Ex-IRON MAIDEN Singer PAUL DI'ANNO: 'I Suffer From Really Severe PTSD'

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, Paul Di'Anno was asked about the status of the much-anticipated documentary about the former IRON MAIDEN singer which is being helmed by Wes Orshoski, co-director and producer of the acclaimed 2010 film "Lemmy" about the MOTÖRHEAD icon. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " I don't know much about it, really. All I do is I just turn up and do it. I'm a little bit upset because I was hoping I'd be on my feet by then. But it's not happened. So you get this sort of documentary but it's the highs and lows of being in a wheelchair and struggling. And since all this happened to me, I suffer from really severe PTSD. And it's not good. It changes your whole personality. Sometimes you're happy go lucky. Other times, I'm screaming, I wanna kill people. And it's not fucking good. And that's not me. I'm only a happy-go-lucky person until somebody pisses me off; then I'll beat you up. So yeah, it's been a bit difficult. But Wes Orshoski's done a fucking amazing job. He's still mixing it down at the moment, so that'll be out very soon. God help me. [Laughs]"

Last December, Di'Anno spent time in Split, Croatia recording an album with his new project called WARHORSE. The band was formed earlier last year by Di'Anno and two guitarists/authors, Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante "Pupi" Pupačić.

WARHORSE previously recorded three songs, two of which — "Stop The War" and "The Doubt Within" — were released in May 2022 as a special DVD single along with Paul's video message to all fans who bought the single and thus helped raise funds for his recent knee operation.

Di'Anno recorded two classic albums with IRON MAIDEN — a self-titled effort in 1980 and "Killers" in 1981 — before being fired and replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He went on to front a number of other bands, including KILLERS and BATTLEZONE, and released several solo records.

The WARHORSE single marked Di'Anno's first music release after a seven-year hiatus due to severe health issues.

Di'Anno, who finally underwent his knee surgery in September 2022, played the first show since the operation on October 1 at the Keep It True Rising II festival in Würzburg, Germany.

In December, Paul was joined by Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G., well known in rock and metal circles for his work as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist and as leader of his own band FIREWIND, for three concerts in Greece, where they played songs from MAIDEN's first two albums, "Iron Maiden" and "Killers".

In May 2022, Di'Anno came face to face with MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris for the first time in three decades before the band's concert in Croatia.

Harris, whose group kicked off the 2022 leg of its "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour at the 22,000-capacity Arena Zagreb, came out before the show to greet a wheelchair-bound Di'Anno and chat with him for a few minutes.

After his friendly meeting with Harris, Di'Anno stuck around long enough to watch some of MAIDEN's performance before leaving near the end of the set to avoid a huge traffic jam after the show.

Also in May 2022, Paul played his first full solo concert in seven years at the Bikers Beer Factory in Zagreb. The show was filmed and parts of it will be included in Orshoski's documentary.

Image and video credit: Fernando Bonenfant for The Metal Voice