During IRON MAIDEN‘s May 24th show in Cardiff, Wales frontman Bruce Dickinson addressed the recent Manchester terror attack, in which 22 people were killed and 59 injured at pop star Ariana Grande’s concert, reported Bravewords.com. Watch the video below.
Dickinson: “The main fact of life at an Iron Maiden show is that we don’t care where you’re from, we don’t care what religion you are, we don’t care what color you are and we don’t care what you had for breakfast. If you are here tonight, then, frankly, we all come in peace, alright?
So, with respect to the – I’m only gonna refer to it probably once – the awful shit that happened the other night in Manchester, the biggest response that we can make to the bullshit and the people who want to hate and who want to destroy is to give them back love and joy and rock and roll.”
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to former SAMSON/IRON MAIDEN drummer Barry Graham Purkis aka THUNDERSTICK about the early years in NWOBHM band SAMSON with Bruce Dickinson on vocals (IRON MAIDEN). Thunderstick also spoke about a new book and new album called ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’
Watch the interview here:
When asked how Bruce Dickinson first joined Samson (Prior to Iron Maiden)
“Samson had been playing as a three piece and we had been approached by then CBS record company and they were looking at signing a hard rock band and they had their eyes on us. They had told our management we would stand a better chance at getting a big record deal if we had a singer up front.”
“We just finished touring o support the debut album ‘Survivors’ and we went down to this pub and there was a pub band playing and sure enough it was Bruce singing. Paul Samson and I looked at each other and said this guy is really good singer. Part of Bruce’s stage show was that he would start picking holes (making fun of) in the audience and having jokes at the audiences all done in a lighthearted way. At this particular gig the only place Bruce could use as a dressing room was the men’s toilet. Bruce was doing a costume changes in the toilet, so we went into the toilet after Bruce and he thought because he was picking holes at me (making fun of ), he thought we went there to beat him up. We got talking, and we said would you mind joining our band and he said I cant I want to finish my history degree. So what he did was when we had those three piece gigs he would come out and join us just for the encore and that was it. As soon as he joined the band for real we started recording. He had a lot of material, we had a lot of material, we joined forces and that is what became of Samson’s second album ‘Head On’.”
When asked what Bruce had the same business smarts back then with Samson as he has today in Iron Maiden
“Bruce had a zest for life. He was hyper all the time and he thought rather than have an agency to book our gigs, he could get on the phone and book all the gigs himself. Bruce just sat there in the offices of our management, got on the phone and booked a tour.”
When asked how he helped Bruce Dickinson find his voice in Samson
“His voice was very juvenile in the early days. Bruce had never recorded an album before. I took a lot of the production credit, I sat there with our sound engineer during HEAD ON. we did all his vocal tracks and he was finding his own voice.”
“Bruce loved Ian Gillan, first time he met Ian Gillan we were recording our album in studio doing some overdubs and Ian Gillan came in and came into the control room. Bruce then ran out to the toilet. Gillan said to us you better go get your singer cause the last time I saw or heard him he was in the toilet farting up. That was due to the nerves of meeting his all time hero Ian Gillan.”
When asked how Samson and Iron Maiden toured together
“It was because of me that Iron Maiden came out on the Heavy Metal Crusade tour package. Our management were the ones responsible for putting this package together, they said let’s put a tour together and who can support us. I said a band I used to be in Iron Maiden they are doing the circuit again with new members lets have them on the tour. I was the one who suggested it, it was Angel Witch, Iron Maiden and Samson.”
When asked about the success of Samson and the NWOBHM
“It was big at one point I was the focal point for the NWOBHM because there was a magazine called SOUNDS and they put me (Thunderstick) on the front cover. Inside there was a huge two page spread on one night of the Heavy Metal Crusade with all three bands and they called it the NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL that was the first time they used that phrase and I was the focal point for that. We had a lot of success but did not have the right management we lost ground.”
When asked if he had any demos, rehearsal tapes from the days of Samson with Bruce Dickinson that have not been released
“Yes, loads and loads. We used to record everything with Samson, rehearsals, pre-production, arrangements yeah I got loads of stuff. I even got Bruce Dickinson in the toilet, we stuck a mic up in the toilet we thought it would be a good idea.”
On why Thunderstick quit Samson
“Paul Samson was starting to get fed up of me (Thudnerstick) getting all the press all the time because the press loved the image. Paul said he wanted to be treated seriously as a band. Paul wanted to wear street clothes and I left because I wanted to take the theatrics a bit further.”
On Thundersticks new album and book
I was keeping a day to day diary of my experiences in Iron Maiden and Samson days, so I am able to pull on that information and I intend to do a book this year. Then I have new album so I am looking forward to that, Thunderstick the band will be all new members fronted by a female vocalist.”
In Part 1 with The Metal Voice
Thunderstick spoke about the holy grail 1977 Iron Maiden PRE-Soundhouse rehearsal tapes which featured many of the songs on the first Iron Maiden album as well as two songs off Iron maiden’s Killer albums
IRON MAIDEN are celebrating their Yorkshire homecoming with this unique tour artwork which really does raise the roof at Sheffield Arena, reports wakefieldexpress.co.uk.
It features their giant zombie mascot – Eddie the Head – smashing through the building, tearing out its beating heart in one hand while pulling away part of the building in the other.
And as heavy metal fans of the band cheer with crazy excitement outside, one man strikes a pose from Sheffield movie classic The Fully Monty while a brass band play in reference to South Yorkshire film Brassed Off.
Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson was born in Worksop and spent the early years of his life in Sheffield – he began his career in music fronting pub bands in the 1970s while attending school in the city.
Dave Shack, the band’s co-manager, is also a Yorkshireman and started out writing music reviews for The Yorkshire Post.
The artwork – to advertise their “Book Of Souls” tour gig at the venue on Wednesday, May 10th – has been created by longstanding Maiden artist Herve Monjeaud.
Over the years he has produced unique designs for Maiden events right around the globe, from Australia to Brazil and now from Scandinavia to Sheffield.
His latest work will be used in advertisements to feature in titles including The Star and The Yorkshire Post from Thursday.
Eddie the Head, a perennial fixture of the group’s artwork, appears in all of their album covers, as well as most of their singles and in their merchandise, which includes T-shirts, posters and action figures.
On top of this, Eddie features in all of the band’s concerts, as well as in the first-person shooter video game, Ed Hunter, and the role-playing game, Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast.
There is no indication it will be used as a poster or T-shirt but with fans around the globe eager to snap up rare collectables that could yet happen.
“For a band that predominantly hail from London, coming up with this art for our fans in the city of steel was a nod to the support we have all around the country for this first full UK tour since 2011 and a way of recognising Bruce as someone shaped by his formative years in the city,” said co-Manager, Dave Shack.
Iron Maiden continue their hugely successful “The Book of Souls” World Tour into 2017 with a series of European arena shows stopping off in England for eight dates including a Sheffield Arena with no further European cities will be added to this schedule for 2017.
BUY TICKETS: Tickets to see Iron Maiden at Sheffield Arena are £51.52, £55.44 & £64.40, including booking fees. Buy in person from the Box Office, call 0114 2 56 5656 or visit http://www.sheffieldarena.co.uk.
Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley spoke about his new album Endure and Survive the second installment of Infinite Entanglement trilogy. Blaze also showed The Metal Voice the new album’s artwork, announced the Canadian tour dates, made a statement about Steve Grimmett’s Grim Reaper and his health situation and spoke about a new acoustic album in August 2017.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about other bands he was offered the job as vocalist after his time with Iron Maiden
“I was offered an audition for a band called Brain Storm and also an audition for Oliver/Dawson’s Saxon after Iron Maiden. I was really committed to these ideas that I had for my Silicon Messiah album and I thought if I did join somebody else’s band then would I be able to do these ideas the way I wanted them? I convinced myself to really do me own thing. But now it feels like it was the right decision, even though it has been a real struggle at times.”
When asked which of his former Iron Maiden band mates got along with the best
“I got along with everybody, some people may thing it’s strange but I got along with Bruce before and after Iron Maiden and when I was in Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson has been a great supporter of me. He is really championed my solo work, he has been absolutely great, he gave me a lot of encouragement. But I was closest to Steve Harris he was like a mentor to me, took me under his wing.”
When asked what is the difference between ‘Endure and Survive’ and the first part of the trilogy in terms of songs and musical direction
“It’s darker. This album is the end of the journey of 1000 years, that’s where we started on part 1. Endure and Survive is what’s happened, what he has endured and he has survived for 1000 years. What shape is he in, what has he had to do to survive this 1000 year journey and where is he mentally and what lies ahead, that’s where we are. so we find out more details and some of the terrible things that he has had to do to get through this mission. So overall it’s a darker album, musically and lyrically. We find out about the under mission, the details of the under mission are revealed. We also find out a bit more of the relationship between William Black and the Professor. We found out he knows he has a machine body on the first album. We find out more about why he is a machine on this album.”
Asked about if he will release another acoustic Album
We are working on it right now, we are working on new songs the first week in January 2017, I went on a trip to South of Spain to work at a secret location with Thomas Zwijsen and we came up with some new songs and we worked on some new arrangements for some of my metal songs we really hope that by the end of August 2017 we will have a new acoustic album.
Asked if the new album was as Darker than ‘Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back’ movie
I think that is a very good analogy that Empire strikes back goes to the dark part of Star Wars, so it is in a similar vein
When asked about if he will be touring North America?
Announcement, August 17 2017 Montreal, Quebec, August 17 Ottawa, Ontario ,August 18 Quebec City, Quebec August 19 Toronto, Ontario August 20 London, Ontario and before and after Canada we are going to have some USA dates
When asked about his participation to sing on the Reaper All Stars relief songs for Steve Grimmett’s Health and recovery costs
“What has happened to him can happen to any of us. there are a lot of artists at our level that go tour and you don’t know whats going to happen to you and your health you never know where you are in the end. Your largely self employed dependent on your live gigs for your money that could happen to anyone so I really wish Steve all the best I hope he gets well and I hope he gets great rehabilitation and finds a way to keep making music and be passionate about music.”
Blaze’s ninth solo album, “Endure And Survive”, will be released on March 3 via Blaze Bayley Recording. The disc was recorded at Birmingham, England’s Robannas Studios and said to be “an exciting and enthralling sequel” to his 2016 release “Infinite Entanglement”, which was the first of a trilogy of
Endure And Survive” was recorded between October and December 2016, produced by Blaze Bayley and Chris Appleton, mixed and engineered by Miguel Seco, mastered by Ade Emsley (IRON MAIDEN, TANK, PHIL CAMPBELL). As with the previous record, the songwriting has been a collaboration between Blaze, Chris Appleton and Michelle Sciarrotta.
January 18th, MEGADETH bassist and EMP Label Group‘s President David Ellefson alongside Tony MacAlpine, Jill Janus (HUNTRESS), Nita Strauss (ALICE COOPER) and Glen Sobel (ALICE COOPER) performed a cover version of the IRON MAIDEN classic “The Number Of The Beast” at Lucky Strike Live in Los Angeles (California) during the 42nd weekly “Soundcheck Live”.
Check out video footage here:
Pictures enclosed by Steve Rose Photos – for more High-quality photos, visit California Rock News.
“Soundcheck Live” is a weekly live music night that brings together the industry’s top musicians alongside emerging talent to create a vibrant social experience driven by the artists.
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Barry Graham Purkis, also known as THUNDERSTICK Ex drummer for IRON MAIDEN in 1977 and Samson during Bruce Dickinson‘s tenure with the band.
THUNDERSTICK spoke about the Holy Grail 1977 IRON MAIDEN PRE-Soundhouse rehearsal tapes which featured many of the songs on the first IRON MAIDEN album as well as two songs off IRON MAIDEN‘s Killer albums.
On how how he joined Iron Maiden
I answered an ad and auditioned much like many other drummers sitting in a corridor with non stop drummers all the way down…NEXT…NEXT and I got the gig. They also advertised for a keyboard player at the same time and that’s when this guy Tony Moore came on board and that was it. The line up was myself, Steve Harris a singer named Dennis Willcock, a guitarist named Terry Wapram and Tony Moore on Keyboards
On the inner workings of Iron Maiden in 1977
“I thought at the time when I first joined it was a joint effort of both Steve Harris and Dennis Wilcock. Dennis being the singer he was the man at the time was responsible for the logos and stuff like that . The Iron maiden type face that Iron maiden still uses to this day was formulated back in those days we are talking 1977. And Dennis he had such a large input into the band at the time. I really did think that the two of them were co-running as it were.
Steve Harris would make an effort to come up to my House in South East London and we would go through basic drum parts. I never done that before. I never actually sort of knocked it down to where you only have the bass and drums so you are building a rhythm section then we would rehearse with the whole band back in the East end.”
When asked about what classic songs were written in 1977 and if he ever got songwriting credits
“Burning ambition, Drifter, Sanctuary, Prowler, Another Life (Killers Album), Transylvania, Strange World, Charlotte the harlot, Wrathchild, Innocent Exile (Killers) and the song Iron Maiden. ”
“You can say I was actually contributing maybe I was the first drummer to come in that Steve would try to work alongside. And later on I was inputting regarding the songwriting but never got credit on anything ever.” You are always going to hear something you contributed too, you are always going to hear and think to yourself yeah that was due to me. ”
Asked if the 1977 Rehearsal tapes will ever be released
“Who knows, I have put these 30 second bursts on my facebook and the kind of interest it generated it quite phenomenal there are certain people are saying that they look on it as the heavy metal holy grail to have something such as that a 1977 recording of those songs. There is no way i can go out and release them cause I could imagine the full force of Iron Maiden legal team would come down on me because the songs there in contain Steve Harris compositions. However I own the tape. I own my performance on that tape. However I don’t own the copyright of the songs.”
When asked about what he thought of Steve Harris and the band back in 1977
“It was a work in progress, he was a guy in the band. The band was professional but they were not professional musicians at the time. They were professional in their outlook. They were focused.”
On the legal battle in regard to Iron maiden’s song Idea of march and Samon’s song Thunderburst
“We went and recorded the Samson album ‘Head On’ it was going to be the first album Bruce Dickinson was going to appear on and we had an intense writing session as soon as Bruce joined the band. And I brought Thunderbusrt onto the table, I had this rolling drum pattern though the toms and I explained that we had done this when I was a member of Iron Maiden. So we recorded it and Paul Samson (Samson guitarist) and Clive Burr were quite good mates cause Clive had been in Samson before I joined Samson so we kind of literally swapped places. Clive Burr went over to Paul Samson’s house and they were sitting there and Paul played the second side of the ‘Head On’ album and out came Thunderburst and Clive nearly fell off his chair and he said Jesus and he put on his finished recordings and out came Ides of March. What happened after that was that my management at the time didn’t really want to have any involvement in this. I was summoned to EMI building and in front of me was Steve Harris, Rob Smallwood and a couple of representatives from the legal team and EMI. And I was told in no uncertain terms that Steve Harris would take 50% songwriting on the Thunderbusrt track and I would receive absolutely nothing on the Ides of march track. If I wanted to contest that then we will see you in court.”
On the formation of Maiden77 group
Because of the interest of former members of Iron Maiden, I’m a member of Maiden77 which has emerged over the last year it’s a couple of fans of Maiden who put it together this Maiden77 site and they wanted to know history of all the members of Iron Maiden. But in doing that it has thrown up a lot of things that are contrary to each other. So a lot of people are interested in digging up the dirt. There were a lot of things in the documentary Early years part 1 that are not the truth. A lot of inaccuracies for example the Soundhouse tapes there was a guitarist that was never even mentioned the fact that he plays on the Soundhouse tapes Maiden77 consists of Tony Moore (keyboards), Terry Wapra m (guitars), Barry Purkis (a.k .a. Thunderstick; drums, percussion) and Dennis Willcock (vocals)
Watch Interview Here:
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