I mean, if you look back, my modus operandi on the solo stuff that I've done, there's a lot of records that are never the same twice. It's not like, "Okay, yeah, that's that kind of style and they just do that and that's a slightly better version of that and that's a more modern version of that.
Brendan Duffey is just a magician when it comes to mixing.
No, we were either ahead of the curve or just in a different universe. And I think some people found, when the record came out — some people, not everybody — but I think some people found it difficult to listen to because I'd just left Maiden. And Maiden is ... for the people who are really, really, really, hardcore fans, it's such a tribal thing, you know? So I think they were struggling to go, "Even if I enjoy this, I can't, I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy this."
My intention was to make quite a dark record. "Cyclops" is quite a dark track, but with places of groove and stuff like that. Because I loved Faith No More, they're awesome. So there's a bit of Faith No More grooves in there. There's a bit of the darker side of Peter Gabriel stuck in there.
Actually, I use it as a device. They said, "Why don't you try rapping?" I said, "Oh, come on, me? Are you kidding me?" So anyway, I listen to it now and think, "Shit, man, that's pretty cool.
Oh yeah, you have to. Let's face it, you've got to be realistic about the world. But my view was that it was better to try and create something that was really new and different and just keep plowing that furrow and the universe would pretty quickly tell you, "Hey, you're in the wrong job, buddy."
And I'm stubborn as well, so I just keep on doing it. Even people say, "Hey, it's not working." I say, "Well, let's just give it some time, shall we? Let's see." And, you know, obviously after Balls to Picasso came Skunkworks, which was a completely different universe.
So I'm going, "Okay let's try places that are like 1,500 to 3,000-seaters, wherever is appropriate. Let's just see what the heck happens.
It's a real band. It's a rock 'n' roll band.
We do change the set around sometimes as well — well, quite often, actually, because it's that kind of a band, that we can sort of go, "Hey, what should we do tonight? Let's drop this one in." So the core songs will probably stay the same, but we'll jump around a little bit.
And I'm gonna break with my tradition, basically because it's fun and I'm gonna do one Maiden song. And it'll be one of mine, so there'll be no argument about, "Oh, it's not supposed to be played like that." Well, I wrote the damn thing, so I'll tell you how it's gonna be played.
So for Brazil, I'm boning up on "Revelations." It's not a song we're doing on this tour with Maiden. And one other, which I will leave to your imagination. You'll have to guess.