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Hand Maiden's to Metal - An Interview with Iron Maiden's ADRIAN SMITH By Ed McArdle
Guitarist Adrian Smith, who first joined Iron Maiden in 1980 before temporarily departing in 1989, participated in the following exclusive interview with The Review and discussed many aspects of the band's storied career, including his side project "Psycho Motel" and the 1999 reunion that formed the band's current six-man line-up (Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Jannick Gers, Nicko McBrain and Smith).
Review: Last year vocalist Bruce Dickinson stated that Iron Maiden's intent was not to reunite and just stage a nostalgia tour. You have proven this proclamation to be true by releasing "Brave New World" one of the finest albums this year. Explain what prompted the regrouping of the classic Iron Maiden line-up with you and Bruce.
Smith: Simply, Blaze (Bailey) was leaving Iron Maiden so they needed a singer and thought Bruce could come back, as time heals old wounds. I think Steve suggested to the other guys that they get me back as well, which is great. They approached me and we sat down a bit and talked about doing the "Ed Hunter" (1999 Greatest Hits album) Tour. It was, obviously, nostalgic for me to get up there and play "Number Of The Beast" and "Wrathchild". It was one of the most enjoyable tours of my life - and I've done a few. But the important thing was for us to go back in the studio and do new music. You can only tread on your past for so long and we all felt we had a really good album in us. We wanted to make the best Iron Maiden album we've ever done. That was our intent.
Review: How does this new and unique 3-guitar line-up work dividing solos, rhythm parts and such between Dave Murray, Jannick Gers and yourself?
Smith: Well, I think there has always been a lot of guitar harmonies and solos in Maiden stuff anyway. On albums we tended to put more guitar parts on than just two so we can recreate those more faithfully live now. I think in terms of songwriting you've got five songwriters in the band. Jan's a great songwriter and Dave's come up with some great stuff on this album. I think what you have to do is think of it as a team and you have to give each other space, otherwise it's not going to work. Fortunately, we get on well as people. We've got different guitar styles so if the song calls for different styles we can use what we've got. It's working out great.
Review: Through the years you have personally been renowned for adding the necessary "melodic" aspect to the Iron Maiden sound, writing such classics as "Flight Of Icarus", "2 Minutes To Midnight", "Wasted Years", "Can I Play With Madness" and current single "The Wicker Man". Explain how your influential crucial element of "tuneful catchiness" affects the final mix.
Smith: I think the songs kind of explain it really - It's what I bring to the band. I'm geared more towards short songs. It's no good me walking in with three 12-minute songs because Steve's already gonna have that. Steve's rep is the progressive side. I've always been more in sort of a hard rock vein. I grew up listening to Thin Lizzy, UFO, song-oriented hard rock - so that's where I'm coming from. Same with guitar playing. I've never been a particularly speedy guitarist, but I try and play melodically. When you play melodically over a heavy background it sounds cool.
Review: Iron Maiden is celebrating two decades with this tour. During this time the band has achieved 20 hit singles in Europe. How do you explain this longstanding high level of success that has withstood numerous changing musical "fads", "trends" and popular styles?
Smith: I think I would say that the band, since its inception up to now, hasn't changed a great deal in essence. It's never made a record purely to sell more albums. Iron Maiden never sold out - that's the bottom line. We've always toured - always taken our music to the fans. We've had to because of no radio play. And I think when you've achieved success that way it's more long-lasting than when you have a couple of radio hits. I could never figure out this phenomenon, but I've been around a while now and I think that's what it is.
Review: How is the tour going with Queensryche & Halford in support? In 1985 this would have been a dream Heavy Metal triumvirate but the recent sellout shows prove that it is still a very potent combination today.
Smith: Yeah. I think it's a real exciting bill. Rob Halford's back doing metal and I think people are excited about that. Queensryche are a great band, fantastic music. And I think it's a great bill - it's bringing heavy music back. Rock 'n' Roll's always got to have a certain amount of attitude, but it's got to be blended with some musicality as well. I think that's what this tour is all about.
Review: What are the future plans for Iron Maiden? Will the next release be another live album? Your legendary "Live After Death" is one of the classic recorded performances in Heavy Metal history.
Smith: Well, I think it would be pretty logical to do. I think we could do a great live album. We've built up enough material since that time and maybe do a DVD or something with all the technology now. You can have all these different camera angles; you can focus on whomever you want in the band. All that kind of stuff. Probably next year. That's the next thing we'll have out.
Review: 1982's "The Number Of The Beast" and 1983's "Piece Of Mind" were ranked by Kerrang! (European magazine similar to Rolling Stone) as two of the all-time greatest Hard Rock albums. They both definitely have stood the test of time. How does it feel to achieve such great critical acclaim and make music that is termed "timeless" and "classic"?
Smith: It's great to be praised by the critics. It's a nice thing. I don't know. It's kind of amazing, really, to think that they hold it in such high regard. What we were doing is just going in and trying to make good music. I think it's just part of the legend of Iron Maiden- a phenomenon. But it's great. It's great that people feel that way.
Review: Tell me about your side project Psycho Motel. I know you released a pair of albums in Europe in the late 90's and just recently re-issued both in the United States.
Smith: Yeah. I did that in 1996 ("State Of Mind") and another in 1997 ("Welcome To The World"). I put that on hold because I did Bruce's solo stuff. But it was a four-piece band. It's kind of contemporary hard rock. It's still got guitar solos but it's kind of got the D-tuned guitars. The first one featured a singer called Solli, a Norwegian guy. The second one a British guy called Andy Macon who's a fantastic singer, a young guy. See I'm into the traditional metal. Andy's into Alice In Chains- the cooler of the new bands - Soundgarden. So there's kind of a hybrid - the metal meets contemporary. So, yeah, they're out right now in the States (on Sanctuary Records).
Review: One last question to satisfy the Iron Maiden trivia fan in me. How did you convince the band into allowing you to handle the quite memorable lead vocals on the 1986 classic B-Side "Reach Out"?
Smith: I didn't. It wasn't my idea. It really wasn't my idea. I did a side project when we had some time off. Nicko and I got some friends together and just did a couple of gigs in London for a laugh. The rest of the band came down and saw it. I had a live tape we would play on the bus because they liked what we were doing. Because we always cover songs on B-Sides Steve suggested, why don't we cover a couple of those songs; give those guys a break. Dave Colwell, who used to play in Bad Company, wrote the song "Reach Out." I spent a lot of years singing. I paid my dues as a singer and guitar player around the pubs and clubs of London. I did that for a long, long time. But I said, "Bruce do you want to sing it?" and Steve said "No - you sing it." And I said okay. They threw me in the studio one night and I was sitting there and it went pretty well and I just did it. That was it - I walked out. I'm pretty limited as a singer but that particular song suited my voice. I don't think it's a typical Maiden track, though.
Review: Up The Irons!
Smith: Cheers!
Ed McArdle and Adrian Smith Photo by Kay McEntee
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