August 28, 2025 • 24 mins
Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson has unleashed a re-worked version of his classic 1994 album, now titled "More Balls To Picasso." As I switch from radio producer to interviewer, Bruce joins us to talk about the rerelease, fatherhood, his solo tour, and more!
More info:
https://www.ironmaiden.com/bruce-dickinson-more-balls-to-picasso/
https://www.instagram.com/brucedickinsonhq/
https://www.themandrakeproject.com/
Our website:
www.afdpod.com
Note: This was recorded on 8/21, day before his tour launch.
More info:
https://www.ironmaiden.com/bruce-dickinson-more-balls-to-picasso/
https://www.instagram.com/brucedickinsonhq/
https://www.themandrakeproject.com/
Our website:
www.afdpod.com
Note: This was recorded on 8/21, day before his tour launch.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
How do you know what you're passionate about? Well, you don't.
I mean you just have a go doing stuff and
find out, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
If it's okay, I'll be your last.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Always save the best wine till the last it's yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I mean three hours of doing interviews. I mean, everybody
today was nice. But do you have like in your career,
like an interview that's gone wrong it still lives renfree
in your head, like in the nineties or eighties or
something like that, that somebody asks something stupid or interview.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
When I was with doing a maiden thing on one
of those like head bangers Ball things, you know, which
I was trying to like really have to do head
bangers Ball, I said, isn't that just kind of like
the most trivial way of approaching kind of music that
means a lot to people, and you just trivialize it
and make it sound like it's just music for kids.
So no, it's not. It's music for your life, man,
(00:58):
you know, And you just don'tunderstand that because you're so clever,
you know. So I I turned up. I turned up
and they said you're going to lead the show. So
I turned up dressed as Sherlock Holmes, but in but
in drag, so underneath, I was just wearing this pair
of underpants and like nothing else. So the cloak and
(01:19):
the cloak and the deer stalker hat and I did.
It's loads of ridiculous gags, you know. And finally I said,
and then unveiled this, and I said, cut cut, cut,
cut cut. We have a real problem with that. I said,
what's the problem. Well, it's yep, it's the it's your underwear.
I said, It's just like a bikini. You know, if
(01:41):
I was a girl, I was a bikini. What's the problem. No,
it's not the problem. It's the bulge. The bulge, I said, well,
that's my that's my penis and testicles. You know, we're
all equipped with them. You know, I'm a guy. You
know what you want to just like you know, have
it like action like like g I Joe, where there's like, hey,
what's oh, there's nothing there.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
You know, anatomically correct yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
And so so I said, uh, what is just Well
is there only way you could cover it up? I said,
well with what? And lying around there was an American flag.
So I said, I said, okay, let me tuck this
American flag into my underwear. Okay, how's that? They go, Yeah,
that's okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Okay, does that that's better somehow?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I was yeah, yeah, yeah, we have no sense of
irony whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know, well, none of that during today's interviews. And
and don't worry, I don't have a you know, I
don't have other guests coming here. You didn't meet before
we started recording. In this whole three hour session, briefly,
my two and a half year old son, Harrison, that
was that was here, and that's it. This all kind
of bleeds into what we're gonna hear talking about talking
about balls more balls, and I want to talk about
(02:53):
my son, who's one of his favorite words is balls. Uh.
But your son wrote some or I guess it was
an inspiration for one of my favorite tracks on the original.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I was laughing to talk about talk about that
please and how that came about.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, so laughing at the hiding bush. So my Austin,
my son, who is let me see ninety one. Yeah,
he'd have been like four years old, right, So he's
four years old and he's he comes in running from
the gun and he's hiding behind hiding in the garden
and just like, you know, being kind of cool like
kids are. And I said, what is going on in
(03:31):
your brain? Mate? What do you think? What are you doing?
And he looked at me like I'm laughing at the
hiding bush and I went, that's so cool, and so
I wrote that one down. Now, here's Bro Griffin who's
out on tour with me as the stage manager and
he's in charge of doing all the video wall and
everything else like that. And he's been working as crew
(03:52):
now for Ages and his amazing girlfriend Kerry. They were
together on the Maiden tour for a long long time,
working as Crewe and Griff said, he said, your dad,
you know that laughing in the hiding bush? I mean yeah, yeah, yeah,
he said that was my words. I invented that phrase
and he stole it.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I was like, oh, I'm not going to get involved
in this, but yeah, so yeah, yeah, so anyway, but
Austin gets royalties for that, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I love that. And he was only five. Again, I
mentioned my son, Harrison's two and a half. I'm trying
to teach him music and the way he says things,
he's no answers.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, you know they they're both both both of my boys.
I mean, I've got amazing voices. They're both great singers,
and they.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Were Did they emulate Dad or is it just given
you know through receiver?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
No, they got their own thing going. I mean, Austin
was in a band. They did two albums I think
called and their band was called Rise to Remain. And
then he was in another band called as Lions and
they had a top ten radio in the USA, you know.
And he's doing film music now and stuff like that
and composing things. I mean, he's actually written some stuff
(05:09):
for me for the next solo album. And you know,
I'm hoping we can get one of his cuts. I'm
going to do some vocals on it and get one
of his cuts onto the record because it's awesome stuff.
You know. Griff the same, you know, Grif was Griff
was playing bass and doing some other bits and bobs.
(05:30):
Ostin is actually a pretty good drummer as well, and
plays guitar really good and stuff, and and Griff was
involved in playing bass. And then one day just said, hey, Dad,
by the way, I'm just going on tour in a band.
I went, what hey, since when I mean playing bass?
He went now singing what hey huh you know, and
(05:51):
lo and behold. I went to see him and at
the gig and I'm just like, oh my god, it's
a chip off the old block. I mean, he was
just front man straight away, like wow, yeah, okay, but
he's not kind of is he's not. He's written some
really cool stuff. He had a band called Shapes s
(06:11):
h P E S. But the the the the A
was like look like a V or something else like that. So,
but he did some cool stuff. I mean it's and
it's not it's kind of like crossover metal with sort
of like I don't know, dub or something else like that,
you know. I mean it's what kids who are a
(06:31):
lot younger than me do, you know. So yeah, it
was really cool. But now but he's just been working
his us off as his crew and he's really really good,
I mean, you know, really spot on with it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
That's that's cool. And I'm not trying to rush my
son to growing up too fast, but I just like
they talk to people like you and just like two
different points in your life where your son was five
little boy making that record and then now you know
he's doing there doing your own thing, so.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I think, I think, I think if you I never
pushed any of my kids into doing anything. But what
you do is you you kind of you leave, You
leave things lying around, you know, So I just leave
(07:23):
things lying around and and uh and you know, I
mean obviously I was working as an airline pilot, so
I took them flying, you know, I took them flying,
and and they had absolutely no interest in it, you know,
I mean not not to the extent where they were
(07:43):
just bitten by the bug going oh my god, I
have to do this right. And if you're not, if
that doesn't grab you and don't do it, you know,
you should do the things you're passionate about. You know.
How do you know what you're passionate about? Well, you
don't mean. You just have a go doing stuff and
find out, you know, if something moves, you have a go.
(08:08):
And the other thing is with kids is that it
sometimes they do stuff and and and they don't want
you to know, so they just instead be doing stuff
in secret. They just won't tell you, you know, you know,
because it's the thing.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I fear that thing. Yeah, yeah, I'm already an overprotective
you know, I know, I'm just going to be uh,
I'm gonna be one of those. I mean, I gotta
calm down. My wife is a little bit more. She's like,
you know, boys will be boys. I'm gonna jump off things.
I'm like, no, put a mattress down and be careful.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Oh yeah, well no, I mean I had, yeah, I had,
I had all of that, you know. I mean one
of my one of my one of my boys was
like the king of the emergency room, you know. I
mean and and oh god, I mean and that was like,
I mean, Jackass has a lot to answer for.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Okay, fair enough, fair enough to revert things back. Okay,
because of course we're here talking about the good fun,
about the solo tour and so at about more balls
to the Wall man Drake projects, and we're talking about
yesterday and today. Let me ask you, because I mean,
I've been in radio. I know, we were talking the
meltdown from Detroit. Who's been in radio for thirty five
(09:13):
years twenty four? For me, I still get nervous. I
still get anxious, even like you've been so kind, even
though I'm getting my time with you now, You've been
so kind to me for like three hours, and I
still get nervous. What about you? Does any of that
still happen to you? And you're going out on this tour,
you're playing I hear things that you're playing a maiden
(09:33):
song that you haven't played before. Is there any sort
of anxiety that happens? Or do you live for this?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I live for it, and I'm anxious about it as well,
because until you walk out on that stage and you go, Okay,
we haven't played the USA for a while, what are
what people going to do? Are they going to stand
around confused? Are they going to sort of like, you know,
be looking at their watch? What are they going to
be doing?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
You know?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I mean it's I just don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
What can people expect because I'm enough with the podcast
that I do. I'm like you one of four three
dot com classic rock station in New York City, their
website and listeners all over the planet. So all the
markets are going to in North America? What can people
expect from this? I've had Tanya, your bass player, she's
been a podcast guest before. What can people expect from
(10:19):
her from the show? And what cities are you looking
forward to most? Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
My god? Well, the every city is like an undiscovered country,
you know. I mean I've been there with Maiden, you
know a lot of these cities. But when was the
last time we played in New Orleans? I mean I
think Maiden played in New Orleans like once, you know,
So I thought, well, you know what for two reasons
to go back to New Orleans. So one is that
(10:44):
we haven't played there for ages, so let me just
find out what's going on. And the other one is
New Orleans is kind of cool, so you know, just
to wander around Bourbon Street and you know, soak it
all up. I know it's probably a bit of a
tourist trap and all the rest of it, but who cares,
you know what I mean. So we have fun, you know,
doing that kind of stuff. I'm really looking forward to
(11:09):
all the shows, to be honest with you, all of
them because you know, every one of these people that's
turning up to the shows. As far as I'm concerned,
it's precious because it's a real it's a real choice
to come and do this thing. It's not like one
of those things that like with with with a band
like like like Maiden or you know, like a big
(11:32):
event type thing, you know where it's like a feeding
frenzy where everybody's like, oh my god, I got to
get tickets. You know, I'd tell my grandmother to get
tickets for that, you know, And you know they end
up in like, you know, the last row and seventy
five thousand people looking at things through a pair of binoculars.
You know. So you know, I'm at even as weird
(11:52):
as it might sound, I'm treating this tour as you know,
this is a tour of building new friends and building
new friends. And because people have not seen this for
thirty years, so people, you know, people don't know exactly
what to expect. It's hard to describe what to expect
when you're describing music. Music is music is what it
sounds like when it hits you in the face, you know, boom,
(12:14):
oh yeah, okay, you know. So you know, if you said, oh,
you're going to go see ac DC, you know what
to expect. But try describing it. Oh, it's like three
guys standing around and one guy dressed as a schoolboy
playing guitar. Oh really is that it? No, it's ac DC, dude,
you know. Oh, I get it, you know, because they
have their iconic sound. Well me, you get the voice,
(12:37):
but with the solo stuff. It's really a broad spectrum
of emotions during the show, from sadness to triumph, to
heaviness to jumping up down to just gonzo stuff to like, wow,
look at those guys play. Yeah, it's just everything trying
(13:02):
every every song to do something interesting, to move along
the story and never ever ever have that moment when hey,
this is the toilet break.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Mm. Yeah, how do you feel about that? It's been
a while. I know you toured last year with The
Mandrake Bride and that's thing the last time we spoke,
but before then, forever and obviously the world has changed.
I know you've toward the world with Iron Maiden, But
how do you feel about these things?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You know? Oh yeah, that that's that sort of thing.
I mean, look, the's in so many ways. I wish
the camera on those things had never been invented, but
it has been invented. It's uh, it's now been like
(13:50):
it's now a kind of uh infestation, is the way
I would describe it. You know, it's like some terrible
disease that people feel the need to look at the
world through. You know, there's stupid little device and so
(14:14):
it's like a a failing of humanity. Basically, you're surrendering,
You're surrendering your sensors completely to this little fascist in
your hand, and put it down, put it in your pocket,
and look around you. Look at the people, look at
(14:35):
the joy, look at the band, feel the emotion, feel
the music. What a phone does? It cuts all of
that off, you know, right? You have it's and so
I feel I feel sad. I also feel pissed off
because as a performer, it's like, I want to perform
(14:56):
for an audience of people that have some emotional feedback,
not a bunch of like android twerks.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, and you know, I'm not going to be a
liar and say, like, I've been guilty of that too.
But the last few shows I've been to I've been better.
I'm like, all right, because I you know, social media
and stuff. I'm like, all I got my thing, put
it in the front rest of the time, like I
wasn't like I was. Let's I say, ten years ago
or when these when they were new. I feel guilty.
I'm like, what am I doing? I'm ruining this moment here.
(15:26):
I'm like, what am I doing?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think some people are getting
people who are real music fans, I think understand and
I think they're getting better about it. They understand what's
going on. I went to see the Ghost Show and
it was a no phone show, so all the phones
were in baggies. Oh my god, the difference in the difference,
it is astonishing. The atmosphere was wow, I mean really
(15:52):
really noticeable. Even the way people behaved with each other,
interacted with each other, not looking at band, just being
civil to each other, talking to each other. You know,
it was different.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I know where we're gonna wrap, but just one last
thing and just quick answer, just to tie everything together.
Because you're playing in Brooklyn, stone throw away from where
I am in Queen's. I can't wait to start taking
my son the concerts. He has headphones. When was the
first concert? When is it appropriate? Is it appropriate for
you know, toddler to see a Bruce Springs Springsteen, Bruce
(16:28):
Dickinson show or yeah, the the him for your kids?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
No? Absolutely, I mean, you know, my kids were going
to My kids were traveling with me on the road,
went up until the time when they you know, went
to school, and then they went to see then they
went to see shows, and I mean, I took them
to see I took them to see Dio, which is
a life changing moment for them. You know. They were like,
(16:54):
oh my god, he's awesome. You know, I told you,
you know, And my son became funny enough, Austin, my
oldest was we became big buddies with wits. Sure, teenage
take it to iron made, but teenage bag right. So
he became big buddies with them. And I actually had
(17:15):
them around the Sunday lunch but in the middle of
their tour. So we went to see them and stuff,
and they were cool. You know, they're big Maiden fans,
genuinely big Maiden fans, you know. So and we had fun.
So he saw that. And my kids have always been
kind of like brought up and exposed to you know,
music and backstage, so they're not they're not impressed by
(17:38):
it anymore. They're not. Then they're not like, oh my god,
I'm going to go backstage. He's like, oh yeah, the
go backstage. Yeah, it's probably be full of a bunch
of households. You know.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Well, having Bruce Dickinson as a dad, I can only
imagine the experiences they've had. Hopefully, next time we do this,
maybe he'll be my co host. Bruce, thank you for
being my guests. Thank you for being so awesome today
with all these tours. Three hours, rest your voice. You
have a tour to go on. Why are you talking
to me? Go rest please?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
You raise a very good point there. That's exactly I'm
gonna go lie down the darkening room.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Well, thank you, Bruce, and I hope we get to
do this again.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Thank you mane jes right.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
You have a great time.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Mate. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
There he goes Bruce Dickinson. Three hours of interviews. We
got our twenty minutes. But yeah, I was on zoom
with him for three hours while he did interviews all
across the country and no breaks. So actually I gave
him a break. We had no break scheduled. My initial
time I scheduled in there. I'm like, you know what,
(18:40):
go to the bathroom if I can go. This is
how it works. If I could go in between your
interviews and you can't, that's not very fair. So if
you wouldn't mind, I'll go last. So he stayed a
little later, gave me my time. Thank you, Bruce Dickinson.
Pleasure to work with him. My second time getting to
do this with him radio a tour slash joining an
(19:03):
interview and if you don't remember, if you want to
go back and listen to my first Bruce Dickinson interview
was back last year for episode four hundred and fifty two.
We spoke about when the Mantreak project first came out
and if you knew the podcast, were just curious why
Bruce Dickinson's going on a GNR centric podcast, And if
(19:23):
we're watching on YouTube, you're like, how do you not
address the guns or roses posters in the background. Well,
there's an agreement send uh, nothing to do with Bruce
see would talk about anything. You may remember. For those
of you who are familiar with the podcast, are first
my first interview with him, I had to say kind
of what happened because I presented it as, Hey, I'm
(19:44):
gonna get to talk to him a little bit about GNR,
but present it in a positive way, and I tried
to do that, but I I had to cut it.
I had to cut it from the interview, and not
at requests and not at the request of Bruce by
his management and I ower his his people. I don't
want to say he's direct managed and his people, But like,
I get it because, especially in this GNR world, where
(20:05):
I've often expressed the world of clickbait, but there are
just some sites that will just create news, and when
you're trying to promote a certain thing for an artist,
the slightest negative thing could really do derail in entire promotions. So, like,
I get it. So not to be completely vague, and
you can't quote anything with this, because I'm just kind
(20:28):
of really paraphrasing a thing. What I had to cut.
Bruce tried to see GNR at Power Trip and Security
wasn't very nice to him. So that's what I had
to cut the first time around. This time just avoided
it and just avoided it. I was like, you know what,
maybe I can bring it up this way. I'm like,
you know what, it's not worth it. It's not worth it.
So yeah, I don't know if I'm sorry if you're
(20:49):
disappointed that I didn't talk about guns and roses with
Bruce Dickinson. Maybe in the future, but I'm not too sure.
I'm really appreciative of you to talk to him about
anything else. He's Bruce Dickinson. He's still an icon. But
I digressed. Just wanted to explain that before I wrapped
up the episode. Also want to do a quick because
I got another nice email, or I should say a
nice message because it's not through email technically, technically, let's
(21:11):
do a quick mister Mailestone, here's a mailing never fails.
It makes my jails when it comes the one on
mister Mailstone. So yeah, you can't send me the email
at the AFT show, at gmail dot com or anywhere
else you send me a message like this one. Michelle
(21:34):
on YouTube left a nice comment on my fine I'll
talk about Axel's voice episode, so she writes. Been a
GNR fan most of my life. They were my hands
down favorite band as a kid. As an adult, four
way time between GNR and three additional bands, they're usually
still my go to. I've become a fan of their
music like it was nothing else I've heard before or
(21:56):
since I also had a rough childhood, not to the
to the degree of mister Rose. Still, their music gave
me something to scream along with, to drown out the
fighting that usually going on in my home, and to
scream along with while overcoming some stuff as a child
as an adult, excuse me as an adult residual childhood stuff,
so we all understand that. Unfortunately, I still do love
(22:19):
them in their music. Sure, most of their members left
for various reasons, and they also moved on because I
was a fan of at such an unhealthy level I
couldn't continue. Not to go into details, Okay, that's hope,
that's fine. I was surprised to see them reunite. I
think we all were surprised and happy. Do I want
to see them live?
Speaker 1 (22:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Thanks. If you want to go have fun, okay, well
I think you should because it may not be the same,
but I've enjoyed myself every time. And I hope they
announce the North American date because I can't wait to
go with my son. You may hear in the background
playing with puzzles and running around the apartment. Can't wait
for him to go to see Guns of Roses. But
(23:03):
I digress. Let's continue with our comment. Love this podcast
equally for the g n R stuff and mental health stuff.
The mental health stuff certainly needs to be addressed, especially
the guy's mental health. It's awesome having a guy. Awesome
having a guy is having those conversations, so the brando
bravo for having this podcast and addressing this I also
(23:24):
need to address my son, who is now making a
habit of interrupting episodes. He wants me to open this
puzzle of a plane. He's kind of very good at puzzles.
I'm gonna get you a guns of Roses puzzle that
might be too too difficult for him. Do you want
an airplane and you want You're welcome? Do you want
(23:44):
this train to here? Yeah, you're welcome. I'm gonna leave
this in because this is just part of the part
of the podcast. So and August end with Michelle's comments
to all the haters. According Slash at the end of
Getting the Ring, well if you know, you know, cheers,
So thank you Michelle for that. I do suggest seeing
(24:05):
gen R. If you're basing your opinion on online clips,
please do not do that. Go back and listen to
some of my review episodes. I know I haven't done
any reviews this year other than the Sabbath episode, but
even that, whether I spoke to Carla Harvey or Jason
who went in the Sabbath review, G and R A
(24:28):
is still a great experience live. So if it fits
your budget, I still encourage you to go anyway that does.
If it's an episode of Appetite for Distortion. When will
you see the next one? In the words of Axel
Rose concerning Chinese democracy, I don't know as soon as
the word, but you'll see it thanks to the lame
ass security. I'm going home.
How do you know what you're passionate about? Well, you don't.
I mean you just have a go doing stuff and
find out, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
If it's okay, I'll be your last.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Always save the best wine till the last it's yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I mean three hours of doing interviews. I mean, everybody
today was nice. But do you have like in your career,
like an interview that's gone wrong it still lives renfree
in your head, like in the nineties or eighties or
something like that, that somebody asks something stupid or interview.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
When I was with doing a maiden thing on one
of those like head bangers Ball things, you know, which
I was trying to like really have to do head
bangers Ball, I said, isn't that just kind of like
the most trivial way of approaching kind of music that
means a lot to people, and you just trivialize it
and make it sound like it's just music for kids.
So no, it's not. It's music for your life, man,
(00:58):
you know, And you just don'tunderstand that because you're so clever,
you know. So I I turned up. I turned up
and they said you're going to lead the show. So
I turned up dressed as Sherlock Holmes, but in but
in drag, so underneath, I was just wearing this pair
of underpants and like nothing else. So the cloak and
(01:19):
the cloak and the deer stalker hat and I did.
It's loads of ridiculous gags, you know. And finally I said,
and then unveiled this, and I said, cut cut, cut,
cut cut. We have a real problem with that. I said,
what's the problem. Well, it's yep, it's the it's your underwear.
I said, It's just like a bikini. You know, if
(01:41):
I was a girl, I was a bikini. What's the problem. No,
it's not the problem. It's the bulge. The bulge, I said, well,
that's my that's my penis and testicles. You know, we're
all equipped with them. You know, I'm a guy. You
know what you want to just like you know, have
it like action like like g I Joe, where there's like, hey,
what's oh, there's nothing there.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
You know, anatomically correct yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
And so so I said, uh, what is just Well
is there only way you could cover it up? I said,
well with what? And lying around there was an American flag.
So I said, I said, okay, let me tuck this
American flag into my underwear. Okay, how's that? They go, Yeah,
that's okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Okay, does that that's better somehow?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I was yeah, yeah, yeah, we have no sense of
irony whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know, well, none of that during today's interviews. And
and don't worry, I don't have a you know, I
don't have other guests coming here. You didn't meet before
we started recording. In this whole three hour session, briefly,
my two and a half year old son, Harrison, that
was that was here, and that's it. This all kind
of bleeds into what we're gonna hear talking about talking
about balls more balls, and I want to talk about
(02:53):
my son, who's one of his favorite words is balls. Uh.
But your son wrote some or I guess it was
an inspiration for one of my favorite tracks on the original.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I was laughing to talk about talk about that
please and how that came about.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, so laughing at the hiding bush. So my Austin,
my son, who is let me see ninety one. Yeah,
he'd have been like four years old, right, So he's
four years old and he's he comes in running from
the gun and he's hiding behind hiding in the garden
and just like, you know, being kind of cool like
kids are. And I said, what is going on in
(03:31):
your brain? Mate? What do you think? What are you doing?
And he looked at me like I'm laughing at the
hiding bush and I went, that's so cool, and so
I wrote that one down. Now, here's Bro Griffin who's
out on tour with me as the stage manager and
he's in charge of doing all the video wall and
everything else like that. And he's been working as crew
(03:52):
now for Ages and his amazing girlfriend Kerry. They were
together on the Maiden tour for a long long time,
working as Crewe and Griff said, he said, your dad,
you know that laughing in the hiding bush? I mean yeah, yeah, yeah,
he said that was my words. I invented that phrase
and he stole it.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I was like, oh, I'm not going to get involved
in this, but yeah, so yeah, yeah, so anyway, but
Austin gets royalties for that, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I love that. And he was only five. Again, I
mentioned my son, Harrison's two and a half. I'm trying
to teach him music and the way he says things,
he's no answers.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, you know they they're both both both of my boys.
I mean, I've got amazing voices. They're both great singers,
and they.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Were Did they emulate Dad or is it just given
you know through receiver?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
No, they got their own thing going. I mean, Austin
was in a band. They did two albums I think
called and their band was called Rise to Remain. And
then he was in another band called as Lions and
they had a top ten radio in the USA, you know.
And he's doing film music now and stuff like that
and composing things. I mean, he's actually written some stuff
(05:09):
for me for the next solo album. And you know,
I'm hoping we can get one of his cuts. I'm
going to do some vocals on it and get one
of his cuts onto the record because it's awesome stuff.
You know. Griff the same, you know, Grif was Griff
was playing bass and doing some other bits and bobs.
(05:30):
Ostin is actually a pretty good drummer as well, and
plays guitar really good and stuff, and and Griff was
involved in playing bass. And then one day just said, hey, Dad,
by the way, I'm just going on tour in a band.
I went, what hey, since when I mean playing bass?
He went now singing what hey huh you know, and
(05:51):
lo and behold. I went to see him and at
the gig and I'm just like, oh my god, it's
a chip off the old block. I mean, he was
just front man straight away, like wow, yeah, okay, but
he's not kind of is he's not. He's written some
really cool stuff. He had a band called Shapes s
(06:11):
h P E S. But the the the the A
was like look like a V or something else like that. So,
but he did some cool stuff. I mean it's and
it's not it's kind of like crossover metal with sort
of like I don't know, dub or something else like that,
you know. I mean it's what kids who are a
(06:31):
lot younger than me do, you know. So yeah, it
was really cool. But now but he's just been working
his us off as his crew and he's really really good,
I mean, you know, really spot on with it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
That's that's cool. And I'm not trying to rush my
son to growing up too fast, but I just like
they talk to people like you and just like two
different points in your life where your son was five
little boy making that record and then now you know
he's doing there doing your own thing, so.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I think, I think, I think if you I never
pushed any of my kids into doing anything. But what
you do is you you kind of you leave, You
leave things lying around, you know, So I just leave
(07:23):
things lying around and and uh and you know, I
mean obviously I was working as an airline pilot, so
I took them flying, you know, I took them flying,
and and they had absolutely no interest in it, you know,
I mean not not to the extent where they were
(07:43):
just bitten by the bug going oh my god, I
have to do this right. And if you're not, if
that doesn't grab you and don't do it, you know,
you should do the things you're passionate about. You know.
How do you know what you're passionate about? Well, you
don't mean. You just have a go doing stuff and
find out, you know, if something moves, you have a go.
(08:08):
And the other thing is with kids is that it
sometimes they do stuff and and and they don't want
you to know, so they just instead be doing stuff
in secret. They just won't tell you, you know, you know,
because it's the thing.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I fear that thing. Yeah, yeah, I'm already an overprotective
you know, I know, I'm just going to be uh,
I'm gonna be one of those. I mean, I gotta
calm down. My wife is a little bit more. She's like,
you know, boys will be boys. I'm gonna jump off things.
I'm like, no, put a mattress down and be careful.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Oh yeah, well no, I mean I had, yeah, I had,
I had all of that, you know. I mean one
of my one of my one of my boys was
like the king of the emergency room, you know. I
mean and and oh god, I mean and that was like,
I mean, Jackass has a lot to answer for.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Okay, fair enough, fair enough to revert things back. Okay,
because of course we're here talking about the good fun,
about the solo tour and so at about more balls
to the Wall man Drake projects, and we're talking about
yesterday and today. Let me ask you, because I mean,
I've been in radio. I know, we were talking the
meltdown from Detroit. Who's been in radio for thirty five
(09:13):
years twenty four? For me, I still get nervous. I
still get anxious, even like you've been so kind, even
though I'm getting my time with you now, You've been
so kind to me for like three hours, and I
still get nervous. What about you? Does any of that
still happen to you? And you're going out on this tour,
you're playing I hear things that you're playing a maiden
(09:33):
song that you haven't played before. Is there any sort
of anxiety that happens? Or do you live for this?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I live for it, and I'm anxious about it as well,
because until you walk out on that stage and you go, Okay,
we haven't played the USA for a while, what are
what people going to do? Are they going to stand
around confused? Are they going to sort of like, you know,
be looking at their watch? What are they going to
be doing?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
You know?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I mean it's I just don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
What can people expect because I'm enough with the podcast
that I do. I'm like you one of four three
dot com classic rock station in New York City, their
website and listeners all over the planet. So all the
markets are going to in North America? What can people
expect from this? I've had Tanya, your bass player, she's
been a podcast guest before. What can people expect from
(10:19):
her from the show? And what cities are you looking
forward to most? Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
My god? Well, the every city is like an undiscovered country,
you know. I mean I've been there with Maiden, you
know a lot of these cities. But when was the
last time we played in New Orleans? I mean I
think Maiden played in New Orleans like once, you know,
So I thought, well, you know what for two reasons
to go back to New Orleans. So one is that
(10:44):
we haven't played there for ages, so let me just
find out what's going on. And the other one is
New Orleans is kind of cool, so you know, just
to wander around Bourbon Street and you know, soak it
all up. I know it's probably a bit of a
tourist trap and all the rest of it, but who cares,
you know what I mean. So we have fun, you know,
doing that kind of stuff. I'm really looking forward to
(11:09):
all the shows, to be honest with you, all of
them because you know, every one of these people that's
turning up to the shows. As far as I'm concerned,
it's precious because it's a real it's a real choice
to come and do this thing. It's not like one
of those things that like with with with a band
like like like Maiden or you know, like a big
(11:32):
event type thing, you know where it's like a feeding
frenzy where everybody's like, oh my god, I got to
get tickets. You know, I'd tell my grandmother to get
tickets for that, you know, And you know they end
up in like, you know, the last row and seventy
five thousand people looking at things through a pair of binoculars.
You know. So you know, I'm at even as weird
(11:52):
as it might sound, I'm treating this tour as you know,
this is a tour of building new friends and building
new friends. And because people have not seen this for
thirty years, so people, you know, people don't know exactly
what to expect. It's hard to describe what to expect
when you're describing music. Music is music is what it
sounds like when it hits you in the face, you know, boom,
(12:14):
oh yeah, okay, you know. So you know, if you said, oh,
you're going to go see ac DC, you know what
to expect. But try describing it. Oh, it's like three
guys standing around and one guy dressed as a schoolboy
playing guitar. Oh really is that it? No, it's ac DC, dude,
you know. Oh, I get it, you know, because they
have their iconic sound. Well me, you get the voice,
(12:37):
but with the solo stuff. It's really a broad spectrum
of emotions during the show, from sadness to triumph, to
heaviness to jumping up down to just gonzo stuff to like, wow,
look at those guys play. Yeah, it's just everything trying
(13:02):
every every song to do something interesting, to move along
the story and never ever ever have that moment when hey,
this is the toilet break.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Mm. Yeah, how do you feel about that? It's been
a while. I know you toured last year with The
Mandrake Bride and that's thing the last time we spoke,
but before then, forever and obviously the world has changed.
I know you've toward the world with Iron Maiden, But
how do you feel about these things?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You know? Oh yeah, that that's that sort of thing.
I mean, look, the's in so many ways. I wish
the camera on those things had never been invented, but
it has been invented. It's uh, it's now been like
(13:50):
it's now a kind of uh infestation, is the way
I would describe it. You know, it's like some terrible
disease that people feel the need to look at the
world through. You know, there's stupid little device and so
(14:14):
it's like a a failing of humanity. Basically, you're surrendering,
You're surrendering your sensors completely to this little fascist in
your hand, and put it down, put it in your pocket,
and look around you. Look at the people, look at
(14:35):
the joy, look at the band, feel the emotion, feel
the music. What a phone does? It cuts all of
that off, you know, right? You have it's and so
I feel I feel sad. I also feel pissed off
because as a performer, it's like, I want to perform
(14:56):
for an audience of people that have some emotional feedback,
not a bunch of like android twerks.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, and you know, I'm not going to be a
liar and say, like, I've been guilty of that too.
But the last few shows I've been to I've been better.
I'm like, all right, because I you know, social media
and stuff. I'm like, all I got my thing, put
it in the front rest of the time, like I
wasn't like I was. Let's I say, ten years ago
or when these when they were new. I feel guilty.
I'm like, what am I doing? I'm ruining this moment here.
(15:26):
I'm like, what am I doing?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think some people are getting
people who are real music fans, I think understand and
I think they're getting better about it. They understand what's
going on. I went to see the Ghost Show and
it was a no phone show, so all the phones
were in baggies. Oh my god, the difference in the difference,
it is astonishing. The atmosphere was wow, I mean really
(15:52):
really noticeable. Even the way people behaved with each other,
interacted with each other, not looking at band, just being
civil to each other, talking to each other. You know,
it was different.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I know where we're gonna wrap, but just one last
thing and just quick answer, just to tie everything together.
Because you're playing in Brooklyn, stone throw away from where
I am in Queen's. I can't wait to start taking
my son the concerts. He has headphones. When was the
first concert? When is it appropriate? Is it appropriate for
you know, toddler to see a Bruce Springs Springsteen, Bruce
(16:28):
Dickinson show or yeah, the the him for your kids?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
No? Absolutely, I mean, you know, my kids were going
to My kids were traveling with me on the road,
went up until the time when they you know, went
to school, and then they went to see then they
went to see shows, and I mean, I took them
to see I took them to see Dio, which is
a life changing moment for them. You know. They were like,
(16:54):
oh my god, he's awesome. You know, I told you,
you know, And my son became funny enough, Austin, my
oldest was we became big buddies with wits. Sure, teenage
take it to iron made, but teenage bag right. So
he became big buddies with them. And I actually had
(17:15):
them around the Sunday lunch but in the middle of
their tour. So we went to see them and stuff,
and they were cool. You know, they're big Maiden fans,
genuinely big Maiden fans, you know. So and we had fun.
So he saw that. And my kids have always been
kind of like brought up and exposed to you know,
music and backstage, so they're not they're not impressed by
(17:38):
it anymore. They're not. Then they're not like, oh my god,
I'm going to go backstage. He's like, oh yeah, the
go backstage. Yeah, it's probably be full of a bunch
of households. You know.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Well, having Bruce Dickinson as a dad, I can only
imagine the experiences they've had. Hopefully, next time we do this,
maybe he'll be my co host. Bruce, thank you for
being my guests. Thank you for being so awesome today
with all these tours. Three hours, rest your voice. You
have a tour to go on. Why are you talking
to me? Go rest please?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
You raise a very good point there. That's exactly I'm
gonna go lie down the darkening room.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Well, thank you, Bruce, and I hope we get to
do this again.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Thank you mane jes right.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
You have a great time.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Mate. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
There he goes Bruce Dickinson. Three hours of interviews. We
got our twenty minutes. But yeah, I was on zoom
with him for three hours while he did interviews all
across the country and no breaks. So actually I gave
him a break. We had no break scheduled. My initial
time I scheduled in there. I'm like, you know what,
(18:40):
go to the bathroom if I can go. This is
how it works. If I could go in between your
interviews and you can't, that's not very fair. So if
you wouldn't mind, I'll go last. So he stayed a
little later, gave me my time. Thank you, Bruce Dickinson.
Pleasure to work with him. My second time getting to
do this with him radio a tour slash joining an
(19:03):
interview and if you don't remember, if you want to
go back and listen to my first Bruce Dickinson interview
was back last year for episode four hundred and fifty two.
We spoke about when the Mantreak project first came out
and if you knew the podcast, were just curious why
Bruce Dickinson's going on a GNR centric podcast, And if
(19:23):
we're watching on YouTube, you're like, how do you not
address the guns or roses posters in the background. Well,
there's an agreement send uh, nothing to do with Bruce
see would talk about anything. You may remember. For those
of you who are familiar with the podcast, are first
my first interview with him, I had to say kind
of what happened because I presented it as, Hey, I'm
(19:44):
gonna get to talk to him a little bit about GNR,
but present it in a positive way, and I tried
to do that, but I I had to cut it.
I had to cut it from the interview, and not
at requests and not at the request of Bruce by
his management and I ower his his people. I don't
want to say he's direct managed and his people, But like,
I get it because, especially in this GNR world, where
(20:05):
I've often expressed the world of clickbait, but there are
just some sites that will just create news, and when
you're trying to promote a certain thing for an artist,
the slightest negative thing could really do derail in entire promotions. So, like,
I get it. So not to be completely vague, and
you can't quote anything with this, because I'm just kind
(20:28):
of really paraphrasing a thing. What I had to cut.
Bruce tried to see GNR at Power Trip and Security
wasn't very nice to him. So that's what I had
to cut the first time around. This time just avoided
it and just avoided it. I was like, you know what,
maybe I can bring it up this way. I'm like,
you know what, it's not worth it. It's not worth it.
So yeah, I don't know if I'm sorry if you're
(20:49):
disappointed that I didn't talk about guns and roses with
Bruce Dickinson. Maybe in the future, but I'm not too sure.
I'm really appreciative of you to talk to him about
anything else. He's Bruce Dickinson. He's still an icon. But
I digressed. Just wanted to explain that before I wrapped
up the episode. Also want to do a quick because
I got another nice email, or I should say a
nice message because it's not through email technically, technically, let's
(21:11):
do a quick mister Mailestone, here's a mailing never fails.
It makes my jails when it comes the one on
mister Mailstone. So yeah, you can't send me the email
at the AFT show, at gmail dot com or anywhere
else you send me a message like this one. Michelle
(21:34):
on YouTube left a nice comment on my fine I'll
talk about Axel's voice episode, so she writes. Been a
GNR fan most of my life. They were my hands
down favorite band as a kid. As an adult, four
way time between GNR and three additional bands, they're usually
still my go to. I've become a fan of their
music like it was nothing else I've heard before or
(21:56):
since I also had a rough childhood, not to the
to the degree of mister Rose. Still, their music gave
me something to scream along with, to drown out the
fighting that usually going on in my home, and to
scream along with while overcoming some stuff as a child
as an adult, excuse me as an adult residual childhood stuff,
so we all understand that. Unfortunately, I still do love
(22:19):
them in their music. Sure, most of their members left
for various reasons, and they also moved on because I
was a fan of at such an unhealthy level I
couldn't continue. Not to go into details, Okay, that's hope,
that's fine. I was surprised to see them reunite. I
think we all were surprised and happy. Do I want
to see them live?
Speaker 1 (22:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Thanks. If you want to go have fun, okay, well
I think you should because it may not be the same,
but I've enjoyed myself every time. And I hope they
announce the North American date because I can't wait to
go with my son. You may hear in the background
playing with puzzles and running around the apartment. Can't wait
for him to go to see Guns of Roses. But
(23:03):
I digress. Let's continue with our comment. Love this podcast
equally for the g n R stuff and mental health stuff.
The mental health stuff certainly needs to be addressed, especially
the guy's mental health. It's awesome having a guy. Awesome
having a guy is having those conversations, so the brando
bravo for having this podcast and addressing this I also
(23:24):
need to address my son, who is now making a
habit of interrupting episodes. He wants me to open this
puzzle of a plane. He's kind of very good at puzzles.
I'm gonna get you a guns of Roses puzzle that
might be too too difficult for him. Do you want
an airplane and you want You're welcome? Do you want
(23:44):
this train to here? Yeah, you're welcome. I'm gonna leave
this in because this is just part of the part
of the podcast. So and August end with Michelle's comments
to all the haters. According Slash at the end of
Getting the Ring, well if you know, you know, cheers,
So thank you Michelle for that. I do suggest seeing
(24:05):
gen R. If you're basing your opinion on online clips,
please do not do that. Go back and listen to
some of my review episodes. I know I haven't done
any reviews this year other than the Sabbath episode, but
even that, whether I spoke to Carla Harvey or Jason
who went in the Sabbath review, G and R A
(24:28):
is still a great experience live. So if it fits
your budget, I still encourage you to go anyway that does.
If it's an episode of Appetite for Distortion. When will
you see the next one? In the words of Axel
Rose concerning Chinese democracy, I don't know as soon as
the word, but you'll see it thanks to the lame
ass security. I'm going home.
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