Iron Maiden News, Links, and Interviews

Is this the Classic Rock interview for the Powerslave anniv? Old or new interviews?

im,ps,cr.jpeg

Steve: POM was the best album we'd done up to that point.

Steve: People kept talking about pressure, and looking back I can see why. But the truth is I didn't feel any at the time.

Adrian: I never saw myself as a heavy-metal speed merchant. Definitely not a shredder. I grew up listening to blues rock, bands like Zeppelin and Purple. I loved rock guitar, but it had to have a melody.

Bruce: We both grew up loving Machine Head by Purple. So when Adrian and I first started writing together it was natural we would gravitate more to that kind of thing.

Harris had never really been into singles. He was into prog.

Steve: My priorities were simple. If I like it and the fans like it, that's all that ever matters to me. The critics can see what they like after that, it won't matter to me.

Steve: I don't write on the road. I prefer to be with the band in the studio.

Adrian: Me and Bruce wrote ''2 Minutes To Midnight'' in about 20 minutes. I could knock out stuff like that all day. But it didn't always fit into the kind of fantasy thing that Maiden had going for them. In the early days I needed Bruce to help me make things more how Maiden would want them. 2 Minutes is a perfect example of that.

Adrian: When Steve put ''Rime Of The Ancient Mariner'' forward I just knew we had to do it, because I'd never heard anyone do anything like it before. Steve was so fired up about it and convinced everyone else. It's so dramatic, how can you not like it.

Steve: WST tour was probably the best stage show we ever did. It felt sort of like we had got to the top of the mountain with that one.

Bruce: It was the best tour we ever did and it was the worst.

Bruce: I think this album is superior to the previous one. We took what was best in POM, while stressing the aggressive style of TNOTB. Powerslave is like the natural rounding off of POM and TNOTB, that whole era. I remember listening back to it and I thought: 'Um... this is great, but I don't know how much more we can do of records that sound in this kind of vein'''.

Steve: I still think Powerslave as a really, really strong album. I think there are 4 stand-out songs on there, all of which we did live. Of the other songs... there is some good ones. There's ''The Duellists'', which I still think is good, you know, its musically interesting. But if you put it against Rime or 2 Minutes... I mean, it's just no way. But they weren't filler songs or anything like that.
 
Agreed. I haven't listened to this isolated track, but it's pointless listening to something completely isolated.

There's a clip of the isolated bass on youtube from 2 Minutes to Midnight (from Powerslave), and it sounds kind of sloppy, then there's also a clip of the drum and bass together, and it's awesome.
Pointless in terms of critiquing the band maybe, but as a guitar player and avid fan of the 3 styles of playing going in in the band I find the isolated tracks invaluable. There are so many fun live-isms that have grown into the songs over the years and I really enjoy adding them into my own play alongs!
 
Such utter garbage and just clipped from something I read a few weeks ago. Get this...

"However, it was the other song Dickinson co-wrote with Smith that really demonstrated what they would bring to Maiden: Sunlight And Steel, which introduced an extra-large dose of rock groove to Maiden’s trademark galloping metal."

Journalism is dead. Long live copy and paste click bait.
 
I know of Micks pedigree, of course and I don't even care about the incorrect use of 'Sunlight,' I just think its wrong to say that Sun and Steel is a big deal in terms of highlighting the Smith/Dickinson song writing duo. The song is like a NWOBHM throw back and its not as if they would churn out loads of that kind of song after POM. The opposite, in fact. It doesn't introduce any kind of 'rock groove' that can't be found on the first 3 albums, in my opinion.

If any knowledgeable music folk disagree then I'll happily hear your technical reasoning but I just think the passage I quoted is nonsense. My 'click bait' quip was probably a bit strong but it's just a rehashed article from a few weeks ago.
 
Mick Wall is very funny (I listen to his podcast with Jon Hotten), but he's very shoddy as a rock journalist nowadays. He gets pretty basic facts wrong and is always weeks out of date with the 'latest' news on the podcast.
 
Mick Wall is very funny (I listen to his podcast with Jon Hotten), but he's very shoddy as a rock journalist nowadays. He gets pretty basic facts wrong and is always weeks out of date with the 'latest' news on the podcast.

Mick Wall has a big advantage over most journalists (Dom Lawson et al.): he was there when those things happened (some would say he was on Rod Smallwood’s payroll), so is not merely repeating stories other people experienced. At the same time, he has a disadvantage too: he was - allegedly - out of his head most of the time.

For what is worth, he is a very good writer.
 
I know of Micks pedigree, of course and I don't even care about the incorrect use of 'Sunlight,' I just think its wrong to say that Sun and Steel is a big deal in terms of highlighting the Smith/Dickinson song writing duo. The song is like a NWOBHM throw back and its not as if they would churn out loads of that kind of song after POM. The opposite, in fact. It doesn't introduce any kind of 'rock groove' that can't be found on the first 3 albums, in my opinion.

If any knowledgeable music folk disagree then I'll happily hear your technical reasoning but I just think the passage I quoted is nonsense. My 'click bait' quip was probably a bit strong but it's just a rehashed article from a few weeks ago.

It is probably the same article from a few weeks ago. Classic Rock posts these things online once the issue of the mag where they appeared is no longer available at newsagents.

In addition, Sun(light) and Steel is a great track, also better than most NWOBHM material.
 
It is probably the same article from a few weeks ago. Classic Rock posts these things online once the issue of the mag where they appeared is no longer available at newsagents.

In addition, Sun(light) and Steel is a great track, also better than most NWOBHM material.
Decent tune, I just found it weird that it was used to highlight the Smith/Dickinson partnership considering they also have credits on Icarus and Boots which are both more indicative of their future collaborations, in my opinion. And again, the groove and style I hear on Sun ain't nothin we hadn't heard before, to my ears.
 
Back
Top