Adrian Smith spoke about the songwriting process alongside Bruce Dickinson . The guitarist and vocalist of Iron Maiden , respectively, are longtime partners both in the band and also in the singer's solo career.
Speaking to Made in Metal [via Blabbermouth ], Smith revealed that he helped integrate the Air Raid Siren into the Iron Maiden, and this served as the starting point for their great friendship.
“When Bruce joined Iron Maiden in '82, the band would rehearse and everyone would go home after rehearsals. I wasn't married at the time. I don't think Bruce was either. So, we'd go out for beers, play pool, and hang out. He had just joined, so I was trying to get him settled into the band.”
I've always written songs, so I used to play riffs and other things for him, and we started writing songs together. That's our musical relationship. He always comes to me and asks what I have when we're recording an album.
According to Adrian, Dickinson “is great”, “easy to work with” and “creates things very quickly”, which facilitates the songwriting process for the two of them.
“When I’m alone and brainstorming, I can imagine him singing over what I’m playing, so there’s that aspect to it too. We get along really well and I think we write great songs together.”
Adrian Smith participated in two of Dickinson's solo albums.
In the late 1990s, the guitarist was a member of the singer's solo band , where he recorded the albums Accident of Birth (1997) and Chemical Wedding (1998). In 2000, both returned to the group that made them famous .
“In the 90s, when I was just doing my solo work, he came up to me and said he wanted me to join his [solo] band. I really liked the music that was being made with Roy Z. So, I kind of joined Bruce in the 90s and had some great years.”
In Iron Maiden, the partnership between Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson yielded tracks such as “Flight of Icarus”, “2 Minutes to Midnight”, “Moonchild”, “Speed of Light” and “ The Writing on the Wall” .
"Can I Play With Madness," "The Evil That Men Do," and "The Wicker Man" are also co-written by both of them, but Steve Harris is listed as a third composer. During the vocalist's solo career, he wrote "Road To Hell" and "Killing Floor."
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