Iron Maiden fans can rest assured that the band has never used backing tracks and they never will if singer Bruce Dickinson has anything to say about it.
During an interview with Classic Rock magazine, the 66-year-old heavy metal frontman made it clear that Iron Maiden would rather bow out than deliver a show they don’t fully believe in. “The idea that you can turn it into the Disneyland Maiden by using backing tracks, a few tricks… No!” Dickinson said, per Guitar.com. “Maiden has to be one hundred percent real—and fucking fierce!”
Dickinson went on to recall having a conversation with a fan who commended the band for playing live, to which Dickinson replied; “Yeah, and we’re doing it for real. There’s no detuning.”
The fan noted that it’s even more impressive considering that many bands use backing tracks these days. Dickinson says he responded by saying, “No! No, no! If we use backing tracks, that’s the day I quit. Or the day we stop. If it’s not real, it’s not Maiden.”
Iron Maiden Singer Vows Never to ‘Use Backing Tracks’
Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris weighed in as well, asserting that the band will know when to hang up their instruments. “I think you’d know in yourself if you can’t cut it anymore,” He said. “And I like to think that we’re still out there giving it large.”
Blabbermouth pointed out that this is not the first time Dickinson has spoken out about bands using modern technology to fake their performances. During an interview on the Rich Roll podcast, the singer firmly stated that Iron Maiden does not make key changes at accommodate themselves over giving fans a show they deserve, and he lambasted bands that don’t conduct themselves the same way.
“We still play all the songs in the original key; we don’t drop, downtune, and stuff like that,” he said. “We still play everything too fast, because we’re all excited. We’ve never played to click tracks or like time code and everything else now, ’cause I see a lot of bands now, and I’m going, ‘Hang on a minute. Hey, you sang that without moving your lips.’ So there’s all these backing vocals being flown in left, right, and center and everything. But we don’t do any of that.’
“Everything is analog and real,” Dickinson continued. “So we are kind of old school in that respect. But I think that pays dividends ’cause the audience understands that reality is increasingly kind of rare now.”
The post The One Thing Bruce Dickinson Says Iron Maiden Will Never Do appeared first on VICE.
