BRUCE DICKINSON Will Have A Busy Next Two Years: 'I Know What I'm Doing Up Until The End Of 2028', He Says

IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson made a one-day-only appearance at Fan Expo Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on August 28, 2026. Asked during a question-and-answer session at the event what non-music related projects he is currently working on, Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, there's a couple of things I'm doing filmically. One is a project to do with a… Well, basically a friend of mine's a movie producer, and we've been fencing for years, since 1987 or something like. And we met up in Los Angeles, and he said, 'We're gonna do a movie about fencing.' Basically 'The Karate Kid', but using modern-day fencing in the run-up to the Olympics. And I went, 'Yeah, that's kind of cool.' And he's got a guy called Rob Edwards, who's an A-lister, a Disney writer, who's gonna write it. And so he said, 'Do you wanna be the baddie?' I went, 'Yeah, I'll be the baddie.' It's always gonna be the English guys who are gonna be the baddie. We're just bad people, aren't we? So, yeah, so that's not filling my rearview mirror at the moment because it's, like, 'Yeah, okay, I'll do that. Let me know when you've got the funding for it.' At the same time, I'm working on a screenplay, which is an offshoot of my comic, graphic novel, 'The Mandrake Project'. So it's not 'The Mandrake Project' 'cause I'm still halfway through finishing the third book, which will be out next year, and then the whole thing will be done, and we can put out a 500-page graphic novel. But it actually takes place after the end of this series of 'Mandrake'. 'Cause a friend of mine's a director in Brazil. I've just shot five music videos in the desert and various other places with him in the last week… But we've got some cool guys in it. We've got [horror icon] Bill Moseley, is in it, [along with fellow horror legends] Linnea Quigley, Michael Berryman — very cool. It's gonna be about a 45-minute piece when it's all finished. But there'll be individual videos as well. So, the film is really good fun. But it's expensive and time-consuming. But that's okay. So I'm doing that. Finishing up 'Mandrake'. My [next] solo album's coming out early next year. [I've got a] great [solo] band. We're touring, headlining in Europe, making a big step up to larger theaters. So that's all very exciting. And, of course, with MAIDEN, we've got plans through till… Ooh, well… I know what I'm doing up until the end of 2028, put it that way."

Dickinson's upcoming music videos were filmed in August in Nevada with Leo Liberti, the Italian-Brazilian award-winning director and post-production artist who previously worked with Bruce on the recent "Change Of Heart" and "Tears Of The Dragon" videos.

Dickinson's new solo album is tentatively due in early 2027 via BMG.

Most of Bruce's eighth solo album was recorded this past January and February at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge, California with producer Brendan Duffey, who previously helmed the partly re-recorded, remixed and newly mastered version of Bruce's second solo album "Balls To Picasso", now titled "More Balls To Picasso", which was made available in July 2025.

Dickinson's follow-up to "The Mandrake Project" is being mixed by Brendan at his Brendan Duffey Audio high-end mixing and mastering studio in Jupiter, Florida.

Dickinson recently told Steve Harkins of TalkShopLive that his upcoming solo album will include a collaboration with his son Austin. Bruce's oldest son, the 35-year-old Austin is a musician best known as the former frontman for the metal bands RISE TO REMAIN and AS LIONS. Dickinson went on to say that tracks from the LP "will be out this year, a little bit, so people can hear a little bit of it. At some point this month, I'm shooting four or maybe five videos for it." He added: "I'm pretty busy in '27. And I think everybody's gonna be very happy with what I'm busy with — in every sense of the word."

This past April, Bruce revealed that he recorded 16 songs for his new solo album over a three-week period earlier this year. He told Rolling Stone magazine: [We did it] all 100 percent live. It's like the anti-A.I. generation."

Dickinson's upcoming album was recorded with his touring band, consisting of keyboardist Mistheria, drummer Dave Moreno, bassist Tanya O'Callaghan, and guitarists Chris Declercq and Philip Näslund.

In February, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser shared photos of him with Bruce at Studio 606 and revealed that he plays percussion on Dickinson's new LP.

Bruce and his long-term co-writer and producer Roy "Z" Ramirez recorded "The Mandrake Project" largely at Los Angeles's Doom Room, with Roy Z doubling up as both guitarist and bassist. The recording lineup for "The Mandrake Project" was rounded out by Mistheria and Moreno, both of whom also featured on Bruce's previous solo studio album, "Tyranny Of Souls", in 2005.

Dickinson made his recording debut with IRON MAIDEN on the "Number Of The Beast" album in 1982. He quit the band in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band WOLFSBANE. After releasing two traditional metal albums with former MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith.