Rockhard: Bruce, I dare to suppose that Brave New World is the heaviest Iron Maiden album since Seventh Son of a seventh Son. That it could possibly emerge into dimensions of Number of the Beast remains doubtful as such a release of the century is hardly topable.
Bruce: You think so…

RH: …what of course no one would expect. You yourself have set the surveyor's rot with Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding. Brave New World must survive against those two masterpieces, and that it should become the album of 2000 is of course a must. Everything else would seem like a medium disaster.
BD: That's of course right. But I will be very careful to compare anything to anything. Especially to my own solo albums. If you record a Maiden album, you play with the Maiden rules. You move into a certain frame. And from this point of view I'm more than happy with Brave New World. The Wicker Man and Out Of The Silent Planet embody our melodic and commercial side and are still not wimpy – like Run To The Hills or Can I Play With Madness. I think we have found just the right mixture and thus those songs are my personal favourites. I hadn't really expected Steve to come up with progressive, nine-minute songs but that's exactly what he did.

RH: Like in the Seventh Son days before, and especially after you went off.
BD: Right. But that is just Steve's portfolio, what doesn't mean I don't like such songs. The opposite's the case! I just compose in another, more direct way. My final goal is a record that sounds well balanced. Each and any Maiden trademark must stay in the right proportion to each other – and I think that's exactly what we've done. Steve's longer tunes belong to the best he's ever written – and they're not forced to be this long. At least I do not know how you could possibly shorten a song like Blood Brothers without weakening it.

RH: If you look at the songwriting credits I'm a bit surprised about the distribution. It had to be expected that Steve would work on all ten songs but that Dave Murray, who usually takes part in one song per album only, appears three times is just as exceptional as the fact that Adrian is mentioned only two times. You yourself are well mentioned with your four jobs.
BD: My four credits belong to the songs we'd written before. Steve said he had four further songs at home, half ready – so I just stopped any further composing, hahaha! So easy it is! And why Dave has suddenly become a source of creativity is a miracle to us all…

RH: You definitely perceive the signatures of all musicians. The riff of The Wicker Man e.g., sounds so typically Adrian that you at once think about the glorious Powerslave days!
BD: The Wicker Man is furthermore one of the hardest tracks on the album – beneath Ghost Of The Navigator and The Mercenary. We wanted to serve a real neckbreaker with our first single. (translator: sorry, informal German. I didn't find any better translation)

RH: Do you already know which songs you'll play live on the upcoming festivals?
BD: Most definitely the first four tracks you've heard which were The Wicker Man, Ghost Of The Navigator, Brave New World and Blood Brothers, and maybe two or three others.

RH: How do you feel when thinking about a several months lasting tour? I mean, you haven't done anything like that for quite a long time.
BD: I'm happy as hell and can't wait. (transl. Bruce certainly didn't say: Happy like a snow king, which is what was written in the interview. So let's just say he's very, very, happy. J)

RH: How will you deal with the fact that the well known feeling of routine could sneak in? After a few months you might feel bored just like on the Fear Of The Dark tour.
BD: Oh, I'm not the least bit concerned about that. The European tour is booked well, we're constantly going from country to the other; this can't be boring at all. In Europe we'll play on the biggest venues for seven months. So every gig will be an experience. After that we'll be in the States for three months, where even now almost everything is already sold out. Then Australia, New Zealand, which is like holiday, followed by Japan. Finally five weeks USA before the tour ends in Europe. There are always breaks in between so that we can stay fit till the very end. I'm really looking forward to every phase of the tour and don't think it could possibly become boring anywhere.

RH: And how about the personal distance between each musician? How are you gonna avoid conflicts like in the end of your first Maiden phase? Will you, for example, travel separately from show to show?
BD: Partially, yeah. Most of the time I'll fly with my own, small plane (Red. Bruce is, as we all know, hobby-pilot and even teaches flying on a small private airport in LA) and take a part of the band with me. Steve, Nicko and Rod will most of the time fly with me. I can't ever imagine this could cause conflicts. It will be fantastic instead!

RH: Let's come back to the new album. The title Brave New World was a last minute decision. Why that? What's behind that?
BD: We liked Brave New World because the title works on many levels. You can refer to the book of Aldous Huxley, you can take it as it is, you can compare it to the band, and you can take it ironic. What you have in Huxley's book is still far away from a brave, new world.

RH: What's with the album artwork? Will you dig out Derek Riggs again?
BD: He has already made the Accident Of Birth cover, and first I also wanted him for my Scream For Me Brazil. But what he came forth with was, nicely spoken, not what I had in mind. That's why you now can see this fish as an "emergency cover". About Maiden and Riggs, we've called him some time ago and he's already delivered some proposals. If we'll use something of that is not determined yet.

RH: Now among us. What do you personally expect of Brave New World?
BD: There are four possibilities. The first is: All hate the album and we all end at the cash of the supermarket around the corner.

RH: Very realistic.
BD: The second is: The album is a hit in Europe and reaches at least gold in America, which would mean several millions of copies sold.

RH: Sounds better.
BD: Yeah, that would even be very good and is a really realistic possibility. Possibility three: The album runs in America just as well as in Europe and goes for platinum. And the fourth option: We overtake the market in Europe and America and everyone's overwhelmed! The chances for the last option lie at approximately 15%, 50% that we reach platinum or "just" gold in the States. Everything below gold would be disappointing though – and everything above that depends on the singles. If we can lock up the US radio with two songs I think platinum is in range. With two million copies sold worldwide we'd be more than happy.

RH: Will there be an indoor tour in Europe after those festivals?
BD: Maybe, autumn or before Christmas. After that you'll most likely not see us for the next two years. At least not with Iron Maiden.

RH: Without wanting to flatter you, the Paris gig on the reunion tour was regarding your voice the best I've seen from you – including the 80's shows! On the Number Of The Beast tour, for example, you were hardly moving compared to today and hardly managed difficult songs like Run To The Hills at 100%. On the No Prayer or Fear Of The Dark tour your voice was often frankly devastated. How the hell did you manage it to improve so fucking much?
BD: (laughing) I haven't done anything. In those days every single gig was like a battle for me. If I could speak the morning after a show I was happy. Our set usually lasted two hours and more and we constantly had a poor monitor sound as we simply hadn't the right sound crew. A good man on the monitors was luxury – it was more important to satisfy Steve, hahaha! As the singer you were only a small thing. In addition to that we played eight, nine shows without any free day for me to recover. My voice was ruined 24 hours a day and I was physically exhausted as well. So I've constantly sung under red alert which was of course quite frustrating. I hated to go onstage under those circumstances cos I knew I could do it better. It's improved when we played as a support act in the States during the Number Of The Beast times. The sets were short and I could spare my voice a bit. Up until the Piece of Mind production I at least recovered enough to sing for the album – but on the following tour the whole shit started again. Fucked up monitor sound, always known people fired, new hired – it was awful! After Powerslave I finally had an own monitor system and an at least partially able dude to operate it. It hadn't been possible before as we were not allowed to waste money for that. I had to wait until my Tattooed Millionaire tour before a really skilled monitor man, the same dude that also worked for Helloween, crossed my path. That was pure satisfaction to me. Cos now I could finally prove that I was very well able to reproduce our albums live. Being the singer of Iron Maiden was until then like hell for me. Every show a goddamn battle! And backstage always argues about the budget which always were too small…. At least for a monitor man. The situation has perceivably improved by a simple trick: On the Tattooed Millionaire tour I have sung with earplugs for the first time and could hear me in my own head. Thus I became more confident, hit more difficult notes with a bigger ease, and was no longer as strong dependant on the situation on stage. Since then I've always been wearing earplugs on stage. Without such things I hardly realize when I sing wrong as the Maiden stage sounds is simply too loud (transl. A very well known problem). And it looked pretty much like shit if I always had my fingers in my ears. Well, I've stumbled across tricks like that during my first solo tour and then simply did the same in Maiden. Meanwhile we even have a good monitor dude who's even paid better. That's why I sing better than before.

RH: Thanks, I didn't really want to know it this exactly. Maybe you should tell your tricks Rob Halford! (transl. Uh oh… bad mistake…)
BD: Oh no, no one must tell this one anything. Rob's voice is unique! This man has a horse's power in his vocal chords! I have heard his new album – and believe me: Rob sings better than during the Painkiller days!

RH: One had to assume that Fight and Two were no good for Halford. But your sensational comeback leaves me with the hope that Halford manages a similar wonder.
BD: No idea if Rob's damaged his voice with his solo projects – Fact is, his new album sounds great! This man must go on!

RH: An unpleasant question: What do you say about the overall bashed EdHunter – Videogame? I mean, this thing must be called a total flop, or not?
BD: I haven't had anything to do with that, hahahaha!

RH: You've been writing for eternities on your third Iffy Boatrace novelle. When will we finally see it?
BD: I'm working on it but at the moment it doesn't flow. Honestly spoken I've just written page eight of the book… The problem is that I have to force myself to write. I always want myself to write some pages on long flight trips or alone at home but finally I end up in front of the telly with some beer or am simply too lazy. I've found out that I can write best early in the morning, like six o clock, a tee, me and my computer. Then I get the best ideas… when no one's bothering me and everything around me is dark… unfortunately I can't force myself out of the bed so early…

RH: How much time do you currently invest into your label of Air Raid Records?
BD: I'm listening to many demos and records of new bands. The last I signed was Roy Z's chapel Tribe Of Gypsies. I call them two, three times a week to check things. I'm also busy with re-releases of older records.

RH: You weren't too busy with Samson obviously. The layout of the four re-releases is quite spartanic and no bonus tracks either – not to mention the lacking liner notes.
BD: Honestly spoken, I'm glad those thingies were released at all. There were unfortunately people who were very uncooperative about Samson. To get the original artwork and original photos was difficult enough. There was definitely no time for any extras. The release date was delayed over and over again and finally we just wanted to get rid of them. There might be Samson DVD in the future on which I'll add some of my ideas. But for that I need some free days in England, and honestly, I want to spend my holiday with Roy Z to work on my new solo album…

RH: Last Question: What's the difference between Kevin Shirley who really gave you a fat sound on Brave New World and Martin Birch, the producer of your former albums? I was surprised how much the current sound reminds you of the old highlights in the 80's.
BD: You principally answered the question yourself. Kevin is quite close to Martin if you regard their ways to work and their philosophies – with the difference that he's a faster and better mixer than any producer I know. Three hours with Kevin are more productive than twelve with someone else. The good thing about Kevin is that he never tries to change a band, Aerosmith sound like Aerosmith. Dream Theater sound like Dream Theater, and the Black Crowes sound like the Black Crows. He knows the strength of a band and catches it perfectly.

RH: Just like Martin Birch.
BD: Exactly.

-----I took this off a post on the Iron Maiden BB, I would like to give credit to the person who translated this, but I don't remember who did it and I can't find the post now. But thanks for translating!

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