‘It Was A Shock To Leave IRON MAIDEN,’ Says BLAZE BAYLEY

Blaze Bayley

Former IRON MAIDEN frontman Blaze Bayley said his departure from British heavy metal legends came as a complete surprise.

He told filmmaker Daniel Sarkissian (see video below): “It was a shock to leave IRON MAIDEN — it was an absolute shock.

“But CD sales were gone; there was no interest in the band; things were going down; and they wanted a reunion — the record company wanted a reunion. At that time, DEEP PURPLE had a reunion. So Bruce [Dickinson] had to come back. The odd thing is Bruce is such a lovely, lovely bloke, and he’s always been very supportive of my career.

“We met before MAIDEN — I knew him before I was involved in  MAIDEN — and after, he’s been very kind to me. But it was a difference. It was like any big thing that you lose — it’s grief, it’s an adjustment to make — but playing to smaller audiences, that’s not an adjustment, because I’ve always been doing it, because I love to sing. And so if I’m performing, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s a few hundred people or thousands of people. So, that’s a different thing — that’s not a shock.

“The shock is that you’re not in the job that you were with. But that’s the same for anybody. It doesn’t matter that it’s IRON MAIDEN, and not IRON MAIDEN. It can be in a job for driving a bus, it can be a job working in a factory that you really love, making cars — it can be any job — that if you lose that job and that future and that way of life that you enjoyed, you’re gonna be upset about it.”