Back in 1993

wizardry said:
I heard once that Doogie White was considered among the names for a Bruce replacement. He fits the bill for a band like Maiden, and to be fair, if he had landed the job, Bruce's comeback wouldn't have happened, or at least, probably not in 2000.

Kiske was fed up with traditional metal and metalheads by then, as his own departure ended up showing. I think Helloween's example is probably a decent comparison of what Maiden would've seen had White joined them, sinde Deris was a great fit for the band and they still managed to produce some of their best stuff with him. I wonder if they would've done a Doogie White/Bruce Dickinson lineup like Helloween did though.
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Doogie White was the alternative had Blaze turned the Maiden job down. He did rehearse with the band in Steve’s barn as part of his audition.

I seem to remember learning years later that Damian Wilson was another of the guys who made it to the last stages of the selection process.
 
The_7th_one said:
I've found some adverts and articles from that time in Reedit.
Kerrang started to talk about Michael Kiske, Blaze and even rescue Paul.

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Blaze has been cited as the best young British metal frontman around. Btw, in 1994 he almost had a ''Bruce look'' with the hair.

None of ''the outsiders'' would have fit it.
wizardry said:
I heard once that Doogie White was considered among the names for a Bruce replacement. He fits the bill for a band like Maiden, and to be fair, if he had landed the job, Bruce's comeback wouldn't have happened, or at least, probably not in 2000.
Kiske was fed up with traditional metal and metalheads by then, as his own departure ended up showing. I think Helloween's example is probably a decent comparison of what Maiden would've seen had White joined them, sinde Deris was a great fit for the band and they still managed to produce some of their best stuff with him. I wonder if they would've done a Doogie White/Bruce Dickinson lineup like Helloween did though.
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Kiske and Andi switch is one of the most successful in metal (although Kiske's voice is higher), but listening to some Maiden covers by Doogie, I don't think so at all. He did a great job in Rainbow and has highs in his voice, but I think only with Kiske, Bruce's return would have been difficult. He is most likely the one that would have done the best job, although there wasn't a right choice.
GhostofCain said:
Bruce leaving the band was a shock but not totally unexpected.

Regarding his replacement, there were some rumours about Michael Kiske and Joey Belladona being possibilities, although the general feeling was that Bruce’s replacement would be a British singer (later we learnt that Blaze was always Steve’s first choice for the job).
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1- Why?
2- Joey, wow. Steve's always first choice, like probably now, but why they did tons of auditions then?
GhostofCain said:
Doogie White was the alternative had Blaze turned the Maiden job down. He did rehearse with the band in Steve’s barn as part of his audition.
I seem to remember learning years later that Damian Wilson was another of the guys who made it to the last stages of the selection process.
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So this was the Top 3? I like Blaze best.
 
Kalata said:
So this was the Top 3? I like Blaze best.
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Personally, I'm glad it worked out the way it did, even if it meant the band struggled live and lost some (casual at best) fans because Blaze wasn't Bruce. We got two great albums from the era (yes, I said TWO, dammit!), and Blaze went on to record some absolutely great solo albums. Those albums wouldn't exist as they do had he not spent time in the Maiden camp and been influenced by their style, etc., and he (and those albums) probably never would've popped up on my radar had he not been in Maiden.
 
CA Bryers said:
Personally, I'm glad it worked out the way it did, even if it meant the band struggled live and lost some (casual at best) fans because Blaze wasn't Bruce. We got two great albums from the era (yes, I said TWO, dammit!), and Blaze went on to record some absolutely great solo albums. Those albums wouldn't exist as they do had he not spent time in the Maiden camp and been influenced by their style, etc., and he (and those albums) probably never would've popped up on my radar had he not been in Maiden.
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Not only that, but we wouldn't have gotten BNW in the way we know it without Blaze. I'll die on the hill that as far as the general songwriting goes no two Maiden albums are as similar to each other as VXI and BNW are (with the obvious exception of the debut and Killers).

It makes sense, considering four of the 10 BNW tracks were started during the VXI sessions with Dream Of Mirrors featuring lyrics by Blaze. Adrian and Bruce brought their influences with them, but the DNA of Virtual XI can be heard all over the album.
 
As far as I remember (it's been a long time), Dougie White was seriously considered and also auditioned with the band. Same with Steve Grimmet. Kiske was a rumor, but I never heard any confirmation that he or the band ever really considered it. It would have been a disaster to be honest. Kiske is moody, very unstable and somewhat primadonna, at least between 1988 and 2008... unlikely he and Steve would have gotten along.
I know that the Angra singer asked for the job, but I don't know if he ever was contacted by the band. Given his accent, I guess not.
James LaBrie was afaik just a rumor too. I think, they never seriously considered a non-Brit.
Halford never appeared in that matter, as he was still in legal trouble with Priest when Bruce quit. Not a good idea to hire a singer who is currently tied up in court with uncertain results.
Blacki Lawless, lol. Kerrang high quality "journalism" at its finest.


I know for a fact Ralf Scheepers applied for vocals in Priest, which led to his firing from Gamma Ray... Would have been funny.
 
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Watching this video, I can understand why they decided to go with Blaze. Then it didn't work out, for a lot of reasons, but I can see why Steve thought he would be a good fit.

This article sums it upp well:
Then there was their singer, Blaze Bayley. I was genuinely scared of him. He dominated the stage and from there the entire venue. He individually called out members of the audience who weren’t crazy enough. “You, you shithead!”. He called us all “Howling Mad Shitheads”. He demanded our attention; he didn’t beg for it. And he got it. We were too scared to do otherwise.

So, that was Wolfsbane c1988. I saw them a bunch of times after that and my old band Atom Seed did our first UK tour opening for them. They went from strength to strength and never failed to impress.

Then there was the surprise news that the Wolfsbane had split up and Blaze was to be the new singer in Iron Maiden. I went to see the new Maiden at the Newport Centre in Wales in the mid 90s. It was an odd gig. Blaze no longer called us “Howling Mad Shitheads”. He didn’t abuse or threaten anyone. It looked for all the world as though his wings had been clipped.
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www.metaltalk.net

Wolfsbane Are Loud, Proud And Confident For The Modern Age

www.metaltalk.net www.metaltalk.net
 
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CA Bryers said:
Personally, I'm glad it worked out the way it did, even if it meant the band struggled live and lost some (casual at best) fans because Blaze wasn't Bruce. We got two great albums from the era (yes, I said TWO, dammit!), and Blaze went on to record some absolutely great solo albums. Those albums wouldn't exist as they do had he not spent time in the Maiden camp and been influenced by their style, etc., and he (and those albums) probably never would've popped up on my radar had he not been in Maiden.
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Vaenyr said:
Not only that, but we wouldn't have gotten BNW in the way we know it without Blaze. I'll die on the hill that as far as the general songwriting goes no two Maiden albums are as similar to each other as VXI and BNW are (with the obvious exception of the debut and Killers).
It makes sense, considering four of the 10 BNW tracks were started during the VXI sessions with Dream Of Mirrors featuring lyrics by Blaze. Adrian and Bruce brought their influences with them, but the DNA of Virtual XI can be heard all over the album.
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This.
Christopher Baines said:
Its funny reading "ill give 500% every night" because we know that is far from what happened
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That wasn't cool.
Eddie's Uncle said:
As far as I remember (it's been a long time), Dougie White was seriously considered and also auditioned with the band. Same with Steve Grimmet.
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I think the ''front leaders'' were 5 or something. From Angra?
TheTalisman said:
Watching this video, I can understand why they decided to go with Blaze. Then it didn't work out, for a lot of reasons, but I can see why Steve thought he would be a good fit.
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Yeah, more or less the same attitude as Bruce in Samson. Janick's energy was probably also a factor for Steve.
 
TheTalisman said:

Watching this video, I can understand why they decided to go with Blaze. Then it didn't work out, for a lot of reasons, but I can see why Steve thought he would be a good fit.
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This is the Blaze I thought we were gonna get: loads of personality, commanding the stage, all of that. What we got left me...befuddled. A very deliberate, measured performance on The X Factor, and live, locked in place in the middle of the stage.

Of course, now we know his performance on TXF was drained of spontaneity and excitement by an almost year-long recording process with LOADS of vocal takes until Steve got what he wanted. Then live, the beef with the monitor roadie that meant right in front of the drums was the only place he could hear the guitars.
 
I love Blaze and the Blaze albums to death, but he looked absolutely lost on stage. I’d always wondered if being in Maiden gave him a kind of inferiority complex or imposter syndrome.
 
GhostofCain said:
Doogie White was the alternative had Blaze turned the Maiden job down. He did rehearse with the band in Steve’s barn as part of his audition.

I seem to remember learning years later that Damian Wilson was another of the guys who made it to the last stages of the selection process.
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I heard doogie white singing a few songs maybe hallowed and bring your daughter? Cant remember
 
I think when Blaze joined Maiden there was a combination of him being super nervous about fronting a massive band like Maiden and having to fill the shoes of a legendary vocalist plus I bet Steve and Rod gave him very specific instructions on what to do which in wolfsbane he wasn’t used too.

I saw Maiden on the X-factor tour and I had no problems with blazes voice on any of the tracks he sang but I did notice he literally planted himself in the middle of the stage and didn’t move for practically the whole gig and his only movement was constantly fist pumping. He looked very nervous and was nothing like the wild man of wolfsbane.
 
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