Blaze Bayley

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Black Abyss Babe said:
When I first saw the title I thought "Blaze wants to make a song about Stonehenge that won't make people shout "Spinal Tap!""

Honestly I think this is great. I'm starting to think that Blaze was wasted on Maiden :innocent:
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This is really about Stonehenge where he was in 2022 with his new fiancée Kate. ;)

www.instagram.com

Blaze Bayley on Instagram: "A short time ago, before Blaze's heart attack, there was some lighter news... Blaze got engaged to Kate. Congratulations! Photo taken here at the historic UK site of Stonehenge, on the Winter Solstice 2022... #blazebayle

7,010 likes, 187 comments - blazebayley on April 8, 2023: "A short time ago, before Blaze's heart attack, there was some lighter news... Blaze got engaged t..."
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
Black Abyss Babe said:
Honestly I think this is great. I'm starting to think that Blaze was wasted on Maiden :innocent:
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I'd have to agree--though I do think Maiden was more a massive learning experience for him than anything. I'm an enormous Blaze fan, but I don't think he was ready for Maiden, and the evidence suggests that he didn't really stand up for himself much in the band (not downtuning, the ongoing battle with the monitor crewman on the X Factour where it seemed the crewman won, etc.). It drives me absolutely nuts that that one thing--downtuning the Bruce material--could have massively bolstered the general opinion of what the Blaze era was weakest at, which was playing live.

Since Maiden, though, he's found collaborators better able to utilize his voice than the guys in Maiden were capable of. From an outsider's point of view, it seemed like Maiden just steamrolled ahead like nothing had changed after Bruce left, and nothing should change. Blaze's first batch of post-Maiden collaborators made for an excellent match, and having Andy Sneap producing made him sound like a million bucks, better than he ever has on record, save for maybe "Live Fast Die Fast." Overall, he's had great luck finding people to work with who utilize his voice well in their songwriting.
 
CA Bryers said:
I'd have to agree--though I do think Maiden was more a massive learning experience for him than anything. I'm an enormous Blaze fan, but I don't think he was ready for Maiden, and the evidence suggests that he didn't really stand up for himself much in the band (not downtuning, the ongoing battle with the monitor crewman on the X Factour where it seemed the crewman won, etc.). It drives me absolutely nuts that that one thing--downtuning the Bruce material--could have massively bolstered the general opinion of what the Blaze era was weakest at, which was playing live.
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The mid 90's were a transformative time for touring/PA equipment. In-ears became common instead of an oddball, line array speakers were invented, you were still using analog mixers and (mostly analogue aside for FX) rack gear for processing... The landscape shifted quite dramatically from there onwards. It likely was difficult to accommodate his needs under whatever the circumstances were rather than a prick of a monitor guy. Poor monitoring (especially compared to the last 15-20 years now) was the norm, really - Ask Bruce during RiR 1. Blaze wasn't seasoned enough yet to handle it, and as you said, it was a learning experience. :D
 
Yax said:
The mid 90's were a transformative time for touring/PA equipment. In-ears became common instead of an oddball, line array speakers were invented, you were still using analog mixers and (mostly analogue aside for FX) rack gear for processing... The landscape shifted quite dramatically from there onwards. It likely was difficult to accommodate his needs under whatever the circumstances were rather than a prick of a monitor guy. Poor monitoring (especially compared to the last 15-20 years now) was the norm, really - Ask Bruce during RiR 1. Blaze wasn't seasoned enough yet to handle it, and as you said, it was a learning experience. :D
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True, though Blaze's issue with the monitors, according to his account in the At the End of the Day band autobiography was that the guy setting up the monitors was setting them up exactly the way Bruce had them set up, not because of a paradigm shift in stage setups. Presumably Blaze either never went over the roadie's head or Steve never backed Blaze up on it, which is why Blaze said that throughout the whole tour he had to stand right in front of the drum riser in order to hear the guitars in the monitor--which, if you watch videos from that tour, that's where he is most of the time.

He then said he more or less fixed the problem himself on the VXI tour by getting in-ear monitors which worked great until Janick sat on them and broke them. And again, videos from the VXI tour corroborates that, with him moving around 100x more than he did on TXFactour.
 
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Black Abyss Babe said:
I'm starting to think that Blaze was wasted on Maiden :innocent:
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He has said many times that Maiden was a big learning experience for him. Steve, for writing and finding his full voice. And with his solo band, he writes the songs (lyrics) for himself. There's a noticeable difference in the vocals of Man On The Edge and this new single, both written by him. So it's not just the downtuning, although that played a big role, especially live.
 
CA Bryers said:
True, though Blaze's issue with the monitors, according to his account in the At the End of the Day band autobiography was that the guy setting up the monitors was setting them up exactly the way Bruce had them set up, not because of a paradigm shift in stage setups. Presumably Blaze either never went over the roadie's head or Steve never backed Blaze up on it, which is why Blaze said that throughout the whole tour he had to stand right in front of the drum riser in order to hear the guitars in the monitor--which, if you watch videos from that tour, that's where he is most of the time.

He then said he more or less fixed the problem himself on the VXI tour by getting in-ear monitors which worked great until Janick sat on them and broke them. And again, videos from the VXI tour corroborates that, with him moving around 100x more than he did on TXFactour.
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So he got the standard wedge treatment with his wedges centered. What did he want? More side fills vocals? Did he elaborate?
 
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Yax said:
So he got the standard wedge treatment with his wedges centered. What did he want? More side fills vocals? Did he elaborate?
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It's been a good few years since I read it, so I don't remember if he said what he wanted. I imagine more side fill. Strange that it all worked for Bruce, who barely stopped moving onstage, yet Blaze felt he couldn't hear unless he was locked in front of the drum riser.
 
Austrogoth said:
New single

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Not a fan of this one. It has a TXF-esque melancholic intro (which is always welcome, especially with his voice; Stare At The Sun vibe too), cool riff and harmonies (Maiden in the soul!) and nice solo, but the vocal melodies are not catchy. It's also too similar to the previous single. Still, it's great that Blaze was able to include a longer intro, solo and melodic interlude into such a short song.

Edit: it sounds like a song from his first 2 solo albums.
 
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There is a strange sensation I have : I'm not very excited by the releases of both Blaze and Bruce. Is it me or someone else does have the same reaction about 'Circle Of Stone' and 'The Mandrake Project' ?
 
About the story of the new song (on Official Blaze Bayley Facebook page) :

"Tells the story from Welsh folklore of Gelert the faithful hound & his unfortunate demise at the hands of his beloved owner Prince Llewelyn. Features gifted violinist Anne Bakker who also worked with Blaze on the Infinite Entanglement trilogy (2016-2018)."
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TheMercenary said:
There is a strange sensation I have : I'm not very excited by the releases of both Blaze and Bruce. Is it me or someone else does have the same reaction about 'Circle Of Stone' and 'The Mandrake Project' ?
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Burned out? I think both upcoming albums will be good. Even Bruce's :D
 
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