In a recent interview with El Planeta Del Rock, Atreyu bassist Marc McKnight talked about his band’s gigs with Iron Maiden 15 years ago and why it was so challenging.
“One of the toughest shows we’ve ever had to play was in Monterey, Mexico with Iron Maiden in, I think, [February] 2009. And it was us direct support to Iron Maiden with Morbid Angel and Carcass and Lauren Harris’s band. And there was 35,000 people there, sold out. And the first 5,000 people at that show did not want f*cking anything to do with any band but Iron Maiden. And because we were right before Iron Maiden, they hated us the most. Or maybe because we had tight pants and weren’t as heavy.”
The bassist recalled the violence of the audience, but admitted that he loved every single second of it: “Isn’t it funny that Iron Maiden’s not that heavy, actually, but they have, like, the gnarliest fanbase on earth? They’re so theatric and triumphant and then every fan is, like, beating sh*t out of each other. It’s hilarious. I love it. I f*cking love it.”
“But that show, they threw a lot of stuff at us. There was a lot of physical violence. There were pesos being thrown at us. I actually got hit right here [below my right eye]. I have a dent in my skull from it, from a metal spike. F*ck, I wish I had it. I do have it, but I don’t know where it is. I kept it. It almost put my eye out. I was headbanging really fast. And it hit me right [below the eye]. I was bleeding everywhere. It was f*cking wild. So that show was difficult, but past those 5,000 people that were ravenous for Iron Maiden, [we had] circle pits, [people] singing along, we sold all of our merch — they f*cking loved us. We had a blast,” he added.
While these were apparently the most challenging ones, they weren’t the last shows with Iron Maiden. Atreyu was added to Iron Maiden’s Canadian tour dates in September and October of last year.
“Honored to share the stage again with such a legendary and incredibly entertaining band as Iron Maiden,” said Atreyu in their statement about the shows. “Atreyu has always been a high-energy band live, and with our forces combined it will be one hell of a show.”
The band’s frontman Brandon Saller also spoke about the then-upcoming 2023 tour last year, saying they hadn’t done many stadium shows before their first shows with Iron Maiden back in 2009. He added that he wanted to do a better job than the first time they went on tour with Iron Maiden.
Last month, Atreyu released ‘The Pronoia Sessions’ — a new collection featuring eight reimagined hits and two tribute covers.