Who was auditioned to replace Blaze?

[AncientMariner_Essex]

My thoughts exactly.

Had Blaze succeeded as a Maiden singer, there would have been no hope in hell for Bruce to be accepted back by Steve!

Totally agree with this. Not just from Steve’s point of view either. I remember Nicko having some pretty harsh words about Bruce at the time he left and really took it personally.

I think they desperately wanted Blaze to work out. He was younger, very energised and clearly loved and appreciated being in Maiden. He jumped straight into the song writing too and I can imagine the first few months with Blaze was a great time for the band, all feeling positive and buzzing after the last tour with Bruce being so stressful.

If they could have got to a third album with Blaze things could have been a different story. We know some of the BNW tracks were written with Blaze and considering how strong Blazes first album after maiden, silicon messiah, was the story could have been very different.

 

[Iron Lurker]

Are you really saying that Blaze contributed to some of Maiden’s biggest hits???

I drafted a reply asking the same question but deleted it. Blaze fans have all kinds of reasons and excuses as to why it didn't work out, all of which leave him blameless. But a theory that there was a master plan for Bruce to leave for 6 years and the the new singer would be replaced no matter what takes the cake.

 

[Yax]

Many of you claim here that the band and Steve Harris absolutely believed in Blaze when he entered the band but during their X Factor tour they slowly started realizing that he is not the right person and that his voice cant perform their old songs effectively. I believe this is a statement very far from the truth.

There is absolutely zero evidence to the contrary (and besides, tunnelvision is a very real psychological term). It is simply your belief based on - What exactly?

 

[AncientMariner_Essex]

Many of you claim here that the band and Steve Harris absolutely believed in Blaze when he entered the band but during their X Factor tour they slowly started realizing that he is not the right person and that his voice cant perform their old songs effectively. I believe this is a statement very far from the truth. How can this even be possible? The band are no idiots, they rehearsed the old songs countless of times before taking him as their lead singer and they knew very well the limitations of his voice but also his potential.

Being in a rehearsal studio belting out songs is a far cry from being on the road as part of a long tour.

I’ve got some bootlegs from the blaze era and from my own experience seeing Maiden with Blaze twice and seeing blaze solo live singing Maiden songs I think he can sound fantastic live.

I think he did and still can do a great job on some of the Maiden classics. His biggest issue was the wear and tear on his voice. He wasn’t used to such big long tours and didn’t know how to look after his own health and his voice and this meant he had more bad gigs than good ones as the tours went on. I’ve heard some bootlegs with blaze where he sounded awful and worse than a karaoke singer down my local so he can sing Maiden songs well just not on a consistent level.

 

[srfc]

He also wasn't able to transfer his mad frontman routine from Wolfsbane into commanding the stage of a top tier live act. Compare some of the rants on Massive Noise Injection to the wimpy "c'mons" that was about the best you got from him with Maiden.

 

[Iron Lurker]

I’ve heard some bootlegs with blaze where he sounded awful and worse than a karaoke singer down my local

this was my only live experience with Blaze on Maiden. He wasn't good at all and lost his voice near the end of the set. He croaked his way through the encore songs. I felt bad for him. It was also in a small club and I remember leaving thinking my favorite band was "over"

 

[Andante]

He also wasn't able to transfer his mad frontman routine from Wolfsbane into commanding the stage of a top tier live act. Compare some of the rants on Massive Noise Inkection to the wimpy "c'mons" that was about the best you got from him with Maiden.

Hahahaha....his "c'mons" were really creepy though...Yes you are right here, he never triumphed in speeches during his time in Maiden...but he was also a new singer and wanted to do "everything right".

 

[Iron Lurker]

Not to pile on but Blaze's standing in place/pumping his fist thing was a bit creepy, too. I've always said and thought Blaze is a great guy and wish him nothing but the best but he was just not the right fit for Maiden.

 

[Christopher Baines]

From what I remember from interviews back in the day and from things I’ve read since, the primary reason the band chose blaze as the new singer was because his voice sounded nothing like Bruce.

It also helped he was English and the band already knew him and liked him from previous tours when wolfsbane supported Maiden.

I’m sure Steve had to persuade a few of the other band members but mostly they wanted a complete fresh start after Bruce left and the music Steve especially was writing at the time (that eventually became x-factor tracks) suited a deeper baritone voice.

When the x-factor didn’t take off as much as Steve or the band and Rod had hoped they then tried to write an album more like the older stuff. VXI in my opinion was an attempt to appease fans. 8 tracks, a fast album opener a lot of sing a long choruses and a couple of epics. It was around this time they realised that it probably wasn’t working with Blaze. His own issues were causing problems as he wasn’t used to such big tours so was getting ill and his voice wasn’t holding up throughout the tours. Plus I think Steve under estimated how much the fans just wanted to hear the classics at gigs around this time and that’s where blaze struggled.

I think Steve was hoping that if they could muddle along with blaze until they had 3/4 albums under their belt then the amount of classic tracks on tours could be whittled down to just a handful that blaze could cope with and the rest of the set they would have more blaze stuff to choose from.

Sadly for blaze there just wasn’t enough time to get more albums done as a lot of fans from their biggest markets just didn’t take to the sound and style of his voice or the music on the x-factor as much as was hoped.

Also, Bruce had come full circle in his solo career to be back to playing and loving all things metal after accident of birth and chemical wedding. So Rod was probably thinking if we don’t get Bruce back now we can’t just dump blaze and get another vocalist in as it would damage the brand further so the band was close to folding.

Probably the most sensable summary of the whole situation

 

[Andante]

Not to pile on but Blaze's standing in place/pumping his fist thing was a bit creepy, too. I've always said and thought Blaze is a great guy and wish him nothing but the best but he was just not the right fit for Maiden.

I respect your opinion but I absolutely disagree with you. Ok, perhaps my opinion is biased because the song "Virus" with Blaze Bailey was the first heavy metal song I heard in my life (I was 12...) and I instantly connected the sound of Iron Maiden with his voice. Sure, Blaze had his own very unique style and personality, some liked it, some not, I personally think very highly of him because he is a genuinely good person and this plays to me a crucial role.
Sure, Bruce could reach all these very high notes, sing Run to the Hills effortlessly but he was too arrogant back then or he just acted like an arrogant person....I also think that with his ways and dominance he monopolized the fans attention and made everything turn around him, with Blaze on the other hand Maiden was a more balanced band with all the band members being equally important and noticed. But this is only my humble opinion...

 

[Christopher Baines]

I think the theory this was planned or part planned is querying the bands intergrity which i wouldnt do. I believe what i read in RTH and the interviews i read with the band at the time and after.

Regarding Blaze, i dont think anyone would really have succedeed, it was just the wrong time. Sure other guys might have sounded better than Blaze but i did think Bruce would be back inventually. It just works and he is the best commercially viable option for Maiden. It was never planned but maybe deep down certain people hoped he'd return one day.

 

[AncientMariner_Essex]

the funny thing is, all those fans who say “blaze, wasn’t a good fit” “his voice wasn’t the right sound for Maiden” etc makes me think it didn’t matter who replaced Bruce. No one would ever have been fully accepted.

Yeah bands can change a vocalist or a member or two in the early days but once you become an established band with a few albums under your belt and you’ve had a run of albums with no lineup changes then fans get attached to what they perceive as the ‘classics lineup’.

Once a band achieves a bit of fame and builds a fan base and has that classic line up phase then nothing that band ever does in regards to a change up of members will ever be fully accepted by a large section of the fan base.

I mean look at Judas Priest. Rob halford ups and leaves so what do they do, go out and get someone who is basically a clone only 20 years younger and arguably has even more range and power in his voice than Rob ever did yet most of the fans just wanted Rob back.

Same with Queensryche at the moment. Geoff Tate is an obvious knob head and needed to be kicked and Todd sounds like prime Tate 35 years ago yet still fans ask for Tate back.

You’ll never win as a band. Fans, especially metal fans, are way more obsessed with their favourite bands than fans of other music genres.

 

[Yax]

I’d love to have the original QR back, though Todd is awesome. Tate sings really well nowadays- but I think they are better off apart, realistically. They turned into a dysfunctional entity.

 

[efekåseo_suomi]

Regarding Blaze, i dont think anyone would really have succedeed

I remember everyone saying this exact same thing about Accept back in 2009. If the best material from Virtual XI and Brave New World was combined into one album, Adrian staying throughout the 90's (and therefore further improving the quality of the material) and with Blaze focusing more on improving technically from what he was in Wolfsbane, we could have had a Mark Tornillo styled success story.

 

[Iron Lurker]

I respect your opinion but I absolutely disagree with you. Ok, perhaps my opinion is biased because the song "Virus" with Blaze Bailey was the first heavy metal song I heard in my life (I was 12...) and I instantly connected the sound of Iron Maiden with his voice. Sure, Blaze had his own very unique style and personality, some liked it, some not, I personally think very highly of him because he is a genuinely good person and this plays to me a crucial role.
Sure, Bruce could reach all these very high notes, sing Run to the Hills effortlessly but he was too arrogant back then or he just acted like an arrogant person....I also think that with his ways and dominance he monopolized the fans attention and made everything turn around him, with Blaze on the other hand Maiden was a more balanced band with all the band members being equally important and noticed. But this is only my humble opinion...

One of the great things about Maiden is everyone has their favorite period and anyone of their 17 studio albums is someone's favorite, be it Seventh Son, Killers, or VXI. Virus was your first exposure to Maiden and made you a metal fan so it's only natural you love the Blaze era. My first exposure was Killers so that album is dear to me (even though it seems mostly unappreciated here, heh).

I didn't like Blaze's voice from the very start. I just don't feel he's a great singer and thus I'm not even interested in his solo stuff though people tell me the music is quite good. Before Blaze Maiden had established themselves as one the great Metal bands ever and well on their way to legendary status. Blaze style was jarringly different than what was expected from Maiden thus why folks say he wasn't a good fit. Again, great guy and great to his fans. He tried hard and it certainly wasn't all on him why it didn't work out. I'm just not a fan.

Not sure what you mean by Bruce monopolizing attention. With bands it's almost always either the frontman/lead guitarist/or both that garners the most attention from fans, media, etc. depending on who has the most charisma/personality. It's just the way it is. Blaze really didn't have much in that department IMO and Steve was definitely the face of the band during that period.

 

[Black Bart]

Right........and Chris, Geoff, and Scott all left Queensryche at various points with a master plan for them all to return in 2030. The plan was put in place in 1980...

Not disbanding Queensrÿche in 1998 is one of the biggest career mistakes I can think of. Just think if they had returned just a couple of years ago, after a necessary break, with the same line-up.

 

[Black Bart]

I mean look at Judas Priest. Rob halford ups and leaves so what do they do, go out and get someone who is basically a clone only 20 years younger and arguably has even more range and power in his voice than Rob ever did yet most of the fans just wanted Rob back.

Same with Queensryche at the moment. Geoff Tate is an obvious knob head and needed to be kicked and Todd sounds like prime Tate 35 years ago yet still fans ask for Tate back.

In my opinion, the problem in both cases is that the remaining band hasn't been able to capture any magic and grace in terms of songwriting. The same goes with Angra and Skid Row. The only ones who have managed to pull it off -apart from Maiden- are Helloween, both in 1994 with the arrival of Andi Deris, and with the self-titled album of 2021, when Kiske and Hansen came back, as well as Marillion, with H replacing Fish for the better (once again, in my opinion ).

 

[Yax]

Not disbanding Queensrÿche in 1998 is one of the biggest career mistakes I can think of. Just think if they had returned just a couple of years ago with the same line-up.

DeGarmo wanted to pursue his pilot career. However, he did return for the Tribe sessions, but left permanently after Geoff wasn’t very gracious or including towards him during that time. Geoff, as he talked about a couple of years ago didn’t take his 1998 departure well and I guess harnessed resentment. If only Geoff hadn’t flipped out things could have been different.

 

[Iron Lurker]

the funny thing is, all those fans who say “blaze, wasn’t a good fit” “his voice wasn’t the right sound for Maiden” etc makes me think it didn’t matter who replaced Bruce. No one would ever have been fully accepted.

Yeah bands can change a vocalist or a member or two in the early days but once you become an established band with a few albums under your belt and you’ve had a run of albums with no lineup changes then fans get attached to what they perceive as the ‘classics lineup’.

Once a band achieves a bit of fame and builds a fan base and has that classic line up phase then nothing that band ever does in regards to a change up of members will ever be fully accepted by a large section of the fan base.

I mean look at Judas Priest. Rob halford ups and leaves so what do they do, go out and get someone who is basically a clone only 20 years younger and arguably has even more range and power in his voice than Rob ever did yet most of the fans just wanted Rob back.

Same with Queensryche at the moment. Geoff Tate is an obvious knob head and needed to be kicked and Todd sounds like prime Tate 35 years ago yet still fans ask for Tate back.

You’ll never win as a band. Fans, especially metal fans, are way more obsessed with their favourite bands than fans of other music genres.

I was a fan during the Paul era and was a little concerned about what the new singer would be like. Turns out I liked him much better as did most fans and Maiden would establish the 'classic lineup' and go on to superstardom. If Blaze was great and could carry on or even better what Bruce did I would have been all for it.

I thought Tim Owens was great and could carry on and do the classic Priest style justice. But you're right a lot of fans didn't like him because he wasn't Rob (same issue with Bruce and Geoff). It didn't help the 2 studio albums they did weren't very good and they deviated from that classic Priest style. I honestly would have been fine if Rob never came back. Though Priest would end up spending much of their time either opening for other bands or headlining even smaller venues much like Queensryche today.

I also have the same opinion as Todd for Queensryche. I think he's great and it's almost like still having Geoff in the band. Would I like Geoff back since he's one of my favorite vocalists? Of course - but I'm happy with Todd as well. It's tough to replace a legendary singer though, you are correct.

Even if Blaze worked out as well or better than Bruce (ability, fit) they still would have lost popularity. It took Bruce and Adrian coming back to revitalize their careers. And let's not discount what Adrian brought back to the Maiden table. Maiden really missed him while he was away.

Don't mean to ramble on. I'm just saying I'm one of those fans that don't mind vocalist changes in established bands as long as they are good and actually do fit the style of the band in question.

 

[Black Bart]

DeGarmo wanted to pursue his pilot career. However, he did return for the Tribe sessions, but left permanently after Geoff wasn’t very gracious or including towards him during that time. Geoff, as he talked about a couple of years ago didn’t take his 1998 departure well and I guess harnessed resentment. If only Geoff hadn’t flipped out things could have been different.

He was also a bit dejected that the whole system prevented him from making the band's music evolve (Hear In The Now Frontier was mostly DeGarmo's brainchild, and had it borne another bandname, it might have been recognised at its fair value). Add to that the label problems and the fact their tour stopped being funded in its middle, it is no surprise he preferred to move on instead of beating a dead horse.