Former Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley – who was a member of the fold between 1994 and 1999, performing on 1995’s “The X Factor” and 1998’s “Virtual XI” – talked about early Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno during an interview with UG’s David Slavković.
[metalwani_content_ad]
Which of the songs from Iron Maiden do you prefer more – the Paul Di’Anno era or the Bruce Dickinson era?
“Definitely the Bruce era. I like ‘Wrathchild’ as a song, but really I like the Bruce version of it. Bruce singing ‘Wratchild’ live – that’s the version that I learned.
“I didn’t go learn any Paul Di’Anno versions. When I was preparing for the auditions, I didn’t listen to the Paul Di’Anno versions, I only listened to Bruce live versions of those songs. Because I love his voice.
“Paul has a great voice in many ways, but his vocal style and those early recordings – I didn’t enjoy it. I feel what Paul does now – his vocal style now I much prefer to what he did on those [first] two Maiden albums. For me, he’s a much better singer now than he was then.”
Focusing on his time in the Maiden fold, Blaze said:
[metalwani_content_ad]
“Being close with [bassist] Steve Harris in the writing process and listening to the way that he could take the idea from his mind, put that into the rehearsal room, and put that on the record the way that he had imagined it would be – that was incredible!
“He found this part of my voice on ‘The X Factor’ album which you can hear very clearly on ‘Sign of the Cross’ and ‘Judgement of Heaven.’