Ex-IRON MAIDEN Singer PAUL DI'ANNO Finds Sanctuary In Performing Live: 'It's The Best Painkiller'

By David E. Gehlke

All things considered, former IRON MAIDEN frontman Paul Di'Anno was in a pretty good mood when discussing his new project, WARHORSE. The creation of Croatian guitarists Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante "Pupi" Pupačić, WARHORSE's recently-released self-titled debut puts Di'Anno's voice to good use across ten songs of traditional metal—including DEPECHE MODE and THE CHAMPS covers. It serves as a reminder that even with his current health issues, Di'Anno's street-ready, gritty vocals can still hold serve, something he has been doing to varying degrees of fanfare since he departed MAIDEN.

Unfortunately for Di'Anno, his health has been top-of-mind for nearly a decade after a battle with sepsis left him with a highly weakened immune system. He's been performing in a wheelchair ever since and underwent major knee surgery in 2022 in Croatia. Di'Anno's progress has occasionally been stalled due to high medical bills and a regular touring schedule that makes it clear that he has no plans of staying away from the road, for the demand for his era of MAIDEN is simply too strong. Perhaps more importantly, playing shows has kept Di'Anno of sound mind. As the legendary frontman told BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Di'Anno still has plenty left to give, which is all the more motivation to get back on his feet.

Blabbermouth: Are projects like WARHORSE where you get just to come in and sing fun for you to do?

Paul: "Kind of. They're friends of mine and I agreed to do it. Everyone is going nuts about this album, but I'm trying to attach myself to it. It makes it really hard to get right into it because I didn't write anything. It was a different experience, let's put it that way. I've been too busy to grow into the songs. In two weeks, I will start a tour. I'm freaking out about that. I'm concentrating on that at the moment. I've cut myself off from everything else. I'm concentrating on my health. I have new, fresh songs written by the guys in my Norwegian band. I haven't written any lyrics yet because I can't get my head around it at the moment. It's all about my health."

Blabbermouth: It must be hard to talk about your health constantly, but how are you doing?

Paul: "The progress is pissing me off. We got so far. We have to do this thing called lymphatic drainage [massage]. All the fluid builds up in my leg with the prosthetic and the knee as well. It fills up with fluid. In this wonderful country of mine [England], we're about fucking 200 years behind everybody else and they don't do drainage over here. I have to keep going over to Croatia to get it done, where I've got a fantastic team. Within a couple of days, it's gone down. When you have lymphedema, it can open up again. The smallest cut will fester up. It's been difficult. I've been home from Croatia for about three or four weeks, and then I went straight out to Colombia to play. It's been hell. Now I've come back. I've got nurses coming in tomorrow. They'll dress my leg and make me look like the Michelin Man with one big fat leg. I'm like, 'Fuck this, man. This ain't good!' I even got special socks you can put on to help with things like that, like compression socks. They won't put them on! And I can't get anyone to do this for me. Yeah, we've gone a bit medieval over here. We started the bloody health service thing and it was copied around the world and now we're hundreds of years behind everyone."

Blabbermouth: If we want to take the positive angle, your voice sounds intact and strong. Has your voice given you any problems?

Paul: "I've been singing in a wheelchair, which is bloody difficult. I've given myself a hernia. [Laughs] It's worked so far. My son and I were laughing because there was an episode on 'The Simpsons' where Homer was flat on his back and he sounded like the greatest opera singer ever. Then when he stands up, he sounds like shit. [Laughs] My kid is like, 'That's you, dad!' I'm like, 'Great. Thanks a lot!' [Laughs] It's been working so far. Maybe it will go to shit when I can actually stand up."

Blabbermouth: Is that an incremental goal—standing up?

Paul: "For a few months, we got so damn close—I was on crutches. If I move around on crutches, the lymphedema will get better because I have circulation and it's getting better. Unfortunately, one of my physicians' whole system went down. He got really sick from Covid a couple of years back. He went down just as we were getting ready to get up on the crutches. That was quite disappointing. I was pretty pissed off and heartbroken, actually. But it doesn't mean we can't go again. I don't give up that easy. I've got two goals: Get up, even one leg for the time being. Then, within the next two years, get back on me Harley."

Blabbermouth: You get through all of this and now you have some issues related to your immune system. Is that a concern with how much you travel?

Paul: "It's a completely true story. When I got sepsis nine years ago, it almost killed me. I can't make protein anymore naturally. I have to do it through shakes and stuff like that. I've got holes in my clavicle. I look like a sponge. Yeah, it's bloody difficult. As I've said, I've got one leg up at the moment that is absolutely so painful because the lymphedema is moving around a bit. It's absolutely murdering me—it goes right to the bottom of your foot. It's hard to concentrate and do anything when you're like this. But, fuck it, when I'm onstage, it's different altogether. Something comes over me and I'm alright, then I can cry afterward."

Blabbermouth: Do you want to go into the re-recordings of "Remember Tomorrow" and "Wrathchild"? What prompted you to do them?

Paul: "It wasn't my idea. We've got the 'Book Of The Beast' album coming out, which also has songs that are outside of IRON MAIDEN. My management in England thought it would be a good idea to re-record things using my voice."

Blabbermouth: I would imagine singing those songs is like riding a bike.

Paul: "We do these songs most nights. This is the last time during the tour this year and maybe a little bit early next year. That will be it and then we will change the set altogether. We'll go back to some of my old solo stuff and new stuff as well."

Blabbermouth: How do you rank the BATTLEZONE records and even the KILLERS records you did in the 1990s? It would be good to have a spotlight put on them.

Paul: "I knew we did pretty good. We stayed out on tour with BATTLEZONE in America for almost two years straight, with a little time off here and there. We did pretty good. It's been a long time, you know? We're going to put some of the older stuff into the set—stuff from the first album, 'Fighting Back'. Some 'Children Of Madness' stuff will also be going in. And some stuff from KILLERS from 'Murder One' will be going in. It could end up being a two-hour set. Oh boy."

Blabbermouth: Why do you say, "Oh boy?"

Paul: "I'm getting old, mate. [Laughs] I'm going to do what I need to do. The only thing that has kept me alive and from fucking killing myself is the thought of doing shows. I sat around for years in a wheelchair and people thought I might as well die. Fuck you, mate. That's not going to happen. They managed to get me out on the road a couple of years back and it's been great. It's good for me mentally. Since this all happened to me, I've had severe PTSD and that crap with all the depression and anxiety. I have never had it before and I can't deal with it very well. But you got to do it anyhow."

Blabbermouth: People are willing to fly you around the world to do shows, so that has to provide a lift.

Paul: "There is that. They've been good shows. I've got musicians and even though I'm in a wheelchair, it doesn't make any difference. It's still a good, powerful show. I'm still giving a thousand percent of what I got. They fly me around because they know they're going to get a good show. I've come back from Colombia, where we had over three thousand people a night. It's fantastic."

Blabbermouth: Do you have your own theory as to why there's such an audience for your era of MAIDEN?

Paul: "Yeah, well, we were the first. IRON MAIDEN was IRON MAIDEN at the time. We were completely different. They've changed a whole lot, but I think it's bloody great. I think they sound good—I really do. Yeah, different things. Early MAIDEN with me, it was original and no one sounded like us ever. We were pretty damn good. They've progressed and so have I. It's all good."

Blabbermouth: A lot of people were happy to see you and (MAIDEN frontman) Bruce (Dickinson) meet up recently. You have said the press has overblown any sort of hostility between you and him. What was it like meeting face-to-face?

Paul: "I know he's had a couple of digs at me and I've had a go back at him, obviously, but nothing spectacular. It was great to see him. I was with a couple of friends in Zagreb [Croatia]. And there was Bruce. It was great to hang out and talk. I've seen him around over the years, but there you go. It was good to see him. It's hard to put into words. You have to be there. When Bruce got offstage, I saw his band quickly and they went somewhere and it was me and Bruce. We had a few words, a quit chat, swapped albums and it was cool."

Blabbermouth: You had the same experience with (MAIDEN bassist) Steve (Harris) last year.

Paul: "That was good too. I was talking to Steve yesterday. He was texting me about West Ham. We lost our first [English football] game on Saturday and we were a bit pissed off. I got a message from Steve saying, 'It's only the first game.' Me and Steve have always been fans of them. It's good."

Blabbermouth: Do you ever talk to (IRON MAIDEN guitarists) Dave (Murray) or Adrian (Smith)?

Paul: "Nah. Not at all. I mean, they are always in some other country and I'm in other countries. We've not had any contact for a long time, to be honest with you. The only one I see is [MAIDEN manager] Rod [Smallwood] and Steve occasionally."

Blabbermouth: What's next for you?

Paul: "I want to get a new album out, that's for sure—all original stuff. I've got loads of songs written for me by my Norwegian band. They've got about 20 songs. Then, my writing partner in Mexico, we've got four tracks. I need to get myself right in the head to write lyrics. That's the problem. I'm not in the best place right now to write them. Once I get more action on my health and I move a bit more, I'm sure things will change and I'll be ready to start writing again. I could do it, but my head is not in the right place at the moment. I'm having some severe depression and PTSD is really bad because of all this shit going on. It's tough to put yourself in the frame of mind to start writing songs. If I did write songs, it would be awful. They might be great for some people—maybe I'll get a whole new Goth audience. [Laughs] I don't want to do that."

Blabbermouth: That's what keeps you going—writing music and playing in front of fans.

Paul: "It's the best painkiller I've got at the moment. It's great. Without that, I don't know what I'd do. I would have ended up killing myself to be honest with you. It's bloody awful to be like this all the time. You have really good days occasionally, but most of it is just pain all the time. It's bloody difficult."