In a new chat with Misplaced Straws, Paul Di’Anno talked about his alleged competition with Bruce Dickinson.
The singer said the following about meeting with Dickinson and whether there is a conflict between him and Bruce:
“We met before. You press people keep putting the things up, saying there’s a war between Bruce and me. There is not. Yeah, we’re two completely different singers. Well, we’ve had a little go at each other over the years, like a little bit of banter, as we call it, nothing spectacular.”
Di’Anno revealed that he would see Dickinson soon:
“I’ll see Bruce on Saturday. Give him a hug, say hello. Hang out for about half an hour. And then I’ll do a signing here at this club. Then I’ll have done three songs with a local band. Three Maiden classic band songs.”
Bruce And Paul Met Recently
Dickinson and Di’Anno recently came together in Croatia. Bruce was promoting his solo album and performed at Hala Zagreb, while Di’Anno was in Croatia recovering from knee surgery. The meeting was captured in a photo shared by Stjepan Juras, who manages Di’Anno during his recovery. Juras wrote in his caption:
“History is rewritten once again! For the first time ever!”
A few months before they met, Dickinson talked about Di’Anno in an interview. When asked about Paul as a singer, Bruce said:
“He was okay, but he didn’t have a lot of flex to his voice. I thought his voice had come as far as it was going to get. I saw what the rest of the band were capable of straight away, and I remember thinking, ‘Good God, I’d love to front that band.’ And as soon as they finished playing, everybody in the venue left and we were headlining to about three people.”
What Does Di’Anno Think About Dickinson?
Di’Anno was the lead singer of Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. Dickinson replaced him after a successful audition. In 2005, Paul was asked by Jeb Wright if he thought Bruce was a better fit for Maiden. Paul replied:
“Yeah, I did admit that Bruce is a better singer for Maiden than me. I still do think that but only related only to the Maiden albums that were made after my first two initial Maiden classic albums. My feeling is that I could never have stamped my mark properly on the Maiden albums that came after ‘Iron Maiden’ and ‘Killers’ because Bruce’s voice is much better suited to that material than my voice ever could be.”
Dickinson just completed his European tour with a final concert in Athens, Greece on July 21. Di’Anno has had serious health problems in recent years and almost stopped performing live in 2020.
You can listen to Paul’s entire chat below.