PREPARE FOR THE BEAST
Karl Puschmann talks to Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith about what to expect on their upcoming visit
THE HEAVY metal beast that is Iron Maiden is currently stalking its way to New Zealand. Unusually for the hard-working, hard-rocking veterans, they’re not supporting an album this time around. Instead, the relentlessly forward-looking band are taking a rare glimpse in the rear-view mirror.
The catalyst for the tour is the recent videogame Iron Maiden: The Legacy of the Beast, which is free to play on iPhone and Android smartphones. In the game, players take control of the band’s iconic mascot, Eddie, to battle their way through various worlds inspired by the music and imagery of the band’s influential career.
This accompanying tour is being touted as Maiden’s biggest, most complicated production yet. Musically, it sees the group playing as selection of epic, grandiose metal hits pulled from their almost 40-year career, including some fans haven’t heard live in upwards of a decade.
So the first thing I ask Adrian Smith, guitarist and songwriter of Maiden classics like 2 Minutes To Midnight, Wasted Years, Stranger in a Strange Land and The Evil That Men Do, is whether this tour is a handy excuse to revisit and play a sort of “greatest hits” gig for the fans.
“I suppose you could look at it like that,” he answers. “I mean, we’re playing material that’s featured in the game. A lot of the stage sets and imagery are taken from the game, so it ties in well. But the bonus is we get to play a lot of songs we haven’t played for a while. Like Flight of Icarus, Aces High, The Clansman — all this sort of stuff. Musically it’s great fun to play, so it worked out pretty well.”
Is it the sort of set list Maiden would have put together otherwise? Smith doesn’t think so, citing a “pigheaded” tour from the past where they went out and played a brand new album in its entirety.
“It was pretty risky at the time,” he laughs. “But the fans understood what we were doing. We didn’t want to be a cabaret band playing our old stuff to everdecreasing circles. But after 15 or 16 studio albums, I think we’ve earned a little bit of a luxury of going out and playing some of the old ones. Plus, it’s like a celebration of the band’s career.”
He pauses and says, “Then again, we do want to move on. We want to play new stuff as well. But that will be in the future. For now, we’re real happy to do this.”
It sounds like it’s working out pretty well.
“It’s an interesting combination of songs,” he agrees. “This set for me is a perfect balance of everything. It’s got light and shade. It’s got a lot of dynamics. It’s got everything that sums up the band really. Musically, it’s one of the best sets we’ve done and it’s one of the most visually spectacular tours we’ve ever done. We’ve always put a lot of thought and money into the production but this is on another level. I mean, the first song we’ve got a full-sized Spitfire on stage, so you can imagine . . . if that’s the first song what happens after that? It just gets crazier and crazier.”
Indeed, some of the live photos from the show look completely outrageous — fire and brimstone everywhere. With flames and fireworks and Spitfires swooping over the stage, I wonder if Smith has ever forgotten something was about to boom or explode near him, subsequently giving him a fright.
“You know, touch wood, it’s not been too bad,” he chuckles.
“We’ve had a few close shaves. Bruce [Dickinson, Maiden’s vocalist] has flamethrowers attached to his arms during the song Flight of Icarus that have got too close for comfort to our drummer a couple of times . . . and he’s got a sword that he waves around during The Clansman. I’ve been caught by that a few times. Although it’s plastic, it does hurt. But nothing major, nah.”
Smith is in Santiago, Chile, where well over 40,000 people are bracing themselves for Maiden’s spectacular heavy metal onslaught in the Estadio Nacional. And though it’s not quite two minutes to show time, the clock is rapidly ticking. There’s just time to address a rumour currently swirling in Maiden fan circles. Is it true a brand new Iron Maiden album has been written and recorded and is ready to rock?
“Nah . . . um, well . . . ahh . . . I can neither confirm nor deny,” Smith says somewhat unconvincingly, before settling on: “I’m sworn to secrecy on that.”
Then grinning he says, “but we will have some new music out at some point, yeah. But I’m sorry you’re breaking up a bit, I can’t hear ya . . . ”