IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson released the limited-edition CD of his new solo single, “Resurrection Men”, last week, featuring two live bonus tracks. The accompanying video has been unveiled today and is a joyous look at life on the road which started in Los Angeles on April 12 and finished in Athens, Greece on July 21, playing to a combined total of over 350,000 people.
“The tour was one of the very best,” says Dickinson. “The band were just so pumped and on it every night that it was a joy. The audience reactions everywhere for songs old and new were pretty overwhelming and I already can’t wait to go back out again!
“The video is my thank you to everyone that came to see us at festivals, clubs, theatres and arenas.
“Who said a metal audience can’t appreciate a theremin, bongos and ‘Dick Dale-esque’ surfer guitars? Mine certainly do!!”
The three-track CD comes in gatefold digi-sleeve and includes the bonus songs “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” and “Abduction”, both of which were also recorded live at Dickinson‘s show in São Paulo, Brazil as part of his world tour for “The Mandrake Project”. That tour, which concluded last week, saw Dickinson and his HOUSE BAND OF HELL play almost 50 shows across the U.S., Europe and Latin America to a rapturous response.
“The Mandrake Project” album has been a huge critical and commercial success, topping charts around the world and receiving some of the best reviews of Dickinson‘s illustrious solo career.
Joining the IRON MAIDEN singer on the trek was his current backing band, featuring Dave Moreno (drums),Mistheria (keyboards) and Tanya O’Callaghan (bass),alongside the group’s latest additions, Swedish guitarist, songwriter and multi-platinum-credited producer Philip Näslund and Swiss session and touring guitarist Chris Declercq (who played on Dickinson‘s “Rain On The Graves” single). Bruce‘s longtime guitarist and collaborator Roy “Z” Ramirez is not part of the touring lineup.
Prior to the April 12 Whisky A Go Go show, Bruce last performed with his solo band on in August 2002 at the legendary Wacken Open Air festival in Germany.
During an appearance on the April 16 episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Bruce was asked if there are plans for him to stage a full U.S. tour in support of “The Mandrake Project”. He responded: “I brought the [booking] agents and the promoters, and everybody came down and saw the Whisky show [in West Hollywood, California over the weekend], and now they know what they’ve got to deal with in terms of doing a U.S. tour. So, we’re looking at it, we’re planning it.
“I absolutely wanna do a full U.S. tour with ‘The Mandrake Project’,” he added. “I obviously can’t do one for the rest of this year [due to commitments in other parts of the world and MAIDEN‘s upcoming touring activities], but there’s ’25 and there’s numerous opportunities that will crop up. So the answer to that is yes, of course, we wanna come and do the U.S.”
Roy played guitar on Dickinson‘s 1994 album “Balls To Picasso” and went on to produce, co-write and perform multiple instruments on Bruce‘s subsequent three solo albums, “Accident At Birth” (1997),“The Chemical Wedding” (1998) and “Tyranny Of Souls” (2005).
O’Callaghan is an Irish musician who joined WHITESNAKE in 2021 and toured with the David Coverdale-fronted outfit the following year. She also hit the road with Dickinson last year as part of a performance of Jon Lord‘s “Concerto For Group And Orchestra” on nearly a dozen dates in Europe and South America.
Californian drummer Moreno previously played on “Tyranny Of Souls” and has worked with BODY COUNT, Jizzy Pearl, Dizzy Reed and Steve Stevens, among others.
Italian keyboard wizard Mistheria has collaborated with an array of artists live and in the studio, including Rob Rock, Mike Portnoy, Jeff Scott Soto and Joel Hoekstra.
“The Mandrake Project” arrived on March 1 via BMG.
Bruce and Roy recorded “The Mandrake Project” largely at Los Angeles’s Doom Room, with Roy doubling up as both guitarist and bassist. The recording lineup for “The Mandrake Project” was rounded out by Mistheria and Moreno, both of whom also featured on Bruce‘s last solo studio album, “Tyranny Of Souls”, in 2005.
Dickinson made his recording debut with IRON MAIDEN on the “Number Of The Beast” album in 1982. He quit the band in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band WOLFSBANE. After releasing two traditional metal albums with former MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith.