Bruce Dickinson, Maiden Voyage by Joe Shooman

Author:Joe Shooman [Maiden Voyage]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786063038
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2016-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

EXPLORING AND EXPANDING

The second half of the …Fear dates – known as the Real Live Tour – were played with the intention of recording and releasing two live albums, one of ‘classic Maiden’ and one of newer material. Before the shows started, Bruce – with his decision to leave already made – took himself off to Los Angeles to try and extract some new material. Chris Tsangarides was a little befuddled by Dickinson’s change of heart. ‘I got a call into [the management office],’ remembers the producer, ‘who basically told me that my services were no longer needed because the record company had decided they needed to explore more with the vocals… I remember feeling very befuddled and thinking, “Well, we really haven’t done any vocals, what’s going on, what the hell?” Really at the time I thought, “What’s happened here, what have I done?” You know, you look and think, “What’s the matter with me?” But quite frankly, it was nothing to do with me, to be honest. I think that’s when he sort of decided that he didn’t want to be in Iron Maiden. I think that’s kind of what really was behind it, when you look back with hindsight… I mean, I was paid for it, but it was just very strange.’

The fact remained that for Bruce to leave Iron Maiden was a huge deal. Conversely, leaving Maiden to do something that sounded similar to that band was pointless. So, in early 1993, Bruce flew to LA to seek out Keith Olsen, another absolutely legendary producer who had worked with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead and Sammy Hagar. ‘He had just left the band,’ remembers Olsen, ‘and I think that exacerbated the problems because he didn’t want to do anything that reminded anybody of the band. The early 1990s were also a time of experimentation, with one particular record setting the scene for many rock and hard rock artists. So with it being 1991, with Peter Gabriel coming out with “Shock the Monkey” that didn’t even have a single cymbal on it anywhere, not even a hi-hat, [that was a very influential approach]. Everybody wanted to be Peter Gabriel back then, everybody. And I think that he had that influence also. Instead of wanting to be Maiden he wanted to “shock the monkey”. So everything was changing. Stuff was changing in front of our eyes. Sounds were starting to change, you know, Nirvana was there, the grunge sound was just starting to attack everywhere, Pearl Jam had just been released. It was a very confusing time for an artist. Especially an artist from a very, very popular, world-renowned rock band. For the lead singer to kind of go off on his own, to leave that very happening band and go try to do something different [was unprecedented]. It was all troubling him, he saw the end of Maiden, because of the change in music.’

What Bruce brought to Olsen was a clutch of ideas,

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