No Prayer On The Road
Maybe it's purely because I have the perspective of being the new boy in the band, but there is one element about Iron Maiden that has really knocked me sideways on this 'No Prayer On The Road' tour, and that's simply the energy level in the band! In most groups there are one or two members who are never giving 100%, but in Maiden you feel an immense energy blasting out, total energy. The whole thing is reciprocated by the audience too; there's only one word to describe a Maiden audience, and that's fanatical! People at the shows know all the words to the songs before the records are even out!
It was this total belief from both sides that really attracted me to Maiden in the first place - I remember feeling it when I used to go and watch the band as a fan. There is a total understanding that there is no compromise. There's never been a deviation from the band's direction and Maiden have always done what they believe in.
I'm still thrilled by the charge that goes through the band when we leave the dressing room and head for the stage. It's like a megaton bomb going off, and the adrenalin rush is amazing. You can hear the crowd over the intro tape when you're still behind the amps and it gives me the shivers. I like it because you should always be a little nervous before a show. The weirdest, yet nicest thing about being in the band is that I feel as if I've been there all along. I remember after the second day playing with the band that Steve said it felt as if I'd been there for ten years, and yet everybody in the band has talked about how fresh the 'No Prayer On The Road' tour feels. There's a sense of fun and danger at the same time. We don't do sound checks so there's a real feeling that anything can happen up on stage and it gives us a real edge.
Speaking as guitar player, I've always liked to improvise, to make things up on the spot, and it's made the shows very spontaneous. I love the interplay I have with Dave because it's fun. I look out at the audience and I can see people laughing.
A lot of people seem to have forgotten that's all part of it. Put that together with the attitude instilled in the band by Steve, that every night is important, and you've got a great combination!
I'm really revelling in the fact that we'll be on the road for seven months. Although I have done long stints on the road before, I've never experienced anything of this length. I'm glad I had three months playing with Bruce's solo band because I think I would have felt phoney walking out on stage with Iron Maiden and playing stadia without doing club and theatre gigs beforehand. It's like doing a whole career in miniature, but I think it's good for me mentally to have gone down, played at the bottom and worked my way up. There is a greater amount of pressure, I can't deny it, because people expect so much of Iron Maiden that you have to go out and really perform every night on a massive stage. I think that mentally it's harder at the top than at the bottom. Obviously you're not packing your own gear into a van at the end of the night, but...
Not that I'm complaining! Far from it. My main ambition is to make Iron Maiden bigger and better, and I think this tour is going to be a real success for everybody in the band. I love the fact that the focus of the performance is on the band, because it makes us work hard to please people, to give the best performance we possibly can. I'm into rock 'n' roll. I want to see the amps on stage when I go to a show. I love the honesty of it all, and that's what Iron Maiden have always been about. I always wanted to be part of a band that had the attitude that if you liked it, then great, and if you didn't, then sod off! Iron Maiden are the perfect vehicle for that mentality! You wouldn't be here tonight if you didn't understand that, would you?!
- Janick Gers
I found this very interesting - thought you all might like to have a geez. From the official IM site.
It was this total belief from both sides that really attracted me to Maiden in the first place - I remember feeling it when I used to go and watch the band as a fan. There is a total understanding that there is no compromise. There's never been a deviation from the band's direction and Maiden have always done what they believe in.
I'm still thrilled by the charge that goes through the band when we leave the dressing room and head for the stage. It's like a megaton bomb going off, and the adrenalin rush is amazing. You can hear the crowd over the intro tape when you're still behind the amps and it gives me the shivers. I like it because you should always be a little nervous before a show. The weirdest, yet nicest thing about being in the band is that I feel as if I've been there all along. I remember after the second day playing with the band that Steve said it felt as if I'd been there for ten years, and yet everybody in the band has talked about how fresh the 'No Prayer On The Road' tour feels. There's a sense of fun and danger at the same time. We don't do sound checks so there's a real feeling that anything can happen up on stage and it gives us a real edge.
Speaking as guitar player, I've always liked to improvise, to make things up on the spot, and it's made the shows very spontaneous. I love the interplay I have with Dave because it's fun. I look out at the audience and I can see people laughing.
A lot of people seem to have forgotten that's all part of it. Put that together with the attitude instilled in the band by Steve, that every night is important, and you've got a great combination!
I'm really revelling in the fact that we'll be on the road for seven months. Although I have done long stints on the road before, I've never experienced anything of this length. I'm glad I had three months playing with Bruce's solo band because I think I would have felt phoney walking out on stage with Iron Maiden and playing stadia without doing club and theatre gigs beforehand. It's like doing a whole career in miniature, but I think it's good for me mentally to have gone down, played at the bottom and worked my way up. There is a greater amount of pressure, I can't deny it, because people expect so much of Iron Maiden that you have to go out and really perform every night on a massive stage. I think that mentally it's harder at the top than at the bottom. Obviously you're not packing your own gear into a van at the end of the night, but...
Not that I'm complaining! Far from it. My main ambition is to make Iron Maiden bigger and better, and I think this tour is going to be a real success for everybody in the band. I love the fact that the focus of the performance is on the band, because it makes us work hard to please people, to give the best performance we possibly can. I'm into rock 'n' roll. I want to see the amps on stage when I go to a show. I love the honesty of it all, and that's what Iron Maiden have always been about. I always wanted to be part of a band that had the attitude that if you liked it, then great, and if you didn't, then sod off! Iron Maiden are the perfect vehicle for that mentality! You wouldn't be here tonight if you didn't understand that, would you?!
- Janick Gers
I found this very interesting - thought you all might like to have a geez. From the official IM site.
