Interaction below is taken from Roy's facebook. They've clearly had some sort of falling out with Bruce. My guess, it's something to do with one guitar player (Roy) and then later it's suddenly two guitar players without Roy. I think Bruce didn't wanted to risk and chose to go on tour without possible problems with Roy, esp. if he would be one and only guitar player.
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Wow. I sensed they had some fall out, but that's unexpected. As I've said before, I think Bruce makes compromises regarding Roy. Remember he said he is ready to record with his live solo band. But I don't feel he'll want to write with anyone other than Roy, although who knows now.
Roy's is the weakest link on the new album (no excuses for me not to put solos or riffs when you have songs from 20 years and write and record for 10 years... more like 2-3 years and the not good production; not to mention recording when Roy had an issue for an album so long in the making), but his chemistry with Bruce is important for the songs. Also, Bruce said they have a lot of
leftovers/demos so I think he'd want to use them. He probably can write new songs with Chris and Philip, but I doubt it, for now. Plus I think they will write in different sessions (not concentrated) again. Maybe Roy doesn't like this approach, but Bruce's solo albums are not the main priority now. And he knows it. Despite the mix of songs and writing sessions, the album should have had a better attention to detail. Also, didn't Roy announced some projects of his own?
Roy is the backbone of Bruce's solo career, but the best albums were made by a
real band (which Bruce seems to want to do again) and Adrian's playing (solos, harmonies, wrote 6 songs and one of them is a hit)
definitely helped a lot. I don't have any issues with TOS(!), but TMP could have been ''fixed'' by having 2 guitars (like the original plan was). Although Bruce's solo albums never had long instrumental passages or more than 1 solo on the short rockers.
Idk what could be the reason for their fall out. Roy was very enthusiastic about the tour after the release of the second single, but maybe it has something to do with the 1-guitar live matter and that Roy is not reliable for long tours. After all, he has a complete songwriting freedom, and Bruce relies on that. Roy had said he writes some stuff specifically for Bruce and his vision. He doesn't seem to like the lyrics theme, but what he can do.
That's a hard point to argue--if it's going on an album, Mandrake is the only place it fits, since it's a mish-mash of new and old stuff. Then again, I think he said in pre-Mandrake release interviews that there's more unreleased/unfinished stuff that might end up on the next album...not that Sonata would likely fare any better on that future album.
I think the next solo album will be more or less like Mandrake, as Bruce said he prefers that style now. He mentioned they have a lot of unreleased stuff, so Sonata was going to be added to some sessions sooner or later. Both him and Roy said it's one of their favorites.
TMP I look at as a big anomaly rather than a symptom of things not being well in the kingdom. It's production goes back to the late '90s, and as a result it's a Frankenstein's Monster of an album rather than an album in the traditional sense like Bruce used to do. Had they devoted the time to it (a few intensive months of writing/recording, rather than a week of recording here revolving around the schedule of the All-Powerful and All-Encompassing Maiden, etc.), we'd likely be talking about the album much differently.
For sure. They just had to ask Uli to play on the album like they wanted or Roy to fill his parts. Let's not forget that Chris also plays a solo on the album. Roy getting Gus G to play on one song is also odd.
I do wonder the fate of the remasters since, like the comic book, those also have dropped off the map as far as anybody talking about them goes. I know Balls to Picasso was definitely Roy's to handle and that the Atmos version of Skunkworks was at least in a final stage of production (to the point Chris Dale has heard it), but everything else seems up in the air. I imagine once Bruce resumes the Mandrake tour and starts promoting it again, we'll get an update. Hell, maybe he's waiting until his Maiden obligations on Future Past are taken care of before he reaches out to Roy to figure things out. Who knows.
I assume they will eventually release the remixed albums, probably next year when Bruce will tour solo again. Regardless of their relationship now.
It could be time for a shift. Roy's great, but I'm not sure he's irreplaceable.
It would be a shame to lose this (according to Bruce, easy and great) collaboration, but if the approach to playing is like on TMP again...
I also think Bruce is a more capable songwriter now than he was in the late 90's. I guess I can accept for him to work with Chris and Philip now. Philip seems like a bringer of riffs.
I do wonder if some of this bitterness coming from Roy is being pushed to the back-burner for so long, and then having to piece together an album in such an unconventional way. "Grab songs from 20 years ago, do a few new ones, hey, I'm available to record for a week, then I have to bugger off again," it's hardly the ideal a good producer like Roy would want to do an album and not feel like the whole thing is being done as an afterthought. If that did bother him, it's kind of no wonder we didn't get Roy's best effort on Mandrake.
Once again, though...just speculation. If Bruce does go with someone else, it's a little late in the day to expect we're gonna get anything that's going to top Accident of Birth or Chemical Wedding. I doubt even an in-his-prime-Roy could top them nowadays. Not saying we should lower our expectations next time around, just...be realistic. Bruce will likely be 67-68 by the time he starts recording the next one, if he does at all.
Good points. And TCW is a unique album. I want to hear more if its heaviness for the next one.
I'd be very careful with statements like these, considering the two most well-liked Bruce Dickinson solo records primarily consisted of him singing over music written and produced by Roy Z. The last time he worked with someone else in a solo capacity was in the 90s when he was doing Skunkworks.
It's quite hard to imagine a complete drastic shift from the state of affairs as they've been since Accident of Birth, a 27-year-old record (!), working out smoothly even accounting for all the uncertainty and the sheer shoddiness of TMP on all fronts. Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely? Not really.
Well said. I think Roy is very important to Bruce songwriting-wise.
Lots can change in 25 years. It is clear that Bruce’s solo career has not been a major priority for a long time. Bruce is the kind of person who gets thrills out of doing lots of things, not just music. TMP felt like an attempt to please fans and to get the demos and ideas actually released. Although it was not a really strong album, it silences the questions regarding his solo album.
Roy probably wasn’t physically or mentally fit to tour. Bruce spotted this and suggested changing things up. Roy got mad. That’s it.
This. The difference between TMP and TOS is noticeable. And mainly on Roy's side.
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