Interview with Blaze Bayley from
RockHard Germany Vol. 436
My translation
Blaze Bayley
Fighter
At the end of March this year BLAZE BAYLEY unexpectedly suffered a heart attack in his home. We inquired
about the recovery process of the former Iron Maiden singer.
Blaze, how did your heart attack happen in the first place?
Did you feel any signs beforehand?
"I had just closed the U.K. concerts of my tour and spent some time at home. Somehow I had been feeling groggy and tired for a while. I don't know myself like this, but I put it down to the efforts on tour. I had to force myself to do a lot of things, and sometimes even singing on stage was a bit difficult for me. To improve my performance, I went to the gym. But I never thought that there was something wrong with my heart.
When I was examined in the hospital I was diagnosed with diabetes. It is not unlikely that the heart attack happend because the disease had not been diagnosed and, consequently, not treated.
In the past, I constantly ate the wrong things and did everything else wrong that could be done wrong.
It happened one Saturday afternoon, and all of a sudden I got terrible stabbing pains in my chest. But I did not lose
consciousness or anything, it was a heart attack, not heart failure. My God, I was really lucky in the end. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if I hadn't suffered the heart attack at home, but a week later on tour, on the highway, or somewhere else, in the Eurotunnel or alone in a hotel room.
So it didn't even take 15 minutes until the emergency services were on the scene. I could also choose between four different hospitals in my area, less than ten minutes drive from my house. The medical treatment is really good. But everything takes time. They cut me open and performed a quadruple bypass.
Recently, I have started physical therapy. As a test I have already done a few easy rehearsals with Wolfbane. Fortunately, it worked, and singing is already going well again. Actually, everything is going according to plan, and I expect to be back on stage in October. I think it's great
that the fans didn't return their tickets for the March tour and not a single promoter has cancelled a gig. The entire European tour will be held in March 2024. I am so happy about these fantastic fans who support me unconditionally. Many of them bought the T-shirt for the tour
which had to be cancelled because of the heart attack.
With this they provided me a lot of support, which gave me the strength and the will to continue. I have received hundreds of cards, letters, and messages wishing me a speedy recovery. That is just crazy and an incredible motivation for me to get back on my feet as quickly as possible. I never thought in my life that I would have a heart attack."
Are you back to 100 percent now, or do you still feel tired and groggy?
"No, I'm fighting my way back. It's getting better every day. For twelve weeks I couldn't do anything. That's when all my strength was gone. I had nothing left to give and I have to regain my fitness. At the moment I'm back at 50 percent of my original capacity, I would say but: I can breathe much better now than before. I didn't know I had heart disease. So things have been in a bad way. I'm much better now than I was before the
heart attack."
What was your mental and emotional state immediately after the operation?
Were you afraid of the future?
"No, everything was okay after the surgery. But the 17 days before the operation drove me out of my mind. This uncertainty was eating away at me. I was in the hospital , but still had the surgery ahead of me. That was really a hard time. "Why am I here? What have I done wrong?
Could I have prevented all of this? Am I even going to survive?" These were the questions that crossed my mind.
And in the end, would the surgery affect my voice? No! The exact opposite has been the case.
I sing better now than I ever have before. I have never in my life been more satisfied with my singing voice."
MATTHIAS MADER
www.blazebayley.net
www.facebook.com/officialblazebayley
www.loudersound.com
www.youtube.com
www.loudersound.com
