IRON MAIDEN‘s brand new ‘Ed Force One’ 747 arrived in Cardiff, Wales late last night, Thursday 17th February, ahead of the much anticipated “The Book Of Souls” world tour. The band stated on their official website:
“The new and improved (and much bigger) Ed Force One landed in Cardiff a couple of hours ago, and isn’t she a beauty!! More pics tomorrow when it’s daylight…”
The Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet is almost twice the size and over three times the weight of the Boeing 757 used on previous tours. Check out some photos:
More details on the new 747 can be read here. For all tour dates which begin on 24th February in Florida, visit this location.
This year’s National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) event took place in Anaheim, California from January 21st – 24th. Metal Shock Finland freelancers Sandy and Bobby HQ Storm attended, providing coverage for us.
Who better to catch up with than one of the best drummers in the business, IRON MAIDEN‘s Nicko McBrain! Nicko discusses his reunion with Sonor Drums as well as the band’s latest album “The Book Of Souls” and even his Rock n Roll Ribs restaurant. A couple of excerpts from Nicko‘s chat with Sandy can be read below and the full interview is available on the video:
On his new drum kit to be revealed, Nicko enthused:
“There’s something very very special that they’ve done for me on this drum kit, which I can’t really tell you about cos it’s gonna be revealed at the first show. It’s an absolute splendid, spectacular drum set and I think it’s probably gonna top the Somewhere In Time kit and that’s thirty years ago.”
Talking about “The Book Of Souls”, Nicko stated:
“Every album we’ve made is the best album we’ve ever made. If not in people’s interpretation of the music, it was in terms of the way we made it and the bond that we had after all these years. We had the best fun in William Tell Studios in Paris – we wrote in the studio, which is the first time we’ve ever actually done it. The whole album was written in the studio.”
Ironmaidenlegacy.com introduce IRON MAIDEN: LEGACY OF THE BEAST. An epic free-to-play mobile role playing game, set in the expansive Iron Maiden universe. The game will be available this summer. The makers describe the game as follows:
“Battle as Eddie in his many guises across worlds inspired by the rich lore and music of Iron Maiden – one of the most iconic and influential bands of all time.
A mysterious force has shattered Eddie’s soul and scattered the shards. Travel through time and space collecting the pieces as you encounter a cast of dramatic and engaging characters.
A powerful soundtrack enhances gameplay, using songs spanning Iron Maiden’s entire career, including previously unheard live recordings adapted for the game by engineer Tony Newton under the close scrutiny of Steve Harris.”
As it is our tradition to announce our “Top Metal” each year, we, Metal Shock Finland’s staff, met up again and voted for our favourite albums of 2015. There is a list of the Top 5 Metal Albums which you can see below, however I should mention that we believe that almost all the metal albums which were released this year were great, except for a few disappointing ones. Check out our list and share yours with us. We wish you all a wonderful and metal new year!
1
IRON MAIDEN
Album: The Book of Souls
Record Label: Parlophone
Release Date: 4 September 2015
2
SAXON
Album: Battering Ram
Record Label: UDR Music
Release Date: 16 October 2015
3
HELLOWEEN
Album: My God Given Right
Record Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: May 29 2015
4
Gus G.
Album: Brand New Revolution
Record Label: Century Media Records
Release Date: 24 July 2015
5
AMORPHIS
Album: Under The Red Cloud
Record Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: 4 September 2015
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke with ex-IRON MAIDEN current ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ singer Paul Di’anno.
When asked about the charity song he will be recording for the Paris shooting victims with an all star band
“I got an e-mail from a good friend (Stephan Honde) of mine who has been in a band in France called Stars. And we came up with this idea to make some money for the Paris victims and we are going to do David Bowie’s Heroes. We got a couple of the old usual suspects like Rudy Sarzo (ex–Ozzy Osbourne, ex -Quiet Riot). Apparently we got Simon Kirke Bad Company) to come do it for free.
It’s kind of scary at the moment as musicians are being targeted as well. So we want to get this thing out and you can download it and the money goes to charity thing to help the poor victims.
When asked if he would play Paris tomorrow
Abso-fucking-lutely.
When asked about being given counterfeit money in Argentina as payment and the police knocking at his door
“I came back from Argentina , I tried to change some dollars over there cause Peso is worth nothing and no one wants Argentinean money and they gave me dollars and I went back to England and I put some of it in my bank and they fucken stopped me and the dollars were all fake. Then the cops were knocking at my door with a search warrant, to see if I’m some sort of money launderer or drug smuggler. I still have the warrant I carry it in my pocket as a reminder. So they froze my bank account. It was not the main Argentina promoters who did it, it was the other promoters from the other towns we played in to pay us on an extend tour. When you come back and you got strange money you don’t really look at the serial numbers. Who does that? I might be going to court.”
When asked about if Architects of Chaoz will be writing any new Material
We are still writing at the moment we have 17 songs with Architects , me and Joey have this weird connection we seems to know what each other’s is thinking and we started writing ahead of time we want to make another record not until the end of next year, it’s always good to have songs in hand trying to keep some themes going
The secret’s out! Download HQ have confirmed that IRON MAIDEN will headline the Sunday night of Download Festival 2016.
The British rock gods will headline Castle Donington for the sixth time on June 12, 2016, and yep – they’ll be arriving at the festival site in true Maiden style.
Never one to do things by halves, frontman Bruce Dickinson will fly the band, their crew and their entire stage production to Donington on their Ed Force One 747-400 Jumbo Jet. Dickinson is currently in training to fly the megajet, in preparation for when they hit the road (sorry, the skies) next year.
Speaking of their return to Donington, Dickinson has said:
“Download is a very special place for us. Not just because it’s always great to play on home turf but because there’s a truly unique vibe there, it’s the very heart of England and of Metal, so a fitting place for Iron Maiden! The crowd is always fiercely passionate and the whole band feeds off that famous Donington energy. We aim to deliver a really memorable show for our fans to close the 2016 Festival. Although this is our sixth time headlining at Castle Donington, it’s the first time we’ve been able to land Ed Force One right on the doorstep of the Festival site!
“We haven’t decided on the set list as yet and won’t until we start rehearsing but we really look forward to playing a number of new songs live, especially as the recording was so much live. However, as it’s been a while since we saw you all, I am sure we will include plenty of older fan favourites too. I think the fans will be delighted by what we have in mind. We are also in the middle of creating the new show and rest assured we are working hard to bring you all something spectacular, something with a lot of heart !!! You certainly deserve it for your patience.”
Meanwhile, Download head honcho Andy Copping has this to add about the booking:
“Having IRON MAIDEN back for their only show in the UK next year and their first UK show since Bruce’s well reported illness, makes it a truly special occasion. The band have a long history and association with Donington/Download and having them headline for us again is a real honour.”
So… that’s one headliner out of the way. Who’s in the mood for another? Same time tomorrow sound good? Yeah, let’s do that.
In the meantime, here’s a reminder of what happened the last time Maiden landed at Download….
#DL2015 takes place at Donington Park across the weekend of June 10 – 12, 2016. Early Bird tickets are all sold out, but general sale tickets will be available this Friday from 9am.
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Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
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