In a new interview with Paul Salfen of AMFM Magazine, IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson was asked what he does to take care of his singing voice. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): ”Nothing, honestly, nothing special other than kind of common sense, really. Don’t go to football matches and yell and scream yourself stupid the day before and then expect to be able to sing. You have to have a little bit of living like a monk, because the voices, they need sleep, rest, sleep. And they like that. Be nice to your voice. Rest. Actually, be nice to your body. If you respect your body, the voice is just a projection of that, really. And yes, there’s a few bits and bobs. And I’m lucky in that I’ve always given my puny little vocal cords a chance by having lungs and diaphragms and stuff like that, that make a loud enough… I have enough wind. I’m an old windbag, so I generate enough wind to support my voice. But, yeah, effectively, I try and sing with as much technique as I need to keep my voice on the rails when I’m touring.”
Dickinson, a true polymath whose accomplishments include pilot and airline captain, aviation entrepreneur, beer brewer, motivational speaker, film scriptwriter, twice-published novelist and Sunday Times best-selling author, radio presenter, TV actor, sports commentator and international fencer, was also asked what he keeps in mind that keeps him “on the right path” to excel in a wide variety of pursuits away from his main job. He said: “What story are we telling today? It dawned on me when people were saying, ‘What is it about being a singer that you like? What is it about being in a rock and roll band that you like?’, all this stuff. And I went, ‘Well, hang on. What is it that I like?’ It’s not the things that people think. What is it? And it’s the storytelling. Because when I’m in a song, I’m in that song. I’m telling the story of that song, I’m acting it out in my head, and often my arms are waving around and I’m in that world. And I realized that that’s basically all I’ve been doing. When I was a kid at school, I was forever telling stories and I was forever distracting people and tried to do anything to get out of the maths class. And I realized it’s what I was doing, was I wanted to create a story that people would buy in to. So when I’ve been writing, not just music, but the comic book, like ‘The Mandrake Project’, and any novels I’ve written and even my autobiography, I approached it as a narrative tale, as a story, not as a, ‘Okay, let me tell you all about the time when I was this and that and that,’ and all that stuff that people go, ‘Oh, where’s the salacious dirt?’ I’m, like, that’s not really a story. That’s just kind of embarrassing. So what we want here is a story that people can follow that tells a tale. And you can pop bits in that people go, ‘Oh, that must have hurt.’ No matter how dark — and I have lots of dark stories in my catalog — no matter how dark a place gets, there is always, in my world, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, even though it might be an oncoming train.”
Dickinson kicked off “The Mandrake Project Live 2025” North American tour on August 22 at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, California. Joining the IRON MAIDEN singer on his first extensive North American solo tour in almost 30 years in support of his current studio album, “The Mandrake Project”, is once again his 2024 backing band, featuring Dave Moreno (drums),Mistheria (keyboards) and Tanya O’Callaghan (bass),alongside the group’s latest additions, Swedish guitarist, songwriter and multi-platinum-credited producer Philip Näslund and Swiss session and touring guitarist Chris Declercq (who played on Dickinson‘s “Rain On The Graves” single). Bruce‘s longtime guitarist and collaborator Roy “Z” Ramirez is not part of the touring lineup.
Prior to the April 12, 2024 Whisky A Go Go show, Bruce last performed with his solo band on in August 2002 at the legendary Wacken Open Air festival in Germany.
“The Mandrake Project” arrived on March 1, 2024 via BMG.
Bruce and Roy recorded “The Mandrake Project” largely at Los Angeles’s Doom Room, with Roy doubling up as both guitarist and bassist. The recording lineup for “The Mandrake Project” was rounded out by Mistheria and Moreno, both of whom also featured on Bruce‘s previous solo studio album, “Tyranny Of Souls”, in 2005.
Dickinson‘s reworked version of his classic 1994 album “Balls To Picasso”, now titled “More Balls To Picasso”, arrived on July 25.
Dickinson made his recording debut with IRON MAIDEN on the “Number Of The Beast” album in 1982. He quit the band in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band WOLFSBANE. After releasing two traditional metal albums with former MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith.
