Q&A: Iron Maiden

Take us through Flight 666.
What can I say, other than "what a great movie"? A bunch of hooligans going out on the road, and we had a bunch of hooligan frickin' documentary makers with us filming it. It was kind of mixed emotions and little bit of worry about having somebody come out living with us on the road with a camera for two months, because we are very private people. But as it was such a historical tour in that no other band in the world had ever customized a 757 to take 12 tons of gear, and customized the upstairs for seating arrangements for the crew, the band, friends, media and all that whatnot, it was decided that we needed to document that. And then it was suggested that we take these guys along to see a little bit of the inner workings of Iron Maiden, i.e., the way the guys tick. It isn't another live DVD of Maiden playing somewhere; it's a documentary-cum-concert-footage [documenting] the adventure we went on known as Somewhere Back in Time. And Sam Dunn and Scotty McFadyen did an absolutely phenomenal job for us. Although we had a little bit of trepidation about having them out, we're proud to say that they're part of our family now.

What's your response to the film?
It's stunning -- brilliant. Not only were the little bits and bobs about what we do in our downtime (there were a few party scenes of us enjoying ourselves and whatnot), but the footage of the shows -- the actual concert footage -- I've never seen anything so stunning from Iron Maiden in the past. Even Rock in Rio, which was a phenomenal piece of film, didn't have this quality of ... I don't know what it was, I can't put my finger on it; they just did a splendid job. They really stepped up to the plate and made everyone look great -- especially the drummer, I mean he's a good-looking bloke anyway, but ... [laughs]

What do you hope fans take away from this film?
It's more the humanity of what Iron Maiden's all about. They get to see the inside workings of Iron Maiden; they get to see the blood, sweat and tears, and I think they also take away what [the fans] mean to us. This movie to me is about the fans, it really is -- it shows you the love, the passion, the sweat, the heartache. And it shows you what we do with our passion and what we believe is the essence of Iron Maiden, which is the six of us going onstage and playing a show.

And you guys really get along as a family ...
I'm 26 years in the band -- I still haven't gotten my gold watch for 25 years, and I'm really frickin' pissed off about it [laughs] -- no, but it shows you what we believe in as individuals and collectively as Iron Maiden: we love the music. I have this old analogy: it's like a love affair, and the sex is the music and in this case it's very much like that. Of course we have our ups and downs -- there's nothing really in the film that shows you that there's arguments going on. The arguments that we have are normally very trivial; there's only been one or two instances where tempers were flared. It's just total respect and love, you know? The drive and energy and bond of Iron Maiden is primarily the music, and we all really get on well with one another. I love all the guys. It's nothing gay -- I will put my arm around them and kiss them on the cheek, but there's no tongue [laughs heartily]. But you know, that's the thing -- when you started off as a kid playing music, this is the bunch of guys you strived to meet and play your music with. We're all on the same level on the playing field. No one's above anyone else's station. Everybody's equal to what they're doing because you're all so much a part of each other; we're all one-sixth of each other. And that's, I think, the difference -- that and the fact that it's class, quality and panache. It really is that to me.

Is that what your advice would be to other bands so they, too, can have a long career?
Without a doubt. If you find that you don't get on well with someone in [your] band, it ain't gonna work. You can't kid yourself that the best singer or the best guitar player [is best] for the band. The music may be great, but you won't be together for long because you don't get on well. So the thing is to find the same people on the same wavelength as yourself. Obviously you have to have a talent -- if somebody's super amazing, you've got to be able to get up on that level with them. You may not be on the same level, but you've got to be in the same mind space with those guys, and I think for people that are out there who have got a relationship in a band for the moment, it's very important to keep being good friends about stuff. If you're gonna have arguments and confrontation about something, be able to apologize to each other because 90% of the time we do f*ck up, and if you can't admit it then you ain't gonna make it work.

What is your favorite tour memory up until this point?
Oh lord, there's so many -- just getting on the stage with the guys every night is like, I don't know. You know when you've got your favorite kind of ice cream and your favorite chocolate bar and you go to the fridge and you eat one, and then you go back the next day and it's like the first time you ever had one? You never get tired of it. It's the same for me when I go onstage. When I walk onstage, I can feel really tired or be injured, but your adrenaline kicks in, your bandmates come up, and they kick you through it. And you kind of make your apologies before, and go "I'm sorry if I'm gonna f*ck up tonight but please forgive me!" [Laughs]

The memories from my career with the band are just many too numerous to mention, but probably two or three that really stick out are the third night at Hammersmith Odeon back on the Powerslave tour; the first Castle Donington we played, Monsters of Rock in '88; and then Rock in Rio in 2001. Those three are real standouts, but one of the most memorable is the Matter of Life and Death tour because every night was just like Christmas morning. All the others were Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning was the Matter of Life and Death tour. And then of course we come along to taking your own jet airliner out with your ol' good singer up front flying it and a bunch of road crew in the back getting all pissed up and having a good time, oh my lord, and then you move to that. So each decade, if you like, or each tour has its special moments of memory, but to be honest, every time we get onstage is a new story -- it's living a new dream.

What places are left in the world that you haven't played and want to?
I would like to go to Singapore, I'd love to go to Thailand and I would most definitely love to tour China, but China's a bit of a difficult one at the moment. We were asked to go over there a number of years ago, and it looked like we may have gone but the government in their infinite wisdom said that we couldn't take Eddie with us, so we said, well we ain't going then! [Laughs] Simple as that, what can I say? Eddie's our mascot and there's no Satanic frickin' connotations or bloody stupid ulterior motives, he's a bloody puppet -- he comes out and the kids love him. Bollocks, you know? What the frick?

It's like Chile years ago; we were gonna go there and then the frickin' Catholic church said, "You can't come here because you're gonna influence the kids, you're a bunch of devil worshippers, Satan's kids, not you, bollocks, you're not coming." And then eight or nine years later we go down there and we are the blue-eyed boys: "You're frickin' great, come on down again, you make our children so happy, oh, you put on a f*cking great show, we love you, come on down!" So I mean politics change so much over the years, so who knows?

And metal has changed so much over the years as well. Being a big part of it for so long, do you think it finally has a place in pop culture today?
No, I think it's just that pop culture has turned its face and realizes that maybe they want something that's really genuine and truthful and not a load of bollocks. And they look to a bunch of old farts like Maiden, and we're not necessarily pop culture, but we do certainly cross over.

At the end of the day, music is supposed to be enjoyed by the masses, and that's what makes music so wonderful -- people in the free world have that choice to be able to listen to what we want to listen to when and where and how. And although there's still a few places left in the world where that's not the case, that's sad, but for metal -- metal has never ever gone away. It's never been "Iron Maiden? I thought you retired."

But the thing is, musical tastes go in cycles like fashion and foods -- what's a hit, what ain't, and at the moment metal is on a high, because you've got bands like ourselves, Anvil, Metallica that had these documentaries made. We've never had media exposure, and now all of a sudden we made this wonderful film with Scot and Sam documenting the historical event on Somewhere Back in Time with the airplane, and people want to know, who is this phenomenon that's been around for 30 frickin' years? And then you get thrust into the limelight, the public eye, the pop culture, and these people all of a sudden go, "I get it. Slap my old boots -- I get it, this is f*cking brilliant. A bunch of old farts who have 300 years collectively and they're out there doing that?! That ain't bad in my book; they're alright, mate!" And it goes from young kids to old kids, and again, in the free world, this is why we have so many kinds of music. It's not everyone's cup of tea, and you know what, that's ok, 'cause it's mine and I'm the one that's drinking it. If you want to have a little I'll make an extra pot for you -- come and have a cup of tea.

Did Bruce both flying and performing affect the tour?
Contrary to belief, Bruce didn't fly every night of the trip. The CAA -- the equivalent to the FAA in England, "civil aviation" instead of "federal" -- had in place air laws that dictate that a pilot in command, especially if they have another strenuous activity or job like Bruce has, they stated that from the moment he walked offstage he had to have 12 hours before he could be in control of the airplane. And so there were quite a few legs that we did where that was not possible for him to fly. He flew us to Mumbai, and we had an extra day there so he flew us from Mumbai via Kazakstan to refuel, and then he flew down to Perth. The other guys flew us around Australia, and then Bruce flew us from Australia to Japan. I think he did the leg between Anchorage and L.A., and then he flew us out from New Jersey to Toronto and from Toronto to London. He didn't do them all because of the regulations that would not allow that.

But the nice thing about it is that he gets so much enjoyment; it's such a passion for him. Bruce, oh my lord, he doesn't stop doing things: he's got his radio show in England, he writes books, he writes screenplays, he goes out fencing, he flies for frickin' Astraeus airlines -- you know, he's a whirling dervish! As I said in the film, "Where does he get all this energy? I wish you could just get it and bottle it so I could have some of that and get on with it!" He's just super intense with his energy; I always thought I was quite energetic but he puts me to shame with what he does. But we all know he gets so much joy when he's at the controls -- it's such a passion, it's almost on par with the passion that you get when you're a musician -- why you do it, because you love it so much and it hurts when you don't. And he loves it, so we're all very happy because we know one another and we all like each other to be happy. It's what you need.

In raising the bar each time you tour, and having made history on this last one, do you fear it's a lot to live up to?
Well, I suppose I could go and get a commercial pilot's license and fly with Bruce; I had a pilot's license in 1986. But what do you do to top Somewhere Back in Time? Do we do The Final Years perhaps, which would take albums from No Prayer onwards from the last two decades? How do we do something bigger and better than that? Who would've thought we would have done something bigger and better than A Matter of Life and Death in its entirety three years ago? As far as going out and doing this again, who knows? We've been there and done that twice in a year, and we know it works for us to be able to put a tour together just to go out and play places we've never played before, but I doubt we would do this next tour with an airplane. Bruce would have to get certified for a 74, because we couldn't put a full stage production in a 75 airplane.

How have your goals as a band changed in light of your achievements?
Oh lord, well, the goals now are to go make a new record and make the best album we can and go out and tour the album and have the best time. It's wide open. We love to play our music the way we play it together; we're very selfish like that. We don't have any obligations to go out and make another record to anybody. Our record company are finished with our contract; we're doing it because we want to. And our fans want us to go out -- they don't want us to stop neither. If we want to stop playing, if Steve turned around to me tomorrow and said, "Nick, you know what? I don't know if I want to go and do another record," we won't then, will we? And that's the way it is.

So no rest on our laurels; we've gotta come up with the goods, and if we don't then I guess we wouldn't go out. But nothing's really changed in this band for the 26 years I've been with them. And I've known these guys before I actually joined 'em, and they ain't changed. I mean, they get a little bit grumpy as they get older [laughs] ... but the thing is, if an idea is put to us and we know that we can do it to the best of our ability and we can do it physically, we will go for it. We would not ever sit back. I mean, am I the same drummer I was 20 years ago? F*ck no, I'm not, of course I'm not! I'm 57 f*cking years old for crying out loud! I told the guys, "If I can't do this gig and drive this band," -- which is my job, I'm the engine driver of Iron Maiden -- "if I'm f*cking slack alice one night, this band ain't going anywhere, it ain't gonna work." I just pray and hope that the good lord gives me my strength and my stamina. My mind is going, it is -- I've got to be honest. What did I just say? [Laughs] But no, we can go out and still rock the house, but you've got to give it 100-plus percent every night, and if we couldn't do it we wouldn't do it, so who knows what's on the horizon.