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Rating: Blaze Bayley is not an easy character, let's be clear. His years with Iron Maiden were marked by constant moments of friction, and the two albums produced during that period, “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI”, were not received with particular enthusiasm. His solo career, despite the quality of much of the material released, saw him facing many delicate moments, both personally and professionally. Today, Blaze does not want to hear about record labels; he self-produces and continues to regularly tour worldwide, hiring musicians as needed. In recent weeks, he is working on his new album, whose lyrics, with a sci-fi theme, connect back to albums like “Silicon Messiah” and “Tenth Dimension”. The portrait of Blaze that can be drawn from this brief chat is that of a sincere person, extremely passionate, and dedicated to his fans but at the same time, with a somewhat tough character, evidently forged even by all the difficult moments he had to face over the years. The Bergamo date of his tour was an opportunity to have a chat: enjoy the read.
RR: This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the release of the album “Silicon Messiah”: what do you remember about that period? Personally, I remember a great interest from the fans in that project, being your first work after leaving Iron Maiden...
BB: I don't remember all that interest, frankly...
RR: Really?
BB: Yes, I don't remember any kind of interest after I left Iron Maiden. The album wasn't being released, it was ready to come out in February, we had everything ready, even the cover, since December '99. The management at the time, for some reason, had it released in the same week “Brave New World” came out (the first Iron Maiden album after Bruce Dickinson's return, ed.)...
RR: Yes, I remember, it came out a couple of weeks before...
BB: No, it was precisely the same week, so I don't remember anyone having an interest in that work. There was no tour scheduled, not even a live date set, it was a total fiasco... so what I thought was to organize something on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary... you know, now I'm my own record label, my wife is the manager... it's a really good album, something I'm proud of... so after fifteen years I had my “Silicon Messiah Tour”... there were forty concerts, during which I played pieces from that album, in a headliner tour... I played a good part of the pieces from that album, every night... in the tour I’m doing now, I play two or three songs from that album, it depends on the concert’s length... I'm very proud of it... now, during this tour in Italy, I sold all the CDs I had brought and I'm waiting for more to be sent... yes, I'm very proud of that album, just like of all the albums I made after leaving Iron Maiden... but “Silicon Messiah” came out in the same week as the Iron Maiden album... they took all the glory, and no one was interested in me anymore, because it was too late by then... The same happened with my next album, “Tenth Dimension”, from 2002. It's only when I left the record label (it was SPV, ed.) and management and started doing things independently that I managed to get something concrete done. There are hundreds of fans who saw me during the tours of “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI”, and then never attended another one of my concerts, who come to me saying, “ah, I wish I had come to see you earlier”... many of them often didn't even know I was on tour...
RR: You are currently working on your new album, tentatively titled “Album 8”. Regarding the lyrics, you mentioned that you will return to exploring sci-fi themes. This marks a change from your latest works, like albums such as “Promise and Terror”, where you predominantly talked about personal issues... does this mean returning to themes presented in works like “Tenth Dimension”... why this renewed interest in science fiction after all this time?
BB: The album, in fact, continues what was done with “Silicon Messiah” and “Tenth Dimension”... even on albums like “Blood and Belief”, “The Man Who Would Not Die”, and “Promise and Terror”, there are tracks with more personal lyrics... there are still themes that interest me, for example, regarding certain kinds of movies, but I've always been interested in science fiction and what happens in the context of physics and cosmology. With “Promise and Terror”, I finished talking about my personal experiences for all intents and purposes: I was in a really bad spot, and it was something to write about. Now, however, I wanted to do something more related to “Tenth Dimension” and finally had the opportunity to do so, especially since I’m currently my own record label. I’m writing a book, and I’m basing the story told within the album on the book I’m currently working on, and it will be a science fiction story. I hope there can be three albums, a trilogy all based on the same narrative. “The Lord of the Rings”, for example, is comprised of three books, so I'd like to write three albums based on the same story... I'll have to see how it goes. The creation of the book is going well, very slowly, but it’s going well, and I’m happy. Regarding the songs we've selected for the next album, there will be ten on the album, and they are very strong tracks. As long as I can achieve good production and a nice sound, I’m sure the fans will appreciate the album.
RR: How will you be working on the album this time? Will there be session musicians or a full-fledged band? I read that you'll continue to work with Thomas Zwijsen, the guitarist who has accompanied you over the past years...
BB: I’m working with a band called Absolva, who played with me during my last European tour in March. They'll be the main backing band, and I’ve also written some music with them. Moreover, the girl I’m on tour with, Michelle Sciarrotta, has done various acoustic pieces on the guitar, and I’ve written several things with her... I’ve also written two songs with Thomas, but only one will appear on this album. Usually, I try to focus on the lyrics, melodies, and vocal lines as the center of the track and work on the music starting from that, and for this latest work, I’ve done it even more than usual. Having said that, the music needs to be powerful, it needs to be like a journey, and I believe we are succeeding. I am very excited about returning to the studio, starting to work again, and listening to these songs, literally brought to life in the studio... we have rehearsed, finished the songs, and pre-production took place over two weeks... we have demos of everything, and on the first of December, we will start the recordings.
RR: Regarding the tour you're currently on, this “Metal vs Blues Tour”, I see you’ll be sharing the stage with Nathaniel Peterson, an artist from a completely different world from yours. Do you enjoy situations like these and engaging with artists from genres other than heavy metal?
BB: Well yes, it's fun. He has a completely different backstory... I like not always doing the same things, it's fine. I did a tour in Brazil called “The Metal Singers Tour” with Udo Dirkschneider and Tim “Ripper” Owens, and it worked, really.
RR: I noticed that recently you’ve also held acoustic concerts. How do you approach these kinds of situations? I believe you also have to prepare yourself, from a vocal standpoint, differently from the classic electric concerts...
BB: The main difference is that there’s no drum set... you have no way to “hide”, it’s a bigger challenge... I definitely enjoy playing acoustic, but it’s really more demanding. With metal concerts, you have the drummer and a whole lot of rhythm pushing everything forward, but in an acoustic setting, I'm certainly much more in the spotlight as a singer. Your voice is no longer just a part of the music handling melodies and vocal lines: your voice must become an “integral” part of the music, otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. I really like it... so far during this tour, we’ve done three acoustic concerts, with Nathaniel on guitar, he has a very unique style, and we’ll be doing another one towards the end of the tour... It’s something I really like...
RR: And now the last question: what can you tell me about Wolfsbane? I see you're still touring, but what are the plans for the future? Is there an intention to record new material?
BB: We’ve just finished recording an EP, it's called “Wolfsbane Rock”. The album before that is called “Wolfsbane Save the World”, if you visit www.wolfsbanehms.com, you can find some info about it. We’ve just finished a short tour in the UK, and it went really well... we hope to tour again next November for a couple of weeks. The issue is that everyone is really busy with their projects, so it’s difficult to get everyone together each time, but we still hope to do another tour and release another EP in November of next year.
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