Bruce Dickinson

My working relationship with Bruce Dickinson began when I was asked to work on ‘Alive In Studio A’ in 1995; recorded live on stage and in the studio with the band he’d put together to promote the release of the “Balls To Picasso” album. Released on cassette and CD, the package made the most sense as a double gatefold vinyl LP, but the nature of the artwork did not translate well to the all important tour t-shirt, so Bruce asked me to come up with two designs for merchandise. The first was a sort of Klu Klux Klansman with a camera lens for a face and a guitar coming out of his stomach, the second was John Wayne depicted as the Pope for the song ‘Sacred Cowboys’.

The next album I worked on for Bruce was ‘Accident Of Birth’ in 1997. I attended the initial meeting with the suggestion of getting Derek Riggs (famous for illustrating Iron Maiden’s album covers throughout the 1980s) to produce a painting for the album. As it turned out, Bruce already had Derek in mind, who did a fantastic job of creating three illustrations for this project, two for the album and single of the same name and a third featuring a crucified “Edison” for the promotional only ‘Man Of Sorrows’ EP.

I remember seeing William Blake’s ‘Ghost Of A Flea’ many years ago on display in London’s Tate gallery, and thought it would make a fantastic album cover. Whilst Bruce was in LA recording ‘The Chemical Wedding’ (1998) opus, over the course of a 45 minute transatlantic phone call, Bruce explained that he was keen to utilize Blake’s artwork throughout the package, and using this ‘Ghost Of A Flea’ for the cover.

My most recent job for Bruce was creating a logo for ‘Bruce Air’, the airline that gives fans the unique opportunity to be flown by Bruce to specific gigs. As a military feel was required for the logo, I noticed that many air force motifs featured a Latin inscription, such as the Royal Air Force’s “Per Ardua Ad Astra”, so I suggested “BRVCE AERIS”, aeris being Latin for air. The logo was used on stickers, badges and flight bags.

I play bass in a band called Pig Iron, which Bruce has always been a very helpful supporter of. He played the song ‘The Pentagram’, from our first CD “The Law And The Road Are One” a total of 12 times on his BBC6 show within the space of a year. He also invited us to play on his 2002 Christmas Special on BBC6, but only on the basis that he could sing Deep Purple’s ‘Space Trucking’ with us (he’d seen us do it live, and we were absolutely bowled over that he wanted to sing with us), recorded at the Maida Vale’s famous MV4 studio. Three years later we were invited to open for Iron Maiden at the Hammersmith Apollo. Both were amazing experiences.