An interview with Dave Murray

October 3rd, 1998 - Mulhouse, France

What happened since our interview with Blaze in May ?

Well, we've been touring for 6 weeks, taking 6 weeks off, touring for 6 weeks, 3 weeks off. It's been that way all way through. We've been to North America, then to Mexico. In Mexico City, we played for 18,000 people. Monterey was about 8,000 people, so there's stil 21421c27v l a very strong fan base for Maiden down there. Now, this is the second part of the European tour and this is the first gig in France for this part of the tour. It's been going great. The reaction in all the countries we've been to has been fantastic. We've been in Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic. We've been moving around rapidly (laughs).

After Europe, you're going to Japan and South America.

After we finish the UK tour, we'll take 3 weeks off and then, we go to Japan to play 4 shows. We're taking another little bit of time off and then we go to South America : Brazil, Chile, .The tour actually finishes on the second week of December. It started in April and ends in December. The last show could be in Rio or Sao Paolo, I'm not sure. It'll be on the Internet, that's where I get all my information from (laughs).

You're not going to Australia or New Zealand this time ?

The logistics to get the equipment over there are very expensive. We haven't played over there for years. It seems like the market there is not very receptive for the band at this time. To go there for playing small clubs is not worth it. If the market moves, we'll go there.

On this tour, for the first time in years, you've tried different songs. Why is that ?

At the moment, the concert is about two hours. The first show we did was at the Oval in Norwich and we played for about 3 and a half hours. When we came off the stage, we had lost 10 pounds (laughs). We were testing songs to see if they would fit into the set and see how the flow of the set would be. We've dropped some songs and kept the others. It was a trial and error period at the beginning of the tour. Some of the songs worked and some didn't. We feel that we have a good set now : a good start, a good middle and a good end.

Some songs in the current setlist have been played for 10+ years. Many fans are asking for changes.

On the Virtual XI tour, we play 5 or 6 songs from the new album. The rest of it is some of these songs that will always remain in the Iron Maiden set, because they really come across well live and the fans want to see them. On this tour, there's a lot of new fans and it's their first gig. So, they've never heard Hallowed live before. You have to keep the favourites in there. There's about an hour of new songs and a hour of old songs. You have to have a balance. You'd probably like to hear some different stuff, but maybe next time around, we'll re-evaluate the system.

We've been requesting Alexander The Great for some time, and Steve told us that you'd have to relearn the song!

We never actually played that song live, it was put together in the studio. There's a middle section in there that's kind of like Jazz, so there's parts that we'd have to recreate. We thought that we'd learn it during our three weeks off, but it would probably take the whole three weeks to learn it (laughs). We were going to learn it and put it into the set, but it's a very difficult song. We could spend all this time learning it and it may not work live. We used to do Rime Of The Ancient Mariner and it's probably as hard to play as Alexander The Great, so we could do it.

Did you play some different songs in Mexico Some people mentioned Tailgunner.

No, we didn't do that (laughs)! There's lots of rumours on the Internet, it's a license to print rumours.

Have you ever thought about doing a medley ?

I know some bands do that but we never spoke about it. First of all, to do a medley is a bit cabaret (laughs). Two minutes of Alexander The Great, two minutes of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. I don't know. I think Maiden is about complete songs. We never discussed that really, you have to ask Steve (laughs).

The last two albums haven't had as much success as the previous ones. Does this affect the band ?

The X Factor sold about a million copies world-wide and Virtual XI is pretty much there too. That's still justification to go and tour. Obviously, the mid-80s were the pinnacle for the band. It's like a wave, it goes up and down and you have to go with the flow. If we sold 20 albums, we'd have to re-evaluate, but as far as the album sales go, we can fully justify playing. As long as the fans come to the show, we'll still be there (laughs).

Even now, Blaze is still under attack. What would you say to these people ?

We ignore negativity. That's stage one of it. Also, if Blaze had been in the band and if Bruce had joined, I think Bruce would probably had the same thing. Bruce was in the band for a long time and he established himself. It doesn't matter who we had coming in, he would have been hit. Blaze is the best and the right singer for this band. Listen to the albums and to the shows : he's doing a great job. The only thing I'd say to these people is : "Bollocks!" (laughs).

So he's not fired at the end of the tour ?

No. Unfortunately, the Internet has a license to print rumours. Freedom of speech is OK, but it's like a newspaper going against somebody. On the Internet, it's much easier because all you have to have to do is log in. All we can do is ignore it and carry on, that's how we are.

The remastered albums have just been released. Another criticism is that the whole back catalogue has been released two years ago.

Again, with this band, I think we can justify. We've been touring since 1980, it's been 20-odd years and 11 albums. The albums are digitally remastered, all the lyrics are in there, plus stories, new photos, etc. It's something the record company deals with, with the management, and we feel that it's a good idea. This is it, you can buy the whole thing. You don't have to, it's up to you. Some of the albums that we recorded in the early 80s suffer from the sound quality, so you want to try to bring them to the 90s and give them a modern sound. I think that's great for the longevity of the band. A lot of the fans may only know Virtual XI or The X Factor and it gives them a chance to listen to the early stuff with a great quality. They won't be re-released again, I can promise you that. That's it (laughs

What about the boxset ?

I'm not quite sure. There's gonna be some extra tracks that haven't been released before. There's one side of a concert that has never been released [This is the fourth side of Live After Death - Ed]. I haven't seen the boxset yet, so I'm waiting in anticipation (laughs).

The release of the Futureal single is somewhat of a mystery also.

It's only been released through the Internet. We could have released it as a single as we've done for The Angel And The Gambler. But the tour is gonna be finished in a couple of months and having a single come out at the end of the tour isn't that an idea. The Internet is another way to do it. It's just a bit harder to get, you have to be a bit of a detective nowadays.

No plans for a third single ? No Clansman ?

Everyone would love to hear that as a single, but the thing is that we'd have to edit it : a single version, a video version, . Unfortunately, this won't happen.

How about the Edhunter video game ?

The game's pretty much finished.

That's what you've been saying for two years!

It may be out this year, it may be out next year. It's gonna be out! It's coming out! The back catalogue and the boxset are just coming out. To release the game right now wouldn't be a good thing anyway. But it's definitely coming out, maybe this year, maybe next year. Definitely next year (laughs) !

And the video ? And Visions of the Beast ?

Visions of the Beast ? Never heard of it (laughs Where did you hear that ?

It's supposed to be a book with Eddie pictures.

It's a Derek Riggs project that will come to fruition in the near future. Derek would be well up for that. It will have caricatures of Eddie, stuff that didn't make it on the album covers, etc. You can't have everything right now, you've got to spread it out. 1999 will be a vintage year (laughs).

You're on tape now.

Hey, this isn't me. This is Digital Dave talking here (laughs).

Any idea what the next album is gonna sound like ?

Everyone's been collecting ideas during the tour. When we finish the tour in December, we're going to take a break and the clansmen will be gathering again next year to work on the new album. There's things floating around, but we're going to take 3-4 months off first. We've just spent the last 7-8 months touring. You have to have a break, to recharge batteries.

Do you have any tracks left from the Virtual XI sessions ?

We've got a few things, but nothing's finished for the next album.

Does anyone in the band collect Iron Maiden stuff ?

Yes, we all do, Steve especially. Bootlegs too, there's a lot of them. I like to get them when I can. I'm sure there's some out already for France on this tour.

Yes, the Nancy show.

How is it ?

Not too bad. By the way, do you still have the Cafe de Danse single ?

Cafe de Danse ? Yeah, it was by a punk band called The Secret, but I don't have a copy. I had one and lost it. It was released in 1974-75 or something, on an independent label, but I don't remember which one.

And Urchin ?

Yeah, She's A Roller with Adrian.

It costs more than 90 pounds now!

Oh my God! It's amazing that collectors are looking for that.

Any message for the NOTB readers and surfers ?

This is Dave Murray from Iron Maiden. Hi to you Neighbour of the Beast readers and surfers. I'd like to say that we hope that you all came to see Iron Maiden on this tour, VXI. If not, why not ? Come and see us next time, and we hope that you like the back catalogue, the Edhunter game, the book, the movie, the T-shirts and we'll see you soon. Thanks for sticking by the band!