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Formed in 1975 by bass player Steve Harris, Iron Maiden went on to define heavy metal music for the next decade. Dubbed by the British press as leaders of the “New Wave Of British Heavy Metal” movement, Iron Maiden quickly became one of the genres most enduring and popular acts ever. They have managed to sell well over 80 million albums worldwide without the benefits of massive media attention or mainstream radio airplay.

The band went through several personnel changes before their first album 1980’s “Iron Maiden”, the line-up at the time consisted of Steve Harris on bass, Dave Murray on guitar, Clive Burr on drums, Dennis Stratton on guitar and Paul Di’Anno on vocals. The record attained the British Top Ten peaking at number 4 during its first week of release. It also featured the first appearance of their mascot “Eddie” which would eventually grace all of the band’s album covers. The group then embarked on a headline tour of the UK and went on to play shows supporting Kiss and Judas Priest. Dennis Stratton was sacked from the band shortly after the tour’s end and was replaced by Adrian Smith in October 1980.

The album “Killers” appeared in 1981 just as Iron Maiden was beginning to enjoy worldwide success. However, due to Paul Di’Anno’s increasingly erratic behavior and substance abuse, the group decided to fire him at the end of the year. Ex-Samson vocalist Bruce Dickinson was drafted just in time for a small headline tour where the band debuted its new singer and also new material destined for their as-yet untitled third album. What is widely considered as the definitive Iron Maiden album, “The Number Of The Beast”, was released in 1982. The record gave the group an unprecedented feat as it was their first ever to reach the top of the UK Albums Chart; it also went to achieve Top Ten status in many countries. Sadly at the end of 1982, Clive Burr departed due to health problems. Having made his debut dressed as the devil in the “Number Of the Beast” video, Nicko McBrain, joined for 1983’s “Piece Of Mind” album. “Powerslave” was released the next year to glowing reviews and it was followed by the band’s biggest tour yet. The “World Slavery” tour brought them everywhere playing 193 shows in the span of 13 months culminating in the release of their first live album “Live After Death” in 1985.

The next half of the decade signaled a new era in Iron Maiden’s music with the inclusion of new elements such as keyboards and synthesized basses and guitars. This was evident in the group’s next two releases, 1986’s “Somewhere in Time” and 1988’s “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son” the later becoming the band’s second UK number 1 album.

Iron Maiden took a break in 1989 to allow its members to pursue other projects. Adrian Smith put out a record with his band ASAP while Bruce Dickinson released his first solo album “Tattooed Millionaire”. The group soon reconvened to work on a new album but Smith opted to stay with ASAP and quit after ten years of service. Janick Gers replaced him having previously collaborated with Dickinson on his solo album. The band decided to take a more of a back to basics approach for the next record, 1990’s “No Prayer For The Dying”. The album gave Iron Maiden their first UK number 1 single, “Bring Your Daughter… to the Slaughter”, originally recorded by Dickinson for the “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child” soundtrack.

In 1992, they released “Fear Of The Dark” which proved that they were as popular as ever. However the band shocked fans all over the world when they announced that Bruce Dickinson would leave after the following tour in order to concentrate in other projects. His departure was marked with the release of not one, not two but rather three live albums!!! (all released in 1993). Recorded during the “Fear Of The Dark” tour, “A Real Live One” comprised of Iron Maiden’s 1986 to 1992 material while “A Real Dead One” included songs from their repertoire up to 1984. “Live At Donington” documented the band’s entire performance at England’s annual heavy metal festival “Castle Donington” on August 22nd, 1993.

The group never hinted at calling it quits after Dickinson’s exit. In 1994, the band auditioned several vocalists before settling on Wolfsbane’s Blaze Bayley. His vocal style was much different than Dickinson but ultimately Harris revealed that the rookie had received 70% approval in a fans poll. Iron Maiden returned in 1995 with “The X Factor”, it didn’t chart as well as the predecessors but it proved nonetheless that the band could still deliver a solid record. Now playing in smaller venues, the new line-up toured extensively through 1995-1996 and celebrated the year’s end by putting out their first compilation “Best of The Beast”. “Virtual XI” came out in 1998 but it proved to be the group’s lowest performing album failing to generate any public interest.

In early 1999, Bayley officially left the band. Almost simultaneously, Iron Maiden announced that Dickinson and Smith were rejoining and that Gers would stay on the fold. The group, now with three guitarists, went out on tour supporting their “Ed Hunter” computer game based around their mascot “Eddie”. The year 2000 marked the return of Iron Maiden on record, “Brave New World” was very well received by both fans and critics. The next tour included almost 100 shows and came to end with an appearance at the 2001’s memorable “Rock in Rio” festival in Brazil where the band played to an audience estimated at 250 000. The performance was immortalized with the “Rock In Rio” live album and DVD released in March 2002.

After such a successful album and accompanying tour, Iron Maiden wasted no time in going back to the studio to record its follow-up. “Dance Of Death” (2003) was recorded in London with the help of producer Kevin Shirley (who had worked on their previous album). The band then embarked on a European and North-American summer tour before the record’s release. It was during this occasion that I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with guitarist Dave Murray to discuss about the up-coming album, Iron Maiden’s career and future plans.