BRUCE DICKINSON Talks About Why IRON MAIDEN’s Sound Stops Him From Using 'Bone-Crushing Heaviness'
The singer says his solo career lets him explore heavier, detuned sounds beyond the band’s traditional style.
Summary
- Bruce Dickinson says his solo career lets him explore bone-crushing heaviness that doesn’t fit Iron Maiden’s style.
- He credits Steve Harris’s progressive rock vision as shaping Maiden, while his solo work has no such restrictions.
- With Roy Z, Dickinson experiments with drop tunings, 7-string guitars, and heavier sounds outside the Maiden framework.
In a recent interview with Shaggy of the 94.9 and 104.5 The Pick radio station, IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson opened up about the deliberate “heavier” musical direction of his solo work compared to the band’s output.
When asked if this was by design, Dickinson was unequivocal.
“Yes, because MAIDEN, stylistically, obviously, there’s a lot of influence from Steve [Harris, MAIDEN bassist and founder] in everything,” he explained. “And whilst it’s sometimes heavy, it’s sometimes proggy and things like that. So, with me, I do go down the prog route sometimes, but I love that kind of bone-crushing sort of detuned… I mean, there’s a lot of heaviness now in the air, which MAIDEN doesn’t really take advantage of, ‘cause I’m not sure necessarily it fits the kind of soundscape that Steve likes. But I’m not restricted by that. It’s like having a painter with an unlimited palette.”
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Bruce’s comments align with past statements about the creative dynamics within IRON MAIDEN.
Speaking to Stereogum earlier this year while promoting his latest solo album, “The Mandrake Project”, he described the difference in creative freedom between his two musical worlds.
“The solo stuff, it’s a different world,” Dickinson stated. “In IRON MAIDEN, it’s a democracy. Well, it’s a democracy that’s ultimately controlled by Steve Harris because he started the band, he’s the main writer, and he has a particular vision for the way he wants the songs to sound. And that’s fair enough. With my solo stuff, there’s no such restriction.”
The “proggy” element Bruce mentions is a clear reference to Harris’s well-documented love for 1970s progressive rock.
Steve has often cited bands like GENESIS, JETHRO TULL and YES as formative influences, a fact he confirmed in an interview with Metal Hammer.
“People know I’m a big fan of progressive rock, and it’s always been a part of my influences,” Harris said. “I’ve always liked the epic, longer songs and I think that’s pretty obvious in MAIDEN’s music. The time changes, the melodic parts… that all comes from there.”
For his solo work, Dickinson’s key collaborator has long been guitarist and producer Roy Z, who helps him explore the heavier sonic territories that lie outside of the MAIDEN framework.
In a 2024 interview with Loudwire, Bruce elaborated on his partnership with Roy.
“With Roy, we’re on the same page about the music. We don’t have to second-guess it,” Dickinson shared. “We go for stuff that’s heavy, that’s got groove. We can use things like a 7-string guitar and drop tunings to get a really massive, modern sound, which is something that MAIDEN just doesn’t do. It wouldn’t really sound like MAIDEN if we did. My solo work is where I can be a bit more of a mad scientist with those sounds.”
Even fellow MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, another of the band’s principal songwriters, has noted the stylistic differences in their approaches.
Speaking to Guitar World about his own writing process, Smith remarked:
“When I write, I tend to be a bit more concise, more of a traditional song structure. Steve will have these epic pieces with lots of changes. It’s a different way of working, but it’s that combination that makes MAIDEN what it is.”
Iron Maiden wrapped up their Legacy of the Beast World Tour in October 2022, a sprawling run that had begun in 2018, spanned 140 shows across continents, and became their longest tour with Dickinson since the ’80s.
They launched the Future Past World Tour on May 28, 2023, blending material from Somewhere in Time and their then-latest album Senjutsu. The tour extended through December 7, 2024, covering Asia, Oceania, Europe, South and North America across six legs and 81 shows.
In December 2024, longtime drummer Nicko McBrain retired following health concerns that had surfaced earlier in the year. He played his final show in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In his place, Simon Dawson (formerly of British Lion) was named touring drummer.
By 2025, the band was celebrating its 50th anniversary with the Run For Your Lives World Tour, focusing on their first nine studio albums. The European leg, part of this anniversary run, sold over a million tickets.
In July 2025, Iron Maiden performed at Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano in front of 55,000 fans, delivering a high‑energy, multi‑generational show despite some acoustic issues.
They also released a commemorative 50th‑anniversary coin, issued by the Royal Mint in July 2025.
Offstage, Dickinson maintained his fencing hobby at veteran level. In January 2025, he placed 13th at France’s Circuit Européen veterans’ tournament, competing against Olympic foes and noting a strategic shift to épée.
Check out the full interview. 👇
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Iron Maiden’s first real step onto the global stage came in 1981, the same year the band dropped Killers and hit the road for their first world …
