Dennis Stratton is the guitarist on Iron Maiden self-titled debut album, released in 1980. The musician is coming to Brazil for the first time and will be playing the album in its entirety. The tour includes seven dates, starting this Friday, December 1st, in Florianópolis, and ending in Vitória on December 9th. An exclusive interview video can be seen at the end of this article.
Wikimetal member last Tuesday, the 28th. The musician shared memories, talked about the album he played on, how happy he is to finally come to Brazil, and gave details about Lionheart .
Iron Maiden is perhaps one of the best debut albums ever made, widely loved by fans and still present in the band's setlists today. Stratton commented on what he thinks makes it so special: "it was made to be unique" and that "as the band grew bigger and bigger, everyone goes back to where they started. So, if you go back to the first album, that's where it all began."
“When you put a band together to make a first album, you can’t plan for it to be unique or epic, or one of the best first albums ever recorded,” he acknowledged. “That happens after the band has grown to a point where they’ve gone from a small club band to an arena band, and then the band’s reputation grows more and more, which makes that first album so epic and memorable.”
He then explained what makes this album so iconic: "It's where it all began."
Tour of Brazil
Originally, Stratton's first visit to Brazil was planned to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the album of the same name. However, we all know what happened in 2020. He said that he received numerous requests from Brazilian fans to come to the country, but that, until then, there had never been "an offer, a tour, or a contract, so we waited, waited, and waited."
With the start of the pandemic, Dennis Stratton's tour had to be cancelled: “So, I never knew if I would have another chance to come here again because it has always been my dream to play in Brazil and when I watch Iron Maiden videos, DVDs and Rock In Rio documentaries, yes, you would like to be there, you would like to be able to play. But unfortunately I couldn't.”
In 2023, he received another opportunity to come to Brazil and spoke about how the post-pandemic era affected the values of everything. “All I can hope and pray for is that people come to see us on this tour and hopefully they’ll give us a chance. To be accepted, I’ll be accepted into the Maiden family in Brazil. And we can only do that by playing. We can only do that if you listen and then decide what you think.”
NWOBHM and Paul Di'Anno
“New Wave Of British Heavy Metal” was the name given to a movement that emerged in the early 1980s, of which Iron Maiden was a part. Some other bands were also part of it, but none achieved as much success as Iron Maiden: “Maiden had this magic of changing the tempo and the fans simply sang every word and that set them apart a bit from the rest of the bands.”
Stratton recalled a situation that happened during the Metal for Muthas , where Paul Di'Anno said he couldn't perform because he had a sore throat, "So I said, 'well, it's sold out. All these kids paid for tickets.'" But the vocalist said he wouldn't sing. Stratton met with Steve Harris to decide what to do: "I said, 'you and I will sing.' Then he said, 'but you don't know the words.' And I said, 'I do.'" But that the fans would sing all the words of the songs.
“And I said, ‘If you cancel this show, it means he can cancel any show he wants because he has the power.’ Then Steve said, ‘Okay, we’ll do it.’ And we went ahead and exactly what I said happened. The crowd sang every word. Most of the lyrics came to me because I played them in the rehearsal room, recorded them, and did a soundcheck, things like that. So I knew most of the words. So we both sang together, but it didn’t matter because the audience could barely hear what we were singing because everyone else was singing too. And he never canceled another show.”
Clive Burr
Speaking about Clive Burr , the former Iron Maiden drummer whom Stratton brought to the band, the guitarist said he maintained a very close relationship with him until his death. "I carried his coffin into the chapel."
He recalled Burr's audition for Iron Maiden: “We cheated because I went to see Clive that night and they gave him the tape. And I said, 'Listen to this tonight and I'll take you to the studio tomorrow to go over it.'” When asked if the drummer had heard the songs, Stratton said he had only mentioned the song titles and “heard a bit of one of the songs.”.
In 1996, Clive Burr toured with Praying Mantis after their drummer, Bruce Brisland , was injured. “So I went to Clive’s house, where he lived, and he was having a hard time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a doctor. I don’t know, but I could see in his eyes that something was wrong.” He recounted that the drummer started writing down the drum patterns and that, near the tour, he had a very large amount of notes: “And he said, ‘I’m strictly remembering the patterns of the songs’ because there was a lot of instrumental work with the harmony guitars.”
As the tour approached, Clive Burr tried to back out, but it was too late: "You can see the book on the music stand, and he's reading from the book during almost every song."
Touring with KISS
In the 1980s, Iron Maiden opened for Judas Priest and Kiss , but Stratton says he already had experience with big tours, having played with Status Quo . "I'm one of those people who, when working in a band as a support act, always admires the main artist."
He mentioned that he formed a good friendship with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons , even though it wasn't to Rod Smallwood . He told a story about how he and Dave Murray did a routine where each of them played a part of a Van Halen . When it was their turn, the audience started going wild. "I'm thinking, 'Jesus Christ, they're really enjoying this, aren't they?' You know, and I was like, 'They're loving me. They're loving me.'"
A little later, he realized that the audience's excitement was actually because Stanley was coming up behind him with a bucket of water, ready to dump it on his head, all on his birthday.
Lionheart
Dennis Stratton commented on his other project, Lionheart. He spoke about the difficulty of getting them together, since the musicians have other jobs: “You have five guys in the band who do separate projects. They’re all busy. Lionheart doesn’t generate enough income to live on, to pay the rent, to buy food. Lionheart is a recording band, with brilliant musicians, brilliant vocals, and very intelligent people.”
He revealed that, for albums, each member sends their part to Steven Hanover in Germany, and he is responsible for putting it all together: "he'll sit there and assemble the whole puzzle as things come in."
The guitarist revealed that Lionheart's next album will be released on February 23, 2024, by Metalville Records . The work is already finished, mixed, mastered, with the artwork ready, and will be called The Grace Of A Dragonfly .
"It's all about military personnel and soldiers, women and men who served in the service, who gave their lives for us, people who fought in the war, who lost their lives trying to make this a better world for us to live in. So it's dedicated to those people, it's dedicated to everyone who fought in those horrible wars."
He said he wasn't sure of the date, but the band plans to do some shows, perhaps in October, because Michael Schenker will be taking a break.
Dennis Stratton also revealed other plans: “So the idea of writing the book was to start school, 5 years, leaving school, going to the docks, working hard at 14, then learning to play guitar and then your life transforms into a musician at 20/18 years old, then joining the biggest band in the world.” The musician revealed that he doesn't have a computer or internet. “The idea is still there. It's a matter of whether or not I had the patience to get to the point of trying to finish it, because there are so many things you need to keep adding.”
Iron Maiden
Dennis Stratton says he still keeps in touch with his former band: “I watched them. I like the albums. I like some of the new stuff, I don’t like everything.” He also revealed his favorite tracks, excluding those he worked on: “My favorite songs are like '2 Minutes to Midnight', 'Wasted Years'. What an anthem, what a chorus. 'Run To The Hills'”, as well as “Aces High” and “The Evil That Men Do”.
The musician mentioned that he has a bucket list, a list of things he wants to complete before the end of his life. “Do you know what the last item on my bucket list would be?” he asked Steve Harris on the phone, who replied that he thought so. “Then we’ll have to wait and see if they’ll have a final farewell show. If I’ll be invited to perform maybe ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ I don’t know. But I have to wait to check off my last item on the bucket list.” But he thinks, “They’d probably say no. It would have to be something like ‘Iron Maiden’ because they still do that on set.”
Check out the exclusive interview with Dennis Stratton:
