Iron Maiden burst onto the metal scene nearly 45 years ago. The band’s early sound combined a punk feel with heavy metal, punctuated by the voice of Paul Di’Anno. Di’anno sang on the first two Iron Maiden records (Iron Maiden and Killers) before leaving the band. He has had a string of projects since, including a new band called Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse. The band recently released their debut record and Paul Di’Anno took some time to chat about it.
Just a note about the interview…it was conducted via cell phone while Paul is currently rehabbing his legs in a Croatian clinic. We didn’t have the best connection and lost contact a few times. I have tried to boost the sound quality as much as possible, the only edits were the dead spots when the call failed and we had to reconnect.
Please press the PLAY icon below to hear the MisplacedStraws Paul Di’Anno interview –
On coming together with Warhorse – Let’s get this right straight away. I don’t know why they call it Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse. It’s just Warhorse. But I guess they’re probably trying to sell records. But my two friends here in Croatia who are very well-known musicians, guitar players, play for the band Rapid Strike, and they’re sort of quite famous in their own right, asked if I wanted to become part of a project. As I said, I never wrote anything on the album. All I’ve done was sing, that was it. It’s something different. So I quite enjoyed it.
On if the songs were written prior to him joining the project – Yeah, they were. They were all written except for the cover song, which I put in there. The song “Precious” by Depeche Mode. But for all the rest, the guys already had the songs there, and the lyrics and everything. That’s why I’m sort of trying to sort of become attached to it because I don’t really feel attached because I haven’t wrote anything.
On what brought him back to the studio after a long hiatus – Well, the thing is, I’ve been touring a hell of a lot, even in my condition at the minute, in a wheelchair. I’ve done so many shows, especially in South America. We broke all records last year. Nobody’s played more in Brazil than we did, 36 concerts straight up and then obviously we’ve got Ecuador and Chile and Argentina, we’ve been all over the bloody place. Mexico. It’s been pretty awesome. It is a bit hard having to get from A to B, especially sitting in a wheelchair. But it’s keeping me from killing myself.
But, the thing I, the reason I haven’t wrote anything is because I’m trying to concentrate on getting my legs back, and my health back. So I’ve not been able to sort of sit down and write anything. There’s such a bit of a mental block going on there because I can’t see past getting up, even on one leg. After that’s done, I think the floodgates open a bit. I met my friend Marco in Mexico. We’re coming up with four tracks, which I haven’t done lyrics yet, obviously, but it’s sounding really good. So that will be the real solo record coming out soon.
On touring plans – I’m in the clinic at the moment In Croatia. Doing physio every day, got two physiotherapies, one for drainage and the other one to make me get up and stand up and I managed to stand up today and done ten squats on the frame. So it’s all looking good, we’re gonna try the crutches at the weekend, it’s gonna be fun. Yeah, that would be fun. Then and as soon as that’s done, I’m going back to England on the 26th. I’ve gotta do some promo thing for an Iron Maiden DVD or something. Then after that I go straight out to Columbia, Bogota, two shows there, come back, got shows in Poland after that we start a brief tour.
Well that’s because I’m in a bloody wheelchair, I’m not gonna do anything. I’ve had eight years of sitting around, always waiting to die with the sepsis and everything, so I’m not gonna fuck around like that anymore. So yeah, things are going alright, as I said it’s a bit logistically a bit of a nightmare, but we’re making it, and we’re making it work, as I said. We’ve spent most of last year on the road. This year we’re not going to do as much, just bigger shows. It will give me more time to recover and that, as I said, it’s still going to be a long process. At least about another year before I can actually walk on both feet, well, both feet, both legs. But it’s getting there, it’s getting there.
On how he joined Iron Maiden – Well, Steve (Harris) went to the same high school as I went to, he’s a couple of years older than me, and they was looking for a singer. They had a couple of other singers, Paul Day and Dennis Wilcox, and that. I knew Paul as well, Paul Day, but we all sort of were in the same area. A friend of mine, Trevor Soll who knew me and Steve, said that, “Maiden are looking for a singer, would I like to try out?” I was more interested in punk music, to be honest with you. But I went down there to go, made up the lyrics, or made up the words for a cover of a song “Dealer” by Deep Purple, had a go at that. So he come round to my house late one evening and said, “Paul, you want it?” So I’m like, “Yeah, okay”. I wasn’t that bothered to be honest with you. It was only when I went round Steve’s house a couple of weeks later, and he played me all the stuff that was going to be on the first Iron Maiden album that I thought, “Wow, this is fantastic”.
On if it’s a point of pride that some of his songs are still in the Iron Maiden setlist – Of course, of course, yes, absolutely. When me and Maiden parted ways then, it sort of bit me then for a while and I was like, “The whole world’s against me” sort of thing. But over the years then, life’s too short for that. Also meeting up with Steve and that last year, I was with Bruce(Dickenson) last weekend, which was fantastic, here in Croatia. So yeah, it’s all good. Iron Maiden, every album they put out is an iconic album, so just keeping the level going, which is a great thing. I’m very proud to be a part of that.
On meeting with Bruce Dickenson – We met before. You press people keep putting the things up, saying there’s a war between Bruce and me. There is not. Yeah, we’re two completely different stingers. Well, we’ve had a little go at each other over the years, like a little bit of banter, as we call it, nothing spectacular. I’ll see Bruce on Saturday. Give him a hug, say hello. Hang out for about half an hour. And then I’ll do a signing here at this club. Then I’ll have done three songs with a local band. Three Maiden classic band songs.
On if he would attend should Iron Maiden be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – None of us are interested to be honest with you. I think I can safely say that for Maiden as well we think it’s a load of bollocks to be honest with you. You got people, you’ve got all these soul singers and all that stuff, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fuck off, you’re joking. They wouldn’t let me go into a Black Music Award. So I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. It’s a bit of a travesty really since it doesn’t mean that much. I won a heavy metal award the other year. I can’t remember. I think it was from The Metal Voice or something, I don’t know, I’ve got the Metal Hall of Fame thing. That means more to me than anything.
On if he would do more work with Warhorse – I would like to eventually. But as I said, I’ve got to number one is concentrate on my health. Everybody keeps saying,” Oh, can you do this interview? Can you do this interview? Can you do this interview? Can you do this interview?” I’m like, “Back off!” I’m getting quite annoyed because I’m at such a crucial point of getting a bit of freedom. Even getting up on one leg. I want to concentrate on that. As I said, I’ve got lots of stuff coming out. We’ve got a Greatest Hits thing coming out very soon, which is stuff from like Battlezone and Killers, my band Killers, and even some punk stuff I’ve done. There’s some coming out a on an album very soon.
