I'm writing this in Rio De Janeiro and the view from the window is of Copocobana Beach and Sugar Loaf Mountain. We've just arrived (3.20pm Wednesday July 29th) but Keith Wilfort, our super- efficient IMFC director, has been hassling me for this for a few days, so...

Fresh from Montevideo in Uruguay where we played in an abandoned but beautifully preserved railway station. The stage was between platforms 5 and 7, (yes, the signs were still up!) with the massed fans in front of us, sand covering the tracks and the actual trains - old European-made steam engines with original carriages - were at the back, some 150 yards away. It was a huge and memorable gig.

Before that we played in Argentina, also for the first time. We were originally going to play three nights in a 5,000 seater but ended up playing to 32,500 fanatics in a football stadium. Metal is very popular there!
As you've probably heard, we were supposed to play at Santiago in Chile prior to the Argentinean gig, but were prevented by the Chilean Government, pushed by the Catholic Church, who think we are devil worshippers! Yeah, seriously. They're obviously not well. From then on, any mishaps on tour were jokingly put down to the Chilean Secret Police.

Next, we play for some 80,000 Brazilians in Rio, Sao Paulo and Port Allegre. This is our first return to Brazil, since the memorable 'Rock In Rio' in 1985. We're hoping to get to Mexico and Venezuela late in the year. It's fun playing new and unusual places and Maiden have always been at the forefront of breaking new ground for Metal. It's not always this much fun. In the States just before this, when we toured for a few weeks to 'break in' the new show prior to Donington and Europe, we had to put up with nearly every adverse weather condition going. Freezing cold in the Midwest (in mid-June!), earthquakes in LA, hailstorms in Kansas, tornadoes in Florida. It must have been down to the Chilean Secret Police.

We're very much looking forward to getting back to Europe... Super Rock, Donington, Monsters Of Rock, the show's been prepared in the States, we've got a few gigs under our belts, we're READY! Are you?
Yes I bet you are!

Have a great time. This is it.
All the best.

Rod Smallwood

CAN YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU WERE DOING ON OCTOBER 23RD 1991?

In a brand new state-of-the-art recording studio converted from a barn somewhere in Essex, the four musicians and a drummer(!) known collectively as Iron Maiden assembled after a few months break to start pre-production on a new album. In previous years, the band had been on a strict recording schedule- now they had the luxury of being able to proceed at their own pace which meant - that they could devote more time and attention to a record than ever before.

The first few days consisted of everyone playing back what they had been writing since the completion of the last album. Riff s, chords, and lyrics were exchanged, written, discarded and embellished as the band sought to assemble a nucleus of songs suitable for the new album. Meanwhile, back in London, artists were commissioned to submit pictures that would eventually be used on the new album's cover. Down in Wales, a video and production company started work on building a life(?)- sized rendition of Eddie.

By the end of the first couple of weeks, several songs had been rehearsed and strange changes were taking place. Nicko had been persuaded to change his snare drum creating a fuller drum sound and as the songs came together, the adrenaline started flowing, the old buzz was there and Iron Maiden were in full creative flow. By the middle of November, long-time producer Martin Birch was back in the chair and serious recording was underway. Unlike previous albums, Steve was also to play a full part in the production of the new album. In the past he had some input on the overall sound of the albums but this was the first time he had been involved in all the facets of the making of a Maiden album. Bass and drums, guide vocals and backing tracks for five songs were put down and rehearsals for more songs were underway and. The rehearse it, record it philosophy saw more songs being recorded at a phenomenal rate. There were a few teething troubles as brand new equipment in the studio was put through its paces for the first time and this slowed things down somewhat. Even by listening to rough mixes it became clear that something special was being produced.

On the artwork front, a painting submitted by Melvyn Grant had been selected by the band for the album sleeve. It featured a monstrous Eddie as a tree-thing, looking meaner than ever.

The first week of February saw a couple of days break from the final stages of recording while everyone went to Wales for photo shoots with George Chin and local snapper Phil Anstice. By now, the new album had a name FEAR OF THE DARK so with this in mind, a suitable location was needed for pictures for the album packaging and promotion. The locations were great but the near freezing weather made everyone want to get it over with as soon as possible. To make matters worse, Bruce went down with a stomach bug for the second day of the shoot. Finally though, everything got done and you can see the results in this programme and in the album, CD and tape packages.

With the album finished, EMI threw a massive launch party for the new album on April 1st. The Porchester Hallin Paddington was decked out like a giant fairground with all the trimmings. A series of sideshows represented various songs from the new album, for instance (a bit obvious, this one) ‘Afraid to Shoot Strangers was represented by a shooting gallery. There was a special darkroom that people could enter which was in total darkness and they could listen to all the new album tracks during the course of the evening. Another attraction were twelve six foot blondes armed with a portable CD player playing one track off the album. The food fare was hot dogs, burgers and candyfloss. Guests were also greeted by the laughing policeman, a bearded lady and a human jukebox. There were 500 guests from 27 countries, from USA to Japan, Chile to Greece. The party finally emptied out about 2 AM with some of the more hardened party-goers hitting London’s nightclubs. The following evening Nicko took 30 American media personnel on a tour of the city in an open-top double decker bus, visiting such sights as the infamous pub ‘The Blind Beggar’ in London’s East End where the 60’s gangsters the Kray twins and there retinue would hang out and ultimately kill George Cornell in one of Britain’s most famous gang slayings.

Two days later on a cold Friday morning, Iron Maiden were down in the heart of London’s Docklands ready to start filming the video for the first single from the album. The filming for ‘Be Quick or Be Dead’ took some seven hours from start to finish and then It was over to the production company H-Gun in Chicago for post-production. The demand for the video was so great that copies had to be transmitted by satellite from a flood-bound Chicago. The effort was worthwhile as ‘Be Quick…’ entered the UK charts at No. 21.

In the middle of the following week it was back in front of the cameras for the shooting of the video for the follow up single ‘From Here to Eternity’ at Pinewood Studios near Slough. The video, directed by Ralph Ziman at M-Ocean, was the most lavish production to date. The set featured the band doing there stuff in the depths of Hell. The overall effect was awe-inspiring. Anyone who has watched the video cannot fail to have been impressed. After this, everyone took off for foreign parts to do extensive promotion work. Bruce did 4 countries in 9 days, Steve 12 European cities in 14 days and Dave and Janick visited Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Canada in just 14 days.

Monday May 11th was the long awaited release date for FEAR OF THE DARK. The album sold a million copies worldwide on the day of release, looks like FEAR.. is going to become the biggest selling Iron Maiden album of all-time. The album went straight in at No.1 in the UK charts and No.1 2 in the USA. The album's success was reflected in equally pleasing charts (from the rest of the world) and great critical acclaim.

On May 13th, it was time to shoot another promo video for 'Wasting Love'. Directed by Samuel Bayer, this time the venue was down in South East London at an old pumping station. Once the shoot was finished there were only two weeks left before the start of the tour. Two weeks later, it was back in the Barnyard Studios and tour rehearsals. The set list is decided upon and then all the songs rehearsed before a run through of the live set.

The new songs have to be rehearsed as live because obviously there's a vast difference between recording a song and playing it on stage. The older songs have to be re-learned especially if they have not been played for a while. Janick having only been with the band since 1990 has to learn the older songs from scratch. I won't give away the secret of just what songs you'll be listening to but it's a good set and the stage show - well, judge for yourself. When rehearsals had finished and with as couple of days to spare before flying out for the opening show, the band decided they wanted to play the set before an audience, and so, at a couple of days notice, they drove up to The Oval pub in Norwich, which a mate of Steve's runs, and under the name of The Nodding Donkeys put on a blazing show for a sweaty, packed crowd of 350. A special T-shirt produced for the event is already a collectors item. June 4th saw the band fly to Iceland for the real opening night of the World Tour. Iceland sees few bands, so the reaction to this, the band's first visit there, was ecstatic. They had time to check out the hot springs and the Hard Rock, Reyjavik, before flying out the following morning to New York. Here, Maiden played a sold-out warm up show at The Ritz before moving upstate to Rochester for full production rehearsals with the huge new stage show. A few thousand lucky punters made it in for a run-through of the new show at the War Memorial in Rochester, and the tour proper opened at the Colisee in Quebec on June 13th. Quebec was chosen as it's always been a special place for Maiden. This beautiful city hosted Maiden's first ever sold out arena show in North America as long ago as 1981. This was the seventh time the band have played the Colisee and, surprisingly, this is the most times anyone has played there headlining - an honour for a British band.

The tour then wound its way across America before reaching South AAmerica on July 23rd, the band's first visit there since Rock in Rio in 1984. For the first time ever they played gigs in Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. A major setback in the early aprt of the tour came when Eddie was sent home in disgrace. He turned up as a tree creature and had to be given his marching orders back to England for corrective surgery in time for Europe! And so to Europe, Monsters of Rock, Super Rock, all of Europe, more USA and Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Austrailia...maybe even Indonesia, Tai Pai and others.

Wherever you are on the tour...hope you enjoy the gig.

Keith

Keith Wilfort, IMFC

July 20th 1992.

(from the Fear of the Dark tour program)