IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith spoke to Iron Hayden of Australia's Triple M Hard N Heavy about "The Writing On The Wall", the first single from the band's latest album, "Senjutsu". According to Smith, the track "has almost got a folky/country feel to it. We haven't done that before. That'll surprise a few people." After Hayden expressed his surprised at the mention of a "country" influence in relation to a MAIDEN song, Adrian said: "To me, it was more English folk. And if you look at the old English folk music, it probably came over to America hundreds of years ago, mixed up with Cajun, mixed up with blues, and then you have what you call American country music. To me, if you go right back to roots, it's more folky, I feel." Smith then clarified: "Folky — not funky. If there's one thing that IRON MAIDEN will never do, that's funk. As much as I love it, but I don't think we'll ever do that. I can't imagine Steve [Harris, MAIDEN bassist] slapping the bass… And Nicko [McBrain, MAIDEN drummer] is the most incredible funk drummer you've ever heard. He can do anything." "Senjutsu" was released on September 3 via BMG. IRON MAIDEN's first LP in six years was recorded in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Harris. For "Senjutsu" — loosely translated as "tactics and strategy" — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris. With a running time of a little under 82 minutes, "Senjutsu", like their previous record "The Book Of Souls", is a double CD/triple vinyl album. "Senjutsu" marks MAIDEN's sixth album to be produced by Shirley, who has worked with MAIDEN for the past two decades.
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