Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith has recalled the moment he lost a phone full of song ideas – which he’d recorded while sitting in his underwear.
He lost the handset while the band were rushing to an airport in time for flight, during their last US tour.
And he admits he was embarrassed when a fan found it and watched his nearly-naked video clips.
Smith tells MusicRadar: “In America we do runners from gigs – we jump offstage, jump straight into the cars and go haring off, and we stop at a gas station or a layby and change in the dark on our way to the airport.
“I lost my phone in America doing that, and it was full of ideas. I had no password on my phone, so this guy found it and he went through my ideas.
”There’s me sitting in my underpants in a hotel room on video, singing and playing guitar.”
Fortunately the man who found the phone was a Maiden supporter, and sent it home. “He said he loved my little performances,” Smith says. ”Of course, I thanked him and sent him a load of merch.”
In April Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett told how he’d lost 250 riff ideas when he lost his phone. It was never recovered. Maiden launched 16th album The Book Of Souls last month and continue to add dates to their 2016 world tour.
