ADRIAN SMITH On IRON MAIDEN Songwriting Process: 'It's All About Sparking Off Someone Else'

In a new interview with Spain's Modern Guitar Lab, Adrian Smith spoke about his songwriting process with IRON MAIDEN. The 68-year-old guitarist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "I still spend a couple of weeks before every MAIDEN album, I sit in my home studio, 'cause we're all separated all over the world, so we're not together with MAIDEN. So I always have six, eight, 10 ideas in a demo form, so they'll have drums, guitars, even some melodies on the guitar. Then, depending on the idea, I'll show it to Steve [Harris, MAIDEN bassist] or Bruce [Dickinson, MAIDEN vocalist], because Steve is almost more into writing lyrics and melodies these days. So quite often, he'll just write lyrics to what I've written. But I write lyrics as well, and titles. I think there was a song called 'Speed Of Light' [from 2015's 'The Book Of Souls' album] a couple of albums ago, and I had that idea, and Bruce liked the title, but then he wrote around [it]. But I had the title and the kind of melody for that. 'The Writing On The Wall' [from 2021's 'Senjutsu' album] was the same thing. I had the title for that, but Bruce took it further on. So, yeah, it's all about sparking off someone else, which is great."

Asked if he uses other instruments during the writing process, such as the piano or the drums, or if he only focuses on the guitar, Smith said: "Just guitar, really. A bit of bass. I could mess around on the drums… But no, I wish I could play piano. I think you have to dedicate yourself and do something every day to play piano. And I just don't have the patience to really learn it. So, as far as guitar, I'm quite into effects. So I like to try, and every time I do an album, I bring in a new effect or something, and maybe that will inspire a song. Like song 'Wasted Years', when I was in Japan in the '80s, they gave me a guitar synthesizer, one of the first ones, a Roland. I remember getting it out of the box — we were rehearsing in the Channel Islands in Jersey — and I plugged it in and it just started making this crazy noise. But it was like a sequence. And I kind of listened to it, and then I started playing this riff, and it was 'Wasted Years'. I wouldn't have come up with that riff if it wasn't for that thing. So sometimes messing around with things that you're not a master of will give you an idea. Or a new guitar will give you an idea. I had a white flying V, which I've never really played. I bought it in the '80s. And as soon as I picked it up, I played this riff and it ended up being a song called 'Back In The Village' [from 1984's 'Powerslave' album]. But I never played the guitar. But I got that song off it. So it was worth the money."

Two months ago, IRON MAIDEN announced the North American dates of the "Run For Your Lives" world tour. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the band will perform at stadiums and major amphitheaters across the United States and Canada, allowing fans the chance to witness the brand new, state-of-the-art production, on the scale it is intended for — huge stages in outdoor venues, to accompany the once-in-a-lifetime setlist of songs from the band's groundbreaking first nine albums. The 16-stop trek opens at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, and includes performances at TD Garden in Boston, Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre just outside of Chicago, Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, and more before concluding Saturday, October 2 at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City. Joining MAIDEN on tour are thrash metal pioneers MEGADETH and ANTHRAX, depending on the date.

These upcoming tour dates will mark 45 years since IRON MAIDEN first visited Canada and the USA on the 1981 "Killer" world tour, and feature some of the biggest shows the band has ever played there. The return to BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on September 25 and September 26 will be the 25th and 26th time the band has played in the City of Angels.

The first European leg of "Run For Your Lives" took place this past summer. A second European leg will run from May through July 2026.

For MAIDEN's European tour in 2025, the band requested that fans "severely limit their use of phones at our concerts, ideally just keeping it in their pockets the whole time, especially in those standing areas in front of the stage."

Smith was born in Hackney, East London, on February 27, 1957. He joined IRON MAIDEN at the end of 1980. Adrian is the bandmember who has collaborated on the most side projects outside of IRON MAIDEN, as well as writing and recording a series of albums in the early '90s, before rejoining the band. IRON MAIDEN has sold 100 million albums, and tours the world playing to millions of fans. Onstage, Adrian uses Jackson and Gibson guitars. Offstage, he is an avid tennis player. However, his main hobby is fishing.