Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett Recalls Unreal Experience With Iron Maiden ‘Gods’

During a recent chat with Neil Jones of Total Rock, the Foo Fighters lead guitarist Chris Shiflett recalled how he once played soccer with his childhood heroes, Iron Maiden, who were like gods to him in his early years.

As much as most of the other rockers in the scene, Shiflett was also attracted to different genres of music in his youth. Not long ago, during an appearance on the Rock Show with Johnnie Walker, the guitarist had chosen Hanoi Rocks’ Andy McCoy as his rock god. He explained that he had first heard their ‘Two Steps from the Move,’ which had a massive influence on him.

In a new interview, Shiflett again mentioned some of his early inspirations, including country music. Although he was not much into the genre, he would always hear its influences in the other rock records he used to listen to. Then, the host asked him about his hard rock and metal influences while also predicting that he was probably immersed in the music of Iron Maiden.

The musician confirmed the host’s point and revealed that he was a huge fan of Iron Maiden, and they were like gods to him. Then he also recalled when he got the chance to play soccer with the band members a few years ago. Seeing Steve Harris and the other members running in the field was a memorable and exciting moment for Shiflett.

On his early influences, the guitarist said:

“Country music is a huge part of American culture. So, in that sense, it was always around. It wasn’t something I was drawn to or listened to when I was young, but the residue from country music was certainly in a lot of my favorite Stones records and things like that. My entry to it was like in the 1990s.”

When asked if he was interested in Iron Maiden’s music, he replied:

“Oh, yeah. They were like gods to me. I actually had a chance a few years ago to play soccer with them. I guess in Iron Maiden tours; they tend to go put together soccer games. And the day we got to play with them was… Steve Harris was playing, some of their crew and some other bands with whom they were on tour. It was so rat. Just to see Steve Harris running around in his soccer kit. The little kid in me was like really excited. It was cool.”

Besides Iron Maiden and Hanoi Rocks, Shiflett had also mentioned the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, KISS, Aerosmith, and Scorpions as some of his early influences in his previous interviews. Apparently, Maiden holds a special place in his heart as he calls them ‘gods.’