Dead Rhetoric: “Children of the Damned” is your favorite Iron Maiden song of all time (from a previous interview I read on our site). Mine is “The Prisoner” from the same album… defend your position on the first Blaze sung Maiden album The X Factor, and what exactly is going on musically with them since reuniting w/Dickinson?
Fowley: I loved The X Factor when it came out, here’s the thing. I’ll go back to the No Prayer for the Dying record; when that record came out all my buddies were so far removed from Iron Maiden all of a sudden. In the old days every Iron Maiden record you couldn’t wait for it to come out, by then people had lost their way and wanted heavier stuff and Iron Maiden was no longer that go to band, and Priest dealt with that too. I was very into that record, cranking “Tailgunner” and “Holy Smoke” and “Public Enema Number One” and loving it, and the same with Fear of the Dark, I loved it, I remember seeing the video (for “Be Quick or Be Dead”) before the album came out. Then I remember seeing the video of Bruce’s last concert with them when they killed him w/the magician. I hoped they weren’t going to go with a new singer like Dickinson, but I also didn’t want a Di’Anno clone. Then the album just came out, and I remember people saying ‘oh Iron Maiden, the guy they got can’t sing a lick’. I got the record and I loved it. “Sign of the Cross” is awesome, “Lord of the Flies” is one of my favorite songs with Blaze. Some of the intros were a little long, but some of the early Iron Maiden stuff had long bass parts, Steve Harris is into a lot of Nektar and Jethro Tull, that 70’s progressive rock scene.
I thought the album was underproduced, but I thought Blaze did well, he reminded me of a cross between Messiah Marcolin and Ape De Martini from Oz. Other people thought he was flat and out of key. I think it was more based on the production. Dickinson has a lot of echo on those tracks; this one is tame and dry. I went and saw the tour and it was brilliant, although I had to sit through shitty ass Fear Factory at a general admission show. Then I got the next one (Virtual XI) and it wasn’t as good, the songs were short and they seemed like they were in a hurry to get back on the road. That was the first Iron Maiden album that I was ever disappointed in. To answer your question, Dickinson of course came back and I got Brave New World, and I liked that. I didn’t mind what Dickinson did as a solo artist; I didn’t like the Steve Harris – British Lion album. Some of that Maiden album is on fire, and some of it is like Dickinson’s solo work. I still bought it.
The next three, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death, and The Final Frontier, I love ‘em. I let them be what they want to be, Maiden is going to do what Maiden wants to do, if they wrote another album like The Number of the Beast that would be the easy way out and people would say Maiden is back. It’s not like its commercial nonsense to get a hit, the songs are way too long, they would go out on tour and play the whole new album. I remember guys freaking out that they weren’t going to be playing “The Trooper”, they had done 10 tours in a row with the hits and they warned people in advance about playing the new album in its entirety, some people didn’t get it. Brave New World is a 6/10 for me, Dance of Death is an 8/10, and The Final Frontier is a strong 9 for me. I know a lot of people don’t think that way, they think their best days are behind them. I’m not going to say The Final Frontier is better than Piece of Mind, but I think they are very viable.
I still love Kiss live, but those new records are terrible. Judas Priest hasn’t put out a record worthwhile since Defenders of the Faith. I am not a big fan of Painkiller; you could tell they were trying to go more modern. The new one sounds like it was recorded in my closest for like 8 bucks. It’s all about the money, I can almost sing better than Rob Halford now, I never thought that he would be the weak point in Judas Priest. Geoff Tate, he’s beat down, they are getting old, it makes me admire Bruce Dickinson that much more. That’s important.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you think newer bands need to think about that maybe the old guard has a distinct advantage on?
Fowley: Songwriting, studio playing, not going for the tricks and speeding up the process. Recording the riff once and then Pro Tooling it 80 times so the song is done, give the song some life. The sound on a lot of these records now is so stiff, sounds flat or like a robot is recording it. Where are the choruses? I hear no personality in lead playing these days, I have never been from the school of Yngwie Malmsteen where he is wanking. I need the Tony Iommi solo, something with depth and feeling, or a Rik Emmett or Gary Moore. I know a lot of people like Dimebag Darrell, but I can’t get into that, I need that personal touch and feeling, a good guitar solo in a song is as important as the chorus, it all has its place. This happened in the 1990’s with the power metal bands from Europe: Conception, Hollow, it wasn’t awful but it was formulated. Nothing stood out, that’s how I feel (now with) everyone is ripping off the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, more cool melodies with a rock edge. That was a beautiful time from 1978-1982, that kept that verse/chorus writing going.
Now it seems like the band logo and the photo is more important when it should be about the music. They have to find a way to do this themselves. It is one of the things I am proud of with October 31, I don’t think we sound like anybody in particular. I think this has enough distinction and yet is still based in traditional heavy metal. That’s important to me, I want to like every record out there, but 9 out of 10 records I hear these days don’t do a thing for me.
Dead Rhetoric: Finally, what do the next 12 months look like in King Fowley’s world as far as activities, music, touring, t-shirts you are making, etc.?
Fowley: (laughs). You like those t-shirts, huh? Everyone is in love with the Uriah Heep – Abominog shirts I made. There is a lot going on, we are going up to St. Louis and Chicago to play with Raven, then we will do a Sabbat, Skullview show. That’s an immediate thing, more East Coast stuff with October 31. I’m looking to do a US tour with both bands and maybe a European tour with both bands. Do some festivals and Mexico, South America. 30 years on I haven’t really gotten out to some of these countries. I don’t want to half ass either band. I’m not slowing down at all, I’m 46 and I feel I have at least 25 more years in me. I want to go, go go! That’s what’s on the horizon. The next Deceased album is going to be a while, as Mike and I are writing it now. Hells Headbangers is releasing all the October 31 albums on vinyl. We will be doing a Defenders of the Evil show in March in New York City, the first show w/ Exciter’s original lineup in the US in over 30 years!