ADRIAN SMITH On The 'Back And Forth' Of Writing With BRUCE DICKINSON: 'If You've Got Something, He'll Have Something Very Quickly'

In an interview following SMITH/KOTZEN's March 5 acoustic performance at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, guitarist/vocalist Adrian Smith (also of IRON MAIDEN) was asked about collaborating with Bruce Dickinson on the MAIDEN singer's solo albums "Accident Of Birth" and "The Chemical Wedding" in the late 1990s.

"That was a fun, fun time," Smith recalled. "I had a project called PSYCHO MOTEL and did a couple of good albums, [but] the grunge thing was happening everywhere. It was difficult. We were trying to put something together for a tour, and we were coming up against a lot of obstacles. Then Bruce just rings me up and says, 'Hey, you've got to listen to this stuff I've been writing with this guy Roy Z over in L.A.' He'd come around the house, and he played me 'Accident Of Birth'. I was just blown away. It was really good. He said, 'Do you want to get involved?' I said, 'Yeah, all right.' My project was on hold, so next thing I know, I was on my way to L.A."

Smith went on to explain that Roy Z introduced him to drop-D tuning, in which a guitar's low E string is tuned down a full step to create a heavier sound. "Roy was the drop-D [tuning] guy," Smith said. "I learned all these songs, but I didn't know about the drop-D tuning, so I just tuned my guitar all the way down to D. It was like a banjo. He said, 'No, no, no. I'll show you how to do it.' I've got to say, I learned a lot from Roy. He's a guitar teacher as well; he was a virtuoso. He gave me a few pointers. What I love about working with different people is you learn stuff, and you grow. It was a fun time, and I'm proud of those albums, and we did a couple big tours as well. It was a good, fun time."

Smith also reflected on writing with Dickinson in IRON MAIDEN. "I think I was the first one in MAIDEN to get a multi-track recorder in the '80s — a little four-track thing," he explained. "I used to start doing demos on that. When Bruce first joined the band, he and I used to hang out because we didn't have regular girlfriends. I should rephrase that. After rehearsal, we used to go down to the pub and play pool. We started writing, because everyone else would just go home to their missus, and we'd hang out and write. That's how it started. '2 Minutes To Midnight', I had on this little cassette. I only write a lyric if I have to, because it's a pain in the ass. You've got to do it [eventually], but Bruce just walks around with books of lyrics all the time. If you've got something [musically], he'll have something very quickly. Sometimes, I'll come up with a melody or a title like 'Speed Of Light' or 'Writing On The Wall', and that will inspire him. It's back and forth."

In response to an audience question about what he bought with his first big royalty check, Smith replied: "I'm not really a car person, but I did buy an E-Type Jag — a roadster, which was a piece of shit. I forget which tour it was, because it was a few tours before we started making real money. [Management] said, 'Well, you're going home. What do you want?' We'd been [on] the road for, like, a year or something, and going back to England, you need a car. I said, 'Any type? A roadster,' because I used to have a little toy one when I was a kid. I knew nothing about them, and I didn't know these things needed a lot of care and attention. The first thing I did, I took my mum out in it as a treat, and we got, like, a hundred yards down the road and it stopped. I went, 'I'm not really a car person.'"

>Asked what advice he'd give up-and-coming musicians, Smith responded, "Just do it, and enjoy it for what it is. There's no guarantees that it could be a career. More fall by the wayside than make it. When I started in bands, from 15 to just before I joined MAIDEN, just playing everywhere, I had a great time. [I] didn't have any money, but [I] just loved it. I had a great band – you're good friends, and you become like brothers. But I don't know if you should pull your eggs in one basket. Keep your eye on the alternative just in case."

SMITH/KOTZEN's second album, "Black Light/White Noise", will be released via BMG on April 4. The record — mixed by Jay Ruston (ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER) — sees Smith once again join forces with Richie Kotzen (THE WINERY DOGS),with whom he shares guitar and vocal duties.