Coole Aktion aus dem IMOC: Rod hat 20 Fragen beantwortet, die per Mail an Ihn geschickt wurden von Fans aus dem IMOC
1. Hi Rod. What happens to all the old stage sets, clothes and Eddies when a tour has finished? Have you ever thought about putting them on display for a while somewhere? I'd love to see something done like that. - prowler666
At the end of a tour various things happen to the sets and staging. For the clothes the only person who really wears anything unusual is Bruce, and those are usually completely wrecked and falling apart by the end of the tour. He tends to time it quite well so they last until the end of the tour and then get jettisoned or dumped at home somewhere. There may be some in storage and there may not I don't think we want to get into the Michael Jackson thing of 'these are the trousers Bruce wore on stage at the so-and-so gig'... I think thats very naff. We are not a fashion statement - no doubt to the relief of the fashion industry!! That's why you dont see this stuff in places like the Hard Rocks.
As far as the props go - various things happen to those. Some are recycled, like the big Eddie - we may use parts of that to build the next one. The heads - a lot of the original ones are in the bands gardens or various other places. The cyborg Eddie we used on the last tour - I was actually thinking about that while on the road, that it would be a shame to put him in storage where no-one could see it. So we contacted the British Music Experience at the O2 and hes now situated outside the BME (I think they're about to put a plaque up next to him). So when you go to the BME you look up to the first level stairs near the entrance and see Eddie gazing down at you. But you've also got clear access to him if you go to the first level you can stand next to him and get a picture. So hes' on display for all to see.
Putting it all together as an event and sending it round the world... its enough trouble sending the band around the world at the moment let alone sending their old clothes so that's probably not going to happen.
2. Do you think that place (England) and time (late 70's) was relevant for making Iron Maiden famous? To rephrase, could Iron Maiden be famous if they started playing 10 years earlier or later than they did? - Harry
I don't think the time or place is relevant to Maiden or to any other what I would call special bands - I'm obviously biased but I do think Maiden have always had something special about them, I thought that the first time I saw them down the pub. But you could take Zeppelin, Queen, Purple, The Who, The Stones if they started off now... they're bands that can write, theyre bands that can play and theres something special about them, so I don't think the time makes a difference. They would all succeed in a different time zone I believe. So much talent. And all still sound largely contemporary now, or at least bloody good!
If we'd been ten years earlier or ten years later the influences would have slightly different, as you know Steve's influences, Bruce's influences and the other guys include things like Jethro Tull, Nektar, Golden Earring, Deep Purple, UFO... if they'd been born a bit earlier or a bit later they'd have been influenced by something else maybe but I'm sure it would have been in the same vein. So in answer to the question, no I dont think the time makes a lot of difference to whether a band are well received or not. Talent is talent.
As far a place goes, well some places are a lot easier to be found in. Compare London or New York to say Kuala Lumpar or Mombassa, as extremes. So yes place would always have a large effect.
3. Rod, which three words describe Nicko? - maiden_madness
Loyal, generous almost to a fault and of course totally insane - I think those are three words that pretty well sums up our Nick!!.
4. By now you'd have thought Iron Maiden would be something that run itself, but reading your tour diaries it appears that youre probably busier now than you've ever been! Do you have such a thing as a daily schedule or can a phone call/e-mail suddenly change everything in your plans for the day? Any examples would be good! - Monty No1
I wish Maiden could run itself at times, I can assure you! On these tours its extremely busy. I think on the last leg of the tour I got out of the hotel three times, though it was in Quito, Manaus and Brasilia which are great places to get out of the hotel so Im not complaining! But yes, its very busy as you know the band are getting more and more successful in so many places, and we try and get to as many fans as we can so its very busy.
Theres no daily schedule youre quite right that a phonecall or email can change everything, you think youre going to have a quiet day and then a call comes in and you spend the next three hours or more sorting it out. Quite a tragic example of that was when we were in Prague I was out sightseeing with my son but I got an email from the office saying theyd been trying to get hold of me cos there had been a train wreck near Ostrava and the Polish media wanted to speak to us (the train came from Poland) as there were a number of Maiden fans on the train. So that was a pretty awful thing to deal with and changed the day completely - I had to let the band know, deal with some related media and everything else. And going from great anticipation to sadness for those involved and their families.
That was a pretty extreme and fairly devastating example though, less important things to disrupt the day happen on a regular basis, you might find that somethings been screwed up, you might get a call to say its raining so hard that your flight cases are floating off into the Amazon jungle (as happened in Rio), or even drummers nearly breaking their wrists (!!!)...... you just deal with stuff as it comes. A lot of the time on tour is spent troubleshooting but thats one of the exciting things about it, two days are never the same.
5. Being the "Boss", what are the most stressful aspects of touring for you? - IronAaron
I think if you find touring too stressful, you shouldnt do it. Its supposed to be fun and I think everyone in the extended Maiden team has a great time on tour. I suppose all the travel and time changes can be tiring which can make you a bit short tempered, but that to me isnt stress, just being tired.
Stress you would find in any job if that's what you want to call it things potentially going wrong, things that are out of your control (like the weather), or if the band are going to be up on time to do an important interview!!.... you can take anything from the smallest thing to the biggest thing. If you call that stress then yes, everyone gets stressed.
I think were privileged to go round the world dong what were doing and you just deal with the issues - we just don't accept the existence of stress, we just get on with it. I don't think they invented it in Yorkshire yet anyway. Or if they have perhaps that is why they invented Tetleys...
6. In this day and age of technology and information at our fingertips it seems that details on anything Maiden are guarded more so than ever. Is it possible to let the cat out of the bag earlier or do you think you're a man of the old ways? Which may or may not be a bad thing... - pac33
I think youre quite right that the smallest thing gets out on the web now and gets everywhere, and the fact that many news organisations and rock press look to our site for information... a great example is when Adrian had his guitar stolen in Greece. We put a little thing on the web about it, saying if anyone found it wed send them a little reward... and that ended up being literally international news both on the web and in the papers. And I know this for a fact because my parents in Vancouver Island in Canada called to say it was in their local paper !! Now that is ridiculous!
But no, to my mind generally its not possible to "let the cat out of the bag any earlier".
We always make announcements first on ironmaiden.com, and at a time when we think its proper to announce them and when its definite. We dont think our fans should be misled, the news is always first on our site and you can be sure that anything we publish there is accurate and it will be timely. And were not going to tell you what were doing a week on Sunday three years hence, even if we know ourselves cos what the hell, lets keep some surprises! Information flow is something you need to manage very carefully as you can bore people to death - too much information can be as bad as none at all. As can too early release of info.
7. Hi Rod, a lot of fans in the FC including myself are dying to see some of the promised DVD like Maiden England and Donington. Is there a chance these will appear before the next album? - katatoniq
I'm sure all the fans have seen the pattern emerging recently we do a new album, then we do some history (like The Early Days, Live After Death) then another new album... working on a 4/5 year touring cycle to cover the present (which excites us a lot) and the past which is also exciting. So if you read on from there you should be able to answer your own question.
But there certainly wont be anything before the new album were going to concentrate on that to the exclusion of everything else, to make sure its the best we can make it because it may be the last one, or it may not who knows, but if we were to make another one it would be in five years time and who knows what will happen in the next five years. So all of us will be concentrating on the new album to make sure the music from the band and the artwork and everythings the very best it can be.
8. If you were to manage another band than Iron Maiden (if Maiden didn't exist, hypothetically), what band would you love to manage - past and present? - Thommy
Well, I think its got to be Frank Zappa. Ive always loved Zappas music, the music itself is remarkable in terms of the talent involved and the complete eccentricity, and the lyrics are completely insane or inane... check out tracks like The Slime, "Stinkfoot" or Nanook the Eskimo which is my favourite... who else writes songs about frozen husky piss? The husky wee wee and the doggy wee wee has blinded me, so I cant see... temporarilee , you put that with an unbelievable guitar solo... or Stinkfoot which has got the most searing guitar solo from Zappa that youre ever going to hear, with lyrics about sweaty feet. Maybe its just my twisted mind...
But I think anything youre going to manage has got to be something that musically you love, otherwise how can you do it for, in my case, thirty years? I never get tired of hearing the songs that Maiden do and I would never have got tired of hearing the songs that Zappa does particularly those in his guitar period. Over-Nite Sensation, Apostrophe, Joes Garage, Live at the Filmore... that sort of period when he was playing unbelievable guitar. So yes, I think Zappa would have been the one, otherwise... Zeppelin would have been great at the time, I love Purple, of course Hendrix....... things that I really like, I guess
9. Any there plans in the future to do a Guitar Hero type game strictly based on Iron Maiden tunes? - BenDover We talked to Rock Band about putting out some stuff, but we wanted it to co-incide with Flight 666 so there wasnt time to do an actual game. So weve put 12 tracks in there (as youre probably aware by now) to download and play with Rock Band, which are a selection from Flight 666 4 tracks from the soundtrack album and a further 8 from the setlist (check out the details on the website). So well see how that goes and maybe do more, maybe not its not something weve given a great deal of thought to as Ive said before, were really looking to concentrate on the new album at the moment. However my kids love playing those types of games so no doubt we will have to address it more in the future!!
10. Given the ever so prominent need for high fidelity recordings and the overcompressed nature of the 1998 remasters, is there a chance we might see the albums being made available in their original mastering? Possibly even on a high fidelity medium like SACD or DVD-A. A lot of people with precision sound systems feel that the 1998 masters do not do the band and its history justice. - gor
You obviously know a lot about this I dont. Steve and the band deal with the music and what it sounds like in the mastering. We did remaster everything in the 90s (before 98 l am sure) to add on the enhanced tracks and everything else. Whether wed go back and re-do them... how many times can you change a record? I wouldnt have thought so.
Different people have different opinions of different sounds. Some of the band are big fans of analogue, some less so everyone has different tastes. I dont see Steve spending the amount of time it would take to go back and do it all again so, unlikely but not impossible. It's also the first time l have heard the remastering called "overcompressed".
11. Hi Rod,my name is Roderick too, so what was the most embarassing moment with Iron Maiden? - Igor Alencar
There have been too many to remember and nearly all of them involve Nicko! However before his time the equipment and our crew episode in Venice as below took a bit of beating.
12. Question: - Did Dickie Bell really quit and retire after the tour? - ahven
Dickie has retired from touring but he cant get rid of us that easily he still works for us and hes still on the payroll! He helps me with all the rehearsals, the studio bookings and setting up the tours etc... he always will.
His missus Liz wont let him tour any more, but she said that before and he came back. I dont think he'll come out for a full tour again but he'll be out for the first week or two, as long as we can keep him out, cos hes great to have around. Its not just that hes great at his job, hes a great eccentric (as you can see on Flight 666) so were very fond of Dickie and have immense respect for what he does. Hes been with us since 1980, he was Judas Priest's tour manager and we stole him. Its a long relationship, hes part of the family so... you cant leave can you? So he'll always be with us but unlikely to tour.
13. I'm sure that any fans would love to have an official copy of the concert they attended but that won't be possible (ie. I was at the Izod Centre in New Jersey, would love a copy of that concert). How is the decision made to decide which concert is recorded and released? - Maiden! OC User
The decision on which concerts to record is really made by myself and the band. Sometimes its fairly obvious something like Rock In Rio was a great opportunity and a fairly unique event. Live After Death... the four nights at Long Beach make sense as you can have a couple of warm-ups in the place and two nights of filming, one in front and one behind the band. It really varies... on Flight 666 we wanted to do at least one song from each of the countries we played on the first leg.
Its not a democracy... Im sure all of you would like to see something from your home show but we want to release things that are quality so the idea of doing off-the-cuff recordings and selling them afterwards... Im not saying its something well never do, we have looked at it but think its difficult to give people the quality they deserve straight after a show, and obviously with a visual element thats even more difficult. Its not hard to put together technically to a fairly basic level and l know some bands make good money from it , but we dont really see going that way as the band care too much about the quality of any music they make available to fans.
14. Hello Mr Smallwood! First, THANK YOU to ALL of you (band & crew) for a magnificent tour 2008-2009. Since the Amolad tour youve released the tour dates in a bit of a "mish-mash". Is there any particular reason for that & is that what we (the fans) should expect for future tours? - Queen of Hearts
I assume by "mish mash" you mean the announcing of the dates rather than the dates themselves which were simply around the world, then north America, then Europe, then round the world again cos we had so much fun the first time.
Announcement of dates is I agree varied. We announced the first leg (Feb/March 08) in November of 07, then announced the next leg in North America during that one. Its part of my job to get some profile around things, get awareness, so it made sense to announce sections of American dates from onstage in New York, some more from onstage in LA and the Canadian dates from onstage in Toronto all during that first leg it adds a bit of impact and I think the fans like that we try and get a bit of drama into things!
Territories like to announce varying times in advance of the shows. For example, Sweden and Finland went on sale in October of 07 for the summer of 08 cos thats the nature of the markets there the promoters like to go early. Other places, particularly Eastern Europe, tend to go later. So while were able to announce dates together for most of the tour in advance (we might not have filled all the gaps) sometimes the promoters want to delay in some places
And sometimes, theyve got other big shows on, eg. Maybe another band has got a big show in Paris a month before our show and the promoters want to get that onsale and moving before we announce our show announce them too close together it might adversely affect ticket sales on either or both of the shows. There is a lot of thought goes into it and its very much in conjunction with the promoter. Generally speaking though l do prefer to announce whole sections of tours together as much as possible, it just doesnt always pan out that way
l do try and give people plenty of notice and avoid (for example) announcing a show in Birmingham and then announcing one in Manchester three weeks later thats unfair because we know people travel. You might say that people travel on a wider scale now, particularly to Maiden shows, and could travel from Holland to Paris only to find a shows been added in Holland later on... but we can only go so far and do try to announce countries as one and group them as reasonably as possible, but there will always be a bit of a "mish-mash" when you are doing tour sections based across whole continents.
15. How did you (and other managers) pull off such vast tours in the 80's without such luxuries like Blackberries, Internet, Email etc? Does technology make it easier or add to the problems!? - Cads666
Aaaah the days in the 80s without technology! I remember the first mobile phone I had, it was like a bloody brick. I forget when I got that, it must have been quite late 80s. Before that, in retrospect, it was great, youd get on the tour bus and you couldnt talk to anyone, no one could contact you - it was magnificent (who's for a beer, can't work!!) But then you'd get to the hotel and spend the next god-knows-how-long on the phone next to the bed.
I remember before faxes there was a thing called teletext... I was escaping for about ten days to a Club Med (!) in Nassau before a tour. I stayed in this little shitty shack and instead of money you had beads, so you wandered round with all these beads round your neck... anyway I wont go into that. Every day I'd get my ticket sales on these teletexts that were about 15 inches wide... I'd get literally yards of them, these ten foot long reams of paper with all the ticket sale information spread across them all over the place. And then faxes came and then emails came.... things get faster but not necessarily better. They get more complex, everything's more complex than in the 80s, not just communication.
Then you used to have a 7 inch piece of vinyl in a bag, a 12 inch piece of vinyl in a bag and if you were getting really successful you managed to get two bags so you had one to put your lyrics on!!!. You had a couple of t-shirts and you had a tour - bloody marvellous! Now you've got audio formats coming out of your ears, got the internet, MTV, DVDs, Bluray, Computer games, downloads, YouTube, Facebook, mobile phones....... everything.....a total grind. Its immensely complicated, planning the release of a record these days is a bloody work of art, it takes so much time - our team are completely swamped when theres an album or DVD coming out, trying to get it right. I know some of you guys appreciate to an extent what goes on but its really just the tip of the iceberg, theres a ridiculous amount of detail and bureaucracy. Even the packaging alone, when you've got all these different formats, everything's a bit different, it's monumental to get even 95% right.
I could go on.....and on ...sounding like an old git. Put it this way though, I am so glad I started as a manager in around 75 and not 2005. It's not rock n roll any more, it's a bloody science, a science the Maiden team deal with but with a view to injecting a bit of colour into the overall pallor. And it is sad as a whole generation of young managers (and new bands) can spend an awful lot of time looking at these dense woods but not really seeing any trees.
I'd love to go back to the 80s where nobody can contact me and drive me nuts, and the band I am sure would too! Check out the movie Almost Famous and the accurately recreated vibe of those old USA arenas like the Cow Palace and Cobo arena - no red plastic chairs, no nice blue jacketed security, no signs everywhere for everything, no bloody popcorn, no clean air!!! So many venues are so anaesthetised now, so many are starting to have ludicrously low volume regulations (try Switzerland, 95db, about the sound level of a good fart from our crew), it's all so tidy, safe and "consumer friendly" - that is not rock n roll. Thank god we can still go to places like Latin America, southern Europe and other places where PC and 'elf n safety' hasn't got a strangulation grip from a bunch of nannies. Sorry, getting carried away, but some of you will know what I mean.
16. Hi Rod, will we ever get to see the Flight666 cutting room floor footage? WE WANT MORE MORE MORE!!! - Total_Eclipse
According to Scot and Sam weve got 498 hours of additional footage from Flight 666. Will it ever see the light of day who knows? Ive absolutely no idea.
Obviously the live stuff is all there, were not going to start changing that around. There are some great scenes that we couldnt fit into the film, some are cool but they dont really have a finishing point... like the standoff at Mexico airport where they wouldnt let us leave because we didnt have a certain piece of paper which our flight guys insisted theyd given them in the morning... it went on for ages and we blocked off the runway with the plane and had everyone freaking out cos they couldnt get the planes past it... In the end we took off and got to Costa Rica on time, it was a great build up and some great scenes but theres no real point to it in the end. There's some great footage from Curitiba with the lake and the lift, shown briefly in the film...
Theres lots of footage and stories and tales from all over the place, but I think when youve finished something and done the best you can, you leave it and move on. If theres ever a general thing coming out maybe well try and pull some bits to use, though trying to find specific moments within 498 hours of footage is going to be a nightmare.... maybe, maybe not.
17. Hello Rod, Everyone has a particular point in their life when a single pivotal decision is made or an event occurs which changes the whole direction of their life. Can you recall what this key point was in your case which has it not occurred would have taken you in a completely different career direction? Keep up the great work - Twickenham was a wonderful day... - Gary T
I think the single point of change for me was when I decided to pick up the phone and call Steve Harris. I had previously co - managed Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel (but didnt come up and smile much) and was involved with a band called Gloria Mundi, which is how Steve had become aware of me through a mutual friend at his work. I was about 27 and thought I could manage but I was in the middle of punk I didnt really like punk, I mean I liked the original attitude but I thought it got commercialised and became part of fashion so quickly it became a bit of a pain, full of pop bands dressed stupidly. I can't manage if l am not totally into it. Ive never been one for fashion and never been one for pop, so whereas the edginess of the Pistols was the starting point, it ended up disappearing up its own arse, to me. So I was there with not much happening and playing a lot of rugby. I went on a rugby tour and something happened in my personal life and I thought sod it, I'll call Arry who was a friend of my rugby mate.
Through my lawyer, who's still a good personal friend, prior to that Id applied to go back to university to study law of all things... I mean can you imagine? If my mate hadnt worked with Steve Harris I could have been a lawyer - quite horrendous! Fortunately, it was a case of I've got this mate at work whos got this band, do you want to hear it? and I played it, loved it but then went on a Rugby tour to California and had a great time, got back and thought fuck it, I'll call Steve Harris. So I called him and the rest is history... from becoming a lawyer to becoming the manager of Iron Maiden, which would you rather do?
And yeah, Twickenham was fantastic. Being a major rugby fan (I must have been there almost a hundred times before!) it was a very special day for me although I can't remember anything about the gig whatsoever because, contrary to my earlier answer, that day I was very, very stressed out!
18. Hi Rod, I'm not sure whether you've answered this question but I'll ask it anyway. I've always found the behind the scenes and technical stuff about Maiden touring quite fascinating. On the SBIT Tour Maiden played lots of new territories, as well as returning to areas not played in a long time and also the 'usual' places. How do you and the Maiden team decide where to play? Is it based on record sales? Previous attendances?, What you hear about the popularity of metal and Maiden in the area etc.? - kb123
It seems in recent years to be more and more the case that theres nowhere we can go where we wont have a big crowd. Were very reliant on having good promoters that we can trust not just in terms of finances but in terms of production, security... you dont want to work with people who dont know what theyre doing cos youll end up with the stage collapsing or worse, the barriers collapsing which is extremely dangerous as has been seen.
So the key thing to us in any territory is having reliable promoters. We advise our agent of where wed like to go and hell say if its possible or not. But sometimes the promoter may suggest us going somewhere we hadnt really thought of cos we didnt think there would be the people or the venues... an example is Costa Rica. Our Latin America promoter Phil Rodriguez suggested it and we thought wed be playing a 7000 seater hall, but he said wed do the football stadium... and we did and sold it out in advance for an amazing gig that youll have seen in the movie. We love playing new places, the reaction of the people is overwhelming. We started with playing Poland in the 80s, and Yugoslavia and Hungary which at the time were behind a very serious iron curtain, through to the last tour when we went to new countries like Ecuador and Peru for the first time, but also cities like Manaus and Brasilia that we hadnt visited before.
Were trying to work out some new places to go to next time round there are part of South East Asia that weve never been to, and other areas of the world that wed love to visit, its just working out a way to do it. Hopefully if you live in one of these places, well see you sometime. Maiden's like a drug, you have to keep up the excitement levels!
19. Who is the easiest member of the band to keep happy? - Eddie's Bitch
I don't spend time keeping the guys happy, its not my job!!! Gaddsy does that!
But I'd have to say Dave Murray. Hes always happy, hes never had a bad word to say about anybody ever, I've never seen him the slightest bit angry in thirty years, hes so calm and collected - a truly beautiful human being. (we all keep asking him to give us whatever it is he takes, and he just smiles!!)
20. As Kiss and Maiden are my two favourite bands, could you share any memories from Maidens first European tour supporting the Made up Monsters in 1980? - 26bond
The Kiss tour in 1980 was absolutely brilliant - great memories. We started off with a show in Venice, wanting to go sightseeing and you have to get a boat in from the outskirts. I paid for a return trip cos I was too impatient to wait for another boat, while everyone else was saying 'noo, dont pay him a return' and of course the boat never turned up and we almost got stranded - cue lots of 'o you stupid idiot'ribbing.
Then the day of the first show on the tour in Venice, our gear was coming in with the crew (all three of them!) it might have been in the Green Goddess but I think by then wed moved on to a "real" truck that could actually get up the Alps. Anyway I went down to the show, met the guy from the record company only to find no gear had arrived yet. So without a mobile phone I had to get back to the hotel and leave a message saying get to the gig as soon as you can. A while later, the crew turned up at the gig and I thought thank god for that!. In the meantime Id been talking to Gene and Paul, who were concerned and had offered the use of their gear dont worry, just use our stuff. Gene had been chatting to me that first day saying 'e love Maiden, great first album(and he knew the tracks even!!), you're going to take over from Kiss merchandising in the USA!.
But back to the crew story - the bloody crew had got my note and come straight to the gig... without the equipment! Massively embarrassing, in fact thats probably the answer to the earlier question, my most embarrassing moment was when the crew came to the first date of a massive tour, where by now we were supposed to be grown up and professional, without our equipment!
But the whole tour was a pleasure, we went down like a storm everywhere, had no problems with Kiss about that, they were really pleased for us and were genuinely great to be around. One of the funniest moments was in Oslo, Norway, it was the last show and there was the road tradition that you pie the bands on the final one... so Kiss came on in all their gear and pie-d the band with plates of shaving cream, cake and whatever. Then it was Kiss' turn. Gene's big anyway and with his heels on hes bloody huge, so we've got Steve and Dave jumping up trying to get a pie in his face, and hes leaning back with his tongue out... one of the funniest things Ive ever seen. (nowadays of course it would be all over YouTube, but no footage ever existed that we know of!!) We had a great time with those guys and still do, I was fortunate they were signed to our label for a time at Sanctuary, they've always been fun people to be around.
Ich werde morgen alle Antworten in 1-2 Sätzen übersetzen und zusammenfassen, für diejenigen, die nicht so gut englisch können
____________________________________________ 2003 Schleyerhalle - Stuttgart *** 2003 Westfalenhalle - Dortmund ***** 2005 Parc des Princes - Paris **** 2006 Westfalenhalle - Dortmund ***** 2006 Palais OS Bercy - Paris *** 2007 ISS Dome - Düsseldorf *** 2008 Palais OS Bercy 2. Nacht - Paris **** 2008 Twickenham Stadium- London *****+ 2008 Ullevi Stadium - Göteborg *****+ 2009 Flight 666 @ UCI Bochum 20xx ???
__________________________________________________ "GEGEN" heisst "WIDER", nicht "WIEDER" !!!!! "Wenn dir Heavy- Metal nicht einen überwältigenden Stromstoß verpasst und dir heißkalte Schauer über den Rücken laufen lässt, dann wirst du es vielleicht nie verstehen. Entweder du spürst es oder nicht. Und wenn nicht, das macht nichts, denn wir kommen sehr gut ohne euch klar!"
Naja, er sagt ja nur, dass sie vor dem neuen Album nichts anderes rausbringen werden, weil sie sich zuerst auf's neue Material konzentrieren möchen, damit es möglichst gut wird. Das finde ich absolut o.k., obwohl ich natürlich auch gerne die AMOLAD-Live DVD oder Maiden England hätte.
---------------------------------------------- The Time has come to close your eyes...
Im Fanclub bereich.Das ganze war ja ne Aktion mit Nicko und Rod.Hier nur die von NIcko
In Antwort auf:1. If you hadn't become a drummer, what do you think you would have ended up doing? - The_Kidd
When I was a teenager I wanted to be a cameraman and work in film, I was intrigued by how they made film and television and I like to see behind the scenes stuff, hence when you see my drum video Rhythms of the Beast you see a lot of cameras and how they got the shots -- I like that although that's not proper tv or making movies. So I think I probably would have been pursuing that one.
2. What was your most EMBARASSING moment on the last tour? Please feel free to reveal any of your bandmates' moments too! - cisan
No comment on the bandmates cos I can't think... well maybe Bruce has a couple where he fell over at a couple of gigs hahah, I forget where we were... but that's not really funny cos he hurt himself. Cos he's so energetic he runs around like a banshee with his head cut off, and he fell over a couple of times and that's probably quite embarrassing for him. My most embarrassing moment... I really don't have any apart from I suppose when I fuck up during a song, and that's quite often every night... so pretty much every gig!
3. Nicko, if you had to swap roles with one member of the band for one night only, who would it be and why? And more importantly who would you let get behind your tubs!? - maiden_madness
I think it would have to be 'Arry cos I've always loved bass guitar and the only song so far that was written by Nicko (in Iron Maiden) is New Frontier and that was written on the bass. I think playing with Steve for 23 years has influenced the way I play, and I've always loved that instrument so I think I'd swap with Steve. I certainly wouldn't have 'Arry on my tubs cos he ain't got a clue what he's doing up there (mind you I ain't got a clue what I'm doing on his bass!). He tries, he's sat on my tubs a few times and I always get a laugh, it's ever so funny. I think Bruce, he really has a passion for playing the drums so I think I'd let him have a go.
4. When you're a young musican, would you recommend to kind-of develop your own style of playing drums(for instance) or watch loads of instructional videos with your idols? Or maybe find a great combination between both? -- Andcuna
Good question Andcuna. Definitely develop your own style. For instance, when I was growing up and learning my trade, I listened to records we didn't have DVDs and what have you then (I don't think anyone had instructional videos out a hundred years ago!). They're available, watch them and learn and then develop what you lean in your own style so really a combination of both is the best way to work. Also of course you can play along to some of the songs we did on the last tour on Rockband now!!
5. Hi Nicko. What song is the hardest to play, and have you ever messed up big time? - bebbe25
The hardest song is probably... it's difficult to say cos we've got so many songs we haven't played for a while. Alexander the Great was quite a... you had to really be on top of it to get through it as there are some really weird time signatures in there, but we never played that live. More recently, from a drumming aspect Powerslave is quite tricky, lots of drum fills in it and you've got to nail them. Haven't really had any big time mess-ups, you have little whoopsies and maybe don't execute a fill correctly, but nothing really big. Our mistakes usually end up missing beats or speeding up here and there... and Bruce forgetting the lyrics HAHA. No real big stuff.
6. I've been asked by many non believers that you use a double kick pedal and I've said all along that you do not. It's all just single foot on a single pedal. I remember an interview with Bruce from way back regarding you insisting on not using a double kick pedal for ""Where Eagles Dare"". I figured this is my chance to put this to rest once and for all. Do you use a double kick pedal or not and what kind of pedal do you use? If you don't mind me asking. - camrajotte
That's very true, I don't use a double pedal, it's a single pedal. It's a DW5000 Accelerator and the only time I've used a double pedal was for 'Face In The Sand' on Dance Of Death. One tune only. Wickerman, songs like that, Different World... all done with one pedal -- no cheating. As was "Where Eagles Dare" of course
7. Hi lovely band you are playing in. I wonder would you release your drum video from 1990 again on dvd this time or perhaps a new one ? -- svenh
Rhythms of the Beast was an exercise in that I wanted to capture one of my drum shows at the time, and it came kinda close to it. We're thinking about doing a history of the drum, which'll have a lot of playing... who knows. Doing an educational video, we've talked about it and I'm not sure if I'm going to do it -- on the back-burner at the moment.
8. How do you get motivated, when you have to play one gig after another with songs that you´ve played a hundred times before? I mean, for me as a fan a gig is unique since I´m looking forward to see you months in advance. -- beastfromBonn
You have to have a passion for what you do. Music is one of those jobs if you like (none of us feel it's a job, it is but it's something we love to do and have been graced that we can make a living at it). So we have this passion and this fire that when we get on stage together the commitment is like the first time we ever played on stage. You have that in your heart so when you get on stage the fires are already alight under you -- that's our domain, that's where we live, it's where we love to be primarily although we love to make records too, touring and playing in front of fans is the best thing in the world for us.
So every night, I dunno how many times I've played Run To The Hills, every time I've played with Iron Maiden we've played Iron Maiden and Hallowed Be Thy Name, they never get old. I do change a little things in there from year to year and the band let me get away with that, cos they know I'm a crazy geezer like that. So you keep it a little fresh, you add little touches in there but sometimes it goes too far and you get told off -- "No Billy Cobham fill there please Nick!"
9. Nicko, Why is it that the women love you so much?? My girlfriend does too Tee Hee, bet I've embaressed her now.. - maidendeth1982
Awww mate you've embarrassed your missus now! Listen mate, I'm the best looking bloke in the band see! And of course, drummers do it with rhythm!
10. Hi Nicko- In the many years you have been in the band, you've seen I'm sure, many changes both in group dynamics and tour/production. What would you say is the biggest change in the way Maiden's touring has evolved and how has the studio dynamic (writing, recording) changed over the years? - 2TilMidnite
Good question. Over the years I think we've all grown up a bit -- not a lot but enough to have got a sense of maturity about us. We've always been very health-conscious, I don't mean getting up and going to the gym every day cos I find two hours playing with Maiden every night suffices in that department. We all look after each other and look after ourselves, make sure we eat well and get enough rest (which is a killer). Don't do drugs, like a drink -- we'll I'll speak for myself there boys and girls, nice drop of red wine if anyone cares a nice Chateau Palma 1975 would be a nice gift!
As far as the gigging, that evolves from what works from experience and what doesn't. That goes across the board from the people who work on the backline (guitar techs and drum techs), all the people who put the carpentry together... everybody, the whole family. We've been blessed in that we've had a pretty consistent family that's been touring with us for the last who-knows how many tours, and it's always nice cos you get to know one another and what works and what doesn't. You learn from experience and it evolves.
As far as the studio, obviously we've used Kevin Shirley for the last three albums and working with him has been an absolute joy. The difference is that we tend to get more live tracks done whereas we used to layer them. We used to do the bass and drum tracks first and if the drum track was right Steve would re-do the bass, then the guitars would come in... they'd all still be playing but we'd overdub. We've shied away from that over the last few years, the last three albums especially have been very very live -- that's a big change there.
11. Nicko...your drumming on the Flight 666 footage, as has been noted by nearly everyone, is fantastic. Dare we say that it's the finest recording they've ever made of your drumming. Regarding the classic songs, we notice over the years that you add fills or change fills that are already there. Do you ever put those in purposely to see how they will improve the song, or do you sometimes just find them "on the fly" as you play them, and decide to later keep using them? -- Khan
Refer to question six boys and girls. How you keep it fresh, I do tend to play within the song but I'll change it up cos that's the way I do it.
For you aficionados, if you listen to my drumming from say '85 Live After Death compared to what it is now on some of the classics... in fact if you listen to Ancient Mariner '85 it's about twice as fast as we played it on the last tour. But that was then and this is now, so as far as changing drum fills... there's a maturity, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and I can tell you, rest assured, that if it doesn't work I find out about it pretty quick!
But then, on the fly, yeah, a lot of it is on the fly. Sometimes if I decide I won't hit my 17 rude cymbal over the right for an accent I might change up and do a drum fill on a different part of the drum set or I might put it on the snare drum... it's pretty much on the fly.
Good question by the way, I hope that puts you lot out there in the IronMaiden.com realm... I've been reading all your notes about this very question and Khan it was you that started stirring up the shit wasn't it? Good on you mate, lovely, thank you all you boys and girls out there, if you don't like it you know what you can do with it don't you?!
12. It's a bit of a gimmick, but have Maiden ever discussed playing a concert "in the round" with no backdrop? -- TedNes
Oooh no, I don't think so. I don't think it's ever come up... the problem is, you see, that you get to see everybody's arse! Someone's going to have to look at someone's arse -- I look at them every night and believe me you don't want to 'kin look at their arses when they're up there playing. Boys and girls, it ain't a pretty sight! Mind you, you can't see mine cos I'm sitting on it... but no, you can't have it 'in the round' sorry.
13. Concerning your golf game, grip it and rip it or lay up and be safe? - zamboni5150
Oh come on, you can't grip it and rip it unless you've got a swing like bloody Tiger Woods or Phil Nicholson or one of my favourite golfers Mr Nick Faldo, you can't grip it and rip it... you've got a 220 yard carry over the water and a par 5... lay up son! Chip it close and make a birdie, get the short game going cos that's where the money is!
14. Bruce said in Flight 666 that Rime of the Ancient Mariner was his favourite song to play on the tour - what was yours ? - Cardiff Iron
Boys and girls, you should know this! If we had a poll, most probably 99% of you people out there would get it right! Hallowed Be Thy Name -- always has been, always will be. In fact, if the band ever want to get rid of the good lookin' bloke in the band... next tour if they don't play Hallowed, I ain't there. And 'Arry knows it!
15. Having achieved such a staggering level of fame and fortune, are you still able to remember the days when you had nothing but a dream and an empty stomach? I guess the question is are you still appreciating all that you and the band have achieved as much as you thought you would have when you were struggling to survive? - jrd3825
Without a doubt. Of course you never forget your roots. That's where we all learned our trade, there's a lot of struggle going on even today where people are out playing in bands... you bang your head against the wall thinking 'what's the point -- we can't play a gig, we can't get paid...' people withhold the money -- we all know what that's like.
I can remember the days, I turned professional when I'd just gone 20, 21 years old. I had a number of years before I joined Maiden when I worked with wonderful people, but they were struggling times of course. If you ever forget your roots and decide that you're bigger and better than you should be, whatever your mental frame of mind is making you think you deserve it -- you don't, nobody deserves it. It's hard graft, hard work, keep the faith and remember where you come from.
16. Do you still fly planes? if not, when was the last time? -- dironman
I haven't flown a plane in about four years. The last time I flew an aeroplane was with Bruce in America, he had a Cessna C21 twin-engined turbo jobbie and he let me fly it and land. We flew into Cleveland, Ohio and he said 'do you want to do the landing Nick?' and I went 'Is the Pope a Catholic? Of course I do!'. So I haven't flown in a while, that must have been four or five years ago.
I've sat up on the flight deck with Bruce on a few trips and I've been invited to go and fly the 757 simulator down at Gatwick with our wonderful commander in chief of Astreaus Airlines, John. So I might take him up on that this summer.
17. What is the most challenging song to play and why? - Buster Climb
They've all got their little idiosyncrasies, Maiden songs. But the hardest song on the last tour, for me, was Powerslave, because of where it comes in the set and because it's a very drum-oriented track. It opens with a big drum fill, then half of the solos coming into the last verse... the tempo has to come back through the drum fill -- if you don't nail it it's really difficult to get the groove back for the last verse. There are a lot of little innuendos in it that make it difficult and the most challenging one to play.
18. Wouldn't you like to be elsewhere on stage so that we could see you better ? You're always hidden behind your kit and we only have a chance to see you at the end of the show. It would be great if you were on a side of the stage, so that we could see your left or right side during the whole show. - Irontrooper
Oh yes boys and girls, we could have a little poll on the website, 'which is Nick's best side?'. You don't get to see very much of me, that's very nice and thanks for that question... I shine when I come off, as you said you only see me at the end and that's when I can come out and thank you guys. It's a genuine heartfelt thing from my heart, there's rapturous applause for the band, individually, collectively... we are a band and there's no one person bigger than the band. But it is lovely when I come out and get that opportunity... Bruce gets pissed off, he's come out with a big hook and had me off stage in the past hee hee.
My job is to drive the band, to be the engine driver. As we all know, sometimes he gets a big quick cos he's on a promise or whatever... but as long as you can hear me, and I know you can cos we've got a wonderful guy out front engineer, the infamous Mr Doug Hall, so I know you can hear me. As far as seeing me, we've got cameras up there most nights when we do shows with the screens up. Sometimes I wish we could cover a few more of the actual drum fills when they're played rather than, you know, when I don't so to speak. That's the only bugbear I have. I know you girls get a big thrill out of seeing me... I'm probably sure some of you blokes do too but that's the way you swing, it ain't down to me is it?! So thanks very much and no, it doesn't bother me that you can't see me.
19. If you could only have one piece of music to listen too before they send you to the gallows, what would it be? -- Penelope
Hahahah, what do you mean send me to the gallows!? That's nice Penelope dearest! I dunno, Standing at the Crossroads, Eric Clapton I think. It's really hard to answer that question, I don't think it would be a Maiden song, if it was it would be Hallowed Be Thy Name wouldn't it!
It's a good question, I've never really put a lot of thought into what would happen. I think I'd be shitting myself if they were sending me to the gallows, last thing I'd want to hear is a bit of music to be honest, I'd be crying and screaming and wouldn't be able to hear it!
My favourite album at the moment is Worlds Apart by Saga so anything from that.
20. I always hear about how Maiden feeds off the crowd. In watching Flight 666, the crowds were amazing. Is it harder for you to feed off that energy hidden behind your kit than the other 5 guys who get to have constant interaction with the fans? If so, what is it that really gets you into a gig that makes you feel as if it is going to be an amazing night? - BigBT
That's a nice question BigBT. As far as feeding off the crowd, you always feel the magic of a big gig, there's always this amazing vibe before you go on, especially when the lights go down and the intro tape or film plays. You hear the audience and my energy feedback comes from that -- backstage, the excitement of going on, getting ready, Aces High kicking off with Winston Churchill's speech...
When I get up I can see maybe 20 or 30 rows of the kids... I feed off of what happens inbetween the songs when I'll stand up and look out. A lot of the South American, in fact most of the audiences around the world on the last tour, will do some kind of a chant inbetween a song somewhere in the set, and it happened more than once on several occasions, so you just feed from that. My main deal is that while the rest of the guys are interacting more with you guys as fans out there, I interact with my band. And what comes from you lot to them, comes back to me. So that's how I interact.
Thanks so much for your questions. See you all later.
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