Iron Maiden narrowly missed out on the top spot on the UK Billboard charts for 2021 and were just beaten by Drake.
Speaking to xxx, the band’s lead singer Bruce Dickinson acknowledged that him and his fellow band members are a lot older than Drake, but said he doesn’t really “get” what the ‘Hotline Bling’ singer does.
“We went head to head with Drake the week the album was released. I don’t really get what he does, though a lot of people do, but going head to head with him felt like, ‘No this is real music played by a bunch of old geezers who make no concessions to the times in which we live.’
“People say, ‘You’re dinosaurs.’ And we go, ‘Yeah and there aren’t too many of those left.’
“This is who we are, it’s what we do.”
Determined to stay true to his old school roots, Dickinson also shared that he is proud that the band doesn’t really use social media in an attempt o gain fans.
By and large our audience as moved on with us. Maiden’s audience is like a table made of plywood; every year you just add a new layer and the table gets bigger and bigger.
Love Metal?
Get the latest Metal news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“We’ve grown organically – not through social media or any of that stuff.
“We’ve grown by going out and doing it in front of people.”
Earlier this year, Dickinson contracted a breakthrough infection of COVID-19, despite being double vaccinated.
“The delta variant is the dominant strain in America, and has been the dominant strain in the U.K. and Europe for a while now,” Dickinson said during an interview with Gregg Stone of the 103.5 The Fox radio station.
“But people who have gotten vaccinated are just not dying from it — not really. Something like 98 per cent of people in hospitals haven’t had a vaccine shot.
“I don’t believe that people should be forced to have vaccines,” he continued.
“Maybe in hospitals and stuff like that — people who work there. But honestly, it’s a personal decision.
“But I just think people are nuts not to take protective action against something that really could kill them.
You can read more about this topic on the Metal Observer.
