IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson was recently interviewed on “The Nolan Show” on BBC Radio Ulster.
On how he is able to sing with so much power while maintaining his health:
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Bruce: “Well, first of all, I’m used to it. I mean, I understand how physical it is. But my voice has always been fairly loud, and that’s just kind of the way you’re built. I know that there’s a lot of singers now, they’ve got these really nice little in-ear things and they sing like church mice, but it sounds really big — it’s all wobbly and everything else like that. But I’m a bit of a… unfortunately, I’m old school — I’m a bit of a belter. When I first started singing this way, I couldn’t do it and I had to work at it and figure out how to do it. Now I kind of relax into it — I ease into it gently and then start pushing once you’ve warmed things up.”
On why he decided to put pressure on himself to write an autobiography at this point of his life:
Bruce: “It’s really strange — I didn’t feel any pressure when I was writing the book; I was really enjoying it. In fact, about half the book I wrote in a pub. I used to go down to my local [pub] and I handwrote on A4… I’d just go down the pub and I’d have a couple of beers and make them last for about two, three hours ’cause I’d be busy scribbling away.”
On whether his life has really been as exciting as it appears from reading his book:
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Bruce: “I suppose it has been quite exciting. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that’s not in the book that we didn’t put in there that I think is really exciting. But the editor was, like, ‘We’ve got all these great airline stories.’ And I said, ‘Well, there’s a whole bunch more.’ And she said, ‘Save that for book two.'”
On how the life of a touring musician is not as rosy as it might sometimes seem to an outsider:
Bruce: “Well, I think everybody who’s ever had to live out of a suitcase away from home for, in our case, years on end — for about three years on end — is gonna have some fairly ambivalent feelings about it at one time or another. I mean, looking back, you go, ‘Wow! How amazing was that?’ ‘Cause you get a sense of perspective. But at the time, you haven’t had any sleep for two days, you’ve been living on a tour bus and you need a wash and your clothes need a wash and everybody gets a bit grumpy. But step back from it and go, ‘Wow! What an amazing experience.’ So the book is a combination of talking about moments like that, when it’s talking about the whole music thing.”
On the most memorable moments in his career:
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Bruce: “One of the things I discovered as I was writing it was that all the most interesting things that happen you in your life tend to be the first things that happen to you. So the first time I headlined Reading festival, it was, like, ‘Wow!’ The first time you headline Donington: ‘Wow!’ I don’t know how many times we’ve headlined Donington now — quite a few — so when somebody says, ‘Oh, you’re gonna headline Donington,’ you’re [like], ‘Oh, cool.’ [Laughs]”
Via Blabbermouth.com