Un fan s'est offert une interview de McBrain et Gers, il y a de quoi lire.



EH: The title of the new album is "A Matter of Life and Death". I wanted to know who decided on the name and where the idea came from.

Nicko: "I think it was Steve [Harris]. We had two or three ideas which we were kicking a round, one of which was 'A Matter of Life and Death', and then Bruce [Dickinson] came up with a title which we all thought was brilliant at the time. Then we decided to sleep on it for a few days but in the end we all decided that 'A Matter of Life and Death' was the better title and so, it was a working title originally, which ended up being the best one. But it was either Bruce or Steve who came up with it. The content of the record is dealing with a lot of the issues of war — 'The Longest Day' is a well known account of war and 'Brighter Than a Thousand Suns' is about the H-Bomb. Then there are other songs which deal with kind of the lighter side, but we all know that war generally means death, and death is the ultimate sin. But at the end of the day we've got other things to think about — life experiences etc. But in final answer to your question I think it was between Steve and Bruce…"

Janick: "It might have been Rod [Smallwood, manager]!"

Nicko: "It could have been. I dunno, it was just one of those situations where nobody really knows, it was just floated around waiting for approval. It could have been Drew (engineer at Sarm West Studio)."

Janick: "It could have been Eddie!! [Laughs]

Nicko: "The titles are important…"

Janick: "In the past we've tended to pick a song title as the name of the album, because sometimes a title will just leap out at you as the obvious choice, but it didn't this time for some reason."

Nicko: "Yeah, I think this is one of the first albums that we've not used a song title as the name of the album."

EH: Yes, I think that's been mentioned on the chat forum.

Nicko: "Yeah, so maybe it's quite a historical fact from that point of view. But we did discuss about using a song title and went through all the names — 'What about 'The Pilgrim'? No, That doesn't really work, sounds like 'Pilgrim's Progress', can't have that. What about 'The Legacy'….mmm 'The Legacy', that's not a bad idea, but we thought somebody else did an album called 'The Legacy'…"

Janick: "I think calling it 'The Legacy' would have hinted at this being the last album, and we definitely didn't want that!"

Nicko: "Yeah, so that got dropped like a big pile of you know what!!! Then going on through the other titles we thought well we couldn't call it 'For the Greater Good of God'…. That would really be pushing the envelope. We can't really call it 'Lord of Light', that's a bit too much. There wasn't really anything that would lend itself to a visual situation."

EH: OK, so you've got an album which reflects the good and bad side of life, is it something of a "concept" album then?

Nicko: "No it's not! The only way I think that it's got any kind of concept is the running order of the songs on the record is conceptual. But it's not a message. It's just a really great piece of music. From the beginning every song kind of lifts you up and when you get to the middle song which is a bit of a ballad, and kind of gives you a bit of respite, and you think phew, thank God for that for a minute, and then the onslaught of the final four or five songs really lift you up again. So to me that's the only concept of the album."

EH: Are there any instrumental or acoustic songs on this album?

Nicko: "Absolutely not. Although there are some acoustic passages."

EH: The "B" sides are all covers. Am I right in saying that?

Janick: "Who told you about that?"

EH: Oh, I just heard it somewhere.

Nicko: "No that's just rumour control."

Janick: "No. If we told you we would have to kill you!!"

Nicko: "No, seriously, I don't really like to call them 'B' sides. I prefer to call it just an extra track. But the secondary track to a single release will always be a cover. Unless we do another 'Sheriff of Huddersfield' or 'Black Bart Blues' or 'Roll Over Vic Vella'. Obviously 'Twilight Zone' is one exception, but I don't think we would do that again."

Janick: "We are not a covers band, so when we cover someone else's song, we don't go away and learn it exactly. What we do is we listen to the track once and then go away and try to recreate what we felt from the track, so we're not trying to out-do the band we are covering, but trying to do it in a MAIDEN way."

Nicko: "And we always try to do the song justice. Obviously we don't want to do someone else's song and not do a good job of it. 'Cos obviously we don't want the person who wrote it to be thinking 'Oh my God, what have they done to my song?' We just go into the studio and have a good time."

Janick: "Yeah. It's all for fun."

Nicko: "We will sit in the studio and come up with some ideas of which songs to cover. Once we've decided, we will get hold of the tracks and then have a proper listen. Then everyone will go away and learn their own parts and then record it. 80% of the time it's done in one take and we don't spend a lot of time mixing it, other than maybe whack an extra guitar solo on and a bit of this or that here and there."

Janick: "Actually the covers we've done this time, there were no overdubs."

Nicko: "That's right. There wasn't was there? Whereas the album was mixed as we went along and then just needed a bit of fine tuning, these cover songs were mixed as we played them, and Kevin Shirley said 'Right, that's it, that's the mix for this song.' All done and dusted."

EH: Do you have a personally favourite song from the album?

Nicko: "My personal favourite right now is 'Lord of Light', but I can't get 'For the Greater Good of God' out of my head. All the way round the golf course this morning, I just couldn't stop singing it! (immediately launching into pub singer mode!)"

EH: Perhaps you should have sung the song on the album…..

Nicko: "I did!!" [Laughs]

Janick: "Yeah but the thing is. If we brought Nicko down the front to sing, all the women would go like wow. He would then straight away become the focal point of the band….the band would fall to bits….Bruce would have to be put to the back and that wouldn't really work so….we let Bruce do all the live singing but Nicko really does it all in the studio!"

Nicko: "Yeah, Tom Jones would have to start worrying!!"

EH: So Janick, which is your favourite off the album?

Janick: "It changes day by day. It really does."

Nicko: "Also Janick wrote a couple of songs which are really excellent and my favourite one of those is 'The Legacy'. The acoustic intro is just, how can I say, ehm, it's a concerto! It's a work of art. The last chord, I mean THE last chord is just 'fuck my old boots, is it finished now! Can I have a rest!?) (Janick falls about laughing) Just listening to Jan's guitar work is so super intense, I think."

Janick: "It's an intense album."

EH: Yeah, from the four tracks I've heard I would agree. I think it is more progressive and far more heavier than previous albums.

Nicko: "You've only heard the first four songs? Blimey you've got to hear the last six tracks!"

EH: I wish I could!!

Janick: "Only the first four?!!!"

Nicko: "Blimey, the first four are just a teaser!! From those first four I think 'Brighter Than a Thousand Suns' is absolutely brilliant."

Janick: "It just gets better and better the more you hear it. It's a very very intense experience to listen to it, I think. But the whole album gets better and better every time you listen to it. I don't think many bands do that any more. People tend to want 'instantaneous' and then after a week they forget about it and then want the next instantaneous thing. But this album is deeper than that. There's a lot of depth to it. It totally works as an album. It all finishes with some acoustic stuff, and as Nicko said, the last chord just makes you go 'Pheeeww!' And you feel you've listened to a piece of music which has lasted over 70 minutes long. It's almost classically inspired."

Nicko: "Yeah, that intro to 'The Legacy' definitely. I mean it sounds like there's loads of guitars but it's just the way Jan put the whole thing together, and then the whole band come in with a huge wall of electric guitar and you think whooaa, it just blows you away. It's as though the overture has kicked in and it sounds frighteningly good!"

EH: Nicko, how come you didn't write any songs on this album?

Janick: "He did!! Ha Ha."

Nicko: "My writing contribution was more musical, like the drum parts to these songs etc. I really had a lot of input on this album. Usually the guys would come to and say '…..this is the sort of thing I would like you to do etc.' But that didn't really happen so much on this album. Although Steve had a couple of specific things he wanted from me. But a lot of the way I constructed the drum patterns and beats was my contribution to the writing aspect I suppose. In terms of bringing a song to the band, I flew over quite late into the writing period. And what had happened was, the guys already had ten songs ready to go. They had been getting together in various combinations to put the songs together. If we had needed eleven songs then I would have put my song into the mix as it was already mainly complete and it may or may not have been used. But the point is, we had these ten phenomenal songs! Jan had a couple more ideas, Adrian had a couple more songs ready and Steve had another three already written. So what is amazing is that we had too much material! Whereas normally we get to about eight songs and it's '……er, anyone got any more ideas?' So it wasn't because of any other reason than we had enough songs already. But to be honest with the standard of the songs already there, I wouldn't have even considered putting into the pot!"

EH: So the Eddie with the crossed guns logo. Is that going to be the album or a single cover?

Janick: "No. But it will be used as part of the general concept of the album. But if we told you we would have to kill you again!! The artwork is pretty close but still not finalised. There are changes being made all the time, even with the stage production."

EH: Do you have much input into the artwork etc?

Janick: "Yes, if you want to. Normally what happens is Rod will present us with all the ideas. We then discuss what's good and what's not so good. Then Rod will collate all the ideas we have all thrashed out and then he will sit down with Steve to thrash out the final look etc. Steve is the main man for that as he is very specific about what he wants, like colours and detail. With the stage set though, we all have our little likes and dislikes. For instance, Nicko might say that the drum riser needs to be a bit bigger, or Bruce might have something wrong with the walkways etc. But they are things easy to change and we can even do it once we are on tour if a certain part of the production doesn't work quite right within the look of the stage set."

EH: Are all the backdrops and scenery all finished yet?

Janick: "No. They are almost finished being designed but not painted yet. Things change all the time. In fact only yesterday we were still talking to our production manager about the stage flooring design. It's very much an ongoing process. Alan and Chrissie Chesters, who run Hangman, who have done our stage production for so many years now, do a fantastic job. They really know where they are going with MAIDEN stage sets, and always get things done at the witching hour after many last minute changes. We can always rely on them. Even down to the pre-production rehearsals when we saw the Eddie it just didn't look or work right. It looked great as a model but it just didn't work when it was full size. So they had to make another one which was used after a couple of gigs into the tour."

Nicko: "We are pretty much set on where we are going with it. It's really quite adventurous and I think people will be quite stunned when they see it."

Janick: "Actually I quite like it when it sometimes goes wrong. If everything is too slick it becomes too cabaret and polished for me. We shouldn't be too polished. I think we should always walk that precipice, because when things go wrong that's what makes it exciting."

EH: Yeah, the fans love that sort of thing.

Janick: "It gives them something extra to remember."

EH: So, TRIVIUM are supporting you this time. How was it decided to use them as support act?

Janick: "I think it depends on who is touring at the time. Who's got an album out etc. Then you look at what is available and who we think will fit the bill the best. I don't really mind anyone supporting us, as long as it's the right time for that band. TRIVIUM tick all the boxes, so it's good for us and good for them."

EH: Do you think they will pull in the younger fans? They definitely have a young fanbase.

Janick: "I hope it does. It should be great."

Nicko: "We can't just take a band out just because we might like them. You have to look at what they can bring to the tour. So the younger kids that might come to see Trivium may not have originally come to see us, but hopefully we can win them over as well. They are a good band, so if we are going on tour we may as well have a good band in support."

EH: Can you say what the first single is going to be?

Janick: "Not really 'cos we haven't fully decided yet."

EH: Big question. Will this be the last studio album?

Nicko: "Absolutely not!"

Janick: "If that was the case we would probably have called it 'The Legacy'."

Nicko: "There you go. I hadn't thought of that but you're probably right. We are not young kids anymore but this record has proved to me that we have still got immense music left in us. So it definitely won't be the last. We will have the usual time off after the tour and then take things from there."

EH: One last question. Who is Benjamin Breeg?

(Loads of laughter from Jan and Nicko)

Nicko: "We are not the two people to ask. You need to talk to Steve…"

Pareil, je n'aime pas du tout la pochette... pour les même raisons évoquées plus haut: l'association metal <-> armée ne me convient pas :s
C'est d'ailleurs pour ça que j'ai refusé d'acheter Death Cult Armaggedon de Dimmu Borgir, car la pochette du CD montre une sorte de tank qui roule sur des crânes humains

maiden a tres souvent evoqué le terme de l'armée et de la guerre dans ses chansons depuis une 15aine d'années, c'est assez logique le theme arrive en pochette a un moment et le groupe est devenu assez anti militariste avec l'age, le temps de Run to the hills est bien loin

c'est vrai que l'armée US a utilisé RTTH pour motiver ses troupes pendant la premiere guerre du golf ... avec Hells Bells d'ailleurs.


ils ont ensuite utilisé DOD pour faire parler les prisonniers, d'ailleurs la torture est interdite par le traité de Genève pour info

Je ne vois pas le problème de cette pochette. Pourquoi dire "association" metal/armée ? On peut parler de quelque chose sans s'y associer, non ? Un char qui roule sur des cranes humains ça veut dire quoi ? Que Dimmu s'associe à ça ? Ou qu'il dénonce une réalité ?

Cachez ce sein que je ne saurais voir...

Non mais franchement les pochettes guerrières dans le Metal c'est presque une institution, et Maiden a fait pas mal de chanson sur la guerre. Cette pochette est très classique mais graphiquement je la trouve très réussie (contrairement à d'autres... ), elle est classe. Ca nous change de toutes les pochetets ultra laides en images de synthèses montées avec les pieds (j'ai en tête : Kamelot, Strato, DOD).

PS : j'ajouterais qu'on peut etre anti militariste mais rendre hommage aux gens qui se sont sacrifiés pour sauvegarder leur liberté.

oui et c'est que Maiden fait depuis quelques temps, afraid to shoot strangers, the aftermath, fortunes of war, paschendale et j'en passe, como esatis amigos aussi, superbe texte de Bayley

Run to the hills? Aucun rapport si? Ca parle des persécutions des indiens d'amérique du Nord, ou bien je confonds?

C'était une guerre tu sais Chips. Sans compter l'indépendance dans laquelle quelques tribues indiennes ont eu un rôle pas toujours très glorieux.
C'est avant tout une chanson pour la cause indienne... mais selon un angle militaire et belliqueux tout à faire métallique (dans la mesure ou il passe par une imagerie épique et historique). On est loin de Bitter Tears ou Pocahontas.

Je vais tenter aussi.

Sinon bah la pochette c'est pas de la propagande pour dire "la guerre c'est cool, engagez-vous" donc je vois pas le problème.
Esthétiquement elle est bien sûr moins laide que DoD mais bon c'est pas non plus ce qu'ils ont fait de mieux, j'la trouve beaucoup trop simpliste.

Ok Ziggy, mais je voyais pas trop ça d'un coté belliqueux (contrairement à Aces High, par exemple - quoique je ne me suis jamais penché de près sur les paroles)

Quand Bruce chante "Run for your lives", j'ai plus l'impression qu'il parle de fuite que d'attaque...Faudra que je relise ça

j'aimerais bien savoir d'ailleurs ce que pense Harris de l'utilisation de sa chanson à des fins "militaires" ...



exact ! Presque chaque village du Calvados à un truc qui rappelle ce qui s'est passé ( un cimetierre, un char, un monument, des ruines ou des noms de rues ) , il ne se passe pas 1 mois sans qu'un veteran soit honoré d'un nom de rue ou d'école ... pour ne pas oublier ce que ces pauvres types ont enduré ...

Association dans le sens ou MAIDEN est un groupe de Metal et que la pochette représente un char et des bidasses morts-vivants. C'est indéniable.

Mais cela s'arrête à l'esthétique et aux 'sensations' procurées par la vue de ce dessin. Je ne sais absolument pas qu'elle est la position de MAIDEN (ou même s'ils en ont une) vis à vis de l'armée, et en plus vu que ce n'est de toutes façons pas extrêmiste, je m'en contrebalance. C'est juste que je n'apprécie pas cette association. Mais si ça se trouve la musique me la fera aimer, qui sait...

Superbe Pochette!
Elle est déjà beaucoup plus belle que Dance Of Death.

J'aime bien ces textures qui rappellent effectivement Iced Earth.

Sinon j'en ai rien à foutre de "l'association métal/armée", Maiden a déjà fait des chansons à propos de la guerre, cette pochette semble s'inscrire dans une certaine logique.

C'est une pochette d'un groupe de heavy, peu importe si ça peut choquer les pacifistes.

Oui, ça on est d'accord, j'avais bien vu, merci ! Mais comme je le disais l'image guerrière dans le Metal est presque une tradition : marteau, chevaliers, épées, armes... le Trooper !!! Cette association n'est pas nouvelle (comme le sang, le noir, etc...) et je trouve que la pochette est simple mais efficace, elle me plait bien. A part ça je trouve d'un ridicule les gars qui achetent des cranes en platres chez Nuclear Blast mais bon...

C'est pas gagné, on me propose déjà le single, apparemment trouvé sur emule.
Y'a 99% de chances que ça soit un fake mais déjà là ça me stresse.
(mais je résisterai)

Subtile nuance justement ! Là tu parles principalement de choses qui ont très souvent rapport avec la Fantasy, et ça j'aime bien. Ce que je n'aime pas c'est le rapport avec tout ce qui est contemporain : les chars, les mitraillettes, les treillis... M'enfin, tout ça doit être psycho logique je pense...





PS : Non, j'ai pas vu ce que Muscu dit dans son post du dessus.

Moui je m'en doutais mais si tu chipottes sur l'époque...
J'aime beaucoup la pochette de Mafia de BLS par exemple.

Elle pêche bien oui, celle de Mafia. Cela dit, s'ils finissent racketés ou un bloc de ciment aux pieds faudra pas qu'ils s'étonnent...

une petite interview du gros Rod :

The IMOC (Iron Maiden Fan Club) has managed to gather up some pretty interesting questions from the IRON MAIDEN fanbase around the world for manager Rod Smallwood. After some time, Rod has finally found the time to answer the first five out of a massive 20 questions.

Question: What do you think about the new IRON MAIDEN album?

Rod Smallwood: "I am immensely proud of our new album. Steve [Harris] always says l am like an expectant father whilst they are recording and l always dread hearing a new album for the first time — in case l don't like it!! And they will never let me hear it until it's finished. No one hears a MAIDEN album before it's finished except the band, Kevin [Shirley, producer] and the studio engineers. Of course, l always have thought some of our albums are stronger than others, as one would, but that varies person to person. What l found difficult first time with this was that there was no real standout track — because they are all so strong, so well played, so interesting and so well arranged. Every time you play it you get more into it and find a new favourite. And there are no fillers. On most of our albums, l have thought a certain track was weaker, although l would sometimes find it was someone else's favourite. We all have differing tastes. On this one it really is a fantastic ride for the whole 70-minutes-plus, and l always get off most on the long tracks where the band can really extend themselves musically — and there are loads of long tracks on this album. Also the sound quality is stunning presumably as its now Kevin's third album with us and it just gets better as the band and Kevin get to know each other more and work more instinctively. This was recorded fairly quickly — we finished well before the expected time — and that's partly because it's so live. l guarantee it, you are gonna love it. But l suppose l would say that, wouldn't l?! But believe me, it's true."

Question: What serious advice would you give to any young band who are hoping to, one day, be as big as IRON MAIDEN and what kind of contacts are vital for such a band to have?

Rod Smallwood: "It's much easier now in some ways for a new band due to the web. Demo a song, take a pic, maybe do a home video and put it up. There are sites — you probably know them better than I do — which are just great for this and you can start building a following. Of course, this is down to the songs and for any rock band being good live — and being seen live — is vital. Contacts are always useful as they speed up the process by securing a gig, an interview or an introduction to a label. But most bands who make it have someone in the band to do be the initial driving force so if you are in a band be that driving force. Get yourself up on the web and hassle the local club/school/party and get yourself on stage. Everyone starts somewhere. Of course if there is someone around you with a few contacts that always helps if you can enlist their help, but if you really are good don't worry as if you have the energy and will to get yourself started locally on gigs and get some music and stuff on the web and maybe a bit in the local press you will be surprised how quickly that contact comes along. But then you have to make sure they are the right one — best advice, look them right in the eye when they are telling you what they can do for you."

Question: Rod, if (or when) IRON MAIDEN decide to retire, what will you do?? Will you continue working in the business, or will you simply follow the boys to a simpler way of life?

Rod Smallwood: "When MAIDEN stop, l stop. I only manage MAIDEN although l do help out where l can with the managers of some of our newer acts like FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, and in Europe for our American managers on SLIPKNOT, MASTODON and others. l do like working with great new bands but don't want to do all the travel that comes with it and all the time it takes. So l guess l have it quite good really. l do enjoy managing MAIDEN and always have and always get a kick out of the shows even though l see them a lot. When they finally hang up their guitars — and no, l have no idea when, but it will be a while, as we are all really enjoying the less demanding schedules we work to now — there will still be MAIDEN stuff to do both with ongoing catalogue and tying up any loose ends and releasing final material. This could go on forever but if the fans are still interested that's fine by me. l will always be in touch with all the band as after all these years it really is family. But l guess l will get bored just working on record stuff and will drive them mad to go out and do some gigs again — that really is the best bit."

Question: How do you choose the countries to play at?

Rod Smallwood: "On a tour like the end of this year it's really down to the band telling me how long they wish to tour for and then my trying to use the time as effectively as possible to get them in front of as many fans as possible. It's not really about cities or countries, it's really about getting to as many fans as we can in the time we have. And we really don't waste this, because, as you can see, most of the shows are already sold out and in the main arenas. It means too that we want as many shows in the period as is reasonable to play properly so geography does come into it. If we can do two shows to a total of say 25,000 fans in an area in three days say as opposed to one somewhere else to 13,000 in those three days due to travel logistics, we will go for the two. We announced some time ago that the tours would be shorter (although more regular) and some places would by the nature of things be missed out, we spent 20 years trying to get to everyone and playing long, long tours. Now we try to conserve the energy and treat every show as a major event which was hard when there were 100+ shows in a schedule. The tour length we do now works for us. l know it can disappoint, but we do feel it's the fairest way and we do try to balance things from tour to tour to try to get back most countries on a fairly regular basis. So if we aren't your way this time maybe next time, but sorry, no promises. We do our best to please as many as we can!!"

Question: I am a Spanish IRON MAIDEN fan that has been following the band during the last 15 years. This year I was really looking forward to the chance of flying with Bruce to one show but I must say that the high price has made it impossible. Do you know what are the reasons for the huge increase of the flight price compared to Bruce Airs of previous years? I guess that this initiative won't be a profitable one (I assume that it will cover the costs) as that would be really disappointing and will place MAIDEN among KISS, AEROSMITH and MÖTLEY CRÜE and their platinum tickets and corporate shit. I really hope that is not the case here, as it wouldn't make sense after all these years of the "MAIDEN care for their fans" message that we have been given.

Rod Smallwood: "Thanks for your MAIDEN loyalty these past 15 years, and I am sorry the touring schedule did not allow Bruce to incorporate a Bruce Air flight from/to Spain.

"For your info, these latest two trips (Gatwick to Stockholm, and Stockholm to Milan) were based not only on Bruce's availability but those of the aeroplane. Sadly Stockholm is one of the most expensive gateways in Europe, and this is reflected in the price of both trips — which this year include hotels, and in the case of Milan — two admission tickets to the MAIDEN show. You might not be aware, but the previous BA 666 flights were to relatively inexpensive cities to fly to (Dublin and Reykjavik) and were in and out the same day so did not involve standing time for the airplane or incur hotel or extensive transfer costs. As it happens, we were not involved in the setup of the first trip (to Dublin) which was not priced properly and ended up making a loss for Bruce, so any comparison with this trip is not valid.

"Bruce Air is Bruce's passion (and not related to IRON MAIDEN the band). Nicko, as a fellow pilot, joined the Iceland and Ireland trips last year and made a very big impression with all the passengers. In his absence this year, Bruce wanted to avoid comparative disappointment and so devised the idea of having a photo on stage with him (not the other band members) and the passengers before the venue doors opened. As advance entry to the hall to facilitate the photos had been organised, it made sense to keep the passengers there and let them have advance access to the security barrier. This advance stage barrier access is something that is still on offer to 60 existing fan club members (plus a friend) for all the European shows via a special lottery which will be run out of the Fan Club in August.

"Until we have a take up on the tickets (and this is why deposits are subject to a travelling assessment at the end of this month) we wont be in a position to know how much margin there is in the flight. Breakeven for the trips is close to capacity but, Bruce was very keen to offer as much special value for money as he can, which is why the ticket price also includes a special Bruce Air Goodie Bag, which will be compiled nearer the event. In essence, the more seats sold, the better the goodie bag.

"I do hope this makes sense to you. It's very disappointing that you would even think MAIDEN would follow the path indicated in you last few lines. It's just not the way we do things, l am always getting hassled to start 'golden circles' and 'premium bloody tickets' and we put both in the same box as reality bloody TV. We want our fans to be able to afford to be at the front — see a later question on tickets is Germany too."

(Thanks: MaidenNorway.com)

Putain tu fais chier !

Enfin moi je résiste qd même jusqu'au 14 août.