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Long-time Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain discussed the five years that Blaze Bayley led the band in a recent interview with Kerrang! magazine, as per Blabbermouth. After singer Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden in 1993, the Bayley period began, and Bruce went on to release four solo albums. From 1994 until 1999, Bayley led Iron Maiden. “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI,” the two Iron Maiden albums on which he was featured, sold significantly less than the band’s previous releases and were their lowest-charting records in their own nation since “Killers” in 1981.
For Blaze to replace Bruce was very difficult, Bruce was more soprano than baritone, which is what I think Blaze was, so there was an issue with the fans accepting him and we were playing the small theatres, and played some clubs in Florida. But here’s the thing: it never diminished the spirit of the band. Certain shows Blaze had a struggle with and fans kind of went, ‘Oh, this isn’t really Maiden at their finest,’ but we were still Maiden, we were just a different Maiden. The essence of the band hadn’t changed in the slightest.
With Blaze, I loved that guy, I was a father figure to him, I said, ‘I’ll take you under my wing when we go out.’ We spent a lot of time together, and I loved him. At the end, I did have my trepidation, if you like, about some of the performances as we were going down the line into the ‘Virtual XI’ tour, which is documented in the movie. But we never lost the essence of what Iron Maiden was, especially with Steve at the helm. Steve never wavered and was 125,000,000 percent supportive of Blaze, as we all were. But then cracks started to appear. It was looking like, ‘We’ve got to either change this or we aren’t going to survive.’ And then Bruce, obviously [returned] and we know the story of what happened.
Additionally, McBrain talked about how he was still upset with Dickinson for leaving when the singer came back to Maiden and how he told Bruce that on their first reunion.
I knew I had to say something to him, because it’s how I felt, I felt betrayed by him, halfway through the ‘Fear Of The Dark’ tour, announcing that he was leaving. I thought, ‘I’m gonna have to put this to bed with him.’ You know there were doubts as to his motives of coming back. But then, after that first meeting in Brighton, it was done. We were in the pub and I put my arm around him and said, ‘Look, mate, it’s great, I’m glad you’re back, but listen, I can’t change the way I feel and what I said about that. I love you, but that’s how I feel.’ He just turned around and said, ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way, Nicko, I love you too.’ And that’s the last we ever — to this day — spoke about it.
When asked what he believed that stated about him and Bruce, Nicko, who became a Christian in 1999 after what he called “a calling” experience, gave this response.
Well, it tells me the sincerity and the truth inside his heart. As I said, I needed to say that to Bruce because I wanted him to know everything wasn’t going to be, ‘Oh, yeah, you know what I said? Bollocks to that.’ It was something that was on my mind. I think it was all God’s plan — not Rod’s [Smallwood, longtime Maiden manager] plan, bless him — because who could have planned it other than God saying, ‘Right, you’re going to get a new singer, then you’re going to get the old one back, and he’s going to bring Adrian with him, and then you will make those records.’ We came out with ‘Brave New World’, which was the beginning of us going back into the mega stadium touring that put us back on the map. Bruce and Adrian coming back completed the band.
