Louder AAA
Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson wants the UK metal veterans to return to the studio before heading out on the next tour, but he’s not convinced that bassist/founder Steve Harris shares his vision.
Talking to Kerrang!, the vocalist, who joined Maiden in 1981, calls himself a “creative bunny” eager to follow up the band’s Gold-selling 2021 double-disc Senjutsu.
“[It’s] a bit hard work to try and get straight answers out of six people about what should we do on Tuesday, but that’s the reality of being together for this long,” he says when asked about future plans.
“Personally, I would love to do another, another album,” he continues. “I would rather do another album than another tour. If I had to choose between the two, I’d rather choose a new album, but Steve’s the other way around. He will tour and tour and tour and tour until he probably dies onstage. Touring is fun, but it’s not new. I'm a creative bunny, and I like making new, new things.”
Harris, interviewed in the same article, corroborates what his frontman says, explaining that he doesn’t want to “rush” into a new songwriting and recording cycle.
“I think Bruce would love to do a new album, and I don’t have a problem doing one. I just think if we do one, it’s got to be at the right time,” he says. “But everybody’s got to want to do it, so we’ll have to see about that. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m not saying we’re not going to do one, I’m just not saying we are eager to rush into it.”
Dickinson’s fatigue with life on the road is understandable, since he and his bandmates are currently in the middle of a busy touring year. Maiden are booked to play 91 gigs in 2026 as they continue their 50th-anniversary Run For Your Lives world tour, which kicked off last summer. The setlist for the trek sees the band exclusively play material from their first nine studio albums, from 1980’s self-titled debut up to 1992’s Fear Of The Dark.
The Run For Your Lives trek is in its second European leg, which will continue tonight (June 17) in Milan, Italy at San Siro Stadium. The run across the continent will be capped off by a show at Knebworth Park in Stevenage, UK, on July 11, when the band headline their own festival, Eddfest. As well as Maiden, performers include The Hu, Airbourne, The Darkness, The Almighty and the solo band of ex-Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley.
Touring will pick back up again for a trek across the Americas, starting in August, then Australia and Asia. Maiden’s final 2026 shows will take place at the K-Arena in Yokohama, Japan on November 24 and 25, and the band have said they will not return to the stage until 2028 at the earliest.
During their 2027 downtime, members will focus on individual projects. Harris says it’s likely that he will return to his hard rock outfit British Lion, while Dickinson will release his next solo album, the follow-up to 2024’s The Mandrake Project. The upcoming album was recorded at Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 facility in California in January, and members of Brazilian metal band Sepultura seem set to make appearances.
