Interviewed by Carlos Rodrigues

Date: February 10th, 2005

Recently I've had the privilege to ask Paul Di'anno a series of questions about his music, career, and what he's been doing lately. In 2002, he published an autobiography "The Beast" detailing his time with Iron Maiden and his subsequent solo offerings. Di'Anno has also worked with many talented musicians from all over the world during his career that is still going strong.

Rockeyez: I just have a few questions to ask that I'm sure our fans would like the answers to:  I've noticed that you haven't toured the United States in a long time.  Is that because  US music fans are less interested in metal music compared to most other parts of the world?
Di'Anno: Well I now feel the time is right for me to go back to the US and my manager is working on it right now. I didn't go for some time as the US market is so massive and it means you need to spend months and months there in order to get across to such a large country. However, I am now feeling very fit with high energy levels and I'm confident I can go there and make a bit of an impression in the US market.

You've been backed by a variety of different musicians in the last few years - including Nomad, Screaming Monkey, and members of Manitou. Does the dynamic of a new band keep things fresh and exciting for you or are there other reasons for the change?
Exactly, I need the freshness and excitement of working with different bands and musicians all of the time as this is what helps to keep me motivated. Also, each new musician I work with brings something new to me and helps me to stimulate my mind and stops me getting lazy by always relying on the same band playing with me.

Since leaving Iron Maiden in 1981 you've had success with your other bands and solo projects and worked with many artists.  Now that it's been almost 25 years since you've been with them, and bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are finding a new generation of fans listening to their music, Do you think that the nostalgia surrounding them are helping you with what you're doing now or narrowing people's perceptions to what you used to do?
Obviously the nostalgia helps Maiden, me, and other bands alike, but by constantly working and changing, I find that the majority of my fans are now younger (and from a totally new generation) and they are less likely to be nostalgic as they are too young. I would say the average age of fans coming to my shows is around 23 years old, and they are coming to see the variations of what I do now, along with what I used to do.

What are your perceptions of the Heavy Metal scene in Europe and South America compared to that of the United States?
Well I cannot answer on the States as I have not been there for a while, but mostly in Europe the fans are a little bit more reserved due to them always getting a lot more of live shows and concerts easily available to them. However South American fans are usually a lot more emotional as they do not get to see anywhere near as many concerts there, as we do over here in Europe.

At this stage of you life, do you still have the same passion for playing live gigs or is it more about writing the songs?
My passion is for playing live shows more than anything else, as this is the job I love.

What music do you currently enjoy listening to?
Many different types indeed and the full list would take me ages to write out, but here are a few of my favourites: The Ramones, Sepultura, System Of A Down, Linkin Park, Judas Priest, Slipnot, Cat Stevens, etc etc

What are your plans for 2005?
Touring, touring, and more touring, and hopefully to make a new album this year too.

Thank you for taking the time out to answer my questions and I urge all our readers to get out there and catch Paul Di'Anno on tour and pick up his albums!  You can find all the tour and album info, along with song samples, on his Official Website:  http://www.pauldianno.com/