Blaze Bayley

Yeah :( Well at least he still has that to draw on from time to time, I mean if they've not totally disbanded. He needs to get out as a support act for some bigger band!
 
He did that. He supported bigger bands (e.g. Circle II Circle), he played at all festivals... I guess at some point you just get tired of doing everything right and still not making it big.
 
Well, all of those financial problems and lineup changes really fucked him over (to put it mildly) in the long run...If he would have been able to maintain a steady band just called "Blaze" since the inception of the band, they could still be around with moderate success I think...Financial mess from Blaze and his management maybe, or the record company? "Making it big" is a relative term...I don't think he could ever become big but having his own band and living off it, I'd call that success...Now he's out playing with a cover band that does tunes from his ex-band...that's bad :D
 
Wait a minute. He was part of that band. He sang on most of the songs that are in the setlist (haven't seen the current list, but I am just guessing). These are also his songs.

Not saying that this is something that should be greatly admired by everybody, but I wouldn't call it bad.
 
I only reacted that way because according to Travis and the links he provided for the Quebec show, the last 5 songs were:

13. Running Free
14. Iron Maiden

15. Fear Of The Dark
16. Wasted Years
17. The Trooper

But looking at the rest of the set I have my doubts now...I mean...setlist.fm and such sites are largely incorrect :D:D
 
How was the turnout for that show LC? And did Blaze live up to the type of performance I saw and act super excited on stage and really try to get the crowd going a lot?
 
There were about 100 people there. It wasn't as packed as Sonata Arctica, but it was a good size. I got up close, but I had to leave as soon as the show was over as I was starting my new job the very next day, so I did not get to stick around and meet Blaze.
 
Well, that's a better turnout than my show. It still could be way better of course. Did Blaze still really get into it and try to get the crowd pumped a lot?
 
That's so great to hear! If he ever does another good sized NA tour, we really need to try and promote the living hell out of it to get him as many ticket sales as possible.
 
What's terrible is that only a clique of Metal fans give a crap about Blaze. Hardly any Maiden fans that aren't diehards seem to give a rats ass. That's why he can't afford to tour with a proper band, which I suppose you might even pay a wage or whatever inbetween tours? I've seen Blaze two times. First time there was about 50 people, the second time where he played with Paul there was 100. You can't support a full band on that crowd attendance. Blaze is doing what he has to do in order to make a living as a musician.

Besides, Blaze is unlike Paul, all about the fans.

This is very true, and Blaze is acutely aware of that fact. I read an interview with him last week or so, and the sentiment he got across when talking about his fans was "there aren't very many of them, but they're extremely loyal."

The thing is, the guy's 50(ish) years old now, and Silicon Messiah was probably the best shot he had at really making a new career out of it. It didn't happen, and his crowds and profits have continued to dwindle to the point where the most he can do is support his family since then. Anyone hoping for him getting a new solid lineup together isn't looking at this situation with any sort of realism. That, and while Blaze did have a full band together, it's little secret that he had a day job as well (building wheelbarrows, I think it was) in order to keep things afloat. So in essence, he's giving us the best product out of what little resources he has.

He hasn't had an easy life (clinical depression, alcoholism, widower, won the lottery with Maiden only to be largely rejected by its fanbase, etc.), but he's never really complained about any of it, and maintained a pretty positive attitude. And despite the teensy turnouts at his shows, he still gives 1000% at every show. So for that he'll always get more admiration out of me than I have for even Bruce, whose talent with singing and all the other things he's brilliant at is absolutely monstrous in comparison to Blaze's.

Speaking of Bruce and Maiden, I do wish Maiden (especially on the BNW tour) would have thrown the guy a bone. They gave him a raw deal when Bruce and Adrian came back, so the least they could have done is given him an opening slot on their tour. Yeah, Steve lets him use Barnyard Studios every now and then (probably for a reasonable rate or even free), but come on. Especially in those first few years after the split, Blaze was still putting out strong material that would have quite possibly opened a lot of eyes on the BNW or DoD tours and given him a real shot at getting some of those fans.
 
Let us not forget that it was Sanctuary Records, run at the time by Roderick Bloody Smallwood, that scheduled Silicon Messiah to come out at the same time as Brave New World. If any one thing sunk that album, it was that.
 
Let us not forget that it was Sanctuary Records, run at the time by Roderick Bloody Smallwood, that scheduled Silicon Messiah to come out at the same time as Brave New World. If any one thing sunk that album, it was that.

That was one thing I do remember around the time of the split where Blaze mentioned Rod was going to continue managing him...and that was the last I heard of it. Hard to say what happened with that, whether Blaze couldn't afford to keep him on or if Rod threw it out as a gesture and never made good on the promise. But no doubt, releasing Brave New World and Silicon Messiah in the same time frame--which one are Maiden fans (who would have been Blaze's target demographic) gonna pick between the two? Hmm... :facepalm:
 
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