The former Iron Maiden drummer Thunderstick has not spoken to his ex-bandmate Bruce Dickinson in so long.
In a new interview with Chaoszine, the drummer discussed the relationship between him and his former bandmates. Although he is still friends with both Dickinson and Steve Harris, the frontman and the former drummer didn’t talk since Dickinson is a multimillionaire.
When asked if he ever regretted not staying in the band, he replied:
“I have no regrets with Iron Maiden whatsoever. I’m still friends with Steve Harris and Bruce. And I hope that somewhere along the line, I could– I haven’t seen Bruce for many years because we work in different circles these days. He’s a multimillionaire, and I’m not! So I have no regrets with Iron Maiden.”
Though the rocker did not have any regrets about the band, he has a regret about something else. He continued:
“What I do regret is that there are a lot of people who view my music, and they are somewhat disappointed because it’s not out-and-out heavy metal. It’s more what I would consider as a power rock. It’s a hard rock, as you’ve said, New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, that kind of sound. It’s not heavy metal. The Thunderstick image became the focal point for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal with the front cover of Sounds, and the mask was used. And they bought out a new Thinderstick re-visited album CD. The original cover had the Thunderstick from Sounds. But there’s a retail shop over here called WH Smith, and they wanted to stock the albums in all the stores, all the WH Smiths. They refused to take it unless the image was covered up, so they put four other photos over the top of the Thunderstick image.”
He then discussed his own music and people’s reactions about it:
“I mean, with the music, a lot of people think I am– looking at it, ‘Oh, a guy that wears a mask, he used to be an Iron Maiden, he used to be in Samson, so it’s got to be heavy metal,’ and they get a bit of a shock when they hear what I do because it’s not heavy metal. It’s hard rock, and it’s powerful rock. It still has that ability to punch people in the face, but it’s not heavy metal.”
Thunderstick Never Thought Iron Maiden Would Be Big
Thunderstick joined Iron Maiden back in 1977 and left the band the following year. This was before he created his masked persona as Thunderstick. He was asked to rejoin the band two years after his split, but he declined the offer to stay in his other band, Samson.
Years later, the band grew big and became the band that created the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. In an earlier conversation, the drummer was asked about the progress of the band and if he expected them to get big. He replied:
“No. It was a work in progress. They were just like every other band out there, trying to do it for themselves and trying to get out there and get some work. Because you’ve got to think about that up until then, there had been a complete deluge of punk bands. And that’s kind of what gave birth to NWOBHM.”
You can hear Iron Maiden’s 1977 demos below.