 87. Yeah, about 87. But do you know what? I'm still enjoying it, still having fun. And we're going out today to Scotland to do a Scottish tour. And then we're going to come in back and then we're going to go with Steve Harris on the British Lines tour. What are you building? So and then we've got the Paul De Arno show with the charity thing. Yeah. So it's all kind of playing. All right. So let's go back a bit for the people who don't know who Air Force is. All right. Doug, of course, everybody knows, you know, you were in on the Soundhouse tapes on the original EP from Iron Maiden. You were the original drummer. I mean, as a recorded drummer, that is for Iron Maiden, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm vinyl. Yeah. Yeah. I'm vinyl. And, you know, you part ways with Iron Maiden after, I believe, you know, doing like an EP when running free and doing the Soundhouse tapes. Yeah. Part ways with Iron Maiden. So how did you and Chop kind of like me? Like, what's the history of that? Well, I came out of the band from Jenski and Steve said to me, you know, it's a chap I know who's looking for a for a drummer to come along. So me and Steve went down to a rehearsal that Chop was having with the band. And that's how we first met. We all had a jam. Steve as well. And yeah, that's how I first met Chop. I didn't actually join Air Force or with Chop at that time. It was a bit later on than that. Because after that, I joined Maiden. And it was after I'd come out of Maiden that I met up with Chop again. And that's when Air Force was born. And Chop, Air Force. Okay. Now we're going back in time. Like, we're going back the official date. Like, I mean, was there any demos back then? Like, what was the story? Yeah, there was demos back then, but it was all done on cassettes. Really cool, didn't it? And it was quite hard for us to get to get a deal there because the vocalist was always coming and going. And it was we had a bit of a it's a long story with a vocalist. So hard. So, you know, but we had demo tapes, which we was doing all right. We was gigging. But every time we gig, we had a new singer. You know, it was just one of them things it was a we was cursed with singers. Usually it's the drummers that usually it's a drummer curse, but this is like the singer curse. Oh, the singer curse. Well, Doug can tell you the singers mean the good thing is when we when we formed air force, we had Doug's brother Sam. Sam was out of Sam apple pie in Oh, Sam's got a great voice and he he kick started the band, you know, Doug, Doug and Doug and Sam, you know, they come in. And it just just kicks out of the band. And a tiny resort we planned with me with a band called EL 34. We just chilled and we me and me and Doug, we kind of knew each other through through Steve. And, uh, well, it just it just kicked off. And now we enjoyed enjoyed what we was doing, you know, and Doug, I mean, the Mead and family, right? Steve Harris, you've been with friends with him since even to this day, I see pictures of you and Steve Harris together. It was always a mutual sort of a nice parting of ways, I guess, with Aaron Mead and correct. Yes, yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, it was, you know, it was a mutual agreement. And we, uh, we left on good times. We've always kept friends ever since, you know, there's never been any animosity. We've always been mates, you know, with any sort of state was really used to have these famous, um, fancy dress parties. And we always used to go along me and shop. And that was great times when we lived in England. Okay. All right. And, uh, all right, so let's move ahead. Finally, after I don't know how many years you have an official album, right? Right. Chop, you got straight card. I mean, forever. Well, I mean, you know, you've had the black box, I believe, like one, two, and then, but this is sort of like the official sort of album, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, one before this, we had an album called Judgment Day, which was like a, like you say, it was just like the best of, always for three years. But then, as I say, we both striked hard out. There it is. Which is that one. And we, which is the first official album. And it was, um, well, it went, it was, we've been playing for so long. So we know how each other plays. It was quite easy to record that album because we had all the backlog and, and we had, we had to know how and we had, you know, like we had everything going for us for that, for that album. Plus we had Pete Franklin, which was our engineer and our producer. Sadly he died two weeks ago. But, um, you know, we just, that's, we know, we're very proud of this album. Very proud of it. It's come out really good. And as some great reviews, although at the moment, it's been took off the shelves, it's going to be relaunched by a new record company, which is Rock of Angels. So they're going to release this in, I think, beginning of next year. So it'd be back on the shelves again. So they want to relaunch it. So that's good for us. Doug, Doug, how would you describe this to someone who hasn't heard the album before? What's this music like? I would say it's typical new wave of British heavy metal. It's what we started off playing and we've always stuck to guns. We've never tried to do any modern trends or anything. We're just stuck with what comes naturally. We couldn't do it if we tried to, to do different styles. It wouldn't work. We just carry on and do what we know, what comes naturally. And that's the way it's going to be. Yeah, I know. I hear it. And as soon as I hear it, I'm transported into another, the early 80s or the late 70s of the new wave of British heavy metal. There's no double beat. They're double drum blasts and nothing of that. It's just groove oriented and I like that. It's cool. I'm digging it. Yeah. All right, the singer, Chop. So you finally get Flavius. Is his name Flavius? Sorry. Yeah, no. We call him Lino. His name is Flavio Lino. Obviously. Obviously, you're not being called Lino. Forget the Flavio bit. Sorry. So you choose a tribute Iron Maiden. I'm not saying sounds, but right, correct? Tell me about the singer. It was funny because I went, that was playing down the cart on horses. And I'm, to be honest with you, I do want to see another Iron Maiden tribute band for as long as I live. I fault too many of them, but I was convinced to go down there by a few mates. And when I see Lino singing, I thought, do you know what? He's perfect for us. Perfect. So then when the band stopped for their break, I went up to him and asked him if he wants to audition for Air Force. And Lino said, definitely. And then he flew in about two weeks later. And then we went down the studio and he auditioned and he was so good. He just learned all our stuff straight off. It's really impressive. Yeah. I mean, you know, I guess Samson, you know, not Samson the band, you know, it's got like sort of like that power metal vocalist with the New Wave of British heavy metal groove, right? So it's got a lot of that, which is cool, which is cool. No, no, he does a good job. Oh, he does a great job. And you know what? He doesn't sound like Bruce. He sounds like his own. Like that's what I want to tell everybody. He doesn't sound like Bruce. Well, the thing is, a lot of people say he's got the same tonal quality. Yes, yes. You know, which is not his fault. And it ain't a bad thing to have anyway. It's not. I mean, he's done Bruce a lot of good. So, you know, if he said if he did sound like Bruce or he's got the same tonal qualities, that's just just a coincidence. But he thinks he's got he's got his own stent. All right. So this album was released in 2020 during the lockdown and the COVID business. But yes, Doug, you got a live album out now, right? Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about that. Well, the strange thing was Lino came over and we've done the rehearsal for him, which was like an audition rehearsal. And the next day we flew off to Poland to do this, to do a live radio show. We'd never gig with him before. And we've done the gig. They recorded it. And that is what the release is. His first gig with us. Okay. Incredible. All right. And that was that was that was released, right? Like, what, a month ago? Yeah, we had they record it as about, well, I can't remember exactly. We went to Poland to do it. But yeah, they had they had they had it for about a year, 18 months. And then we decided to release it as an as a live album. All right. And it's live locked and loaded, correct? Live locked and loaded. All right. So I got as I'm doing this, and as we're talking, there's a couple of people thrown out questions out there. Okay. Hi, guys. Would Mr. Samson spend a few words about his about his colleague, Clive Burr, that passed away? So that's what fab wants to know. Maybe just a couple of words about Clive Burr. Oh, no, he was a phenomenal drummer. I never actually got to know him. I never met him. But I've, I was going to do some gig that's with the old Iron Maiden members called Ids of March. It never actually took off because of COVID. Yeah, I remember. And I really studied Clive's drumming to get as close to what I was still going to keep my own style. But I just wanted to hear what he was doing a very, you know, through headphones and that. And I didn't realize just how phenomenal he was. He was a brilliant, brilliant drummer. Very sad loss. And I've said this to his wife, Mamie, said that really, if Clive had been around, he would have been doing Ids of March. That would have, that was his gig. So nothing but pure respect for the man. And unfortunately, I never got to know him. Trab, did you ever meet Clive? I did make Clive years ago. We done support with Clive when he was in a band called Trust. And we supported him when I was in a band called EL34. And yeah, he was a nice guy. He was a bit quiet. He didn't really, he kept himself to himself. But even then I thought, what a great drummer. What a fantastic drummer. But as I say, I know his wife really well. You know, she's a friend of the band now. And she always comes to the Air Force gigs when she can, which is nice. And she wanted to lend Doug, on the last gig we've done in London, she wanted to lend Doug his Black Beauty snare drum for one of our gigs. But I was so scared again, it's stolen. I declined knowing that that's prices. You can't let that go. You guys keep it under lock and key. But who knows, we might use it, you know, if we get security, then we might use it. Yeah, yeah. Here, let me show a picture, everybody, of a strike card, the album by Air Force, everybody could take a look. And we, this is a segue into, you had Paul Deanna who sang on the album, right? And now we have Deanna's, the Paul Deanna Wade, Paul Deanna Wade, I'm not, is that, it's on December 11. December 11, Paul Deanna Wade, I guess first Doug, tell me about Paul singing on the Air Force album on, oh, what song is it again? I forgot. Yes, yes. Is that it? Yeah, Don't Look In Our Eyes, yeah. Yeah, we went down the studio. Yeah, as usual, we went down it with Pete Franklin. Chops said he sang sadly past the work a couple of weeks ago. We went in the studio and they run for it and it recorded it within like half an hour. It was done. He was, he still, he's still got it, Paul. You know, he's still there, he's still on the ball. He only had to hear it once. Look at the lyrics and bang, it's gone and he, he done a brilliant job. Yeah. I know Paul gives, gives his regard to both of you and he considers you guys good friends. Chop. Yeah. When you first saw Paul play with Iron Maiden, sing for Iron Maiden. What were your thoughts? Well, I knew Paul like before, like before the Iron Maiden days, we were friends. We grew up together. So me and Paul were friends. And when he said he had the Iron Maiden gig, it was funny because Paul was more into punk rock than the classic rock, you know, Iron Maiden. I thought, oh, this is funny. I'll go and see him. So I went to the first gig, you know, with Paul and he done a blinding job. He's done an amazing job. And Paul, Paul listed that Iron Maiden right up there, right up. Paul's, Paul's online stage was a great, great, great front man, great voice, fantastic, fantastic all rounder. I love Paul, you know, and even to this day, Paul's still a large in the knife sort of kind of bloke. He's a lovely man. And he's, he's so in modest as well, you know, we recorded with him before we've done a track called Sniper, which is going to be on the new album. Yeah, that's Paul De Arnaud. And Paul's got a great vocal, still got a great vocal. So that's why we're trying to get him back on, back on his feet again with the Paul De Arnaud. Yeah, yeah. So Loopy says hi. Loopy grew up with Paul too, right? Yeah, he must have grown up with Paul. Yeah, but me and Paul lived in the same area. Paul lived about two miles from where I lived, just not far away. So we always bumping into each other, you know, Paul's a funny guy. Paul's a funny guy. I always enjoy the sense of humor. He's a funny bloke. He's great, great bloke. So he's got loads of stories to tell. Doug, Doug, let me ask you, sorry. Okay, so tell everybody about Paul, Paul aid, Paul De Arnaud. I think, you know, there was a Clive aid. Now there's a De Arnaud. I mean, why is it so important for what could people do? I mean, they could show up, they could donate, what could people do to help out? Anything, you know, just turn up to the gigs, buy some merchandise, anything we've just got to get him mobile again, basically. He's got a problem with his leg. I'm not quite sure where it stands medically wise, but there's something that must be done. I'm sure something can be done. And I think the funds I've reached near enough, the amount he needs to get an operation done on his knee. So everything that can possibly be done, we've got to try and do for him. Because he's too much of a character and a talent to be waste to waste. We must get him up and get him out there again. Oh, he's talking to me about getting one of the battle zone back together. He's got the enthusiasm. We just need to get in so he can go out and do it. That's basically what we're after. We want to get him fit and well again. And Air Force, of course, is going to play at, oh boy, what is it? Where's it playing? Let me just put that up here, hold on. It's at Underworld. Oh yes, Underworld. So I first thought it was Carden Horses, but it's not. It's Underworld. It's just supported by Carden Horses because I think they're under renovation or that. That's right. That's right. All right, Chop, tell me about Paul Deanna Wade. What can people do? What people can do, they can donate if they can. They haven't got to donate if they can donate. If they come to the gigs. You know, if everybody, all the Maiden fans, if everyone paid a dime or a pound, that would get Paul back on his feet and Paul was a big part of the Iron Maiden family, a very, very, very big part of Iron Maiden. And, you know, he deserves, he deserves to put his pop's pleasure into people's lives. So it wouldn't hurt people. It's a little tiny donation. Anything they can afford, it'd be great. And then we can get Paul back on his feet, get Paul back on the road. And then, you know, it's a big loss to see Paul sitting in a wheelchair. It's heartbreaking. You know, we need to get him back. He's one of our own. You know, you can't, you don't leave your own leaving on the side of the road to rot. You need to look after your own. And that's what I'm asking people to do really, just yeah, whatever they can. You know, I agree. I mean, is this is this sort of money going towards a private surgery or what is it? Yeah. Well, what the word is at the moment, there's a man in Croatia, a surgeon that will say, if he can get over to Croatia, he will do the operation and they will take care of Paul. But we're always doing that, is getting the doctor's notes. Castro is going to try and get the doctor's notes to say that he can fly. But what I'm worried about is the cabin pressure on his legs. But if they can wrap his legs and, you know, not, you know, just, you know, compress the legs, then he'd be out of flyer, then he'd be out of go to the Croatia and get the job done, come home and then convalesce, then get back out there, back out of where where he belongs. Gotcha. Gotcha. No, no, no, you know, absolutely, man, Paul's, you know, he's got more to offer the world in terms of music and, you know, so much more done when you go. So now Air Force is going on tour and I'm just flipping subjects here, I'm not trying to be rude or anything. Air Force is going on tour. What can people expect to the set list? Will there be a couple of surprise aren't made in tunes in there? Maybe a running free or? No, no. Because so, I mean, as you say, with Maiden, there's like three guitarists. And with Air Force, the setup is like with one guitarist. We don't really, we don't do any Iron Maiden songs. I might be in the future, we might, but maybe an encore, throw it a running free. We haven't got anything planned for this one, but we are working on a version of Strange World. So that's something in the pipeline that we are working on. A bit hush-hush, so don't tell anybody. I won't tell anybody, not a soul. Just between us and the world. Yeah, yeah. So that's what we're planning to do, yeah. Okay, good. I'm excited to hear that. So there's, so Chopp, there's a, okay, you're starting, you have a tour coming up, what, I guess tomorrow, the day after, right in Scotland? Yes, yes, in Scotland, yeah, in nice and sunny Scotland. Yeah, but the thing is, you don't know what's going to go in Scotland, because the COVID level up in Northern England, like Scotland's so high, the COVID levels are so, things can get cancelled day by day. You don't know what's going to happen. You know, we don't know, no one knows what's going to happen when we get there. They could be cancelled, they could be closed down. But you know, we're open, it goes well. So it's a long drive, you know. All right. And then the big news is, there's a lot of great news here, Doug, what happened? Steve Harris gives you a shout, says, guys, you want to support me on this tour? Was it management or what happened? How did that come about? You know, Steve Brunger said to Chop, said, like, we're going to do a, you know, we're going on tour, because they come out of the tour with the darkness, and so we've got some dates together, we're getting some, do you want to come along? Yeah, wow, yeah, fantastic. Yeah. So we're doing, I think we're doing 15 dates out of the tour, that one of them, they haven't got a backing band on another one, I think it's Wicked Stun's doing it, because they're a local band to the gig. So yeah, we've got all along, I mean, we're all going to be mucking in and helping out with the gear. It's going to be like the old times, you know, it's, there's no room for egos, it's all going to be like, get stuck in. So I think Chop's helping out on the guitar tech in and I'm helping out on a bit of drum tech in. So it's really all hands on board sort of thing, you know, so it should be really good. Wow, that is very cool. So you've got the British Line, Chop, you have anything to add to the British Line tour with support by Air Force? Yeah, I'll do, because he's been saying about how good it'd be if it's been saying for years to have Doug and Steve on the same stage again, it'd be something like a big thing, you know, and he's been saying for years about it, and then he funds me up just out of the blue, and goes, Chop, he's baiting around the bush and I'll go, you're what, Steve? He went, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he said to me, he's actually doing us a pulp slot for the British lines. And I went, let me think, you got it. Yeah. All you need now is loopy to come in as roadie one. All right, so it's, look, you got so, I mean, that's pretty much it. I mean, unless you guys tell, before we leave you guys, tell us something about Steve Harris that people don't know, like, you know, some cool thing about Steve. Doug? Well, he's got a very dry sense of humour. And he is such a down to earth geyser. I mean, he'll stand there and he'll sign autographs for an hour or so off the gig when he's exhausted, he's got to get off. He's never rude to people. I mean, we saw this when we were down, we'd done the Hills of Rock, we met up with Stephen Hotel, he was doing, we were on the build and they were topping on the last night and we all went off to his hotel, we took to his hotel, we had a police van, take us there, police bikes. He'd set it all up so we could go back to his hotel for a drink and that and he was sitting there until about one o'clock in the morning and he'd go outside and sign loads of autographs. He's a brilliant geyser, really is. And he don't forget his old mates. Apparently not, apparently not. So about Steve, Steve's always been a great mate to me. He's always given me a load of gear when he's given me amps, he's given me speaker cabs, he's given me this, that and the other. But what he did do, Steve, he knows a lot about vitamins and health and all this. He's the right keep fit for that. When my mum was really, really ill, he got my mum back on her feet. He's a fantastic man, he's one of the nicest men in rock, probably the nicest man in rock. Apart from me. Doug, this is a question that I want to know, the Soundhouse tapes, will they ever be re-released? You know, as sort of like some package or some extended version, I mean, remastered or whatever. I've never heard any rumor or anything about, I mean, I love it to happen. But I've never, I've never spoke to it was about to Steve and he's never mentioned it to me and I've never read it anywhere that there was any plans. I mean, I had it on the, what was it, was it the best of the beast? Best of Eddie, yeah, the best of the beast, or not best of the beast, but Eddie's Archives, Eddie's Archives. Yeah, I saw that he had, I think it was Strange World and Iron Maiden on there. And I think that's the closest I've ever seen it being put out. Ah, you never know, but I've never heard anything that might happen. Are there any, what about live recordings, maybe add that were not heard before, maybe added to that? Is there any live recordings lying around? I've heard a few dodgy ones, but that's about it, you know, like being recorded of the like pocket cassette players and things like that, because there was no mobile phones. But I don't see, I mean, I've got a few of them here, some bootlegs, but I don't think you could put them out really. They're not that good. They're very, very rough. Yeah. No, I don't, I don't honestly, I don't want to say that. Chop, what was your first, what was your first feeling when you, when you first seen the Soundhouse tapes or heard the Soundhouse tapes back in the day? Like, what was that initial reaction? That was a big thing for me, you know, because it was like, because I knew Steve from, because we worked together years ago, me and Steve, and because I knew of Doug, and when it all come out, it was like a big thing, you know, Paul, I knew Paul, and it was like all my mates, all of a sudden, they're on a disc, and it was like an amazing thing. I thought, I've got to buy this. But I must say that the, I did play Steve, our version of Strange World, a rough, a rough idea of what we're going to do. Steve likes it. And then, I don't think you know who Dave Sullivan is, Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance. Well, there, we only get them to play on the new version, because they were all part of the writing of it. And although Steve Harris wrote all the lyrics and most of the music, it would be nice to get the Dave, you know, Dave and Terry to play on the, on the new version of Strange World, you know, and if we can, we'd even get Paul on it. If we, if he's, if he's fit enough, we get Paul on the little, you know. So, so the plan is, just so I could clarify this for everybody, the plan is you want to re-record Strange World with the sort of the, let's say the original, the legacy Iron Maiden guys, right? Exactly, with the legacy, with the, yeah, like the, the guys who were on before the whole, the recordings of Iron Maiden, because there was a whole band before that. Yeah, the embryo, the embryo of Iron Maiden. That's what the embryo is. Are you going to put this, are you going to put this on Air Force's upcoming new album? It will be on the new album. We're going to put it on the new album, but we was going to try and re-release it to help Paul with the operation, do it as a download so people can download it. And, you know, and it'd be nice if, if we can get, you know, Steve to sanction it, to say, I endorse it. You know, it might help with the Paul, Paul Diana aid, you know, so whatever we can do, we will do, you know, and we will play for free for Paul, just to, just to get him up and about. So yeah, so it's good. So it's so exciting for us. Have you laid down the tracks for Strange World, Doug? Yeah, no. So the song is done except for the vocals or? No. Yeah, it's all in the early stages. Yeah, I've got to lay the drums down and it's just like, we've got like demo ideas for it. So probably after, after we've come back from Steve's the bridgeline tour, we'll start thinking about getting, getting some work done on it, start laying some tracks down on it. Okay, so because, because, because it's coming up December, right? The, the, the show for Diana aid, and would you like to release this before or just after, or just to help? Go on, Chuck. It will probably be, be afterwards. It won't be before because it's a, we want to do a good job on it. We know a lot of real job. So we're going to take our time and get Dave and Terry to do their bit and then Doug does his bit. But it's, it's standing really good, you know, and it's just good. So we're just, just have, and I'll just wait till it's ready. I don't know when it's going to be ready. Could be a month, could be two months, could be three months, who knows. So you're going to do it regardless, but you prefer that as Steve Harris sort of signs off on it, right? Yeah, the first thing I've done is I find up Steve and I tell Steve, I'm doing a version of strange world. It's a track that I and Maiden don't do anymore. And it's a track, a track that people associate all Diana with. And he went, yeah, yeah, great. And I'll, I said, look, I'm going to do a version in my, and then I'll send it to you. Have a listen to it and let me know what you think. And, and Steve liked it, you know, so, which is good. We're on the right track. We're on the right track. That's exactly what Steve was saying. I like it. I like it. That's good enough for me. And so then, you know, like Dave Southern, he got involved. He phoned me up, quite excited about it. And then Terry phoned me up. He was excited about it. So now if we get like, Dave, a Terry ample on it, that's a big thing. That's a big feat. You know, if we can get them four on it, it'll be, that is the starting point of Iron Maiden. You know, so it'd be, and it's a great track anyway. But it's a different version of the track. It's nothing like the original version. So it's sped up. It's a fast version or is it slow? No, it's not. It's not a punk version. It's like, it's still melodic, but it's got plenty of guts, more guts behind it. It's more put into the, you know, to the, you know, what it is now, it's more, more up to date. Okay. Okay. And Doug, I guess the last question is, Strange World was originally left off of Soundhouse tapes, right? Strange World, right? The version exists, but it was left off because it wasn't sort of like what the vision was, correct? I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, what I can remember, I think they just, it was left off because of the fact it, it's, the other songs showed the energy, speed, aggression at the band that they were trying to portray. And even though it was a great song and it's, you know, a great version, it brought, it brought the tempo of the EP down. So I think that that's why it was, that was why it was left off. But it's still got some great guitar work on it. Yeah, I know. I, you know, I love the first Iron Maiden album. It's very creepy and very dark. And, you know, I don't know, I've always loved that track. And I think it's a great idea what you guys are planning on doing. All right. So here we go. The new album Strike Hard that was released last year, but it will be re-released this year on, what was the, what was the label again? Next year. Next year, 2022. Yeah. Rock of Angels. Rock of Angels, right? We have the live album that was released about a month ago, live locked and loaded, right? Yeah. Everybody picked that one up. We have the tour that's commencing in Scotland. So I'll use Scottish folk, go out and see the band starting tomorrow, I guess. And then we got in November 18th, the British line tour going through the UK. Exciting. And of course, last but not least in December, Deanna Wade, everybody do, which can't support. I'm sure all the links are there up on the Air Force Facebook page, as well as everywhere else, I guess you could find it, right? Is there any links that you want people to go to? There is, but I don't know the links. I don't know what they are. Just go Air Force Band and you'll find it, right? You go on Facebook. Air Force Band. Oh, it's on Facebook. I'll put a link in the description here afterwards. It's all good. So on vocals, on vocals, Flavio Lino, but just call him Lino. Chop it. Tony Hayden on bass and Doug Sampson, of course, on drums. Guys, thank you so much. Have a great tour. I wish you all the success and we'll talk soon. Okay? Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yeah, cheers. Cheers, mate. Thanks very much. Cheers, Jimmy. Cheers. I'll see you later.