IRON MAIDEN - Maiden's Man Of Mad Motion Speaks Page 5
by Martin Popoff

Was there any discussion at all about having this record have a bit of a theme coming out of it, perhaps the war motif?

"There isn't really a theme. What kind of happens is, we write about what we feel and what we see. You know, I think we're at an age where we see what's going on in the world, listen to the media, and try to make sense of what's happening. And I think it came from that. You regurgitate things; because we travel a lot, we've seen a lot. You know, I've been to Israel, I've been to the top of Masada, I've wandered around Jerusalem and those ideas come out. And I like to think we have a little bit of depth about us, and we're not just writing silly songs about death. It's deeper than that. We're kind of like a boy's own band. We kind of deal with issues... if you go out and have a few drinks and a chat with your friends, you'll probably talk about politics, you'll probably talk about football and a little bit about religion and the paranormal - all those things are there. And they are interesting things to talk about. You'll find them in our songs, scattered around. There will be history here and there, all sorts of interesting things, and I think that's one of the good things about Maiden. It can send you off somewhere and you can discover new things."

"I think it's more about textures," says Janick in closing, pressed to point out favourite guitary bits on this expansive record. "I'm not out there to prove that I can be the fastest in the West anymore. I'm looking at textures. There is a lot of playing where one of us will do all of the playing, until we come to do it live, and then we will share the solo. If there are certain harmonies and stuff, I would do it myself, because I know the harmonies. There are a lot of textures there on this album. I think everyone's playing on it is great. It's a spontaneous, live in feeling album, and I think it's vibrant. It really feels like this is a band that is happening now. You know, I think a lot of people look back and say this is a band who happened in the '80s, still making albums. But in Europe and the rest of the world, we're a band that is happening now, right this second. We've got 14 countries with our album number one in Europe at the moment, and it's fantastic. I think the songwriting is great, Bruce's singing is great, Nicko's drumming is fantastic throughout the album. I really feel like we're happening at this moment. We're a band of now, not a band of yesterday."