KILLERS IN THE MAKING – 1980 / 1981 (EXCERPT)
After a couple of days off and fired up by the recent tour, the band entered Hollywood Studios on December 3 to put the final touches on two new songs they had planned for their second album. 'Murders In The Rue Morgue', which Steve had put together from several smaller musical passages he had from years ago, and 'Twilight Zone', whose musical basis was a combination between a riff from Dave and some other guitar parts Adrian had from his time in Evil Ways.
Then, on December 5, the band entered Battery Studios in Willesden, North London, and on Birch suggestion, set up the equipment in the middle of the room to get them to play as they were playing a gig. "Studios can be very alien places," Martin explained to Kerrang. "Especially if you're working with a band that's recording for the first time. Iron Maiden were so nervous that they'd have done anything I'd told them. They got hung up on playing everything exactly right, so I tried to create an atmosphere of pressure – but relaxed pressure if you understand my meaning – I always try to get the band into a frame of mind where they can play together as a band, not merely as a bunch of individuals all of whom have to be note–perfect. So I say, 'Look, if you're going to make a mistake make a definite one. Don't try to hide it. Play it so that it feels right, that's all that matters.
But that doesn't mean I let all sorts of mistakes go through. There are some things I insist on, like a good rhythm track. That's imperative. Usually, I cut that with just the bass, drums and rhythm guitar. Unless the lead guitarist plays rhythm parts, he has to sit up in the control room with me. If the band is trying to build up a feel, then all their concentration should go into it, you see, and in that sort of tense situation the lead guitarist might start rushing his solo or dragging behind – and invariably the rest of the band will follow him. There's nothing wrong in that really – if the solo is good. But what mostly happens is that the guy wants to do the solo again because he's made some bad mistakes or else thought of something better. So you go back to the basic track and discover that the tempo is fluctuating so much it's really difficult to play to. I always think its best to go for the basic groove and then add all the fancy stuff later."
And so it was that the working plan that Maiden would use from now on was established. First, Steve and Clive would lay down the rhythm base for the songs, then Davey and Adrian would play their rhythm parts, followed by their solos, and finally, Paul would come in to record his vocals. "It was a very special experience [working with Martin] 'cause he pushed me to do things that I didn't think I was capable of," Paul told Philippe Lageat. "Martin was my first "teacher": he made me realise how I should or shouldn't use my voice. I was young and I thought I knew it all, but in fact, I knew fuck all, and Martin made me aware of it. He was a real inspiration to me and he'll always have a special place in my heart. And he was really good at transforming what we'd do 'well' into something 'great'".
During the recording sessions, which normally started around 11 or 12 am until 2 or 3 am of the next day, Martin took the time to know the band members and then coaxed them in order to get the best out of them. "I'd never worked with a producer who was so totally involved in the whole process," Adrian told Mick Wall. "He was a good laugh, but when we were working, he cracked the whip. The band was tight, anyway, from playing on the road, but Martin came in and made it even tighter."
"It's great to be in the studio with a young refreshing band like Iron Maiden," said Birch at the time. "I am emotionally involved with the music, as well as professionally acting as a kind of musical director, and engineer and producer."
Maiden almost had the entire material for the album years before the actual recording of Killers took place and, amazingly enough, almost in the exact running order, so work on the songs didn't take too long. The 'intro', now titled 'The Ides Of March', was the obvious choice for the opener, and in fact, was the first track they recorded to keep using it as their intro music. 'Ides' would be followed by Maiden's oldest song, 'Wrathchild', left out of the debut album because the band had already recorded a version of it in the Metal For Muthas compilation. Then came the first of the new two songs, 'Murders In The Rue Morgue'. "That was a bit of an experiment," Harris explained to John Stix. "I'd never played harmonics on the bass much before that. But with the mood of the intro, it felt natural to play those harmonics. We wanted to create a mood and then come in and hit people across the head with it. The vocal melody is pretty much the same as the riff. That's to give them both more power."
'Murders' was followed by 'Another Life', 'Innocent Exile' and the title track, 'Killers', with its final set of lyrics, penned just days before the recording. Then came 'Prodigal Son', the slow number they needed to dust off to add a different texture to the album, long–forgotten, 'Floating' which would end up being sped up and re–named 'Purgatory' 'to fit with the ideas of the album, and 'Drifter' by now the established set closer was the obvious choice for the album closer as well.
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