I've been wondering about that too. Given that they delayed the release of BOS due to Bruce's illness, I guess that they wouldn't have released a new album if Steve was ill. And their touring plans for 2022 are not altered so...
I just hate the way Bruce and Adrian talk about the songs. They have both so self-centered. And the way Bruce talked about Steve's lyrical melodies in a recent Rock Hard (French magazine) interview is a joke. The guy basically explains us that he (Bruce) tries to make his melodies sound grandiose and lyrical, while Steve's are essentialy based on rythm. He should try to come up with something as magnificent and grandiose as Senjutsu or BOS' title track, and not with boring heavy rock shit instead of saying such things.
Variety in writing music is important, but I reckon it also matters for interviews and promotion.
The lack of diversity in the promotional interviews is baffling. I can understand Adrian talking about the songs he wrote (great stuff), but with Bruce it is getting quite tedious. During this promotional round he is repeating the same stuff over and over again: “my Achilles tendon snapped”, “I got a metal hip!”, “only Steve and I had a chance to listen to the finished album”, “the video is great” (I have to agree with him on this), “Steve and I write lyrics in a very different way”, “I see lyrics as stories in my head that I then interpret”, “Churchill saved the world”, etc. What a bore!
Nicko is probably even worse though. It is always the best album they’ve ever done and this would be adorned with some crass jokes and anecdotes from a long time ago.
I’d love to hear from the other band members. I find Steve’s silence particularly surprising. It is as if he did not give a shit about promoting the latest album of his band!
Either way, if the other band members were to be interviewed, I can foresee Steve saying that he has “so many different ideas that it is ridiculous” (even though they all end up following similar patterns and self-plagiarism is rife) and Jan telling us that “a band has to remain creative and record new music” (yet they have waited 6 years to release a new studio album). And Dave? Well, he’ll probably just smile.
The journalists interviewing them might be partially responsible, as I feel they do not ask them any particularly challenging questions. Call me a cynic, but I guess the amount of money spent by Parlophone/Warner advertising the album might have something to do with it.