BLAZE BAYLEY Says His Albums With IRON MAIDEN 'Will Stand The Test Of Time'

British heavy metal vocalist Blaze Bayley (IRON MAIDEN, WOLFSBANE) was interviewed by rock journalist Mitch Lafon for a recent edition of the "One On One With Mitch Lafon" podcast (Facebook page). You can now listen to the chat using the Spreaker widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On what he contributed to IRON MAIDEN during his time with the band:

Blaze: "Well, my era is really the start of the progressive era. And there was no music written before I joined IRON MAIDEN; there was nothing ready for a new album. We started from scratch together, and Steve [Harris, IRON MAIDEN bassist] listened to my voice, and when he was writing, he wrote the songs with my voice in mind. And that's why, I think, things like 'Sign Of The Cross' and 'The Clansman' turned out so well. And I did a lot of writing in the band. And I think those two albums really mark the change from what had come before on 'Somewhere In Time' to a real dark, progressive era. And everywhere that people like these dark, intense, emotional things, then that album is very popular. So that's it, really. It's a different voice, it's a different approach.

"I loved being in IRON MAIDEN, I absolutely loved it, and I was a big fan of the band before. And I loved being a part of it and writing those songs and being in the band that doesn't have to compromise musically for anybody, that can write for themselves. That was something that I felt great about; it's something I've carried on into my own career. All of the things that I learned from Steve Harris. He's such a generous person when it came to songwriting, and he was a kind of mentor to me when I was in the band. And all of those things that I've learned I've poured into the songs and the music in my solo albums. So he's been a massive influence on my writing. But I think those albums now… It's twenty years ago, and fans who are getting into the band in recent times, when they go back and they find those albums, I think it's a bit of a surprise, because the voice is so different to Bruce [Dickinson, IRON MAIDEN singer]. And I get a lot of people who come up to me with their new copies of 'The X Factor' and 'Virtual XI' to sign. So it's really fun, and there are some songs on those albums that mean a lot to people, and that's a really nice feeling for me."

On whether it feels rewarding to see fans finally acknowledging the quality of the material on "The X Factor" and "Virtual XI" albums:

Blaze: "Yeah, it is a really nice feeling when people come up and they weren't around… some of them weren't around at the time when those albums came out, and I have great comments. And some people who are really honest and say, 'Well, I didn't like it at the time, and I've had no choice but to go back and listen to them, 'cause I had listened to everything else to death, and when I've gone back and listened to them without that kind of emotional attachment of 'my favorite singer has left my favorite band,' then it's been something that I've started to understand. And it's a great feeling, really, and I feel very privileged to have been a part of it and to be in that era, when there were so many changes in the industry and in the band itself that I was a part of that. And I think those records, those CDs will stand the test of time, and I think they'll always have that deeper meaning. And I'm really happy about that. It's very nice to meet fans who come up and say, 'Well, it's still one of my favorite albums.'"

On whether he was made to feel like a member of IRON MAIDEN right from the get-go:

Blaze: "We started writing. We didn't do any shows. We started writing, and we started getting the songs together. And we were being slagged off in the British press — all of us. They were saying that MAIDEN was dead, they were saying that it was all over, that MAIDEN wouldn't survive without Bruce Dickinson, and all of that, and then there was the things that Bruce was saying in the press at the time. Yeah, we all felt like we were a band, and we were up against it, really, and we had to do something pretty special. And obviously, I was new, but I never felt excluded or anything. It was the same thing that I had been doing — just the intensity was absolutely incredible compared to what I had been doing in WOLFSBANE."

On his proposed idea of having IRON MAIDEN play a special show featuring all three singers that have appeared on the band's albums: Blaze, Paul Di'Anno and Bruce Dickinson:

Blaze: "It's mainly for the fans, really. I just think it would be so much fun. And I can imagine the arguments raging afterwards about who's the best singer, just like they've raged for years and years. So I think it would be so much fun. And it's really nice when a band of MAIDEN's stature, when they go back and do something that is a bit nostalgic. I think fans really enjoy that. So MAIDEN are moving forward, they're always innovating. The albums that they've done recently have been really good, and they've done some really different things on there. But I think it just would be a lot of fun, when Paul's well enough to do it. I think it would be great. I don't think it will happen. But I would love it to happen."

Bayley released his eighth solo album, "Infinite Entanglement", on March 1.