Bruce Dickinson Page 5
Playing A&R man, Bruce admits that he's been on a "few wild goose chases so far, going and seeing bands and it hasn't worked out, but that's par for the course. There's no particular style I'm looking for. What I'm looking for is bands that can write songs and believe in the songs that they write. And that's about it. As I understand it, that's all that there is, because anything else is just bullshit. If you write great songs and if you believe in those great songs, then we should be able to make you famous, because people want to believe in something and you can't believe in something unless you believe in it yourself to begin with. I don't care about fashion. I would love it if we could find, for the sake of argument, the next Fear Factory or the next Asia. The unifying thing between Fear Factory and Asia, is that both of those bands believe in what they do and they write great songs. In a record company, you have to have the vision to understand somebody else's vision."
Speaking of writing great songs, the world is waiting with baited breath at Bruce's new focus and lifeblood, Iron Maiden. And with tongue firmly in cheek, he begins with the blanket of secrecy.
"Well, I would love to tell you all about the great stuff we're doing with Maiden, but I'd have to kill you. We just finished rehearsing songs today (November 4th) and we start recording on Monday (November 8th). And it's going to be a great f**king record. And it is going to be a very surprising record and that's all I can say. It's going to be really, really cool."
Is it still with Kevin Shirley?
"Like I said, I'd have to kill you if I say anything about anything. I know nothing. I am merely a clod of clay," he giggles evily to himself.
Are you recording in England?
"I can definitely tell you that we are not recording in England... or Scotland or Ireland. We are recording somewhere in France," as he bursts out with more laughter. "I don't think I'm giving away anything there that hasn't been given away somewhere else. We're lurking somewhere in France."
How long will the lurking occur?
"Well, it's kind of open-ended. You know... until it's done. When it's done, we'll be mixing in New York."
Is the writing done?
"Oh yeah. Oh my god yeah."
And the songtitles are done?
"Umm, yeah mainly. We've got a couple that we're thinking we may change the songtitle, but we're not going to change the song."