In a new interview with Classic Rock, Bruce Dickinson stated that Iron Maiden would stop performing the day they had to use backing tracks, saying, they would rather bow out with dignity than keep performing with backing tracks.
“The idea that you can turn it into the Disneyland Maiden, by using backing tracks, a few tricks… No!” Dickinson said during the interview. “Maiden has to be one hundred percent real – and f*cking fierce!”
The frontman continued, “Only recently this guy, a big fan, said to me: ‘It’s so great to see Maiden still doing it,’ I said: ‘Yeah, and we’re doing it for real!’ There’s no detuning. This guy said: ‘Lots of bands use backing tracks now…’ I said: ‘No! No, no!”
“[If we use backing tracks,] that’s the day I quit. Or the day we stop. If it’s not real, it’s not Maiden,” he added.
In a 2019 interview with New York Post, Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith said he didn’t ‘agree’ with some rock artists using pre-recorded tracks during live performances. “I tell you what, I see it with a lot of younger bands, and I don’t think it’s a good thing at all. I mean, the music is getting too technical now. You have computerized recording systems, which we use, but I think we use them more for convenience than because we need to.”
“We’ve toured with a couple bands that use tapes — it’s not real. You’re supposed to play live; it should be live. I don’t agree with using tapes… I think it’s a real shame,” he added.
The band will celebrate their 50th anniversary with the Run For Your Lives tour, featuring a setlist from their first nine albums. After the Run For Your Lives tour, Dickinson hinted that new Iron Maiden albums might be coming. The details are still scarce, though.
