 Here we go live on the metal voice back once again, please Bailey Oh, he's a pleasure always a pleasure always a pleasure to have you on the show last time you run the show It was the live album and the heart attack Sorry post-heart attack post-heart attack live Oh I'm looking for someone to blame it couldn't possibly me be me having two money fatty foods and sausages That couldn't be me After that interview you started me I lost 25 pounds you set a fine example my friend Thank you. Look at that Wow, you're inspirational. You're like was that guy All right, here we go new album coming out yeah lost. Oh geez I just There it is circle of stone February 24th Blaze remember February 23rd February 23rd, let's see it again. Let's see it again. Let's see the album again circle of stone open it up open it up Like on the price is right Wow, look at that beautiful. Oh Yeah, beautiful What we've done we I You know with some shipping things we keep the sleeve Mm-hmm white we just keep for shipping and all of that and what we do is Instead of putting the lyrics on the dust cover. We have a whole booklet that we make very nice So this goes in that's why we love the gatefold and then in here in a booklet Then you get all of your lyrics Beautifully laid out there You take your time over it and you still get some extra artwork in there as well Some lovely photos No, you're beautiful Yeah So it's nice. We it's nice to have a booklet and then you feel you're not cramming things in because if you do it on the dust cover and you it's one piece which we like to have one piece of vinyl But we like to have the gatefold if you're doing it on the dust cover then you're limited In a lot of things. Oh, we've got to squish it in and isn't the point of having the vinyl that is big Not that it's squished up So I don't and then you've got you've got the that replicated Beautiful we Thing in there. So it's nice and the part two Like so the B side Is six songs that tell a story within themselves like a concept So show us on the album the the first side a right is is songs individual right individually by themselves Yeah, so my my a side Is um side one Here we got it side one mind reader tears in rain rage The year beyond the sure Ghost in a bottle and broken man. These are different subjects mind reader is You know We all love music And we're nerdy geeks and we just accept each other for the idiots that we are All like the same kind of music for the same kind of reasons Just like variations, but there are some people that look at us and judge us and they don't even know our names and they decide how we think and what our values are and This song is about rejecting that that's why it's called mind reader If you could read my mind Well, you'd find i'm gonna bitch slap you Because for being so arrogant that you think you can read my mind because the only people that can really Read your mind are the people that really really love you and you're like our wives like our wives They could read our minds Exactly so this is don't take on board What people they decide you are don't become that thing You know maintain your identity and just remember that Someone's opinion of you. It's not you You are you and your friends That's you not what people say about you. So that's what that one the video comes out Friday very excited about that. I hope people like it tears in rain You know the blade run a movie the original Absolutely the central character Roy the replicant That's the song about him. That's why it's it's the classic line after Roy has tried to find a way to extend his life And live almost as a human Then the cruel horrible Thing that his end his fate has already been predetermined and all of the His life experience all of those memories will be lost like tears In rain and all of us nerdy sci-fi geeks We often drag that line out when we want to appear extra cool And that's been just hanging around we just Chris was doing something on the guitar there. I've got this I'm like, oh, you know what? I think this might fit right it just it's been hanging around for years I've always wanted to fit it in the song and it did it worked really well and then rage This is based on a true story From I think 11 something if or is it 13? 100 a date something like this and it's princilla well in of wales and He calls his favorite hound he's going hunting calls the hounds his favorite hounds doesn't come He goes hunting comes back And there's his hand with blood around his mouth and he's He thinks oh, I left my baby son at home and he instantly thinks the worst loses his temper and Puts his sword into the heart of his favorite hound thinking that he's killed his son then he hears the baby cry out And he sees the baby is alive Underneath the crib that's been overturned and next to the baby is a dead wolf So what has actually happened? reason That is the how he's his best friend did not come It's because he was fighting to the death to save his son And it's the tragedy of losing your temper of making a snap decision Decided and I've done it many times myself as As I was younger and I've regretted it and done stupid things and suffered the consequences And when I saw this legend Uh, I thought I'm not going to say anywhere in the lyric that hound or dog because those of us that love animals Your dog will be your best friend sometimes the most loyal person most loyal personality, let's say in your life And we'll always stick by you and That's why I thought you know what there's a way to do this and Chris had come up with a couple of nice touches And then we had the idea of the violin and then It went round a few different variations, but it became this thing of rage And I think it's worked really well that the music And the the lyric the melody has bought that to life and then you're beyond this year And by the way from from the chat plays from the chat that i'm watching here because there's live chat People seem to love the first two singles. I just want to add oh, that's right That's good news tomorrow a new single right tomorrow's a new single. So stay tuned everyone Sorry to interrupt but it was um Yeah, we were very anxious about that first single. We just didn't know What people would think is it's quite a bit different You know, um And it's got different You know guests on it as well So yeah, and then side two really is that story so Circle of stone was that first single and people wonder. Well, why have you got extra vocalist on it? and that's because Out of context it's out of context, but it's the first part of the story where Our central character the righteous man He's denying his true path He is selfish insecure materialistic he's shallow and He has to learn to tell the truth to stand up to sacrifice Ordinary pleasures of life to become someone who is worthy to lead The forgotten tribe of the ancestors Back to the homeland The ancestors call to him in his dream And that is why we have that voice. That's nicholas From the band wolf. It's an incredible band a great voice He is the voice of the ancestor. So you hear him say Illusion I am real and his voice is so different. You could never mistake it For me singing, you know someone else and in the context of the story Then it makes sense and it follows through them those those songs on side two Are about those feelings and situations And what happened to the ancestors all those years ago and why they're the forgotten tribe And it's nice the way that it turned out. It was a happy accident We're looking at it and going doesn't that song fit With that one Just if we put that one there, isn't that and for some reason I don't know why they came at different times And all of that these pieces came at different times and started to fall into place here. It was incredible and what's very very spooky is This was finished The day before I had a heart attack that nearly killed me The day before Couldn't tell anybody about it because of normal business things had to keep it quiet And then you look at the lyrics hear the lyrics and you're like what The other song here absence and one of the main lyrics in the song is from my chest My heart is torn Crazy and you go Heart surgery and you know what they do They cut you in half. They take out your heart Yeah My heart was torn from my chest Yes Well You could just say all of these lyrics almost could be written as a response to my heart attack Not as something predicting What's happened the year beyond this year Here on side one That's about Learning to come to terms with things But that lyric came Just in the room as we were jamming through and you know what it takes more than a year To heal From our open heart surgery like this to get your full strength back before you can really Get back. I'm singing well breathing well. I could perform but to really get back So it's it's looking not this year the year beyond this year Yeah, we're gonna crush it. We're gonna smash it It's unreal But that's always I was listen I was listened to the album and listened to the lyrics like Do you have any premonition that you are feeling good when you recorded these songs? So because like you said there's some some conscious level something's going on there No, maybe it maybe it was I just You know, I just felt like I was out of shape Uh now I know You know what what was wrong that I'd been ill and getting ill Very slowly worse worse for a long time. I didn't realize that so I don't know I I suppose my Technique I worked on my technique And I have a lot of experience with recording so My voice felt like I got to a point where I've got more control more power I can portray the emotion and Make you feel the passion of the story and the sadness and the melancholy vibe of things I have that voice now that I always wanted for years of experience and all the things that have happened to me And I was able to put that onto this record and into this recording And I just feel so lucky And grateful that I still have my voice intact And I can sing these songs live Yeah, I was listening to the broken man, right? It was just basically you and a guitar and you just answered my next question Like what what's changed with your voice since your first started years and decades ago to to today? And I think you just gave us that answer Yeah, and if you think that I think a lot of male singers Um, a lot of rock singers, let's say not really male singers, but a lot of rock singers and metal singers start off power hard loud high power hard and not being dramatic dynamic And I go what hooked me as you know is ronnie james d.o And the softness Yeah, he could conjure you can't believe it's the same man And when I heard children of the sea from black sabbath That was I was completely captivated by that it changed my life literally changed the direction Of my life because after that I wanted to be a singer in a band Let's just know with a way in if you listen to Don't talk to strangers from the holy diver album. That's the same kind of thing You and you know go way back to rainbow You know Or temple of the king or softness and sweetness and the power That's really the hand in the velvet glove isn't it and I think as a young man You're seeking the power you you know, you want that as a young person and then getting older and feeling more Well, I I need more from this I need to make my voice Available for this lyric to make this lyric seem Utterly real as you're listening So you can lose yourself and I have to convince My listener have to convince you that This is really happening or that We're getting up. We're going on or we're about to break into tears or we're going to win the world cup these vibes and feelings That I want and I think in those maiden years It was just you know, it's a brief time It's five years, but I went from being someone who was You know trying to be loud searching for the high notes trying to be strong Then working in the studio finding this other part of my voice Steve harris. It's his first big album that he produced and he found this part of my voice and that's what that's the turning point of the x-factor of maiden turning towards a progressive time and From that to develop that then and keep Being able to develop and find strength in those places that now I feel I'm able to do 101 if I've got a lyric that says This has got to be powerful. I can do it if I've got a lyric that goes This has got to let people in To a melancholy world Then I can do it Well, I don't think I could do that before not to the same degree and it's something I really Enjoy, isn't it crazy? that It could have been 10 minutes If the ambulance didn't get here in 10 minutes, we'll never be singing these songs live I mean never never have seen this album. It's unreal man. Did you have them? Did you have the title of the album? Did you already have that down the title of the album aren't working all that circle of stone? You're the circle, right what happened was um I Wanted to propose to my woman And it was the winter solstice coming up and I said I'm taking you for lunch And she goes, okay, it's a bit where is it the restaurant if we've got to get up at 10 in the morning to get there Um saying oh, so don't worry baby. It's okay. Don't worry Don't worry. Yeah, and uh, so then we're pulling up around lunchtime at Stonehenge and she got oh and then I get a At the the the heelstone a stonehenge Which you look up from the heelstone through the stones and you see the sunrise all of this very cool And uh, that's when I stick the ring on it and go that's it for you now and uh And I took I took around the museum bought to a fridge about how far how how close How close do they let you go to Stonehenge the rocks and no not that close Not that far away, right? Yeah. Yeah, or you gotta have special permission or be a druid You know It's yeah on the days, you know, I wasn't prepared to go, you know, I'm thinking of druidism So they sell hot dogs. Do they sell hot dogs at least you ate something They got a they got a nice cup At least at least you took her out. Okay. Yeah, and they got Anyway, she's engaged now and we bought a couple of postcards and you know a bit of memorabilia and that And then we're talking about The album Chris and I and what are we going to call it? You know, it there's so many cool things It could have be called mind reader or it could have been called rage or broken man or absence or it could have been a lot of the Titles were very strong and felt could be out strong enough for album titles And then I'm looking up and you know, there's hundreds of stone circles in the UK and around Europe And it was a thing of our ancestors to make these stone circles and again Circle of stone because for some reason that that's come out is that that song has come out so strong So that was it circle of stone. I'm looking at a picture of Stonehenge Above my desk and I'm going this makes sense as a feeling here circle of stone and The idea that you would search all the stone circles in the UK as You know As one of our ancestors trying to get a vibe and one of my very good friends He went on a holiday a camping holiday and he was trying to find somewhere cheap and Next to the pub was a stone circle and he said always am I allowed to come there there goes Don't come there don't come inside the stones And it's oh god But when he walked inside that circle, he really felt something There was a real feeling there So the idea that someone would look for a particular circle where they could have a An experience Where they could connect themselves to that dream world Where the ancestors are calling them from in their dreams. It all seemed to come together and The guy that we asked to be a special guest Nicholas from wolf I was telling him about the projects and I love to be involved. I think your voice would be perfect To be that to play a part For me as the ancestor and he said, oh, this is stone circle in my village where I live He goes and it's it's in the shape of a long boat and it's to celebrate commemorate my ancestors Viking ancestors We didn't even know that when we met I didn't even know when we thought of his voice What and when you give the video his part of the video for the song He's doing that around the area where that stone circle is and it's just incredible And then my my fiance was saying to me, um Oh, she has a scottish heritage and she says My clan Fought with Robert the bruce at bannock burn and we beat the english to keep stop It's unreal unreal all the coincidences spooky things. You're what? It's it's it's incredible Man absolutely incredible. So So far a lot a few fans we've we're shipping out the pre-orders. They've all gone Some fans have got it. If you haven't got it, you'll be getting it in the next day or two. I imagine Let me ask you this blaze. You're talking about, uh, you know, you're finding your voice when you were in wolf spain And you were singing in wolf spain. Was it just basically like you said you just Belted it all out. I mean a lot of people. You don't even know this your wolf spain open for iron maiden I know prayer for dying, right? Yeah. Yeah, well actually I'm gonna ask you this What was that experience like you're playing with what you're opening up for maiden That was just When you've got to put things in context, but Of of my life then that was just the best thing I ever did It was incredible My dreams were coming true And I was asked To be part of the iron maiden football team So actually played for the maiden football team. So it was fantastic man. You're playing football Um on the days off and didn't go home. Oh, it's just it was incredible. And then we're every gig I think it was 33 Sold out uk shows. It was the last time they ever played theaters In the uk. It was just it was fantastic so It was a great Wonderful wonderful experience and I've always been a fan Ronnie James Dio with his dynamic how it could sound powerful and also gentle but also of daily Dave Lee Roth with van Halen his early their early albums And bond start with ac dc on the early albums where The sound is like having a conversation It's not even like bond scott. He's singing. He's telling you a little story In the down the pub almost like hey, mate. You want to I'll tell you what that That So there's that element of it as well as trying to Be powerful. So on our wolfsbane songs, you know, I was trying to find that voice I didn't know there was all this this extra places I could go and they weren't really available to me and We found those on when we were in the studio with Iron Maiden. So Oh, but that that supports who is but being but being on stage opening for Maiden Did you even did it even cross your mind that you'd be Fronting No, no, I felt like my voice was so different to bruce But you know what the confidence Of those guys I would push it a little bit more every night. We'd always be on time very respectful of the time. I said, this is the timer That's a timer. That's it. We're always made sure that we were good for the time but I'd see the uh, the big side feels the frames with the Speakers in and uh, you know, I know bruce climbed up and so I'd have a climb I'll climb up and I'll climb up and uh and You know, but the lads would egg me out go on bar and I climb up and I was thinking Afterwards, I thought I'm gonna get a right trouble for this. No never said anything Did they ever make you dress up as eddie? No No And I I never uh, I kept doing it every night and eventually I was standing on top of the things that bruce used to done and Steve farry's come over the one night. I thought oh here we go and he goes I've seen you climbing up. There he goes. It's nice to have a band that pushes us Oh Incredible, isn't it? No ego at all. Just like oh, we better have a go then. They're really really trying to we better have a go. It was great That's that and that's why They're at the top and they deserve to stay at the top because that's the attitude. It's like not That they're they're saying. Oh, no one will blow us away. They're going Oh, we better really get to work because someone is trying to blow us away And it's impossible. It's nice, you know That was great, man. Really cool That's a big change from you're the opening band. You got 10 feet by 10 feet. Don't don't leave the box Yeah, I've had that I've had that with some people don't go up there. Don't touch that. Don't touch this. I'm like What am I why what's wrong with you? but It's difficult. You know, they Well, I'm very great. Those days are gone. You know, it makes me laugh though. We've had support bands in in the last 10 15 years that come up and they go Uh, well, there's hardly any room on the stage If we've got a set up in front we go. Yeah Uh, well, can you move your stuff? No No We're the headline band and you know, what do you think we have to do? Yeah. Yeah, we certainly didn't moan about having no space we'd go No space we'll show you We'll show you what you can do with no space I've got no time for people coming up get on with the job Try and steal the fans Play like your life Depends on it It doesn't space doesn't matter Yeah, you know, it just doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're playing to three people 30 people 3000 just doesn't matter That same energy should go into the show if you've got six inches or six feet It doesn't matter. It should be the same energy. The energy is in the music and for us Everything is in that music If our songs Don't work acoustically or just playing them together in the room quiet. They don't work like that It doesn't work with lights and big sound It has to work on every level. So For us, it's not about smoke and flashing lights and all of this No, it's about the music and it's about being able to connect with fans That have supported and believe In us and made that gig possible. So we don't have you know what? We're it's a cliche. Isn't it just like 100 live? Well We just don't know sometimes what's gonna happen You know, but that's you're you're a purist. Okay. I you're a purist. We've seen you many many times You are singing you are actually singing your band is actually playing This is you can't get any more pure than that and then you meet everybody after the show There cannot be a purist artist than you on stage I mean, what do you think about all the young guys coming up and just playing the tracks and not even in miming and It's well, what what we're doing is so old It's new And I really I really feel that's happening I know it's funny. Yeah, but I really feel it's happening as I'm going around the country And I'm going around euro and I'm talking to different sound guys and stuff like that And I say no effects on the vocals And they go What nothing I'm going no no compressor No limiter limit me Uh, no nothing it's My vocal is dry And it's difficult to take for that first couple of songs for people. But then once they get used to it, they forget then and that is because I don't want anything In the signal path between me And you I don't want anything in the way that doesn't have to be there I want everything that's there between my microphone and that speaker to be something that is Enabling that signal those electrons to go through not getting in the way mix it about and coloring them At all and that's a different way to look at things And I think things will change But it's it'll take a while because some people go. Oh a lot of it's on tape and they go. Yeah So what well for us, it's like burn the laptops No reverb Not even reverb not even a little reverb That's in the way man It's in the way It's distance it's distance between My vocal I'm pouring my life Down that microphone. I'm pouring my life into my performance. Why do I want something in the way? I want you to hear what I'm doing so I can connect with you And drag you into my world to make you forget Every problem in your life And be with me at that concert and remember that concert as something that was positive in your life And you can look back on in dark times ago. Yeah, but you know what when it was at that place gig that was a good time Burn the laptops is the new next album by blaze mealy burn the laptops Burn the laptops Burn them All right What's what's the plan here? You got the album, but you got the 30th anniversary show. Tell us how does this work out? chaos It's a good job. I'm not in charge It's absolutely chaos It's it's not chaos. It's very very well planned and executed But if it were left to me and in my hands it would be chaos So what they've done is a lot of festivals. I've asked us for the anniversary set. So it's 30th anniversary. So I'm playing a lot of X Factor and virtual 11 songs and that our headline shows in Regular venues. That's our circle of stone sets. So we kind of alternate between the two and in sweden. We've never done anniversary Iron Maiden set. So we're doing that in sweden for the first time And yeah, that that's it. So some of it is 30th anniversary and some of it is circle of stone But generally speaking Most of the clubs and venues that we regularly headline That's our new album tour okay It's exciting. It's exciting. Yeah, you know and you're feeling good and you're back on track and that's what counts I've got to get my strength back. You know, that's because they cut you in half I've got to get my strength back. They all you're into costals wasted to nothing All your chest is wasted to nothing. You've got to build that back That's a year because you're coming back from nothing So but that's happening. I'm getting stronger each show. My voice has been strong All the time. So that's really really great. So I'm I'm strong. I'm I'm working man. I'm back at work I'm just so grateful that I can get back to my job and I have the job that I dreamed of and The support of my fans and people that supported me And sent letters and cards and all things to meet people and say hello and thank you. It's just nice They're nice to be back at work All right, final final note. What do you want to say about the new album to everybody out there who's watching? Well, it's a couple of things one is look Stream it till you get it because you know what if you're streaming it. Yeah, I don't get much money off it But it's not about that what it's about is the more you stream my album Then you're going to change the algorithm. So that will mean that it's suggested more times and quite simply all I need is my fans to just tell another person And I'm on the way and for us spotify and all those platforms. That's like the radio for us We're never going to get our mainstream radio but We can get on spotify and then buy your album. We're all nerdy geeks collectors Then buy your album when you can that's it and and you'll be really helping me If you stream it and buy it you haven't got to go I'm buying it. I won't stream it because you don't get much money We won't get anything if they don't stream it, but there is a chance that if they if we stream it We'll go up a little bit and a few more people that would like me If they knew about me we'll find out about me and the other thing is just Man all the support I've had Since my heart attack and being back at work. Just thank you so so much to everybody and It's very anxious Will people like the album? I just hope that People who've been with me for a long time will enjoy this record because I enjoyed it I enjoyed it and I think the production is probably a step up from the last few albums And that's really the production is really good. I know you and Chris worked on it and Yeah, we produced the album production It's another part of the process for for us. We're learning the production and It's a part of telling the story. So when we're mixing the album we're putting sounds In places and having things louder and quieter in places to draw you in draw your attention focus you on this Guitar melody focus you on this bit of lyric and vocal to bring you Into our song and involve you in it That's another part of the process. Which production allows us to do Which jimmy page did with Led Zeppelin. He produced their album. It's partly his vision Yeah, and you're thinking all those steps ahead and when we record it and when we mix it And when we perform it live, that's all the part of it As we're going. So we're so proud of it. What we've done with the production. It's it's hours and hours of work And a lot Show the album as we close off show the album once again like vanna white. Yeah, uh, Congratulations I really enjoyed ladies and it's one of your strongest albums I really enjoyed it can gradually see you and your whole team there the boys and absorber and just a fantastic job A really good album man, thank you It's been very anxious What it's a bit different To what we've had before would people like it and to hear that you like it is just Oh, yeah, chris appleton I just want to give a shout out to chris appleton your writing partner You know the producer you're writing co-producer. I guess he does a phenomenal job live He does a phenomenal job writing the songs and helping you uncover your dreams. Yeah, and I've been very vision That I've been able to get luke Appleton as well Yeah, he's been available for writing and recording as well. I've been able to Drag him down and we've worked together and it's just We all of that side of things. I mean I feel so lucky and Yeah, it's just it's incredible really ladies. Everybody's waiting for you in montreal everybody Everybody the whole the same gang waiting for you in montreal Well all the time and how can we get back? So Hopefully sometime next year we'll be there. We just fingers crossed we can make that. I'm love to come back February 23rd The circle of stone The hardest working man in metal blaze bailey Feeling great. Thank you blazing for being on Thank you