April 20, 2000.
By Clay Marshall
LOS ANGELES - Bruce Dickinson has no doubts that Iron Maiden is prepared to face
a "Brave New World" head-on.
The album of that name, due May 30 on Portrait/Columbia, is the first Iron Maiden
studio set in eight years featuring Dickinson on vocals. He rejoined the group last
year, when the band released the greatest hits/video-game package "Ed Hunter"
and toured in front of sold-out audiences.
But that tour was just "training" for "Brave New World," Dickinson
says, a feeling he hopes will come across on the album.
"I think that this is genuinely the best-sounding Maiden album there's ever
been," he says. "All respect due to [1983's] "Piece Of Mind,' my previous
favorite record, but this is just one level of brutality beyond that."
Dickinson says that unlike other recently reunited groups that seem satisfied to
live off the past, Iron Maiden will build off of it instead.
"We're not sad, old fuckers getting back together to go and make a few bucks,"
he says. "That's sad and cheesy and not something I'm interested in."
On "Brave New World," the band enlisted producer Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith,
Black Crowes), a move suggested by Portrait head John Kalodner, who says Shirley
brought a modern sensibility to the band without detracting from Iron Maiden's distinctive
sound.
While the album was being made in Paris, Dickinson says, Shirley suggested the band
record "completely live," a first in Iron Maiden's career. The band wrote
the album's 10 tracks before the "Ed Hunter" tour and left them "not
unfinished but unrehearsed" until it came time to head into the studio.
Die-hard fans' enthusiasm caused the band to record the album under a cloak of secrecy,
occasionally dropping bits of information on its official Web site, ironmaiden.com.
"My copy of the album, I keep it somewhere safe," Dickinson says. "I've
heard people say that they would unquestionably steal it. People are nuts about this
stuff, which is great."
The first song written for the album, the anthemic "The Wicker Man," is
also its first single. "What I was trying to get on the lyrics was a feeling,
just this real positive vibe," says Dickinson. "[I wanted] the same vibe
I get when I stand onstage in front of all these people and they're all chanting
and singing with you."
"The Wicker Man," with a galloping riff true to the classic Iron Maiden
sound, was co-written by Steve Harris, one of the group's three guitarists. Harris
contributed to each of the album's cuts, including three collaborations with Dickinson.
A video was also filmed for the track, which goes to radio May 16. At Milwaukee rock
station WLUM, a two- song showcase for the band titled "Maiden Voyage"
has been airing on weeknights.
Kalodner hopes heavy radio play will demonstrate the band's influence on heavy metal
to younger fans. Early radio feedback has been encouraging, says Portrait VP Pam
Edwards, who is encouraged enough to predict that Iron Maiden may actually get mainstream
radio airplay this time around.
Although Dickinson has not been heard on an Iron Maiden studio album since 1992's
"Fear Of The Dark," the band continued to record. That was one reason Kalodner
says he signed the group. Portrait's Edwards echoes Kalodner's enthusiasm of working
with a seminal act who has sold over 50 million records worldwide.
Portrait/Columbia will attempt to build pre-release awareness through creative television
advertising as well as a street marketing team to target a younger audience. Word-of-mouth
is expected to be a big factor in the album's potential success.
Iron Maiden will tour extensively in support of "Brave New World." Dickinson
says it will be a far bigger tour than last year's. "We saw the tour last summer
as being just a small blip on the way to making this record," he says. "[It]
was the beginning of the campaign for this album."
Accordingly, the band didn't want to spend too much time on the road in 1999, preferring
to capitalize on its momentum and head into the studio. "We could have kept
on touring till the cows came home, but we kept it deliberately short," Dickinson
says.
He notes that after two sold-out performances at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom,
the promoter "was screaming for another show," but the band declined.
Iron Maiden will be back in New York -- this time at Madison Square Garden -- on
the Brave New World tour, which comes to America in August after a two-month European
leg. Show openers will be Nine Inch Nails, Korn, and Slayer.
The band will then head to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South America before
beginning an American arena tour in October. "If there was anybody out there
who doubted we were serious about this," Dickinson says, "think again."
"Here’s the truth: ‘Brave New World’ is Iron Maiden’s
finest album to date.
No, you didn't misread that."
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