by Jack Endino, who was the house producer for SubPop. Lots of people were surprised and said "what is this going to sound like" etc. And the actual fact is that it sounds really heavy. Great guitar sound, really slammin' drums. The album's got 14 songs on it, and the longest one is only about 5 minutes. Shortest one about 2 minutes. And the 5 minute one sounds almost like an epic as it is so much longer than everything else. Most of the songs are between 3 and 4 minutes. There's no really obvious commercial single on it. And we don't really give a shit about that. This is a REAL album - it's a body of work.

TM: Sounds great. So what is the name of the album?

BD: "Skunkworks". It's named after the Lockheed Advance Development Corporation that built all these spy planes and amazing pieces of technology in America. And they are called the Lockheed Skunkworks. So we thought...hhmm..if we can make records as they make aeroplanes...he he he!

TM: So will it be "Bruce Dickinson" on the front sleeve or will it be a band name?

BD: It's gonna be "Bruce Dickinson", for reasons of just purely practical reasons. Otherwise nobody would know what the hell it was. But I think we will gradually change the name over the next couple of albums. Change it into a band name. And the name of the band is probably going to be Skunkworks.

TM: When is the album coming out?

BD: February 26th 1996. We will be touring as well. Starting off this year with Helloween through the end of April 'til the beginning of June. That's in Scandinavia, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain and France. This tour with Helloween is a co-headline tour - and after that we will do a headline tour in the UK. After that we shoot off to Japan and after that I guess America and back to Europe. We will be working throughout the whole year basically.

TM: It's going to be a busy year.

BD: Yes. But this is way, way the best album I've done in a long, long time. This album is going to blow people's minds.

TM: What has the response been to the live album "Alive In Studio A", which you released last year?

BD: Actually, it's been fantastic. I didn't expect it to sell that many copies. Because it's a live album we didn't wanna make a big fuss about it. It was more to let people know off the new band and everything. But we sold 100.000 copies. I was like "Jesus" - I would have been happy with half of that. Because for a studio album I would normally sell in Europe around 300-400.000 copies. So I was just amazed how well this live album did.

TM: Do you know how many copies "Balls To Picasso" sold?

BD: In Europe it did about 300.000. Japan about 40-50.000 and in America it did about 150.000. About half a million in total.

BD: But I think what was lacking on "Balls To Picasso" was a band. To get a band sound, you know! This new album is much more a band thing.

TM: On "Alive In Studio A" it sounds like the band is jammin' a lot.

BD: Yeah, that's right. The whole essence of what we were doing was, basically, as a band we were playing somebody elses songs. I know it's my songs, but as a band thing we had to sort of costumize them a bit. So I'm very exited about this year. It's gonna be great playing this new material to people and see their reactions.

TM: Are you satisfied with the record company that released the live album and are releasing this new album?

BD: Yes. They just got a great attitude. The main thing is that it seems they like rock music (laughing). If you are with a big corporation like EMI it's like; one week they sell The Beatles, next week Bruce Dickinson and the next it's Cliff Richard. So there is no way they are gonna sort of love and support a particular kind of music. With my new record company they are more enthusiastic. And if the bigger corporation doesn't sell a million albums or something, they are like; "how are we going to make any money of this guy at all". It was different with Iron Maiden, because EMI makes a lot of money selling back catalogue albums.

TM: I know it's not really relevant to your career, but Iron Maiden has just released a new album (The X Factor - red.) Can I get your quote on that?

BD: He he, all right. As far as they're concerned, Maiden is doing a really good job just continuing doing what they always done. And live they are a terrific band and I'm sure they are enjoying their current success. I wish them luck.

TM: OK, thank you Bruce. I will write an article for the March issue of the magazine. Can't wait to hear the album. Hope to see you on Danish ground soon.

BD: Yeah, I hope at the end of April.

TM: Thanx, bye bye.

BD: Bye, bye.....

My review of The X Factor for TJECK Magazine, October 1995

English translation

When the new wave of British heavy metal broke through in 1980, it was bands like Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Saxon and not to mention the biggest of them all, Iron Maiden, who were leading the crusade. When Maiden's third album The Number Of The Beast came out in 1982 nobody was doubting what this was all about. It was non-comprimising and melodic heavy metal which through many, many years took Maiden from stadium to stadium - from one corner of the world to another, everytime with a monster of an album on their backs.
The X Factor is the tenth and is the first album with new singer Blaze Bayley, who took over after Bruce Dickinson chose a solo career. Bruce was the man who gave Iron Maiden the kick they got when he debuted on The Number Of The Beast. But this is 1995, and Maiden has not only made their longest album (70 min.) but also their darkest. The tracks are heavy and moody with lots of different experimental elements not heard before. In many ways, the album seems too long, and if some songs were edited or even cut out, The X Factor could be one of the strongest albums of the nineties.
Blaze does an OK job, but doesn't have the class Bruce possesses. But who has? Iron Maiden are phenomenal musicians, and in no way is it over for the greatest heavy metal band ever.

Rated 3 out of 5

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