Iron Maiden: Flight 666 Page #4

At least twice.

Dick Bell and I go back

way before I joined the band.

He's a phenomenal production manager

and he's part of the family.

He used to come round and hit you

on the arm. Iike "Come here!"

He's a bit of a bastard.

He knows where to clump you.

And now he's retiring again

after tomorrow.

Let's go.

Not even dressed yet.

OK. Dickie. we're looking at ten minutes.

Are you good?

OK. always good.

We're on.

I know!

That was brilliant. That is so good.

Less of the "young".

See you somewhere in Spain.

Everything's done.

It is a big bastard. isn't it?

Carry on.

If you are carrying a mobile telephone

or any other electronic equipment

these should be switched off. as these

items may interfere with the air force...

air pressure...

You're sh*t and you know you are!

You're sh*t and you know you are!

By the time this tour is over.

Iron Maiden will have played in 21 cities.

travelled over 50.000 miles in 45 days.

something considered nearly impossible

by rock tour standards

until this band figured out a way to pull it off

and created Ed Force One.

Laura lngle. Fox News.

- We made it to sunny LA.

- Yeah. but it is sunny. I mean...

We flew from Japan

after a couple of days there

up through Anchorage to LA.

When we got to LA.

Steve got straight off the plane.

To Steve the music comes first.

Off the plane.

Straight down the studio with Kevin.

You might want to leave it up a bit.

Just on that bit.

I'd like to try Jan's guitar. Ieaving it up.

I don't think Maiden ever cares

about being relevant.

and that's one of the things

that makes them relevant.

We like eight-minute songs.

Slow intros and outros.

The gallop in the middle.

So we've got ten songs like that.

We don't give a f***.

Steve is obviously the anchor of the band.

He writes a lot of the songs.

If he doesn't write the songs.

he has a say in the way they get arranged.

You know. it's Steve's band.

We have this sixth sense

with one another.

He doesn't have to say something.

I can tell what he wants. And likewise.

There are a handful of bass players that

play our sort of music that are that good.

And I'm playing with one

I think is the best in the world.

Steve is the musical basis of Maiden

and it's something I can say.

all the band would agree with that.

that everything gets Steve-ized.

The spirit of Maiden comes from

his musical focus on what he thinks is right.

and he's completely incorruptible.

Maiden! Maiden! Maiden!

This way.

My pass sucks.

Your pass is golden.

How did that happen?

He's a big fan.

- All right.

- Thank you. man.

I wore out Piece Of Mind.

I wore that out. I listened to it all day.

At night-time I put the headphones on

and listened to it some more.

Did Smith and Murray

influence your guitar playing?

I was always a fan of the twin axe attack

but. myself. I never wanted to share.

When Steve Harris's foot goes up

on the monitor. and he starts singing along.

I'm gonna be very excited tonight.

I remember one thing

that made quite an impact on me

was on the Number Of The Beast Tour

at Long Beach Arena

we always looked to lron Maiden

for inspiration.

They always had the cooler records.

the cooler album covers.

the cooler stage shows.

They just were cooler than everybody else.

Is Nicko an influence on you?

Yeah. absolutely.

He's got such a great vibe.

One day he's gonna realize

that if he got some smaller drums

you could actually see what he was doing.

It was like "Nicko. man. come on.

I want to see what the f*** you're doing!"

I have an audience here.

Hiya.

I'm trying to learn something.

Let him who hath understanding

reckon the number of the beast.

for it is a human number.

Its number is six hundred and sixty six.

Twenty to eight. so just under six hours.

Still don't quite understand

how I managed to get it all in

but it fits. just about.

Going all the way round the time zones.

halfway round the world. up to Japan.

from summer to winter.

not just across a date line.

backwards a day.

but going back a whole season.

That was a huge chunk of jet lag.

just non-stop.

But when we left LA there was

certainly a slightly sombre mood

because there was a feeling that.

"Guys. the holiday bit is over."'

The adventure was really about to begin

because when we hit Latin America.

you get this idea that you're on the edge

of something exploding.

Climb to 5300 and clear direct

to tango tango mike. Five star 666.

- Six six six. the number of the beast.

- You got it.

Welcome home. Monterrey!

It's great to be in Mexico.

It is.

And you know what?

Every time we go south of the border.

the hotter it f***ing gets.

Iron Maiden used to tour in the toughest

areas of Manchester. Liverpool.

We're all working-class guys

and we have this kind of a credibility

with the fans. a connection.

Music meant a lot to people.

It was a way out. It was a release.

It's the same in Mexico.

It's like playing to a soccer crowd.

They're singing. they're chanting

all the words. and it's a real tribal thing.

Latin American audiences.

you know they're gonna be great.

The anxiety is. "Are we gonna be

as good as the audience?"

We're just gonna give 1 50 per cent.

We've really got to deliver

a passionate performance

that justifies our existence

in front of this audience.

Five quid. That's ten dollars.

All right. eight.

Beautiful.

- You're joking.

- Look at the work.

It's very nice.

I've seen work like that before for a fiver.

That is beautiful.

Thank you so much. That's lovely.

Look at that. boys and girls.

This is gonna look great on my mantelpiece

at home next to the one I got here last time.

We've lost Janick.

As you may have gathered

from what you've seen so far.

Janick's a little bit of a lone soldier.

He runs off and disappears

and does his own thing.

Normally you find him

in an lrish bar somewhere.

As there's no lrish bar here.

he's decided to go off on his own anyway.

Last time we saw him.

he was heading over there.

There he is.

Where?

In front of us.

He's come back. I was just telling him

you went off on your own.

Yes. there he is. He's back. boys and girls.

Couldn't find the lrish pub

so he came back.

Janick is the jester. He's so funny.

He's a party animal as well.

Out he goes strutting around

and he enjoys his life very much.

Jan is someone

I can bounce a lot of stuff off

and we can talk for hours

about the band. about music.

He won't tell you this.

he's got a degree in sociology.

He's a very educated guy.

There's two sides to Janick.

Janick can be quite outgoing.

He loves going to lrish bars

and mixing with people

and other times he'll go out strutting.

Iike now he'll probably be out

strutting on his own somewhere.

He's a free spirit.

He plays guitar like a free spirit.

He never plays the same thing twice.

Sometimes the other guys in the band are

looking over going. "What are you doing?"

Shall we leave this downstairs?

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