Unexpurgated: The interview with Iron Maiden's Janick Gers

The big Brucie arrives at Changi airport (Picture by Amos Wong for LAMC)

Well, heading off on such a long tour can be trying. How do you keep your momentum up? Every gig is very important to the people who paid to come and see us, so I think it’s very important to give the very best show you can give. And you know, a lot of these gigs we only come once every two years or so – if we ever get back there – so we’re aware that every concert is very very important and we try to put the best show on every time. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 100,000 or 10,000 or whatever. It’s doesn’t matter. We put the best possible show on for what we can do. And yes, under the circumstances, we do have problems with things like the power or something or other but we have to make do with what we have and make it the best. Every gig is important. There’s no showboating.

(picture by Aloysius Lim/LAMC)

Do you think there’ll be any incidents? We set off from London and we had a problem with the plane. We had to actually make a new part for it. And we put it on and it didn’t work. So that’s a bit of a Spinal Tap moment, I think, these little technical problems kind of slow you down. But it was working in the end, and we’re all raring to go, ready to play. How do you stop yourselves from getting bored playing the same songs night after night? We change the set a lot, actually! A couple of years ago, we only played the brand new album then. Then later on, we did an early set with songs from the early 80s. But there are a couple of songs which – people would lynch us if we didn’t play so we have to play those. We try to keep it interesting for ourselves and for the people coming to watch us. We’re not a parody band. We don’t just play the old stuff. We’re always trying to push the boundaries.

Iron Maiden's biggest fan is also their youngest! (Picture by Aloysius Lim/LAMC) Talk about pushing boundaries, one of them is the age gap. You get young kids coming to your shows – not just the fans who’ve been there since day one. When we played in Scandinavia, most of the kids there were 12 to 15 and the guys in the back were the older fans. And it’s incredible. Because of you think of it in terms of … well, like The Rolling Stones, they play to older people, you don’t too many young people coming out to their gigs. But for us, we get really young people and I find it uplifting, actually. It’s exciting to know we appeal to a new generation of fans. I think it’s fantastic. It keeps me on my toes, keeps me playing my best, rather than sinking into old age! It’s nice to see young faces out there, and you know they haven’t seen it before, so it’s exciting. It’s absolutely incredible. Not just in Scandinavia but all over Europe too. I can’t explain why it happens, but it does. I’m thankful for it, that our music gets across to these new fans. Do you think that's a validation of Iron Maiden: Because you guys are a band, playing live, instead of just relying on technology and doing everything with the push of a button? You can’t really knock other forms of music. But we’re very honest with what we do. We do what we believe in. We stick to our guns. When music trends started to change, we kept on doing what we do. We’ve done okay.  I wouldn’t knock other people – there’s plenty of room for everybody. I know what we like to do and I think we have a tremendous stage show and people who come see us enjoy it. That’s one of our strengths. We can go out and play and it’s all live.

No, theses are not Egpytian protestors but Iron Maiden fans at Changi airport on Sunday What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt? Just to be honest about your music and stick to your guns. And practice hard. You don’t want to get out there and not be good. You’ve got to put the work in. By all means have a drink after the gig, but we’re very straight before the gig. It’s about being professional and making the best impression you can. So, no sex drugs and rock and roll? Well no, I like a good drink afterwards! It’s just before that I don’t drink anything! I’ll do what I like when the gig’s over – that’s my time! It’s just up to the gig. After the gig, I shall have a tipple. What’s the best thing being in Iron Maiden now? I love travelling and playing. Playing is my favourite pastime. I like going to see new cultures, meeting new people and looking at the architecture. I’ve got my camera with me to go out and take photographs. I enjoy the life. I’ve been doing it since I was young, so I must like otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. The only problems we have is the jet lag and the time change. We’re going against time right now, so when we get to Singapore, we’ll be quite outside of our time zone. And it doesn’t get any easier. When we get to Australia, we’ll be like a day behind. And we’ll be going on at 8am, you know, from a week ago. You really have to adjust very quickly. That’s probably the hardest thing.

Let's see - milk, bread, toilet paper, eggs... hey, this isn't my itinerary! (picture by Amos Wong for LAMC) What would you like your epitaph to be? He came, he saw, he had a drink and he left. Do you think you’ll be working on new music on this tour and recording too? Well, we came out with the album at the end of the last tour, and this tour is meant for that album – although it’s slightly later than we planned. We finish in August, then we’ll take a break and put some new music together, so it’ll be the year after next I think! What’s the one thing you have to remind yourself of when you go on tour? You have to keep yourself physically fit and together. Because if you fall apart after the first week of touring… You know, you hear a lot of bands cancelling a tour because of “nervous exhaustion”, but what that means is that they’ve got so drunk they can’t do the gig any more. If you’re going on a six-month tour, you’ve got to pace yourself. I try to do a lot of gym work before we set off – actually, I did a lot of gym work and now I’ve got a stress fracture in my foot, so that’s sorted me out! I don’t drink during the day. I’m a night drinker. But you look after yourself. You have to be physically fit. It’s not a game. You can’t be ill. You’re travelling a lot, you’re eating different foods and no one’s going to look after you but you. Iron Maiden performs on Tuesday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets at $98 to $178 from Sistic.