ADRIAN SMITH Was 'A Little Uncomfortable' With IRON MAIDEN's 'Violent' EDDIE Imagery

November 4, 2020

In a new interview with Robert Cavuoto of Myglobalmind, IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith was asked if he has a favorite image of the band's mascot Eddie over the course of MAIDEN's four-decade career. He responded: "In the early days, the images of Eddie with all the bloody axes made me feel a little uncomfortable as I thought it was a bit violent. As we get older, the imagery is slightly more subtle, like with the 'Brave New World' album cover. It's broader, and you can still use the Eddie imagery in a subtle way. I'm big into subtlety."

Eddie, whose full name is Eddie The Head or Edward The Head (also known as Edward The Great),is a perennial fixture in the often-violent MAIDEN album cover art, as well as ever present in the group's live shows.

Eddie made his first appearance on MAIDEN's debut single, "Running Free", in February 1980. The skeletal character was created by illustrator Derek Riggs, who was the band's sole artist — designing album covers, single covers and t-shirts — until 1992's "Fear Of The Dark" LP, which saw MAIDEN collaborate with Melvyn Grant. Grant was also responsible for 1998's "Virtual XI" and 2010's "The Final Frontier", while Hugh Syme designed 1995's "The X Factor", Steve Stone created 2000's "Brave New World", David Patchett handled 2003's "Dance Of Death", Tim Bradsheet took the reins for 2006's "A Matter Of Life And Death", and Mark Wilkinson designed 2016's "The Book Of Souls".

Smith is currently promoting his memoir, "Monsters Of River & Rock", which was released on September 3 via Virgin Books.

IRON MAIDEN's new double live album will be released on November 20 via BMG. Containing over 100 minutes of classic MAIDEN music and available in multiple formats, including a limited-edition Mexican Flag, triple-colored (180g) vinyl and a limited-edition deluxe two-CD book format, "Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live In Mexico City" was recorded during the band's three sold-out arena shows there in September 2019 and is a celebration of their "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour which began in 2018 and will finish next summer in Europe.

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