Blaze Bayley
Moderator: The Killer Krew
On muuten hyviä levyjä nuo Blazen Silicon Messiah ja Tenth Dimension.
Vasta viikon verran tullut kuunneltua, pikkasen myöhään tuli näihinkin viimein törmättyä mutta eipä tuo haittaa. Hyvä ääni todellla ja kuulemma lavalla karismaattinen esiintyjä, huomennahan sen näkee sitten!
Vasta viikon verran tullut kuunneltua, pikkasen myöhään tuli näihinkin viimein törmättyä mutta eipä tuo haittaa. Hyvä ääni todellla ja kuulemma lavalla karismaattinen esiintyjä, huomennahan sen näkee sitten!
"You see, pal: Elvis can't read a contract. All he knows is: No Ferrari, no rides with the top down." - James "Sonny" Crockett
MaidenNorway tarjoaa haastista:
http://www.maidennorway.com/index.php/B ... -2008.html
Blaze Bayley interview March 30th 2008
Written by Frode Kilvik
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
The day after Cliveaid Bergen 2008, we managed to sneak in the time for an interview with the headliner from the night before, Mr. Blaze Bayley. Throughout the interview, Blaze talks about his career prior to Iron Maiden, how he got into the band and his time as part of the World's greatest Metal legacy, and how it's been for him in the latter years as well as his plans for the future.
MaidenNorway: So Blaze, let’s start with some Wolfsbane questions. Wolfsbane supported Iron Maiden in 1990, and did you ever in your wildest dream imagine that you would be fronting Iron Maiden?`
Blaze Bayley: No. No, but I did front Iron Maiden while I was in Wolfsbane, at Hammersmith Odeon, ehm, we all used to go on and sing Heaven Can Wait in the bit where Bruce get the crowd to sing on Heaven Can Wait, and I always used to try and get the mic of Bruce, and the last gig on the tour was in Hammersmith Odeon, and Bruce was on stage and he was doing Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter on that tour, and a really long intro to get the crowd going, so anyway, as he is trying to get the crowd going, I went on to get the mic of him, and in the end of that part of the tour he wasn’t really bothered, he just gave me the mic. So then I was standing on stage in the middle of Iron Maiden singing Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter [singing], ahh it was fantastic. So I had a little taste of it, but I never imagined that I would be the real frontman for Iron Maiden. It was a dream come true.
MaidenNorway: So, you think there will be any more Wolfsbane reunions?
Blaze Bayley: Ehh, probably, ehh, we’ve left it open, I mean it was a… It was a lot of years since the break up, and when we got back together just to do a little show in Tamworth. We played about six songs together just to.. Just as a bit of a jam after my own set. It went so well that we… just had a lot of fun. And then we were offered the Wildhearts tour just through the UK. And that was five really big sold out shows. And it was just great fun. So we’re all doing different things, and committed to different things, but we’ve kind of just.. We’ve.. At the end of the tour we just said “Well, we’ll leave it open”. If anything comes up again like this, and we are all free, and nothing else is going on then we probably do it. Ehm, but the main focus is the Blaze Bayley band.
MaidenNorway: Yeah, but you don’t think there will be more albums?
Blaze Bayley: I wouldn’t say never, but there’s no plans for any Wolfsbane albums. Because… It’s from a different time, I wouldn’t say never because, you know, ehm hopefully then the Blaze band will be big enough, that we will be able to take little brakes, but at the moment we’re just planning to keep touring. Touring as much as we can, play everywhere, you know, we don’t care if it’s at the Inside bar or the Garage or…
MaidenNorway: Or in Krakóws’ rehearsal studio…
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, wherever it is, if we can afford to get there and fans are coming to see us, ehm, you know, that’s the most important thing to us, just to get the opportunity to play in front of real metal heads. That’s all we want really. And I never had that chance before.
MaidenNorway: So did Wolfsbane end before you tried out for Maiden, or were you still in Wolfsbane when you…
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, I just got a, just got a call towards the end of Wolfsbane, I remember I got a call “We’d like you to” or “Would you like to have an audition”, because ehh, probably the only person who didn’t have to send the tape in. And I gave them the record, I gave them my albums when I was on tour with them. So they already had my albums. And they knew what I was like, jumping about, going crazy, so they said would you like an audition, and I said yeah, and they told me which songs would gonna be on the audition, and you have to learn ten songs. Ehh, which are the classics that are normally in the set. And that was it. We had two auditions, so the first one we went down to the rehearsal room, and we were in the Iron Maiden rehearsal room, with the band, and the second was in the studio, we had to do some singing in the studio to, so that they could see you were good enough to be in the studio as well.
Blaze Bayley: Well, ehh, Steve phone me up, he said “you got to come down to have a meeting with Rod”, he didn’t say I’ve got it or nothing. And then I went down to Steve’s house and Rod was there, and then he says “Congratulations, you’re in the band”. I was like, oh okay. So actually I signed up and joined ehm, I think it was the 23rd of December 1993. And I went out and I bought two things. I bought myself a cordless phone for the house, and the second thing I bought; a crate of Guinness. [laughing] And that was it, so, absolutely broke, at the time I was penniless had absolutely nothing, I had to borrow money to get the petrol and I had to borrow somebody’s car to get to the audition. So I had nothing, absolutely nothing, so I was like “yeah, I just bought a big 24-pack of Guinness, yeah that will get me through Christmas”. So it was the best Christmas present you can have I suppose.
MaidenNorway: But some Maiden fans were not pleased when Bruce left and you joined, how did the fans treat you?
Blaze Bayley: Well the fans I’ve met, were absolutely fantastic. You know, I had so much support and encouragement from most of the Maiden fans. I think most people just wanted me to do well, I was the new guy, and I think the people who been there historically, ehh, you know, they knew about Paul Di’Anno, the change with Paul Di’Anno, they knew about the change with Clive and stuck by that. So they knew about the problems about, you know, that were in the band, ehh, at the time when Bruce left. So most fans, especially as time went on, and all these things came out in the press about the bad things that Bruce said about Iron Maiden at the time. Then most of the fans gave me lot of support and encouragement and wherever I went I was really treated really, really well. And I was given a lot of support by the fans, so I have to be grateful for it, you know, will always be grateful for that. The only downside of it to me I suppose was, because the band was so big, ehh, and the schedule for the X-Factour was so tough, that a lot of times there were no signings. So I, I like to meet the fans and sign and, you know, say hello, and stuff like that. But Maiden are so big and the schedule is that tough, that a lot of times there just.. You can’t sign after the show, you’re basically off to somewhere else and on the way to the next show, and then you’re not gonna make it unless you leave on time, so that was.. That was a thing that I didn’t enjoy about it, because I didn’t get to meet as many fans and sign and do that as I would have liked, but the support and encouragement I got from the fans was absolutely incredible.
MaidenNorway: But still some fans, like in a youtube video where you guys were playing The Trooper, and I think somebody spat at you or something, cause you and Steve got really, really pissed off. And that shows how tight the band is, the whole band is like “what the fuck is going on”.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, well, what happened was… there is a full DVD somewhere…
MaidenNorway: Bootleg from Chile.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, Chilean television came, and they taped it and then they put it out. It was the first time that Maiden ever been to Chile, they had been stopped going there by the Arch Bishop of Chile before, because, you know, this ridiculous devil worship…
MaidenNorway: Yeah we all know that Steve is a devil worshiper don’t we [laughing]
Blaze Bayley: Yeah [laughing], I mean, it’s absolutely… yeah, he’s got six children and he eats them. [laughing] Yes of course, and sacrifices them to his dogs.. So, it was the first time Maiden had been there, but since Maiden were banned from Chile, then Metallica, Black Sabbath, a lot of the other mainstream bands had been there, so Maiden going to Chile was, I mean, you know, forgive me my religious….But it was really like the Messiah coming, it was like the coming of Messiah, so we went there.. We had to run out of the airport, because there were so many fans, there were no security arranged or anything, and the fans was just like these, there must have been at least 1000 fans at the airport, we had to run to get to the van, cause you wanted to start signing, and then it was like “rrrsshhhh”. They knew what time the flight was, what time we, cause everybody had been waiting for so long, everybody were waiting and waiting and waiting, and they couldn’t actually believe that Maiden were going in there with them, it was ahh, incredible. The expectation was incredible. They followed to the hotel, there about 500 fans outside the hotel, and all of this business, it was absolutely crazy. And we had big police escort to the gig, it was something like 12 motorcycles going a long side to and lot of police to get us through the crowd, absolutely insane.
We got there, and it was 20000 people theatre, right, which is like a big theatre with five balconies going up. So even it was 20000 people, everybody was close, giant theatre, and we had Heroes To Silentio supporting us on some of that South American dates. And the tour manager came up to the dressing room, and there was a lot of interviews we had to do and, and she said “Right, well you’re gonna be on in 45 minutes. Okay? 45 minutes everybody.” And I was, yeah okay, we’ll do this interview stuff like that. Five minutes later, the tour manager comes back, “you’re on in 5 minutes!” And I was like “what’s happened?” She said “well the support band have been bottled off.” I was “what you mean?” So apparently, for the first part of the first song the poor singer from Heroes To Silentio stood there like this [Blaze covers his face with his hands], dodging bottles. The second part of the song they caught him, and then the last part of the song he was like this [Blaze turns his back to us and crouches][everybody laughing]. And that was it, we had to go on. Because people had waited so long to see Iron Maiden, they didn’t give a shit about the support band, they didn’t care nothing for that. All they wanted to see was Iron Maiden. And, so we went down, the lights went down, and it was one of the loudest things you’ve heard. When you hear that crowd, you know it’s a big concert, and it is not often you hear it. It’s like “aaaaaahhhh” [Blaze making crowd noises, and everbody starts laughing]. It was incredible man, absolutely incredible. And you had 20000 people there like “aaaaahhhh”, it was like being in the Beatles or something, fantastic, and then…
We’re going through the set, and it’s going pretty good, and you know, doing our best and everything. And everytime we go to that side, there’s like 5 or 6 people spitting. And they’re spitting right in front of Dave Murray, so Dave was kind of dodging, just stepping back towards his amp. And then, what happen is whenever Janick goes over there they’re spitting, so it’s just this small group of people, and what was starting to annoying me then was well, we’re here, there were 20000 hardcore metal fans there who absolutely love this band, and these 5 people are stopping us from doing our show. So who the fuck are those 5 people? They’re not real fans. Who the fuck are they, they’re spitting at the band that everybody is waiting for, for these amount of time. I mean, I’m not gonna off stage because somebody is spitting on me, but I’m not gonna stand someone spitting. Because, you know, you can catch all kinds of diseases, it’s really rude as well, and what? You’re just gonna stand back by the drums and sing from there? And not give the fans your absolute best? So, we came to the end of The Trooper, I saw where they were, and in the end of The Trooper, I said, you know, okay, it’s real, this room got 20000 people in it, there are 5 people over here who are spitting on the band, they don’t want to see Iron Maiden, there are people up there on the balconies who have paid money and would give their fucking right arm to be where these people are. And they wouldn’t be spitting. These people are stopping us from doing the best show that we can. So I said, fuck it, get them out of the room. And they did, so… They were ejected from the room. That was it. But, that was it, I mean, we weren’t gonna leave the stage, ehh, and that was it you know. I’m a crazy man when I’m on stage anyway, so I was ready to take them on. You know, ready to dive off, fucking go “eewwrg” [Blaze raising fists][everybody laughing]. Yeah, I was ready, I was ready because I felt that passionate about the music. And the fans you know. I absolutely hate that, hate that that someone is spoiling the gig for other people, you know, who’d love to be down the front row. So anyway, that was what it was about. But you only ever see that little tiny clip on youtube. Which is a little bit of “aaarg”. You don’t see 20000 people goes “yeah go Blaze, you fucking tell them, yeah”. And you don’t see the fans around them go “Fucker, you fuck off!” And the security go “You fucking out!” And you don’t see the gig starting again and everybody goes “yyyeah!”
MaidenNorway: No it’s only you and Steve like what the fuck…
Blaze Bayley: Yeah [laughing] So, the clip is not the whole story, so I got this reputation “ohh, he hates the fans” [laughing]. I only hate the ones that spit on us.
MaidenNorway: Obviously, so yeah, how are the Maiden fans treating you today?
Blaze Bayley: Well, pretty good, the ones that know about me. But, the main thing is, not a lot of the Maiden fans from my era, know anything about my solo albums. So, even though they know Blaze Bayley was a part of Iron Maiden, and a lot of fans now, that maybe didn’t enjoy The X Factor because they couldn’t take the difference in the vocals, there is such a big change between Bruce and me, it’s totally different styles of singing. A lot of people are going back now, to The X Factor, and Virtual XI, and enjoying them without that emotional context of it’s new and it’s all I’ve got. Now it’s like oh got that other Maiden album, and I like to go back, cause I never gave them a chance. So we getting a lot of interest from that, but to be honest, not many of Maiden fans from my era know that much about my own projects, you know, a few of the know about Silicon Messiah, but they don’t know about anything else. And a lot of them have never heard the music. So yeah, the ones that do know about me more or less, people who hear my band and hear some of my work, then they go “bloody hell yeah I like it”. Well there’s another band who are like Maiden, with those values, interesting lyrics, melodies, interesting arrangements, and all of that. There is another band that I can like, that has those values. Ahh, true Metal and Heavy Metal. But not many people know about me, so that is what we’re trying to do over the next couple of years, play places like the Garage, and go anywhere with drumsticks and guitars. In the end that is everything that I wanted to do, when I left Iron Maiden, basically all I wanted to do I thought, well, I’ve got a huge catalogue of songs, two albums with Iron Maiden, five albums with Wolfsbane, I thought I’ll just get a band together, and show the fans that this guy who was on these huge stages playing in front of you know, 3000, 10000 people every night across Europe. Actually you come and see me, and you could see why I’m doing it. T’s because I love it. It’s because it’s the only thing I can do because it’s my whole purpose and reason for living since I was 19. So ehh, that was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t have a good management at the time, I didn’t have a good record deal, a lots of things weren’t right. So it never happened. But I always thought that was the best way to do it, exactly like we started in Wolfsbane, I thought well, bands must still be able to make it by going out and playing live. You know, being really good. If tribute bands can go and get work, then why can’t we go out and get work? Playing our own original material, and we have a name as well, so, but nobody before would support me on that. But now we have a really good manager, who shares that vision. The whole band is committed to get out and play wherever we can, we will go there. As long as we can afford to get there, we’ll get there. And that’s a real difference.
MaidenNorway: The X Factor is by many Maiden fans today guarded as one of the best Iron Maiden albums. What do you think about The X Factor and Virtual XI?
Blaze Bayley: I think it’s a really good album, so much great music on The X Factor, one of the things that made it difficult for people to listen to it at the start was the sound is really different from the classic albums, even though I didn’t like the sound on No Prayer For The Dying, it did still have some relation to what went before, but the sound on The X Factor, is a lot different. It’s not a bright sound and I think it’s quite… It’s an album that takes a lot to get used to the sound, before you can actual start getting the access to the real emotion of the songs. And that was a lot of real darkness, of dark emotion that is expressed, and so I think that’s the reason that people didn’t take to it straight away. It’s a huge album, there is so much music on it, and so much emotions, but, you know, that’s something I’m totally proud of, and all of the writing process, and the recording and everything. A lot of hard work, it took a lot of time to make. And I just, you know, I can look at an album that sold over 1 million copies worldwide, had a top ten single that I wrote in the UK, and go, that’s it you know. I don’t need anybody to tell me I’m good, I don’t need to prove anything to anybody, I know I’m good, because that’s me and that’s.. I’ve done it, so… You know, I don’t have to prove myself to anybody at all, because yeah I’m on The X Factor, I was there, I did the tour, I did the album, so yeah, it’s something that I’m really really proud of. And that’s why I try to play from that album and from Virtual XI. Every time that we go out on different parts of the tour, we bring something from those albums, that maybe the fans haven’t heard with Maiden. And they haven’t heard from me. There is a lot of songs that never got played so, that’s why we did Judgement Of Heaven, at the Big Bash last year, and we’re gonna do Edge Of Darkness this year, and maybe another couple.
MaidenNorway: So, was there any tension in the band when you fronted it? Like Steve and Bruce had their thing.
Blaze Bayley: I don’t think so. I don’t think I was in there long enough to have any tension really. You know, everybody was working so hard, and the tours were long, and a lot to do, it wasn’t really any tension that I, that I you know, always worked really well with Steve and have a lot of respect for him, I’ve learned a lot, ehm, writing with him, and so..
MaidenNorway: We’ve read somewhere that you and Nicko didn’t get along at the end..
Blaze Bayley: Ehhm, well, I can’t ever think of a time when I didn’t get along with Nicko, maybe Nicko got pissed off with me, and I didn’t know about it or something. He might have get fed up. But no, not really. Got on with everybody I think, you know, Nicko wasn’t part of the writing process really, so I wasn’t as close to him as I was to Steve or Janick.
MaidenNorway: Is it true that some of the songs on Brave New World was written during Virtual XI?
Blaze Bayley: Yes, it is true.
MaidenNorway: You remember any of the songs?
Blaze Bayley: I don’t really want to say. [laughing]
MaidenNorway: That’s fair. So, Iron Maiden has some of the best fans in the world, do you know why?
Blaze Bayley: Yes, because it is… From the start it is true to itself, and its own thing. It is not tainted by the commercial compromise, it is commercial because it is what it is. It is its own identity, and I think that one of the things I really loved when I joined the band was, I knew why Iron Maiden were huge, I knew why people loved Iron Maiden and that was because Iron Maiden always stayed true to that path, whether they’d, you know, they always stayed true to that path. And they always have very high standards, so it’s like there is only a couple of bands that are living legends, one is Kiss, one is Iron Maiden. I knew as a fan of both of those bands, that once you been a part of that band you’ll always be remembered for that. You can’t get away from it, so, I went in knowing that, so I embraced it, and I think that was something that was very difficult for Bruce Dickinson, was to go in there and leave Iron Maiden, and still be like you’re a part of this legend. But for me to go in there, I will have a legacy. And that will be it, it is what people will always remember you from Iron Maiden. I was a fan of the band before, I loved being in the band, I loved you know, touring and everything, it was no problem, it was something I really enjoyed. So, I don’t mind being an ex-singer of Iron Maiden, it’s better than being the ex-singer of A-ha [everybody laughing].
MaidenNorway: What is the story behind you leaving, and suddenly Bruce was back.
Blaze Bayley: Ehm, I think it was a business decision, I can’t say to many details about it, but I think there was a worldwide slump in cd sales overall. Then I think somebody at EMI was panicking, and there was a Black Sabbath reunion, there was a Deep Purple reunion and there was another couple of reunions, and they’d all done very well, and I think somebody somewhere went “ok, the way to boost the band up, is to have a reunion”. And so, I think that was what happened, I think it was a business decision.
MaidenNorway: And you were cool with it?
Blaze BayleyBlaze Bayley: No, I was bitterly disappointed. Really, I mean just bitterly disappointed. Gutted. You know, it almost killed me. But the thing that was in my heart all the time was, well as long as Iron Maiden carry on, that’s the most important thing. Not that I’m in the band, but the band carry on. However they carry on, there must be an Iron Maiden. There has to be, because I’m a fan first, so even though I had this fantastic adventure, and then this horrific wound, then it still was well, Iron Maiden must continue, whether I’m a part of it or not. And as the weeks go by, and you start writing your next thing, your own material, then I realized how much I’d learned, and how much I’d changed as a vocalist, and as a person, how much I’d learned about my voice, and song writing, and everything. Even though I had this torment and all of that, well suddenly you’re in a band, you know you gonna make an album, you know you gonna go on tour, you know you gonna make another album, everything I ever wanted. When I started writing, I realized I had a totally new confidence in myself than I ever had before. That was what I really got from Iron Maiden, the confidence that I know when I’m writing an idea, I know if it’s good. And I know I am good enough, because I written with the best people in the world. So that’s it. People have respect for ideas I came up with, that’s the most incredible gift really, that you could possible have. The confidence and the imagination and to learn how to take your ideas from your imagination, and get them to sound something like that on your cd. That is an incredible gift, and I never had that before. So I have to thank Steve Harris and the guys in Iron Maiden for that.
MaidenNorway: You still have any contact with the band?
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, we.. Whenever they play in Birmingham we go to see them. Hopefully we’ll see them in Twickenham and Paris this year.
MaidenNorway: Would you do a show with Iron Maiden again if you got the chance?
Blaze Bayley: If it was the right circumstances, if it was like a special appearance.. My fantasy is a huge reunion show where you get the original singers to sing their songs.
MaidenNorway: And that is every Maiden fans dream, you Paul and Bruce..
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, you know, you can’t get Clive to come and do his part, but you know, the genuine vibe of it, and that would be great, because I think it is a big anniversary coming up in a couple of years, and it would be absolutely… It would be so much fun, not to join the band again or anything like that.. but
MaidenNorway: Do it for the fans.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, just to do it for them, I’d love to do that.
MaidenNorway: Because there is many new fans that didn’t have the chance to see you or Paul with Iron Maiden, and would love to see you sing The Clansman, Sign Of The Cross and things like that. So, what is your favourite Eddie?
Blaze Bayley: I think ehm, my favourite Eddie has got to be the original Eddie.
MaidenNorway: The punk one?
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, I mean I saw.. I was in the audience on the Somewhere in Time tour, and that Eddie was awesome. With the laser and everything. Fantastic. There was always problems the X-Factor Eddie, he wasn’t so stabile, I think really X-Factor Eddie didn’t have the confidence of some of the other Eddies. I remember we got to the last gig of The X-Factour, it was in France, think it might have been in Pope, or somewhere near to Pope. And Eddie.. it was Iron Maiden and Eddie comes out, I’m on the front going “yeah”, and then all fans are laughing? I thought it’s my trousers or something? What the fuck’s going on? [everybody laughing] On the front row, everybody is laughing. Normally you see everybody goes “aaarrr”, not laughing, so I was a bit freaked out. What the fuck’s going on? And nobody was looking at me, I thought “what’s happening?” And I looked around, and Eddie was being dragged off the stage by his feet [everybody laughing], Eddie had walked out like this [Blaze walking like a drunken sailor], and then he was aaaawwww [Blaze showing the fall of Eddie][everybody laughing]. Oh man, I was laughing, I started laughing I couldn’t sing, cause I was laughing so hard. It was so funny. I think he had the least confidence of all the Eddies [everybody laughing].
MaidenNorway: So, what is your favourite Maiden song?
Blaze Bayley: Hmm, that’s just too difficult. I mean there is so many, I mean all-time classics that are not even Maiden songs anymore. They are classic songs in the world of music. If you think about The Trooper, that is, I mean, it’s one of my favourites, and I did it in one unplugged show as well, because I need my own version of it because I love the song so much. And if you think about it like that, it doesn’t belong to Iron Maiden anymore, it belongs to the general metal fans now, because it’s such a huge song, and you don’t have to like Iron Maiden to like that song. You don’t have to own any Iron Maiden albums to know The Trooper, it’s a classic song of all time, and as much as We Will Rock You is a classic song by Queen, or Crazy Nights is a classic song by Kiss. It’s one of these songs that could actually live, so, there is all-time classics, but.. Not counting any of the songs I did, then I really like Wasted Years. And I’ve done that in my unplugged shows, and also when I was on tour with Doro, with the orchestra, they did a special arrangement for me, because I never got to sing that when I was in the band. And I always loved it, the melody, everything, but we never did it, so I thought “well I’ll do it just for myself because I got the opportunity, fuck it I’ll do it”. There is so many, I mean Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, you know, sometimes I’ll put it on to a song, looking at the album, yeah this is a great song, there is a great song, there is so many great songs on Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. There is a lot of classics. But it is different to choose.
MaidenNorway:Has it been difficult for you as an artist after Maiden? When Maiden had their big reunion, they released that album the same week as yours.
Blaze Bayley: It’s only been difficult because poor management, and I’ve had… I didn’t have a good record deal. So, with those two things against you, that’s it. I had a great opportunity after Maiden, to bring out my album, before Maiden, and go on tour, do some shows, and show people what Blaze Bayley was all about. I never had that, it never happened. The manager I had at that time was really lazy and incompetent, and he couldn’t get the album released, and he couldn’t even book a tour. So I was in this crazy situation, where I had my album ready, artwork done, mixed, mastered, everything in December. And I spoke to the record company about releasing it before Maiden, and Rod Smallwood said to me, he said “if you can get your album out, before Maiden, there is a very good chance that you can capitalize of the fame you had with Iron Maiden, get a little bit of interesting, you know, you might be able to start doing it”. And Rod said to me, he said “I think you should be able to sell a certain amount of records and I think you can do well, and make a living, in Europe, you don’t have to sell millions, you don’t have to sell what Maiden sell, if you keep your costs low, you will be able to make a living”. So I thought that would happen. But the management I had at that time, the album came out of the same week as Brave New World, so if you’re a fan with not much money, you’re not going to check out the Blaze album. You gonna buy Brave New World and say “gonna get the Blaze album another time”, if you ever remember to get it. And the other thing is that it was not one single tour date booked to promote the album. I come from a background… the first thing I ever wanted to do was sing live. You know, so… and Maiden is a live band, I always been a live band with Wolfsbane, and that’s all I wanted to do, that is who I am. I’m a live singer who has to go to the studio to make a record, so I can go and sing it live. And it never happened. So I actually had… after I left Iron Maiden I had really no chance of any real lasting success. I’d just had no chance at all to get anywhere because of the circumstances. It was just a lot of problems, heartache, when you don’t have any money coming in, it is difficult to keep a band together. And all of that, it’s not what everybody expected. If you’re going to live this life, you got to be prepared that this is the life you’re going to live. Hell or high water. You know, rich or poor. You are living that life. You’re living it because you love metal, and you love to perform and write your own songs. But you don’t do it, it’s not for everybody, it’s not like “well, I can give up work, and then get paid for being in a metal band”. No. Any true great artists live for it, that’s it. That’s the only way that there is anything worth while in your music, it’s because it comes from pain, experience, passion of living for your music. And that is what I’ve done. So in the end of Blood And Belief I was just really in a bad place. I had a lot of problems with alcohol, severe depression, almost had a breakdown at the end of Tenth Dimension, fucked about by the record company, totally broke, I’d spend all my money of trying to keep the band together. I was absolutely fucked. I was just about keeping going, and then I met my wife. And she known me… we known each other for 18 years.[Debbie looks at him] 20 years [everybody laughing]. We were apart for years, because I follow this passion for music, and Debbie was following her passion, she was a dancer, and then she got her own hair business, and then we met again, when I was at my lowest. My wife found me, and really made me believe again, that it wasn’t all my fault, it wasn’t the fact that people didn’t like what I was doing, it was the fact that they didn’t actually know that I was doing anything at all. So, that was a big difference. So that’s it. She supported it, then I had incredible support from my family, my friends, and the fans who stuck by me was just incredible. With that kind of support, and with my wife, behind me, helping me sort myself out, get through my drinking problems, depression and all of that. Then it really started to happen. It was just instead of thinking of the next album, why don’t take the whole thing and go “right, if you’re gonna do it right from the start, how would you do it?” “Well, I would do exactly ehat I was supposed to do the first time when I left Iron Maiden. I would get a band together, write an album, get in a van, and go and play anyfuckingwhere.” And then I started to get in touch with people about playing in the band, I said what I wanted to do, and we’re gonna share everything. Absolutely everything. It’s Blaze Bayley, but we are a band. We share the writing, share the money, we share the fucking bills. Since then, since we had this line-up together, with these five people, it’s really really strong. We are all really positive about the future.
"I’m Blaze Bayley, this is my album"
- Blaze Bayley
MaidenNorway: Actually that comes through on stage as well. The new album which will be released in June, will it be released on your own label?
Blaze Bayley: Yeah. What happened was, I’m absolutely sick of the mainstream record companies, because… if you make an album, and lets say it’s worth £13, then only £1 goes to the artist, but out of that £1 you’re gonna make the album, and go on tour. So if a fan spend £13 on your album, you might end up not getting any of that, because you’re paying back, you borrowed the money from the record company to make the album. So you are permanently in a vicious cycle. Unless you are selling over 50 or 60 000 albums, you never gonna see any money come back, but there is loads of money coming from the album, you are just not seeing any. It goes to the record company. I just thought “this doesn’t make any sense”. Fuck it, we do it ourselves. And I thought, let’s see if we can get a distribution deal, and then the first person I got in touch with was Plastic Head in the UK, I think they do Nuclear Blast as well. And I said I’m Blaze Bayley, this is my album, I do my own record company, do you want to distribute it? And they said yeah. When you want to bring your album out? I’m like okey [laughing].
MaidenNorway: What can we expect from Blaze in the future?
Blaze Bayley: Ehm, well, hopefully we’ll get the album out eventually. We had a lot of unforeseen technical problems.
MaidenNorway: Yes, it is already delayed.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, it… that’s the thing, we could bring it out tomorrow, but then it would be poor quality, it has to be as good as Blood And Belief and Silicon Messiah. It has to be that good. Because otherwise I will not be able to live with it. It’s got my heart, my… inside my metal heart is the heart of a 13 year old fan. And that 13 year old fan, has to have that album. Fucking absolutely killer, he has to stand alongside all other blokes buying the albums, because it is the first one on my own label. So really, what people should expect from us is always 100%. Everything that we can give, all that we can possible do, we are little metal hearts, we are all fans in this band, we all think about what it’s like when we buy cds, about the joys and the disappointments. And that’s exactly it. There is nobody in between us and the fans. So, no one outside the band has any say whatsoever in the music, and that is exactly how it was in Iron Maiden. I think that’s a big reason for the success of Iron Maiden, and hopefully it will be a reason for the success of the Blaze Bayley band and the Blaze Bayley recordings. I really don’t believe that the mainstream record companies have any understanding of why metal bands make it. I don’t think they understand music at all. So at least with this record label, it’s by the artist, for the fans. That’s it.
MaidenNorway: What has been your greatest moment so far?
"A part of success is just to keep going. For me personally, my wife made that possible"
- Blaze Bayley
Blaze Bayley: I think getting married. You know… actually at the end of it, being in a place where… you know I come trough being on huge tours, playing the Monsters of Rock in front of 70 000 people, playing a couple of really small gigs with Iron Maiden, from all that, I suppose that some of the great things that happened when I played the Wacken Festival with my own band, and when I headlined with Doro on the Classic Diamonds. All that and the best of it is…. Sounds cheesy I know.. is getting married. Just getting married to my wife. And feeling like what we’re doing musically is right, and that’s it. A part of success is just to keep going. For me personally, my wife made that possible, to just keep going.
Interview created and conducted by Frode Kilvik and Pål Johansen of Maiden Norway. All rights reserved.
http://www.maidennorway.com/index.php/B ... -2008.html
Blaze Bayley interview March 30th 2008
Written by Frode Kilvik
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
The day after Cliveaid Bergen 2008, we managed to sneak in the time for an interview with the headliner from the night before, Mr. Blaze Bayley. Throughout the interview, Blaze talks about his career prior to Iron Maiden, how he got into the band and his time as part of the World's greatest Metal legacy, and how it's been for him in the latter years as well as his plans for the future.
MaidenNorway: So Blaze, let’s start with some Wolfsbane questions. Wolfsbane supported Iron Maiden in 1990, and did you ever in your wildest dream imagine that you would be fronting Iron Maiden?`
Blaze Bayley: No. No, but I did front Iron Maiden while I was in Wolfsbane, at Hammersmith Odeon, ehm, we all used to go on and sing Heaven Can Wait in the bit where Bruce get the crowd to sing on Heaven Can Wait, and I always used to try and get the mic of Bruce, and the last gig on the tour was in Hammersmith Odeon, and Bruce was on stage and he was doing Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter on that tour, and a really long intro to get the crowd going, so anyway, as he is trying to get the crowd going, I went on to get the mic of him, and in the end of that part of the tour he wasn’t really bothered, he just gave me the mic. So then I was standing on stage in the middle of Iron Maiden singing Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter [singing], ahh it was fantastic. So I had a little taste of it, but I never imagined that I would be the real frontman for Iron Maiden. It was a dream come true.
MaidenNorway: So, you think there will be any more Wolfsbane reunions?
Blaze Bayley: Ehh, probably, ehh, we’ve left it open, I mean it was a… It was a lot of years since the break up, and when we got back together just to do a little show in Tamworth. We played about six songs together just to.. Just as a bit of a jam after my own set. It went so well that we… just had a lot of fun. And then we were offered the Wildhearts tour just through the UK. And that was five really big sold out shows. And it was just great fun. So we’re all doing different things, and committed to different things, but we’ve kind of just.. We’ve.. At the end of the tour we just said “Well, we’ll leave it open”. If anything comes up again like this, and we are all free, and nothing else is going on then we probably do it. Ehm, but the main focus is the Blaze Bayley band.
MaidenNorway: Yeah, but you don’t think there will be more albums?
Blaze Bayley: I wouldn’t say never, but there’s no plans for any Wolfsbane albums. Because… It’s from a different time, I wouldn’t say never because, you know, ehm hopefully then the Blaze band will be big enough, that we will be able to take little brakes, but at the moment we’re just planning to keep touring. Touring as much as we can, play everywhere, you know, we don’t care if it’s at the Inside bar or the Garage or…
MaidenNorway: Or in Krakóws’ rehearsal studio…
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, wherever it is, if we can afford to get there and fans are coming to see us, ehm, you know, that’s the most important thing to us, just to get the opportunity to play in front of real metal heads. That’s all we want really. And I never had that chance before.
MaidenNorway: So did Wolfsbane end before you tried out for Maiden, or were you still in Wolfsbane when you…
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, I just got a, just got a call towards the end of Wolfsbane, I remember I got a call “We’d like you to” or “Would you like to have an audition”, because ehh, probably the only person who didn’t have to send the tape in. And I gave them the record, I gave them my albums when I was on tour with them. So they already had my albums. And they knew what I was like, jumping about, going crazy, so they said would you like an audition, and I said yeah, and they told me which songs would gonna be on the audition, and you have to learn ten songs. Ehh, which are the classics that are normally in the set. And that was it. We had two auditions, so the first one we went down to the rehearsal room, and we were in the Iron Maiden rehearsal room, with the band, and the second was in the studio, we had to do some singing in the studio to, so that they could see you were good enough to be in the studio as well.
Blaze Bayley: Well, ehh, Steve phone me up, he said “you got to come down to have a meeting with Rod”, he didn’t say I’ve got it or nothing. And then I went down to Steve’s house and Rod was there, and then he says “Congratulations, you’re in the band”. I was like, oh okay. So actually I signed up and joined ehm, I think it was the 23rd of December 1993. And I went out and I bought two things. I bought myself a cordless phone for the house, and the second thing I bought; a crate of Guinness. [laughing] And that was it, so, absolutely broke, at the time I was penniless had absolutely nothing, I had to borrow money to get the petrol and I had to borrow somebody’s car to get to the audition. So I had nothing, absolutely nothing, so I was like “yeah, I just bought a big 24-pack of Guinness, yeah that will get me through Christmas”. So it was the best Christmas present you can have I suppose.
MaidenNorway: But some Maiden fans were not pleased when Bruce left and you joined, how did the fans treat you?
Blaze Bayley: Well the fans I’ve met, were absolutely fantastic. You know, I had so much support and encouragement from most of the Maiden fans. I think most people just wanted me to do well, I was the new guy, and I think the people who been there historically, ehh, you know, they knew about Paul Di’Anno, the change with Paul Di’Anno, they knew about the change with Clive and stuck by that. So they knew about the problems about, you know, that were in the band, ehh, at the time when Bruce left. So most fans, especially as time went on, and all these things came out in the press about the bad things that Bruce said about Iron Maiden at the time. Then most of the fans gave me lot of support and encouragement and wherever I went I was really treated really, really well. And I was given a lot of support by the fans, so I have to be grateful for it, you know, will always be grateful for that. The only downside of it to me I suppose was, because the band was so big, ehh, and the schedule for the X-Factour was so tough, that a lot of times there were no signings. So I, I like to meet the fans and sign and, you know, say hello, and stuff like that. But Maiden are so big and the schedule is that tough, that a lot of times there just.. You can’t sign after the show, you’re basically off to somewhere else and on the way to the next show, and then you’re not gonna make it unless you leave on time, so that was.. That was a thing that I didn’t enjoy about it, because I didn’t get to meet as many fans and sign and do that as I would have liked, but the support and encouragement I got from the fans was absolutely incredible.
MaidenNorway: But still some fans, like in a youtube video where you guys were playing The Trooper, and I think somebody spat at you or something, cause you and Steve got really, really pissed off. And that shows how tight the band is, the whole band is like “what the fuck is going on”.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, well, what happened was… there is a full DVD somewhere…
MaidenNorway: Bootleg from Chile.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, Chilean television came, and they taped it and then they put it out. It was the first time that Maiden ever been to Chile, they had been stopped going there by the Arch Bishop of Chile before, because, you know, this ridiculous devil worship…
MaidenNorway: Yeah we all know that Steve is a devil worshiper don’t we [laughing]
Blaze Bayley: Yeah [laughing], I mean, it’s absolutely… yeah, he’s got six children and he eats them. [laughing] Yes of course, and sacrifices them to his dogs.. So, it was the first time Maiden had been there, but since Maiden were banned from Chile, then Metallica, Black Sabbath, a lot of the other mainstream bands had been there, so Maiden going to Chile was, I mean, you know, forgive me my religious….But it was really like the Messiah coming, it was like the coming of Messiah, so we went there.. We had to run out of the airport, because there were so many fans, there were no security arranged or anything, and the fans was just like these, there must have been at least 1000 fans at the airport, we had to run to get to the van, cause you wanted to start signing, and then it was like “rrrsshhhh”. They knew what time the flight was, what time we, cause everybody had been waiting for so long, everybody were waiting and waiting and waiting, and they couldn’t actually believe that Maiden were going in there with them, it was ahh, incredible. The expectation was incredible. They followed to the hotel, there about 500 fans outside the hotel, and all of this business, it was absolutely crazy. And we had big police escort to the gig, it was something like 12 motorcycles going a long side to and lot of police to get us through the crowd, absolutely insane.
We got there, and it was 20000 people theatre, right, which is like a big theatre with five balconies going up. So even it was 20000 people, everybody was close, giant theatre, and we had Heroes To Silentio supporting us on some of that South American dates. And the tour manager came up to the dressing room, and there was a lot of interviews we had to do and, and she said “Right, well you’re gonna be on in 45 minutes. Okay? 45 minutes everybody.” And I was, yeah okay, we’ll do this interview stuff like that. Five minutes later, the tour manager comes back, “you’re on in 5 minutes!” And I was like “what’s happened?” She said “well the support band have been bottled off.” I was “what you mean?” So apparently, for the first part of the first song the poor singer from Heroes To Silentio stood there like this [Blaze covers his face with his hands], dodging bottles. The second part of the song they caught him, and then the last part of the song he was like this [Blaze turns his back to us and crouches][everybody laughing]. And that was it, we had to go on. Because people had waited so long to see Iron Maiden, they didn’t give a shit about the support band, they didn’t care nothing for that. All they wanted to see was Iron Maiden. And, so we went down, the lights went down, and it was one of the loudest things you’ve heard. When you hear that crowd, you know it’s a big concert, and it is not often you hear it. It’s like “aaaaaahhhh” [Blaze making crowd noises, and everbody starts laughing]. It was incredible man, absolutely incredible. And you had 20000 people there like “aaaaahhhh”, it was like being in the Beatles or something, fantastic, and then…
We’re going through the set, and it’s going pretty good, and you know, doing our best and everything. And everytime we go to that side, there’s like 5 or 6 people spitting. And they’re spitting right in front of Dave Murray, so Dave was kind of dodging, just stepping back towards his amp. And then, what happen is whenever Janick goes over there they’re spitting, so it’s just this small group of people, and what was starting to annoying me then was well, we’re here, there were 20000 hardcore metal fans there who absolutely love this band, and these 5 people are stopping us from doing our show. So who the fuck are those 5 people? They’re not real fans. Who the fuck are they, they’re spitting at the band that everybody is waiting for, for these amount of time. I mean, I’m not gonna off stage because somebody is spitting on me, but I’m not gonna stand someone spitting. Because, you know, you can catch all kinds of diseases, it’s really rude as well, and what? You’re just gonna stand back by the drums and sing from there? And not give the fans your absolute best? So, we came to the end of The Trooper, I saw where they were, and in the end of The Trooper, I said, you know, okay, it’s real, this room got 20000 people in it, there are 5 people over here who are spitting on the band, they don’t want to see Iron Maiden, there are people up there on the balconies who have paid money and would give their fucking right arm to be where these people are. And they wouldn’t be spitting. These people are stopping us from doing the best show that we can. So I said, fuck it, get them out of the room. And they did, so… They were ejected from the room. That was it. But, that was it, I mean, we weren’t gonna leave the stage, ehh, and that was it you know. I’m a crazy man when I’m on stage anyway, so I was ready to take them on. You know, ready to dive off, fucking go “eewwrg” [Blaze raising fists][everybody laughing]. Yeah, I was ready, I was ready because I felt that passionate about the music. And the fans you know. I absolutely hate that, hate that that someone is spoiling the gig for other people, you know, who’d love to be down the front row. So anyway, that was what it was about. But you only ever see that little tiny clip on youtube. Which is a little bit of “aaarg”. You don’t see 20000 people goes “yeah go Blaze, you fucking tell them, yeah”. And you don’t see the fans around them go “Fucker, you fuck off!” And the security go “You fucking out!” And you don’t see the gig starting again and everybody goes “yyyeah!”
MaidenNorway: No it’s only you and Steve like what the fuck…
Blaze Bayley: Yeah [laughing] So, the clip is not the whole story, so I got this reputation “ohh, he hates the fans” [laughing]. I only hate the ones that spit on us.
MaidenNorway: Obviously, so yeah, how are the Maiden fans treating you today?
Blaze Bayley: Well, pretty good, the ones that know about me. But, the main thing is, not a lot of the Maiden fans from my era, know anything about my solo albums. So, even though they know Blaze Bayley was a part of Iron Maiden, and a lot of fans now, that maybe didn’t enjoy The X Factor because they couldn’t take the difference in the vocals, there is such a big change between Bruce and me, it’s totally different styles of singing. A lot of people are going back now, to The X Factor, and Virtual XI, and enjoying them without that emotional context of it’s new and it’s all I’ve got. Now it’s like oh got that other Maiden album, and I like to go back, cause I never gave them a chance. So we getting a lot of interest from that, but to be honest, not many of Maiden fans from my era know that much about my own projects, you know, a few of the know about Silicon Messiah, but they don’t know about anything else. And a lot of them have never heard the music. So yeah, the ones that do know about me more or less, people who hear my band and hear some of my work, then they go “bloody hell yeah I like it”. Well there’s another band who are like Maiden, with those values, interesting lyrics, melodies, interesting arrangements, and all of that. There is another band that I can like, that has those values. Ahh, true Metal and Heavy Metal. But not many people know about me, so that is what we’re trying to do over the next couple of years, play places like the Garage, and go anywhere with drumsticks and guitars. In the end that is everything that I wanted to do, when I left Iron Maiden, basically all I wanted to do I thought, well, I’ve got a huge catalogue of songs, two albums with Iron Maiden, five albums with Wolfsbane, I thought I’ll just get a band together, and show the fans that this guy who was on these huge stages playing in front of you know, 3000, 10000 people every night across Europe. Actually you come and see me, and you could see why I’m doing it. T’s because I love it. It’s because it’s the only thing I can do because it’s my whole purpose and reason for living since I was 19. So ehh, that was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t have a good management at the time, I didn’t have a good record deal, a lots of things weren’t right. So it never happened. But I always thought that was the best way to do it, exactly like we started in Wolfsbane, I thought well, bands must still be able to make it by going out and playing live. You know, being really good. If tribute bands can go and get work, then why can’t we go out and get work? Playing our own original material, and we have a name as well, so, but nobody before would support me on that. But now we have a really good manager, who shares that vision. The whole band is committed to get out and play wherever we can, we will go there. As long as we can afford to get there, we’ll get there. And that’s a real difference.
MaidenNorway: The X Factor is by many Maiden fans today guarded as one of the best Iron Maiden albums. What do you think about The X Factor and Virtual XI?
Blaze Bayley: I think it’s a really good album, so much great music on The X Factor, one of the things that made it difficult for people to listen to it at the start was the sound is really different from the classic albums, even though I didn’t like the sound on No Prayer For The Dying, it did still have some relation to what went before, but the sound on The X Factor, is a lot different. It’s not a bright sound and I think it’s quite… It’s an album that takes a lot to get used to the sound, before you can actual start getting the access to the real emotion of the songs. And that was a lot of real darkness, of dark emotion that is expressed, and so I think that’s the reason that people didn’t take to it straight away. It’s a huge album, there is so much music on it, and so much emotions, but, you know, that’s something I’m totally proud of, and all of the writing process, and the recording and everything. A lot of hard work, it took a lot of time to make. And I just, you know, I can look at an album that sold over 1 million copies worldwide, had a top ten single that I wrote in the UK, and go, that’s it you know. I don’t need anybody to tell me I’m good, I don’t need to prove anything to anybody, I know I’m good, because that’s me and that’s.. I’ve done it, so… You know, I don’t have to prove myself to anybody at all, because yeah I’m on The X Factor, I was there, I did the tour, I did the album, so yeah, it’s something that I’m really really proud of. And that’s why I try to play from that album and from Virtual XI. Every time that we go out on different parts of the tour, we bring something from those albums, that maybe the fans haven’t heard with Maiden. And they haven’t heard from me. There is a lot of songs that never got played so, that’s why we did Judgement Of Heaven, at the Big Bash last year, and we’re gonna do Edge Of Darkness this year, and maybe another couple.
MaidenNorway: So, was there any tension in the band when you fronted it? Like Steve and Bruce had their thing.
Blaze Bayley: I don’t think so. I don’t think I was in there long enough to have any tension really. You know, everybody was working so hard, and the tours were long, and a lot to do, it wasn’t really any tension that I, that I you know, always worked really well with Steve and have a lot of respect for him, I’ve learned a lot, ehm, writing with him, and so..
MaidenNorway: We’ve read somewhere that you and Nicko didn’t get along at the end..
Blaze Bayley: Ehhm, well, I can’t ever think of a time when I didn’t get along with Nicko, maybe Nicko got pissed off with me, and I didn’t know about it or something. He might have get fed up. But no, not really. Got on with everybody I think, you know, Nicko wasn’t part of the writing process really, so I wasn’t as close to him as I was to Steve or Janick.
MaidenNorway: Is it true that some of the songs on Brave New World was written during Virtual XI?
Blaze Bayley: Yes, it is true.
MaidenNorway: You remember any of the songs?
Blaze Bayley: I don’t really want to say. [laughing]
MaidenNorway: That’s fair. So, Iron Maiden has some of the best fans in the world, do you know why?
Blaze Bayley: Yes, because it is… From the start it is true to itself, and its own thing. It is not tainted by the commercial compromise, it is commercial because it is what it is. It is its own identity, and I think that one of the things I really loved when I joined the band was, I knew why Iron Maiden were huge, I knew why people loved Iron Maiden and that was because Iron Maiden always stayed true to that path, whether they’d, you know, they always stayed true to that path. And they always have very high standards, so it’s like there is only a couple of bands that are living legends, one is Kiss, one is Iron Maiden. I knew as a fan of both of those bands, that once you been a part of that band you’ll always be remembered for that. You can’t get away from it, so, I went in knowing that, so I embraced it, and I think that was something that was very difficult for Bruce Dickinson, was to go in there and leave Iron Maiden, and still be like you’re a part of this legend. But for me to go in there, I will have a legacy. And that will be it, it is what people will always remember you from Iron Maiden. I was a fan of the band before, I loved being in the band, I loved you know, touring and everything, it was no problem, it was something I really enjoyed. So, I don’t mind being an ex-singer of Iron Maiden, it’s better than being the ex-singer of A-ha [everybody laughing].
MaidenNorway: What is the story behind you leaving, and suddenly Bruce was back.
Blaze Bayley: Ehm, I think it was a business decision, I can’t say to many details about it, but I think there was a worldwide slump in cd sales overall. Then I think somebody at EMI was panicking, and there was a Black Sabbath reunion, there was a Deep Purple reunion and there was another couple of reunions, and they’d all done very well, and I think somebody somewhere went “ok, the way to boost the band up, is to have a reunion”. And so, I think that was what happened, I think it was a business decision.
MaidenNorway: And you were cool with it?
Blaze BayleyBlaze Bayley: No, I was bitterly disappointed. Really, I mean just bitterly disappointed. Gutted. You know, it almost killed me. But the thing that was in my heart all the time was, well as long as Iron Maiden carry on, that’s the most important thing. Not that I’m in the band, but the band carry on. However they carry on, there must be an Iron Maiden. There has to be, because I’m a fan first, so even though I had this fantastic adventure, and then this horrific wound, then it still was well, Iron Maiden must continue, whether I’m a part of it or not. And as the weeks go by, and you start writing your next thing, your own material, then I realized how much I’d learned, and how much I’d changed as a vocalist, and as a person, how much I’d learned about my voice, and song writing, and everything. Even though I had this torment and all of that, well suddenly you’re in a band, you know you gonna make an album, you know you gonna go on tour, you know you gonna make another album, everything I ever wanted. When I started writing, I realized I had a totally new confidence in myself than I ever had before. That was what I really got from Iron Maiden, the confidence that I know when I’m writing an idea, I know if it’s good. And I know I am good enough, because I written with the best people in the world. So that’s it. People have respect for ideas I came up with, that’s the most incredible gift really, that you could possible have. The confidence and the imagination and to learn how to take your ideas from your imagination, and get them to sound something like that on your cd. That is an incredible gift, and I never had that before. So I have to thank Steve Harris and the guys in Iron Maiden for that.
MaidenNorway: You still have any contact with the band?
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, we.. Whenever they play in Birmingham we go to see them. Hopefully we’ll see them in Twickenham and Paris this year.
MaidenNorway: Would you do a show with Iron Maiden again if you got the chance?
Blaze Bayley: If it was the right circumstances, if it was like a special appearance.. My fantasy is a huge reunion show where you get the original singers to sing their songs.
MaidenNorway: And that is every Maiden fans dream, you Paul and Bruce..
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, you know, you can’t get Clive to come and do his part, but you know, the genuine vibe of it, and that would be great, because I think it is a big anniversary coming up in a couple of years, and it would be absolutely… It would be so much fun, not to join the band again or anything like that.. but
MaidenNorway: Do it for the fans.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, just to do it for them, I’d love to do that.
MaidenNorway: Because there is many new fans that didn’t have the chance to see you or Paul with Iron Maiden, and would love to see you sing The Clansman, Sign Of The Cross and things like that. So, what is your favourite Eddie?
Blaze Bayley: I think ehm, my favourite Eddie has got to be the original Eddie.
MaidenNorway: The punk one?
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, I mean I saw.. I was in the audience on the Somewhere in Time tour, and that Eddie was awesome. With the laser and everything. Fantastic. There was always problems the X-Factor Eddie, he wasn’t so stabile, I think really X-Factor Eddie didn’t have the confidence of some of the other Eddies. I remember we got to the last gig of The X-Factour, it was in France, think it might have been in Pope, or somewhere near to Pope. And Eddie.. it was Iron Maiden and Eddie comes out, I’m on the front going “yeah”, and then all fans are laughing? I thought it’s my trousers or something? What the fuck’s going on? [everybody laughing] On the front row, everybody is laughing. Normally you see everybody goes “aaarrr”, not laughing, so I was a bit freaked out. What the fuck’s going on? And nobody was looking at me, I thought “what’s happening?” And I looked around, and Eddie was being dragged off the stage by his feet [everybody laughing], Eddie had walked out like this [Blaze walking like a drunken sailor], and then he was aaaawwww [Blaze showing the fall of Eddie][everybody laughing]. Oh man, I was laughing, I started laughing I couldn’t sing, cause I was laughing so hard. It was so funny. I think he had the least confidence of all the Eddies [everybody laughing].
MaidenNorway: So, what is your favourite Maiden song?
Blaze Bayley: Hmm, that’s just too difficult. I mean there is so many, I mean all-time classics that are not even Maiden songs anymore. They are classic songs in the world of music. If you think about The Trooper, that is, I mean, it’s one of my favourites, and I did it in one unplugged show as well, because I need my own version of it because I love the song so much. And if you think about it like that, it doesn’t belong to Iron Maiden anymore, it belongs to the general metal fans now, because it’s such a huge song, and you don’t have to like Iron Maiden to like that song. You don’t have to own any Iron Maiden albums to know The Trooper, it’s a classic song of all time, and as much as We Will Rock You is a classic song by Queen, or Crazy Nights is a classic song by Kiss. It’s one of these songs that could actually live, so, there is all-time classics, but.. Not counting any of the songs I did, then I really like Wasted Years. And I’ve done that in my unplugged shows, and also when I was on tour with Doro, with the orchestra, they did a special arrangement for me, because I never got to sing that when I was in the band. And I always loved it, the melody, everything, but we never did it, so I thought “well I’ll do it just for myself because I got the opportunity, fuck it I’ll do it”. There is so many, I mean Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, you know, sometimes I’ll put it on to a song, looking at the album, yeah this is a great song, there is a great song, there is so many great songs on Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. There is a lot of classics. But it is different to choose.
MaidenNorway:Has it been difficult for you as an artist after Maiden? When Maiden had their big reunion, they released that album the same week as yours.
Blaze Bayley: It’s only been difficult because poor management, and I’ve had… I didn’t have a good record deal. So, with those two things against you, that’s it. I had a great opportunity after Maiden, to bring out my album, before Maiden, and go on tour, do some shows, and show people what Blaze Bayley was all about. I never had that, it never happened. The manager I had at that time was really lazy and incompetent, and he couldn’t get the album released, and he couldn’t even book a tour. So I was in this crazy situation, where I had my album ready, artwork done, mixed, mastered, everything in December. And I spoke to the record company about releasing it before Maiden, and Rod Smallwood said to me, he said “if you can get your album out, before Maiden, there is a very good chance that you can capitalize of the fame you had with Iron Maiden, get a little bit of interesting, you know, you might be able to start doing it”. And Rod said to me, he said “I think you should be able to sell a certain amount of records and I think you can do well, and make a living, in Europe, you don’t have to sell millions, you don’t have to sell what Maiden sell, if you keep your costs low, you will be able to make a living”. So I thought that would happen. But the management I had at that time, the album came out of the same week as Brave New World, so if you’re a fan with not much money, you’re not going to check out the Blaze album. You gonna buy Brave New World and say “gonna get the Blaze album another time”, if you ever remember to get it. And the other thing is that it was not one single tour date booked to promote the album. I come from a background… the first thing I ever wanted to do was sing live. You know, so… and Maiden is a live band, I always been a live band with Wolfsbane, and that’s all I wanted to do, that is who I am. I’m a live singer who has to go to the studio to make a record, so I can go and sing it live. And it never happened. So I actually had… after I left Iron Maiden I had really no chance of any real lasting success. I’d just had no chance at all to get anywhere because of the circumstances. It was just a lot of problems, heartache, when you don’t have any money coming in, it is difficult to keep a band together. And all of that, it’s not what everybody expected. If you’re going to live this life, you got to be prepared that this is the life you’re going to live. Hell or high water. You know, rich or poor. You are living that life. You’re living it because you love metal, and you love to perform and write your own songs. But you don’t do it, it’s not for everybody, it’s not like “well, I can give up work, and then get paid for being in a metal band”. No. Any true great artists live for it, that’s it. That’s the only way that there is anything worth while in your music, it’s because it comes from pain, experience, passion of living for your music. And that is what I’ve done. So in the end of Blood And Belief I was just really in a bad place. I had a lot of problems with alcohol, severe depression, almost had a breakdown at the end of Tenth Dimension, fucked about by the record company, totally broke, I’d spend all my money of trying to keep the band together. I was absolutely fucked. I was just about keeping going, and then I met my wife. And she known me… we known each other for 18 years.[Debbie looks at him] 20 years [everybody laughing]. We were apart for years, because I follow this passion for music, and Debbie was following her passion, she was a dancer, and then she got her own hair business, and then we met again, when I was at my lowest. My wife found me, and really made me believe again, that it wasn’t all my fault, it wasn’t the fact that people didn’t like what I was doing, it was the fact that they didn’t actually know that I was doing anything at all. So, that was a big difference. So that’s it. She supported it, then I had incredible support from my family, my friends, and the fans who stuck by me was just incredible. With that kind of support, and with my wife, behind me, helping me sort myself out, get through my drinking problems, depression and all of that. Then it really started to happen. It was just instead of thinking of the next album, why don’t take the whole thing and go “right, if you’re gonna do it right from the start, how would you do it?” “Well, I would do exactly ehat I was supposed to do the first time when I left Iron Maiden. I would get a band together, write an album, get in a van, and go and play anyfuckingwhere.” And then I started to get in touch with people about playing in the band, I said what I wanted to do, and we’re gonna share everything. Absolutely everything. It’s Blaze Bayley, but we are a band. We share the writing, share the money, we share the fucking bills. Since then, since we had this line-up together, with these five people, it’s really really strong. We are all really positive about the future.
"I’m Blaze Bayley, this is my album"
- Blaze Bayley
MaidenNorway: Actually that comes through on stage as well. The new album which will be released in June, will it be released on your own label?
Blaze Bayley: Yeah. What happened was, I’m absolutely sick of the mainstream record companies, because… if you make an album, and lets say it’s worth £13, then only £1 goes to the artist, but out of that £1 you’re gonna make the album, and go on tour. So if a fan spend £13 on your album, you might end up not getting any of that, because you’re paying back, you borrowed the money from the record company to make the album. So you are permanently in a vicious cycle. Unless you are selling over 50 or 60 000 albums, you never gonna see any money come back, but there is loads of money coming from the album, you are just not seeing any. It goes to the record company. I just thought “this doesn’t make any sense”. Fuck it, we do it ourselves. And I thought, let’s see if we can get a distribution deal, and then the first person I got in touch with was Plastic Head in the UK, I think they do Nuclear Blast as well. And I said I’m Blaze Bayley, this is my album, I do my own record company, do you want to distribute it? And they said yeah. When you want to bring your album out? I’m like okey [laughing].
MaidenNorway: What can we expect from Blaze in the future?
Blaze Bayley: Ehm, well, hopefully we’ll get the album out eventually. We had a lot of unforeseen technical problems.
MaidenNorway: Yes, it is already delayed.
Blaze Bayley: Yeah, it… that’s the thing, we could bring it out tomorrow, but then it would be poor quality, it has to be as good as Blood And Belief and Silicon Messiah. It has to be that good. Because otherwise I will not be able to live with it. It’s got my heart, my… inside my metal heart is the heart of a 13 year old fan. And that 13 year old fan, has to have that album. Fucking absolutely killer, he has to stand alongside all other blokes buying the albums, because it is the first one on my own label. So really, what people should expect from us is always 100%. Everything that we can give, all that we can possible do, we are little metal hearts, we are all fans in this band, we all think about what it’s like when we buy cds, about the joys and the disappointments. And that’s exactly it. There is nobody in between us and the fans. So, no one outside the band has any say whatsoever in the music, and that is exactly how it was in Iron Maiden. I think that’s a big reason for the success of Iron Maiden, and hopefully it will be a reason for the success of the Blaze Bayley band and the Blaze Bayley recordings. I really don’t believe that the mainstream record companies have any understanding of why metal bands make it. I don’t think they understand music at all. So at least with this record label, it’s by the artist, for the fans. That’s it.
MaidenNorway: What has been your greatest moment so far?
"A part of success is just to keep going. For me personally, my wife made that possible"
- Blaze Bayley
Blaze Bayley: I think getting married. You know… actually at the end of it, being in a place where… you know I come trough being on huge tours, playing the Monsters of Rock in front of 70 000 people, playing a couple of really small gigs with Iron Maiden, from all that, I suppose that some of the great things that happened when I played the Wacken Festival with my own band, and when I headlined with Doro on the Classic Diamonds. All that and the best of it is…. Sounds cheesy I know.. is getting married. Just getting married to my wife. And feeling like what we’re doing musically is right, and that’s it. A part of success is just to keep going. For me personally, my wife made that possible, to just keep going.
Interview created and conducted by Frode Kilvik and Pål Johansen of Maiden Norway. All rights reserved.
Last edited by S.R. on Fri Apr 18, 2008 11:17, edited 1 time in total.
"You see, pal: Elvis can't read a contract. All he knows is: No Ferrari, no rides with the top down." - James "Sonny" Crockett
Kiitokset haastiksesta! Harvinaisen syvällinen haastattelu ja etenkin vastaukset olivat varsin tyhjentäviä 
Ehkä suurin syy siihen, että Blazen keikoilla meno on kuin moukarihäkissä johtunee hyvän musan lisäks siitä, että mies on itsekin yksi suurimmista metal-faneista ja osaa nähdä asioita myös lavan toiselta puolelta katsottuna. Asenne kohdallaan, aina satakymmenen lasissa. Muistan yhden spiikin joltain keikalta, kun herra huusi kurkku suorana, että "there is no tomorrow!! There is only you and me in this hole and that´s it!!! Give everything you got!!!" Eli jokainen keikka on kuin viimeinen ja sen mukaan nyrkkiä puidaan. That´s METAAAL!!
Eikä noi DVD:n spiikitkään jätä ketään kylmäksi...
Ehkä suurin syy siihen, että Blazen keikoilla meno on kuin moukarihäkissä johtunee hyvän musan lisäks siitä, että mies on itsekin yksi suurimmista metal-faneista ja osaa nähdä asioita myös lavan toiselta puolelta katsottuna. Asenne kohdallaan, aina satakymmenen lasissa. Muistan yhden spiikin joltain keikalta, kun herra huusi kurkku suorana, että "there is no tomorrow!! There is only you and me in this hole and that´s it!!! Give everything you got!!!"
Eli jokainen keikka on kuin viimeinen ja sen mukaan nyrkkiä puidaan. That´s METAAAL!!Eikä noi DVD:n spiikitkään jätä ketään kylmäksi...
As Heavy As It Gets!!
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Stormrider
- Peräruiske
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:18
- Location: Vantaa
Blaze Bayley
Laitetaan vielä tännekin:
Oli kyllä ihan mahtava keikka Helsingissä. Kävi kuitenkin sellainen ikävä juttu, että katosi tuo Alive In Poland DVD:n booklet Blazen nimmarilla varustettuna. Jos joku löysi sen niin toivoisin, että palauttaisi sen minulle takaisin tietenkin löytöpalkkiota vastaan.
Oli kyllä ihan mahtava keikka Helsingissä. Kävi kuitenkin sellainen ikävä juttu, että katosi tuo Alive In Poland DVD:n booklet Blazen nimmarilla varustettuna. Jos joku löysi sen niin toivoisin, että palauttaisi sen minulle takaisin tietenkin löytöpalkkiota vastaan.
Last edited by Stormrider on Tue Apr 22, 2008 17:00, edited 1 time in total.
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Kilgore Trout
- Peräruiske
- Posts: 80
- Joined: Wed May 12, 2004 16:34
- Location: Teisko
- Contact:
Onkos tämä jo ollut täällä?
Lyhyehkö Bayley haastattelu käännös olisi tässä.
26th April, 2008. in the Rikard benčić on Podvežica with the starting in 21:00, Blaze Bailey preformed a concert, which was unbelievable, despite the fact that there was a few fans of Blaze Bailey and teh other demo bands. With Blaze Bailey on the stage where the demo bands: Monox, Acaid, Grief Carisma. The bands Čoban Dementus and Diamond Dust, unfortunately, mistaken by the organizator, did not play . With
them had to appear the bands Majke and Corpse Grinder, which did not come.
Blaze Bailey, better known as the ex frontman of Iron Maiden(1994.-1999.) and Wolfsbane, with a lot of enthusiasm he brought the audience to ectasy(even the fence broke), preformed a few songs from his days in Iron Maiden(Man on the Edge, The Virus and Futureal) along with the songs from his album with the band Blaze. We managed to reach him and find out his view on this concert and everything that is connected with the bands and the fans
Rijeka051: Why is the tour over Croatia and Serbia called ¨My life unplugged¨?
B.B.: Well, I would show some of the most favorite songs from Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden and then, to make it as cheap as possible, we just went with the acoustic guitar, and it's more about the singing than anything else, just enjoying the songs, so it was just something different, so most people didn't know what to expect, I didn't. But it seemed to go down very well, we enjoyed it, and it was a chance just to get out and make the fans unprepared. I love to be on the stage, and preform for the fans, so that was good, and that people could see that I wasn't dead, and that I'm still singing.
Rijeka051: What happened to your first band, Wolfsbane?
B.B.: We just broke up when I joined Iron Maiden, and we got back together, and we just left it open now, but everybody's doing different things, but if we get invited to do festivals, it could be fun.
Rijeka051: Do you think the croud was pretty excited? There wasn't so many people as it was expected.
B.B.: Yes, great, fantastic fans, I really enjoyed it. I think we had a problem with the football, maybe not everybody knows about us, so hopefully people who saw us tonight will tell there friends that we weregood, if we were good, and then, hopefully, we will keep coming back.
Rijeka051: Why did you need help for the song ¨The Man who would not die¨?
B.B.: Because it's so new, so I sometimes forget the words, I'm still learning it, I get very nervouss, and when I get nervous, i forget the words. I put them there as safety in case I needed them, but i didn't.
Rijeka051: What do you think about a mistake that happened when two demo bands who really wanted to go on stage and then they couldn't because the organizator put them after you, and then they couldn't play either.
B.B.: I don't know anything about it. Generaly speaking, people try not to tell me many information because i got confused and i start to forget the words.
Rijeka051: Why do you get confused on the stage?
B.B.: I get so nervous, even now after hundreds of gigs, i still get nervous. So because I always wanted to do the best for the fans but I always get nervous.
Rijeka051: Are you going to stay in Croatia for the next couple of days?
B.B.: I think so, I'm not sure what's happening. We are working on the album so we are working on the album artwork and all the credits and all that, yeah hopefully we will stay.
Rijeka051: People always connect you to Iron Maiden, do you miss that or?
B.B.: I think I was a fan of Iron Maiden before I joined the band, it's such a legendary band, and the fans are so loyal, and you will be always known as an ex-member of the band. And just because i was a fan it didn't freak me out. I am Blaze Bayley, and if the people remember me from Iron Maiden, then my heart and my soul was in the band when I was in there, so it was some very proud moments of my life, but it's part of my history now. I am at heart just another fan who loves metal and all the things I've done, I've done them just because I wanted to do them, so not because I've got some money or somebody told me to do it, or if thought i would get on the radio or on the movie, I''ve just done it because I wanted to do it. I have ben very lucky and make a living out of it, singing metal, and that's because of the fans, mainly.
Rijeka051: Are you still in touch with them?
B.B.: Yes, we are, we are going to watch them this week.
Rijeka051: You predicted Novi Sad and Beograd, why Croatia, why Ex-Yugoslavia?
B.B.: Just because somebody envited us, basicly, we are just starting out and we want to play anywhere we can, and anybody that offers us to play somewhere, then we go there. So the most important thing is to get out and play for the fans because it's a new band, the next album is our first album together, so we just want to go out and show people we are a live band and we play live music, no expensive videos, it's all about the music.
Rijeka051: Do you think you promote yourself in the wrong places, Croatia is a small country?
B.B.: Well, we go everywhere that there are fans, it doesn't matter to us if it's a small country or anything like that because we just go anywhere where the people invite us.
Rijeka051: Are you going to perform another concert in Croatia?
B.B.: Yes, we will come back for another concert. If people want us to come, its the important thing.
Rijeka051: I would like to give the opportunity to a fan of the Blaze Bayley band, he asked me a question: when you came to Iron Maiden, if you did, who did you like most, and who did you dislike?
B.B.: I got along with Steve Harris the best I think, but everybody was nice to me.
http://www.rijeka051.com/content/view/142/43/
26th April, 2008. in the Rikard benčić on Podvežica with the starting in 21:00, Blaze Bailey preformed a concert, which was unbelievable, despite the fact that there was a few fans of Blaze Bailey and teh other demo bands. With Blaze Bailey on the stage where the demo bands: Monox, Acaid, Grief Carisma. The bands Čoban Dementus and Diamond Dust, unfortunately, mistaken by the organizator, did not play . With
them had to appear the bands Majke and Corpse Grinder, which did not come.
Blaze Bailey, better known as the ex frontman of Iron Maiden(1994.-1999.) and Wolfsbane, with a lot of enthusiasm he brought the audience to ectasy(even the fence broke), preformed a few songs from his days in Iron Maiden(Man on the Edge, The Virus and Futureal) along with the songs from his album with the band Blaze. We managed to reach him and find out his view on this concert and everything that is connected with the bands and the fans
Rijeka051: Why is the tour over Croatia and Serbia called ¨My life unplugged¨?
B.B.: Well, I would show some of the most favorite songs from Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden and then, to make it as cheap as possible, we just went with the acoustic guitar, and it's more about the singing than anything else, just enjoying the songs, so it was just something different, so most people didn't know what to expect, I didn't. But it seemed to go down very well, we enjoyed it, and it was a chance just to get out and make the fans unprepared. I love to be on the stage, and preform for the fans, so that was good, and that people could see that I wasn't dead, and that I'm still singing.
Rijeka051: What happened to your first band, Wolfsbane?
B.B.: We just broke up when I joined Iron Maiden, and we got back together, and we just left it open now, but everybody's doing different things, but if we get invited to do festivals, it could be fun.
Rijeka051: Do you think the croud was pretty excited? There wasn't so many people as it was expected.
B.B.: Yes, great, fantastic fans, I really enjoyed it. I think we had a problem with the football, maybe not everybody knows about us, so hopefully people who saw us tonight will tell there friends that we weregood, if we were good, and then, hopefully, we will keep coming back.
Rijeka051: Why did you need help for the song ¨The Man who would not die¨?
B.B.: Because it's so new, so I sometimes forget the words, I'm still learning it, I get very nervouss, and when I get nervous, i forget the words. I put them there as safety in case I needed them, but i didn't.
Rijeka051: What do you think about a mistake that happened when two demo bands who really wanted to go on stage and then they couldn't because the organizator put them after you, and then they couldn't play either.
B.B.: I don't know anything about it. Generaly speaking, people try not to tell me many information because i got confused and i start to forget the words.
Rijeka051: Why do you get confused on the stage?
B.B.: I get so nervous, even now after hundreds of gigs, i still get nervous. So because I always wanted to do the best for the fans but I always get nervous.
Rijeka051: Are you going to stay in Croatia for the next couple of days?
B.B.: I think so, I'm not sure what's happening. We are working on the album so we are working on the album artwork and all the credits and all that, yeah hopefully we will stay.
Rijeka051: People always connect you to Iron Maiden, do you miss that or?
B.B.: I think I was a fan of Iron Maiden before I joined the band, it's such a legendary band, and the fans are so loyal, and you will be always known as an ex-member of the band. And just because i was a fan it didn't freak me out. I am Blaze Bayley, and if the people remember me from Iron Maiden, then my heart and my soul was in the band when I was in there, so it was some very proud moments of my life, but it's part of my history now. I am at heart just another fan who loves metal and all the things I've done, I've done them just because I wanted to do them, so not because I've got some money or somebody told me to do it, or if thought i would get on the radio or on the movie, I''ve just done it because I wanted to do it. I have ben very lucky and make a living out of it, singing metal, and that's because of the fans, mainly.
Rijeka051: Are you still in touch with them?
B.B.: Yes, we are, we are going to watch them this week.
Rijeka051: You predicted Novi Sad and Beograd, why Croatia, why Ex-Yugoslavia?
B.B.: Just because somebody envited us, basicly, we are just starting out and we want to play anywhere we can, and anybody that offers us to play somewhere, then we go there. So the most important thing is to get out and play for the fans because it's a new band, the next album is our first album together, so we just want to go out and show people we are a live band and we play live music, no expensive videos, it's all about the music.
Rijeka051: Do you think you promote yourself in the wrong places, Croatia is a small country?
B.B.: Well, we go everywhere that there are fans, it doesn't matter to us if it's a small country or anything like that because we just go anywhere where the people invite us.
Rijeka051: Are you going to perform another concert in Croatia?
B.B.: Yes, we will come back for another concert. If people want us to come, its the important thing.
Rijeka051: I would like to give the opportunity to a fan of the Blaze Bayley band, he asked me a question: when you came to Iron Maiden, if you did, who did you like most, and who did you dislike?
B.B.: I got along with Steve Harris the best I think, but everybody was nice to me.
http://www.rijeka051.com/content/view/142/43/
Nyt olisi tarjolla erittäin mielenkiintoista Blaze haastattelusarjaa!
Blaze Bayley Interwiew for Iron maiden era Part 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6am9rekS_Gc
Blaze Bayley Interwiew for Iron Maiden era Part. 2
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XU2PXwxGojo
Blaze Bayley Interwiew For Wolfsbane era
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ELteRnY2ifM
Blaze Bayley Interwiew For Blaze era
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QoubY0E5QSk
Blaze Bayley Interwiew for Iron maiden era Part 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6am9rekS_Gc
Blaze Bayley Interwiew for Iron Maiden era Part. 2
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XU2PXwxGojo
Blaze Bayley Interwiew For Wolfsbane era
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ELteRnY2ifM
Blaze Bayley Interwiew For Blaze era
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QoubY0E5QSk
The Man Who Would Not Die wrote:I had the chance the listen to the new Blaze album, and just let me to tell you that it is a killer one (my favorite) !
I wrote a review (in French) of this album on the Iron Maiden France web site that you can find here :
http://www.maidenfrance.fr/Xdossiers/do ... album.html
Here's a translation that I have just made for you :
"
The Man Who Would Not Die ... is it a autobiographic title? We can ask ourself this question because all through these 12 songs of this 4th studio album, Blaze gives his best like if he was a man on the edge with no tomorrow.
There's no doubt that this new album is finally a worthy successor to Silicon Messiah. Blaze took the time to recharge his batteries, to find great musicians who gave him the opportunity to use his talent.
As an opener, the title-track sums up perfectly what will follow with the other 11 songs : big sound, heavy and very well produced with rhythm guitars on first plan, a bass-drum section giving killer fast tempo on most of the songs, on which Blaze put his voice and his great melodies, just before the 2 guitar players deliver amazing solos. And what a beautiful melody found by Blaze !
Rhythm doesn't slow down with the second song, BlackMailer, which is a pure heavy metal jewel with nice twin-guitars harmonies and the sing along part reminding the Maiden years. At this point of this 1st listening, we can think that Blaze gave his best in these 2 first songs … But then Smile Back At Death guitar part comes out from the speakers and stay in your mind for the rest of the day while Blaze sings a beautiful melody. Melody is one of the key word on this album and which was missing on the 2 last Blaze albums.
While You Were Gone is the first slowing down (in the 1st part of the song) of the album but proves to be one of the best song of the album : after a wonderful quiet start in which the Blaze's vocals full of feelings answers to this beautiful "speaking" guitar, the rhythm gets faster, guitars clink, solos come from everywhere and Blaze's voice chills our bones just before the song quietly ends, the calm after the storm.
On the next song, Blaze wears a Samouraï's armour and the bass player fits Steve Harris shoes in this great tune which could have been written by the famous East End band, with this galloping bass, these twin-guitars harmonies, this sing along part sang by Blaze .
A Crack In The System shows us the heavy side of the album, with this vicious creeping guitars reminding us the best moments of Chris Oliva with Savatage on Hall Of A Mountain King.
Once the 7th songs over, we can think that Blaze could not do better stuff on the next songs …. And we are wrong !! Blaze blows up our stereo with the stormy and faster than speed of light Robot, emphasized with, once again, a nice catchy melody.
At The End Of The Day allows the warrior's rest, but the good writing work is still there, and the dialogue between voice and guitar still a beauty.
The next song (Waiting For My Life To Begin) starts again on a fast rhythm before the next jewel of the album, Voices From The Past and its beautiful vocal lines and its rhythm changes.
This 4th studio album recorded by Blaze ends like it began, with 2 heavy and fast songs, showing all the skills of the new recruits in the band.
Through my words, you can guess that Blaze has delivered his best performance and recorded his best album, succeeding in marrying really heavy music with great melodies, beautiful instrumental parts, an improvement in the composition work and a very good modern sound.
The Man Who Would Not Die is the proof thanx to music that heavy metal is still up to date in 2008 and is not really ready to die !
"
I really hope that Blaze will have the opportunity to play these songs on stage in some gigs in France
"Life goes on....until it doesn't"
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Voimanorja
- Manowarrior
- Posts: 2771
- Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2005 21:59
- Location: Tampere
- Contact:
Blabbermouth.net wrote:UK singer Blaze Bayley (IRON MAIDEN, WOLFSBANE) has just released the "Robot" single featuring the following tracks:
01. Robot
02. Samurai
03. The Man Who Would Not Die
04. Speed Of Light
05. The Brave (Live)
06. Identity (Live)
07. Evolution (Live)
08. Reach For The Horizon
09. The Truth Revealed
10. Meant To Be
11. Life And Death
12. Will To Win
For more information, go to this location.
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puolisukeltaja
- Taka-ampuja
- Posts: 1136
- Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 22:58
- Location: Tampere / LPR
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Stratocaster
- Azazel
- Posts: 6078
- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 17:18
Huhh... nyt on uus levy kuuntelussa ja viddu, että potkii!! . Kyllä on HEVIÄ! Bermudezin veljekset on tuonut kyllä melodisen deathmetallin-vaikutteita mukaan melkoisesti, todella heviä riffiä tyrkkää toisen perään. Upeita melodioita ja HELVETIN mahtavia sooloja, tuplalead-melodioita. 3 biisiä vasta kuunnellut ja TÄMÄ on PARASTA BLAZEA koskaan. Kylmiä väreitä ja meni roskiakin silmiin. "Smile Back At Death" on MIELETÖN BIISI! Ainoa miinus on että, kitarat on miksattu melko kovalle, tuntuu että välillä Blazen ääni hukkuu vyöryvien riffien alle välillä. Raskaasta kitarasoundista ISO plussa!
EDIT: 4. biisi menossa ja KYLMÄÄ VÄRETTÄ PUKKAA!!
. Kyllä on HEVIÄ! Bermudezin veljekset on tuonut kyllä melodisen deathmetallin-vaikutteita mukaan melkoisesti, todella heviä riffiä tyrkkää toisen perään. Upeita melodioita ja HELVETIN mahtavia sooloja, tuplalead-melodioita. 3 biisiä vasta kuunnellut ja TÄMÄ on PARASTA BLAZEA koskaan. Kylmiä väreitä ja meni roskiakin silmiin. "Smile Back At Death" on MIELETÖN BIISI! Ainoa miinus on että, kitarat on miksattu melko kovalle, tuntuu että välillä Blazen ääni hukkuu vyöryvien riffien alle välillä. Raskaasta kitarasoundista ISO plussa!EDIT: 4. biisi menossa ja KYLMÄÄ VÄRETTÄ PUKKAA!!
"Life goes on....until it doesn't"
Joo-O. Levy on nyt kahdesti kuunneltu. Hyvä se on, mutta ehkä vähän loppua kohden latistui. Rupesi kaipaamaan perinteisempää Blazea. Välillä kuulostaa niin jöötteporilta, ettei tosikaan, tyyliin Inflames. Erittäin huono sinkkuvalinta mielestäni tuo Robot. Ei tuolla ainakaan kaupallisuutta(suurempaa suosiota) kalastella. Tosin onhan tuo erilaisinta( vrt. benjamin breeg) ja raskainta Blazea koskaan.
"Life goes on....until it doesn't"
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Captain Edward
- Roudari
- Posts: 401
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2006 17:04
- Location: Captain Edward's Casino
Saako levyn tilattua tosiaan jo nyt?? Vai onko se ladattavissa jossain?
EDIT: no tuli nyt sitten tilattua levy Planet Blazen kautta. Luulin, että levyn voi tilata ennakkoon ja se saapuu samoihin aikoihin kun julkaisu on virallisesti, mutta täähän on hieno juttu, että saakin levyn ilmeisesti heti. On sitä tyhmä, kun ei heti asiaa tajunnut...
EDIT: no tuli nyt sitten tilattua levy Planet Blazen kautta. Luulin, että levyn voi tilata ennakkoon ja se saapuu samoihin aikoihin kun julkaisu on virallisesti, mutta täähän on hieno juttu, että saakin levyn ilmeisesti heti. On sitä tyhmä, kun ei heti asiaa tajunnut...
Last edited by Makkke on Tue Jun 24, 2008 21:07, edited 1 time in total.
As Heavy As It Gets!!
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WhiteRabbit
- Sateentekijä
- Posts: 2002
- Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 20:42
- Location: Tampere
- Contact:
^Ennakkotilattavissa kait ja ainahan levyjä voi warettaa, jos sen jalon taidon osaa... 
Miunkin oli aivan pakko saada hiukan omaakin maistiaista uudesta levystä, joten latasin koko rieskan Internetin Ihmemaasta. Näin ensi testien jälkeen en voi todeta mitään muuta kuin että mie ainaski tykkään!
Miunkin oli aivan pakko saada hiukan omaakin maistiaista uudesta levystä, joten latasin koko rieskan Internetin Ihmemaasta. Näin ensi testien jälkeen en voi todeta mitään muuta kuin että mie ainaski tykkään!
"Killing two birds with one stone, it’s particularly violent but it works in metal." - Rob Halford
Hyvältä kuulostaa ensimmäiset kommentit levystä. Omasta mielestäni ainakin clipit kuulosti helvatan mainioilta! Pitääpä yrittää jos tuolla eMulella sais imaistua levyn ennakkokuunteluun.WhiteRabbit wrote:^Ennakkotilattavissa kait ja ainahan levyjä voi warettaa, jos sen jalon taidon osaa...
Miunkin oli aivan pakko saada hiukan omaakin maistiaista uudesta levystä, joten latasin koko rieskan Internetin Ihmemaasta. Näin ensi testien jälkeen en voi todeta mitään muuta kuin että mie ainaski tykkään!
EDIT: No perkele! Hommahan toimii. Biisit latautuu nopealla tahdilla ja ensimmäisenä piti laittaa kuunteluun Robot. Aivan törkeen kova biisi!!!! Täähän on sinkkubiisiks paras mahdollinen, kun kyseessä on orkesteri nimeltä BLAZE BAYLEY band. Lyhyt, nopea, aggressiivinen, päähän soimaan jäävä biisi kuvastaa bändin raivokasta menoa ja siksi erinomainen "käyntikortti" bändiin aikaisemmin tutustumattomille.
Toisena kuunteluun meni Voices From The Past. Ja ei voi kuin ihmetellä miten mahtava biisi. Blaze laulaa uskomattoman hienosti ja kitaristit rypistää tässäkin biisissä ihan helvetin tiukasti. Nää kaverithan tykittää tiukemmin kuin Wray/Slater kaksikko ja se takaa timantin kovia biisejä. Kappaleessa kuultavissa Maiden-Helloween soundia astetta paria rankemmalla kädellä soitettuna. Jäätävä biisi!!!
Sitten The Truth is One. Erittäin mielenkiintoinen biisi tämäkin. Kyllä on ollut bändillä ideoita ja luovuutta tätä levyä tehdessä jos vertaa vanhoihin biiseihin. Ai, että nautin tästä uudesta kitarasoundista ja siitä kuinka Blazen äänestä oikein kuulee ylpeyden ja itsevarmuuden, että nyt TOIMII!!
Tähän väliin on mainittava, että enpä ole ennen kuullut levyn viimeisten biisien olevan näin timanttia. Nyt tuli kuunneltua latausjärjestyksessä, kun ei malttanut odottaa kaikkia kappaleita latautuneeksi. Ja nyt jyrää viimeinen biisi eli Serpent Hearted Man. Voi vidu, et jyrää tääkin! Parasta kaikissa tähän astisissa biiseissä on helvetin raskas uusi soundi ja tiukka poljenta unohtamatta upeita melodioita.
Nyt on muutama muukin biisi kuunneltu kertaalleen ja vaikuttavaa on. Jos vanhasta tuotannosta biisit kuten esim. Ghost in the machine, Identity tai Alive kuuluvat suosikkeihin niin varmasti uppoaa tämä uutukainen raskaalla ja modernilla otteellaan. Jos taas diggailee enemmän Stare At The Sun tai Leap Of Faith tyylisistä biiseistä saattaa uusi suuntaus olla pettymys
Itse kuulun ensimmäiseen kategoriaan. Tosin Stare At The Sun on hieno biisi, mutta uudella levyllä ei ole juuri mitään sen tyylistä ***
Parin päivän kuuntelun jälkeen tuntemukset ovat samalla tasolla kuin aikanaan Silicon Messiah levyä ekoja kertoja kuunnellessa. Eli yllättynyt positiivisessa mielessä.
TD oli mulle pettymys, vaikka muutama hieno biisi löytyykin. B&B albumi lunasti taasen odotukset ja on kova lätty. Tämä uusin ylitti odotukset ja pidän parhaana Blaze levynä. Uutukaisella on ainoastaan yksi täytebiisi At The End Of The Day, joka on slovari ja ikään kuin välissä keventämässä tätä murhaavaa mättömenoa.
Uskon, että bändi saa jälleen uusia faneja, mutta löytyy myös niitä, jotka vannovat enemmän perinteisemmän hevimetallin nimeen ja suosivat enemmän bändin vanhoja levyjä. Kun Blaze ottaa uudet biisit livesettiin, niin settilistan biisitkin alkavat olla sitä luokkaa miten itse herra vokalisti ja muut sankarit musiikkinsa esittävät. Se synkkyys, raivo ja aggressio tarvitsee juuri tällaisia biisejä mitä nyt tarjotaan uudella levyllä. Ei taida vaan Blazen niskat kestää sitä moshausta mitä nää rallit saa aikaan
As Heavy As It Gets!!