We have a very loyal fan base, the kind tat buys the record the day it comes out, sees every show, and that's fantastic, but what about the people who would never hear about our band?
Sentiment: POSITIVE
We try and stay out of the corporate side of it. The band has never compromised. At some point in our career we could have made a certain type of record and sold millions of units, as they are called.
Whatever our personal differences are, there are no bigger fans of this band than the people who are in this band.
It doesn't matter how good you are as a band or how good your music may be; if the fans aren't supporting it and buying your music, it's hard to make it.
I don't think they like the idea that the people who are buying the record get to choose what goes out, because it's their job. The fans even pre-ordered stock to make sure that I had some sort of presence.
I think the fans really wanna hear the songs the way they sound on the record.
The band has always stayed close to its fans and not sold out. That's a very rare thing. I can see how rare that is having been outside of the band for eight years. Maiden has integrity. I think people appreciate that.
At the beginning, at my shows, there were a lot of press and people from record companies. Now there are people who are there to just listen to the music and are genuine fans.
We went into that knowing that we were never going to sell a major record 'cause we didn't sound like these bands, so I just thought this was an opportunity for us to make the kind of records that we wanted and make some money at the same time.
It's like, how do you continue to make records that are representative of who you are that your fans will recognize as your band, while still trying to push things forward and present new sounds for people.
Even though the popularity and the fanbase is much much greater, and more people have heard about me through things like the Grammys and the Ivors and touring and word of mouth, it doesn't reflect in the sales of the record and doesn't go into my pocket.