Treasure Island - The Kerrang! Interview
By Evan T. Faulk
My first exposure to Iron Maiden was in 2006, when my older brother first played Powerslave for me. Before that moment I only enjoyed music passively. Hearing the razor-sharp voice of Bruce Dickinson, and Dave Murray and Adrian Smith’s complexly intertwined axe work changed all of that. Two years later I got to see the band perform four Powerslave songs on the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, and it was like a dream come true.
So to sit here today and be chatting with Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris over Zoom about the band’s latest album, Treasure Island - their 18th! - it would be unfathomable if it wasn’t actually happening right now. And while my mind is racing, my two idols are most graciously answering all of my questions with a down-to-earth composure that you don’t really expect if you’ve just seen their electrifying personalities on stage.
“It was the right thing at the right time,” Steve explains when I ask what prompted the recording sessions to commence. “We had some downtime between The Future Past Tour legs, and before Bruce had to go off on his solo tour, so we all hustled over to Guillame Tell Studios in Paris to record this album.”
“It felt like a mad rush for me,” Bruce laughs. “‘Cause everyone else could tinker with the album ‘til it was done; meanwhile, I had a solo tour to prepare for and solo album promoting to do. So I had to come into the studio, absolutely nail my parts, and then bounce while the others finished their parts. I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do it this way, but it all worked out. This album is brilliant.”
I ask the two musicians what it is about Treasure Island that sets it apart from previous Iron Maiden album. Bruce is immediately forthright. “The heart.”
Steve nods his head. “I don’t think we’ve ever had an album like this where we’re really playing off of each other in so many ways. I mean, usually we go into the studio and write material, and Adrian and Bruce will go off somewhere, and I’ll lock myself away, and Janick will bring something to me, and so on and so forth. There was much of that this time, but there were also many moments where one person’s idea would spark another person, and we would bounce ideas off of each other as a group and it really made each song feel so much stronger.”
I ask them if there many intentional parallels to their last album, Senjutsu. “Not intentional, no,” says Bruce, “although when we played some songs back we did have that moment of going, huh, didn’t we do something like that on the last record? But they all sound unique in their own ways at the end of the day.”
“Sometimes it’s fun to take a similar idea and take it into two different directions, you know?” Steve puts in.
Those similarities are immediately felt on opener “Libertas”, which rumbles out of the darkness before Nicko begins pounding the drum kit. The beat is pensive, similar to what we heard on Senjutsu’s title track, but Adrian’s riff has a roar that sounds incredibly threatening.
“That was Adrian playing a riff and immediately I had this vision of crosses lining the seashore,” Bruce explains. “Nicko immediately picked up the beat for the track and I’m scribbling down lines for it.”
Indeed, the imagery of gladiators and their fight against tyranny is most apparent throughout these lyrics - as Bruce explains, “inspired by Spartacus.” The chorus, a simple cry of, “We fight for freedom - freedom - freedom!” reminds you immediately of “The Clansman” from Virtual XI, but the music hits even harder on this new track and Bruce is throwing down the glove.
But Steve also had a role to play in this song. “We felt like we were missing something,” says Bruce, “and Steve comes along and goes, ‘What if we did one of those [miming the melody] things?’ And I’m like, okay, you have a go then. And he does, and it’s just brilliant.”
What Bruce is referring to is the instrumental section that follows the second chorus and features the Three Amigos harmonizing as the drums racing along the ground. We’ve heard this before in “The Book of Souls” and “Death of the Celts”, and it fits into this song perfectly as well. The band holds off on a guitar solo until the very end, when Adrian lays down one of the best of his career and we exit with more incredible drumming from Nicko.
There’s no time to take a breather and Nicko hits us with a drum intro and Janick bursts out of the gate with a riff that reminds you of “Ghost of the Navigator” and “The Talisman”. The band sounds so energized on “Swashbuckler”, it’s unbelievable. Bruce sounds half his age as he sings of cannonfire and carnage. “Those who dare fight me, dead men I’ll fill their graves!” he cries, as the guitars swing like cutlasses and Steve’s bass churns like the rumbling, rolling waves.
“That was so much fun,” Bruce says with a smile on his face. “I really hope we get to do this one live one day.”
“Janick wrote the bulk of the title track and wanted a companion piece that was shorter and more to the point to capture another side of the piracy theme,” Steve explains. “He worked on the music by himself and left me to take care of the lyrics. I was stunned when I heard what he’d come up with, it has the same amount of energy as we used to have back in the ‘80s.”
It’s certainly a tribute to Janick’s determination to inject Iron Maiden albums with rockers for all the fans who are put off by the longer songs. Here he drops a killer guitar solo, leads a Celtic-inspired jig, and then duels Nicko all before the final chorus. Bruce sounds unflinchingly triumphant on the finale.
“So never cross blades with me!
I am master of the sea.
Swearing no allegiance and forever free,
I am the swashbuckler!”
In juxtaposition to the energy of “Swashbuckler”, “All for One” sees Bruce and Adrian take a more sentimental approach.
Bruce explains, “When Nicko had his stroke at the beginning of 2023, we really didn’t know what this would mean for the band. And yet watching his resolve throughout the tour inspired us in so many ways.”
“It was certainly harder for him to record this album than the others,” Steve comments. “We would often have to split up sections so he could perfect his timing and then stitch them together later. But he never held back from giving it all he had.”
“Adrian started playing this melody,” Bruce continues, “and all of a sudden the words just came flowing out. It’s our little tribute to our mate, our blood brother.”
Indeed, you can feel the passion within the song, from its ballad beginnings to the powerfully euphoric chorus. And there are three stunning back-to-back guitar solos from Dave, Janick, and Adrian that heighten the entire experience.
But Nicko wasn’t just laying down the beat on this record. For the second time in Maiden history, he actually helped write a song - the brooding “Hallowed Ground”.
“Nicko first starting toying with the idea during the Senjutsu sessions,” Steve explains, “but he didn’t really know where to take it. He decided to shelve it and as we started work on Treasure Island he brought it up again and began to work on it with Adrian and I. Between the three of us we cobbled together his vision of a race car driver on the night of his biggest race.”
Indeed, there is honor and glory all throughout this song, from the opening gusts of wind and the solemn bass and guitar intro, to the powerfully succinct chorus line that Bruce hurls at you like the gods of the sport - “You’re standing on hallowed ground!” There’s a smallness in the midst of the world spinning all around you, but your drive makes you feel so much larger.
“Nicko insisted Janick do the first solo,” continues Steve, “as he felt he would be the one who could best capture the sound of the cars lapping the track.” Indeed, Janick’s solo might be one of his career stand-outs, revving his guitar like an engine before adding in the right amount of chaos to make you feel like your losing control - which is regained when Adrian steps into the limelight and hurls a second screaming solo at your feet. Hallowed ground, indeed.
One of the album’s real oddities is “Children of the Stars”, the first solo-penned Steve Harris song to be under seven minutes in length since Virtual XI.
“This album gets a bit dark in places,” explains Steve. “We really build on the emotional and take it to another realm entirely. As we were arranging songs I felt like I’d like one more really bright tune mixed in and started working it out in a matter of a few hours.” Why the space theme, I ask? “I don’t really know, I’ve seen so much talk about going to space or Mars or what have you lately and I just channeled some of my own feelings into the song.”
Indeed, the track lifts off with a purpose and incorporates acoustic guitars and bass alongside the classic Iron Maiden sound. Strangely, for a Steve Harris song, there are no guitar solos in the track!
“It’s not something I noticed, honestly,” Steve says, laughing. “I guess they just didn’t fit in there with everything else going on.”
The album’s final shorter song comes roaring out of the gate with a classic Adrian Smith riff that hearkens back to “The Wicker Man” or “2 Minutes to Midnight”. Nicko’s drumming is once again thundrous, and Bruce is in fine form hurling lyrics about planes and heroes.
“That one was based on a true story from World War II, in which a German pilot named Franz Stigler saved the life of American pilot Charlie Brown. I thought it was such a powerful story and it fit alongside Adrian’s music well.”
Indeed, it’s a powerful rocker, filled with emotion and stakes and drama, and a hefty ounce of rock ‘n’ roll. Bruce is in full storytelling mode, painting a scene of destruction, chaos, and despair - crucially, “but the guns are silent!”
There’s a twinkle in Bruce’s eye. “This is another song I’d love to do live one day. Obviously we won’t for this tour, but we haven’t ruled out one-off shows with Nicko in the future.”
We’re six songs in and we haven’t even reached the halfway point of the album. And the next six songs are all weighty epics, three of which are among the longest songs the band has ever written. Luckily, this is the part of the album that I am most excited about.
First we have the closing title track of Disc 1, “Treasure Island”. This is a Gers/Harris composition through and through, opening with a shimmering, quiet guitar intro that Bruce almost whispers on top of.
“Sworn to an oath on a dead man’s grave
Here is the secret he had to keep safe
Wild wonders of worlds far outside of reach
Dreamt up by madmen and villains apiece
The sacred book that holds free the rime
Will cast out all unworthy this time
Lend me your ear and I’ll unlock your soul
For I have gone where mortals never dared go”
Then with a rumble the song bursts to life and Nicko is driving us like a ship on the sea. The feeling of adventure and excitement lies upon the wind. Bruce is captivating as this pirate captain, as he declares, “I outrun the wind! I outrun the sea! No mortal man will ever capture me!” When we hit the simple but seductive chorus, we burst into a section that sounds a bit familiar - we heard a similar melody on “The Book of Souls” and “The Time Machine”. But there’s a classic piratey twist on it this time which sounds so fresh and invigorating. It’s awesome.
Steve doesn’t have much to add here. “It’s got everything I love about Janick’s songwriting wrapped up into one fantastic song.”
Bruce’s closing monologue is haunting and just as good as the first:
“From the dead man’s words, a lifetime we once wrote
The smoke revealing all the lives that were smote
Hidden in the chest, the secret we had gained
Written inside it, the suffering and the pain
Far beyond the sea, a civil life we lived
Now the time has come to put away the gift
My tale is but a bitter one, without any doubt
For in my hour of darkness, my blood has all run out
Take away your ear, and take back your soul
For I have gone where mortals should never go…”
A stunning eleven minute epic, but the second disc opens with eight more minutes of Gers/Harris and I am all about this. “The Call of the Wild” may bring to mind the Jack London book, but Steve insists this wasn’t an inspiration.
“It’s more about the feelings of wanderlust,” he explains, “something that I would also do with ‘The Wind in the Willows’ at the end of the record.”
If you love your Iron Maiden melodies, then boy is this song for you. Each guitarist gets a solo and there are tons of great harmony moments for the Three Amigos to shine together. Bruce captures the spirit of the song, especially on that chorus. “I’ve heard the call of the wild, I’ve heard it calling my name!” Janick’s guitar follows his voice cheekily. It may be a Maiden trope at this point, but sometimes it sounds positively delightful.
Now we come to the album’s longest song, and the now third longest song in Maiden’s discography - “White Whales”. The second of Steve’s three solo-penned songs, this one is a leviathan of build, patience, and payoff.
“I never read Moby-Dick in full,” says Steve, “but I have skimmed it and I liked some of its themes. It’s another song inspired by the sea but in a very different way than the two pirate songs.”
“I think it’s the best song on the record,” Bruce says candidly. “It’s the best of Steve’s songwriting tendencies coming together in the best of ways - even if it was a little wordy to sing.”
Indeed, “White Whales” is all about the mood and the atmosphere, beginning with the usual Steve Harris bass intro. This one runs for well over three minutes, although in fairness it also covers the first verses as well. Bruce’s voice is calm but rippling with venom. “I must kill my white whales.”
Once the heaviness begins to roll in, our ship sets off on its course methodically. What makes this song so memorable? That’s easy. The goddamn chorus.
“And the great blue shroud of the sea
Rolled on as it rolled through the centuries
And from Hell’s heart I stab at thee
To purify the evil that’s within me”
Is this a Top 10 Bruce performance? It could very well be.
“I had so much fun singing that chorus,” laughs Bruce. “I was disappointed it only showed up two and a half times!”
For Bruce’s own part, he and Adrian get one more song together in the form of another slow-building track, the haunting “Tempting Evil”.
“This one started out with the working title ‘Lady Macbeth’,” Bruce says, “although by the time we finished it we felt that, despite her character being our narrative point of view, it was a bit clunky as a title. So we changed it to ‘Tempting Evil’, which is a little more enigmatic. Assuming people don’t read the lyrics beforehand, they won’t know what that’s referencing ‘til they’ve heard the song.”
Adrian’s guitar prickles like a dagger throughout the slow track, which Bruce’s lyrics are some of his all-time best.
“We took up the daggers
And we wrote some Scottish play
And all of Neptune’s oceans
Cannot wash that blood away
Now I take again the dagger
And I’ll wash their blood with mine
Our sins too many to count
Would make Jupiter go blind
There could have been another path
But I trode the one of sorrow
We could have had tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…”
The song ends with that note. Stunning, truly.
After sitting out during the Senjutsu sessions, Dave Murray is back in business with another really dark song. “Invisible Man” sounds like a lot of fun based solely on the title, but the lyrics immediately bring to mind less of the sci-fi figure from HG Wells, and more of the current day issues of loners and the violence they might carry out.
“You’re certainly on the right track,” Steve confirms when I mention this. “There were many news headlines that inspired the lyrics, yeah.”
The song has a bit of an eastern melody to it, which is a really nice flavor to incoporate. It slowly builds to a chorus in its centerpiece, and then falls away. The second half of the song is nothing but build-up right until the very end. The final line - “One more invisible man taking the reaper’s scythe in his own two hands” - is chilling.
The sound of an explosion ends the song suddenly, but from the rubble fades in the album’s closing and second longest track, “The Wind in the Willows”. And no, for those who’ve read the book, there are no moles nor rats nor badgers nor toads - just an older musician looking back over his life and the courses he took throughout it.
“I guess that’s one way to interpret it,” Steve smiles. “To me it was more like that feeling of wanderlust again.”
Whatever the case my be, the song’s narrator is “sailing down the river” - of life? of memory? Does it matter? Regardless, this song brings a tear to my eye. If this is the final Iron Maiden song, then what a worthy exit for both Steve as a songwriter and his ensemble of musicians as a whole. Trust me, it’s worth it.
I thank Bruce and Steve a thousand times for letting me conduct the first interview for the album and I encourage everyone to preorder it as soon as you can. Treasure Island is another stunning reminder that when it comes to metal, Iron Maiden remain the GOAT. The songs may be a little slower, the hair a little greyer, but the same band that first thrilled me in 2006 is once again releasing music that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Up the Irons, forever. God bless Iron Maiden.
