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Paul DiAnno interview
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Af Ole Foget; MaidenDenmark.dk d. 04-02-2006
Paul DiAnno Interview for MaidenDenmark (MD) 4/2 2006.
MD: Hi Mr DiAnno, we’re from the Danish Iron Maiden Fan-…. …
DiAnno: No shit!? Really? Hahaha…
MD: Ehh.... hahaha…
DiAnno: I’ll give you a hard time here, now I know you’re drunk! Woooahh…. Hahaha...
MD: Hahaha…bah… Well…
DiAnno: haha… It’s ok, let’s just carry on…
MD: Yeah, so you’re back in Denmark, it’s not been that long since the last time?
DiAnno: No no, I know, but we just kicked of again touring after about one month of, so yeah everything’s fucking gone crazy at home, I can’t do it! …
MD: So it’s the same back-up band you’re using this time?
DiAnno: Yeah yeah yeah…. Still AK47’s…
MD: The Swedish guys?
DiAnno: Yeah yeah, AK47’s.., -ehm, what happened is that, I came of the back of… - ehm we finished of in Scotland on the 24th of December, and that was the end of a 4-year world tour. Then I had Christmas off, and after the 2nd week I wanted to kill everybody! I was thinking about retiring, I was gonna quit…
MD: Really??
DiAnno: Yeah, I was gonna quit, but didn’t know what to do with myself! I mean, when I’m at home I’m building Harley Davidson’s, that’s what I’m doing. I can’t do that all the fucking time…
MD: So, how long are you going on tour this time? Only Europe or…?
DiAnno: Well, no at the moment we’ve been in Greece with these guys, and then I’m going to Mexico where I’m using another band out there and then… Uhh… Russia, Canada…
MD: Russia again?
DiAnno: Yeah, and Canada.... And then I’m’ going back to Brazil in May, I hope... Go home for a while, being with the kids and stuff… And I’m also playing a festival in Brazilia, in May as well…
MD: Last time you talked about your new album was almost done, you had written some 9 tracks or ?...
DiAnno: Yeah yeah, I’m still working on the fucker! We haven’t got around to recording it yet, because I’m so fucking busy! Ehh, what we decided to do at the time being, is to give me a little more time, ehm, because I’m so fucking busy doing other things as well, gigs wise, and it’s getting in the way of the music I’m recording, which I’m not that bothered about anyway, as I hate recording! So what we decided to do, is in May we’re re-releasing Nomad for Europe with some extra tracks on it…
MD: New tracks or live stuff?
DiAnno: well no, there’s 2 live tracks, 2 Maiden tracks live that is..
MD: Which ones?
DiAnno: I have no idea! I can’t remember! Hahaha…No serious, I can’t remember! I don’t know… I think Phantom is on there or something, uhm…But I don’t know where it’s recorded… Maybe somewhere in South America. But also, we did a version of Symphony of Destruction, for Megadeth, sort of a tribute when they finished. Dave Mustaine asked me if I could sing one of his songs, and I thought, yeah we’ll do it for their tribute. You know they got other musicians to do a tribute album for Megadeth. So we did Symphony.. And it came out pretty good, so I’ve done that…. Uhm… But we re-tittled the album, so it’s not called Nomad, it’s called The Living Dead, and you’ll also get the free video-DVD with it as well, when it’s done..
MD: You were also talking about the possibility for a European tour with you own South American band playing your new stuff?
DiAnno: Ohh yeah, we would love to do this! But uhm, it’s it’s… You know, the promoters don’t want to pay the money, for the band to come over, because you know we’re talking like 1900 $ each air ticket from Brazil. And it’s very difficult, so what we’re doing is, we’re taking 4 tracks from Nomad, well not tonight, but the next couple of concerts we’re playing we’ll write it in. Uhm,,, Mad Man In The Attic, P.O.V., Dog Dead and The Living Dead will be going in the set, so that will extend the set to almost about an hour and…. No almost 2 hours. Uh! Hahaha…
MD: What about Battlezone? Is that or dead or…?
DiAnno: Yeah! It was just a project man, we just did it for fun!
MD: A couple of years ago there was this interview on a Norwegian homepage, where people could write their questions to you, and I asked about Battlezone, and you said at that time, that there was a possibility and some plans about getting Battlezone back together?
DiAnno: There’s always the possibility, and there was some talk about doing some shit, but then me and Paulo wrote Nomad and stuff, so that kind of overtook that. And it’s very difficult to get John Wiggins to do anything, you know he’s just a lazy mother fucker, hahaha. And it’s very hard, ‘because he’s got problems with his wife and shit! Just fucking divorce the bitch what’s the matter with you!?
MD: Hahaha…You know we’re recording this?
DiAnno: Great! Hahahaha… Who cares!?! Nah, he’s fucking nuts, you know he said, like come on lets get together and we’ll do some stuff… -but I mean it took a long time, from fucking ’88 till we got the Fell My Pain thing together. That’s how long it takes, and I aint waiting that fucking long!, it’s going to end there and shit.
Nah, the tracks I was telling you about, the other stuff, I haven’t got much further, I’ve got about five or six songs by now, because we’re so busy, and I can’t write when I’m on the road you know. It’s very difficult for me, because I try to rest and sleep, and travelling long hours, and fucking around doing interview with you guys, haha… There you go, hahaha…
MD: haha, well, sorry about that…
DiAnno: Ahh, it alright man, haha…
MD: Talking about the old Battlezone days, you were playing with some Danish guys?
DiAnno: Yeah! Uhm, Bob Falck, Pete West I that was that…
MD: So, what are your feelings about Denmark?
DiAnno: It’s cool, it’s all right no problem…
MD: haha, no problem. Just another place then?
DiAnno: Yeah, you know only place I got big emotions for is South America… Brazil is the only thing I absolutely love, uhm and my kids… -and music of course…
MD: Talking about Denmark, there’s been a lot of discussions whether your last ever concert with Iron Maiden was in Denmark or in Sweden?
DiAnno: It was Copenhagen!
MD: So you can confirm that?
DiAnno: Well, I think it was Copenhagen… I wasn’t doing drugs back then, so yeah yeah…
MD: But there’s been quite some confusions about that last concert
DiAnno: Well, It was Copenhagen, as I went on to Oslo after that because my girlfriend was Norwegian at the time, so we moved up to Oslo for a while… So yeah.-… See I haven’t bad memories, hahaha….
MD: What about the set list tonight then?
DiAnno: Same crap! Same shit as last time!! Haha… Nah, there’s some Killers stuff in there. Children of Madness, and stuff.. No we haven’t changed the set list yet, we’re about to though…
MD: So you do change the set list every now and then?
DiAnno: Well, no not really. Just putting in the 4 tracks for the Nomad re-release, and do that for a couple of months…
MD: Do you ever read the Iron Maiden BB ?
DiAnno: Nah not really, I don’t even read my own stuff man! I’ve got a guy who runs my website, you know I’m to busy.. I have a personal website which is just basically for my family, and I only check that every now and then… When I’m playing, all I focus on is the music and nothing else. Other guys has their stupid fucking girlfriends, I can’t be distracted by that kind of fucking shit!
MD: You know, on the Iron Maiden BB there seems to be quite a lot of people who dislike that you constantly tour with and mainly play the old Maiden stuff…
DiAnno: Arh well, bullshit you know! The thing is, we’ve played all around the world, right! And I play a lot more shows that Iron Maiden will ever play, that’s for sure. Where we go now, playing ..well, this is changing now ‘because we’re going to put more of our own stuff in, but we’re going to these places like we’re going to Venezuela we’re going to Russia, we hold the record! No other band has ever played this many concerts in these countries, I mean Iron Maiden has played two shows in Russia! We’ve played 10 so far. We hold the record for Brazil, no other band has ever played that many concerts, no other band has been up the Amazon. We’ve done all these things, and we do it because we’re taking the music to the fans in these places that never heard or never seen Iron Maiden, let alone me when I was in Iron Maiden, so what the fuck! Or should I do what Blaze Bayley does and go work in a bar!? Hahaha…. So, they can say what they like and what they don’t like! And what they don’t like, is that we made the music more aggressive…
Let’s put it this way. Iron Maiden just finished a tour, and they only played songs from the first four albums, I think that says a lot! And the thing is, on those first two albums, who was the singer? Me… not that I was going to make any other Iron Maiden albums that’s for sure, haha… But you know, I’ve tried NOT to play these songs, but the fans won’t let me… The only people who are saying all this, are probably fans of Bruce, you know like kids who are 17-18 and who thinks Iron Maiden started with The Number Of The Beast, haha… But then again, Blaze Bayley came around and said things about Iron Maiden and about me and that,. but shit man I’m playing, what do you do? You work in a bar. So what the fuck you know… And the thing is, the fans comes to see my music as well as the Iron Maiden stuff so it doesn’t make any difference… You can’t win! You just can’t win. If I don’t play the songs then people are fucking bitching at me, and if I do play them other people are bitching, so fuck them! You know like, you stay at home with mommy and daddy and watching TV and come out “I’m a big fan” –well yeah fuck you!
MD: haha… So… You know there’s a lot of die hard fans and collectors out there…
DiAnno: Absolutely!!!
MD: …some time ago two of your awards were sold on the eBay…
DiAnno: Oh yeah? Gold discs?
MD: Yeah, from the first two Maiden albums, do you have any of your original Iron Maiden award left?
DiAnno: I haven’t got any record I ever made! Not even any of my new stuff…
MD: So you haven’t got any awards from Battlezone or the newer stuff?
DiAnno: No no, all the stuff I get I give away for charity… And then they sell it and make some money for them,,, I mean what the fuck, why do I need a gold record? To go say hey look how great I’m! Ah fuck off!
MD: So you haven’t got anything?
DiAnno: Nah, my mother has a couple of gold albums.. uhm…
MD: Maiden or…?
DiAnno: Yeah, both from Maiden and from Battlezone and I think some Killers stuff .. Yeah my mommy always got some shit… No, my policy is,. I make a record. I’ve written it, I’ve recorded it, we finished it.. Tour the fucker… You know I never play my own music at home, I can’t stand that! And then sometimes people give us these nice awards because you sold that many records, and I think that’s very nice, thank you very much, but I don’t want to put it up on my wall and sit and look at it, because you know, you’re only as good as your last record. So what I did when we got those first awards with Iron Maiden was I gave to this charity called Dr. Bernados (??? red.), which is children’s orphan charity in England. All other awards we get now, we just got one from Venezuela playing on the revolution album, which is fucking awesome man! I gave it to Unicef, and you know somebody paid a lot of money for it in South America, which is great because the money goes to Unicef… Awards are nice if you want to, you know, sit there and feel good about yourself, but I’m not interested.
MD: You know the Maiden Japan MiniLP from Venezuela with the different cover?
DiAnno: Yeah yeah yeah…
MD: What do you think about it, is it funny or…?
DiAnno: ahh… It doesn’t bother me, I’m not worried.
MD: Would you prefer that they used that cover for the release world wide?
DiAnno: Well, if you can’t make fun of yourself, then what the fuck. I really don’t care, haha… I’m not upset or anything, it’s not like I’m going to get my lawyer to sue these people. Anyone is entitled to an opinion, but I’ll tell you what we did in Venezuela last year. And that’s never going too happened again. We played for the revolution album, we played with Hugo Chávez, and we supported Hugo Chávez. At the cost of my carrier suffering in America because of me like him, Fidel Castro and people like that, but then again, you have to stay where your heart is. And my heart is not really into… I mean, I got businesses, and you know I’m secured for life, so I don’t give a fuck, but you know, still socialist at heart so my main interest is making sure that kids in Central, Latin, South – America, are being educated, being fed, and getting the right fucking food, drugs and clothes they need, that’s the number one, and the only way that’s going to happened, is keep America out of these countries, well they have the stronghold like Coca Cola and shit like that, they’re ruining the fucking countries. They’re giving jobs to some people, but they’re holding guns to their heads… So you know my point of view has changed a lot, so…
MD: Ok, well.. Just to get back to the censorship and all. Have you been aware of all the stuff going on about the Muhammad drawings?
DiAnno: Yeah yeah…
MD: I’ve read somewhere that you actually converted to Islam a few years back?
DiAnno; ehh.. No no no! All I ever said was, if you’re going to follow religion, then you are to follow a religion witch IS a religion and not like others who just go to church once every month one a Sunday, which is what a lot of Christians do. I think your gonna be into a religion, then your religion should be for life! If I was gonna choose a religion, I probably would have chosen something LIKE that, but I don’t believe in fucking God or nothing! I don’t give a fuck, haha….
MD: Ok then, but as a musician freedom of speech must be an important issue?
DiAnno: Yeah, I thing freedom of speech is fantastic, but then again, there’s so many countries where freedom of speech is a fucking myth! I mean some of these Muslim countries, there newspapers, they’re well... you know people they hear what they wanna hear! Most of these clerics who do that kind of.. oh, I’m going to get myself killed now, hahaha… But the thing is, also in America there’s people making people hear all they wanna hear, you know! It’s fucking nuts! Absolutely nuts! Americans are some of the worst for that, and I believe in ehh… You know, whether I’m right or wrong, I’ll say what I want! You know, and that’s it! If I think I’m right I’ll say it… And I’m very unhappy with what America and England do around the world, but also more what America do to South America witch pisses me off …
MD: Talking about freedom of speech and doing what you want and so on, you got quite a few tattoos, got any Eddie’s ?
DiAnno: Nope
MD: Not any Maiden related tattoos at all?
DiAnno: No, and I never would have.
MD: Why not?
DiAnno: Why would I have an Eddie tattoo?
MD: Well, ehm why would have for instance a spider web tattoo?
DiAnno: That’s jail stuff man, that’s different, hehe… You know, I’m a Maiden singer, not a Maiden fan, hehe… I’m a Ramones fan!
MD: So you got any Ramones tattoos?
DiAnno: Yeah!
MD: Oh, can we see?
DiAnno: Ahhhh, yeah, well…. It’s only one months old, here you go… (shows tattoo on his leg), -got that one done in Brazil one month ago.
MD: Pretty cool.
DiAnno: Yeah! Only band I would ever get a tattoo of!
MD: You’re a big punk fan..
DiAnno: Yeah! I am a punk!
MD: So, why didn’t you make any punk music yourself?
DiAnno: I have! I really think I have…
MD: But you never released any of it?
DiAnno: ahh, well… The thing is, those first two Iron Maiden albums has that punk attitude so…
MD: But you never released any 100% punk album?
DiAnno: Nah…
MD: Could you imagine doing that sometime in the future?
DiAnno: I’m trying to some of it together, we’ve done some stuff. When I come home from tours, I usually have a couple of days of and then get together with some friends. We’re all in different bands, so we just do a full set of punk stuff. We’ve done 11 songs of our one and we do Ramones, The Damned we do The Pistols, Dead Kennedy’s and shit. We just have fun! And that’s what it’s all about, just coming of a tour, and do some of the different stuff I enjoy to do. I’m talking to a couple of guys at the moment, I wanna do some stuff, I write a lot of punk music, and we have fun with it, but I’ve talked with some friend about doing an album of my favourite punk songs, about 15-16 songs, that would be fun!
MD: Witch bands would that be?
DiAnno: UK Subs, 999, Exploited, Dead Kennedy’s, Ramones obviously, all kinds of shit man! I only got two heavy metal records, haha…
MD: You’ve experienced a lot of things, both musically and on a personal level, any unfulfilled dreams?
DiAnno: Ahhh, the plans going on at the moment, we’re building a new Harley, haha.. And that’s awesome, I’m spending a lot of money on this bike, haha…
MD: Do you have any dreams that didn’t come true?
DiAnno: Yeah yeah yeah! As I said, I would like to see children educated, feed and clothed in Brazil and the rest of South America, that would be one BIG dream! I’m going to realise another dream this year, hopefully, when I’m going to meet with Fidel Castro, so that’s going to be cool!
MD: How did you get that sorted out?
DiAnno: Well, I spoke to him on the phone, hahaha…So it was kind of cool, haha,.. They’ve had a couple of bands out there to play in Cuba, but they never had like a metal sort of band or anything like that, but it would be quite interested to do it. And the governor of this town in Venezuela he’s a good friend of Fidel Castro, so he was having breakfast one morning with me and my manager there, and so we started to work on it and get it all together…
MD: Impressive!
DiAnno: Yeah, it was great. And working in Venezuela with Hugo Chávez and all, it’s great, I love it! So that’s it. That’s the number one dream, but the major thing is, it breaks your heart when you go out to certain countries in South America and people got money or they haven’t! And that’s what really pisses me off. You know, there should be at least not so much poverty out there and you know I don’t have enough money in the world to give it all away. I give as much as I can, and done other things with Unicef and Children’s Foundation, so that’s cool. That would be the next thing, after I quit music and get some paid work, but I got six kids of my one, and I want them to be healthy and happy and that, and I wish to be healthy and happy you know,…
MD: You’re still living in South America, in Brazil?
DiAnno: Yeah Sao Paulo.
MD: But you got kids in the UK also?
DiAnno: Yeah, I got two in the UK, two in Brazil and two in the States.
MD: Oh, in the States? And you’re still not allowed to go into the States?
DiAnno: No, and I probably never will after all that shit, hahaha.
MD: Ok them any famous last words? Haha
DiAnno: …………..
MD: Think very hard, you can do it! Say something clever…
DiAnno: ….. hahaha… oh well, just look after your kids, that’s all I’m gonna say.
MD: Cool, thank you very much for the interview, it was great.
DiAnno: Yeah no problem.