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Bruce Dickinson’s opinion on Blaze Bayley
In the early 1980s Bruce Dickinson replaced Paul Di'Anno, the original vocalist of Iron Maiden and took the band to a new level of success with the release of classic albums like "The Number of the Beast" (1982) and "Piece of Mind" (1983). He remained with the band until 1993, when he decided to focus on his solo career.
Bruce was replaced by Blaze Bayley, formerly of Wolfsbane, who fronted Iron Maiden until 1999, when the famous singer returned. Over the years, Dickinson has shared his opinion about the period when Iron Maiden continued without him, as well as about Blaze Bayley as a singer.
What is Bruce Dickinson's opinion on Blaze Bayley
Although Blaze was chosen as his replacement in Iron Maiden, Bruce never had any bad feelings toward him and said many times that he was rooting for him and for the band to succeed. He liked Blaze’s work with his previous band, Wolfsbane, but not as much as what was done on the two Iron Maiden albums he was part of. "(Not that) I didn't have any interest in listening (when they came out). It's just that I was too busy doing my own thing. So it was kind of peripheral awareness (of it), but in a way I was just like 'Ah, this is none of my business. I'm not in the band anymore and I wish Blaze well'. Because when he joined the band I thought 'Wow!'"
"Because his voice is very different to mine. I loved what he was doing in Wolfsbane and I thought: 'Well, I hope it works out the right way' and sadly it didn't. But I love Blaze, I think he is a great character. There's not a malicious bone in his body, he's a great guy. When I heard ('Sign of the Cross' - From 'X-Factor' 1995), I thought: 'I could put some blood on the walls with that'. Not all of the songs, to be honest with you, that they did with Blaze, I think, would necessarily suit my voice."
He continued:
"Because some of the songs they wrote for Blaze are not really in my range. Blaze would sing a particular tune with a lot of power because it was in his range. I would frankly struggle to make that tune sound as effective as Blaze. Because it's a little bit below where all the horsepower kicks in with my voice," Bruce Dickinson said in an interview with Chris Jericho in 2025 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). He was part of Iron Maiden from 1994 until 1999, when Bruce Dickinson returned. During that time he was part of the albums "The X Factor" (1995) and "Virtual XI" (1998).
Bruce Dickinson prefers Blaze solo records than the ones done with Maiden
Dickinson used to be the host of BBC Radio's Friday Rock show and in 2008 he had Blaze as a guest. During the conversation, the singer revealed that he was a bigger fan of what Blaze did on his solo records after leaving Maiden than what he recorded with the band. "Having left the band, you did 'Silicon Messiah' (2000). I thought that was a really good record, I thought it was a really interesting record. I mean, I liked what you were doing better than the stuff you were doing with Maiden, I thought they were stronger," Bruce Dickinson said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Blaze has always been a huge fan of Bruce and they first met each other in the early 90s. Their friendship continued and a few years ago, when the singer had the idea to do a videoclip using a flight simulator, he knew who he had to call to make it happen. “I’ve known Bruce a long, long time. Before I joined Iron Maiden, we were in New York with Wolfsbane doing a gig. Bruce turned up and bought us a beer and we kind of kept in touch."
He continued:
"When I was in Maiden, Bruce was very supportive and after Maiden, Bruce was very supportive of my solo career. And he really supported me on the last album (2017’s ‘Endure and Survive – Infinite Entanglement Part II’). I wanted to make a video – the song is called ‘Escape Velocity’ and the chorus is, ‘I will fly.’ And I said, ‘You know, it would be great if we could use a flight simulator. Who do I know? Hmmm.’"
“I got in touch with Bruce, and he let me use one of the flight simulators at his company. I mean, this would cost a fortune if you had to buy it. He let me use that all day and film our video for my song ‘Escape Velocity.’ It was incredible. It was fantastic – very supportive. Whenever we’re in a room together, we say hi and there’s a moment and a look between us. I think it’s an unspoken thing that we just connect and go, ‘There’s the other person that knows how difficult it is to be the singer of Iron Maiden.’ (Laughs)," Blaze Bayley said in an interview with Total Rock in 2018.
The Blaze Bayley era songs Bruce Dickinson already performed live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxn1EAY3TsQ&pp=ygUYYnJ1Y2UgZGlja2luc29uIGNsYW5zbWFu
When a classic singer returns to the band he originally became famous with, he usually avoids performing songs released during his absence. Ian Gillan, for example, never performed material from Deep Purple’s David Coverdale era. Bruce Dickinson, however, never had a problem with that. Over the past decades Iron Maiden has performed a few songs from the two albums recorded during his absence.
From “The X Factor” (1995), Bruce performed “Sign of the Cross” in 2000, 2001, 2018, 2019 and 2022. From the same album, he also sang “Lord of the Flies” a few times in 2003 and 2004. Of the second album "Virtual XI" (1998), Bruce have performed only one track "The Clansman", which was part of the setlist with him in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
The gift Bruce sent to Blaze Bayley when he joined Iron Maiden
Curiously, when Blaze joined Iron Maiden, Dickinson saw an interview where he said he felt like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz". “I thought, ‘That’s really sweet – I know exactly how you feel.’ So I painted up two bricks and sent them to him. (But I respect him) absolutely. Hats off. Full-on respect to him for that. His voice is very different to mine. There was a point where he got the job where I thought, ‘How the hell is he going to manage to do those songs? Maybe they just won't do them. It's gonna to be hard,'" he told Metal Hammer in 2022.
During the same conversation Dickinson said that at the time he told friends that they should have tried to do something off the wall, like getting a female singer. "There's some of these female Finnish vocalists kicking around, and they've got the most outrageous voices! Do something to really, really knock people's socks off.’ But I'd have been f*cked then. I'd never have come back,” Bruce Dickinson said.The post Bruce Dickinson’s opinion on Blaze Bayley appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.
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