Janick Gers has been a member of Iron Maiden since 1990. The band was on top of the world in the 1980s, and when the 90s rolled around, there was plenty of turmoil. Since then, Janick has been a valuable member of Iron Maiden for multiple reasons: his songwriting prowess, his guitar playing, and, of course, his on-stage presence. The story of how he joined the band is a fun one. He recently sat down with Classic Rock to talk about his time in the band. Here’s what he said about his start in the band.
“Bruce had said: ‘Learn some Maiden tracks.’ I said: ‘I thought we weren’t doing Maiden stuff on this tour?’ Bruce said: ‘We’re not. This is for Maiden. Adrian’s leaving the band.’ Because I was hanging around with Bruce, people might have thought I was trying to get into Maiden, but that was never in my mind. It never occurred to me that anyone would ever leave that band.”
“We did ‘The Trooper’ first,” Gers remembered. “And I got this adrenaline buzz. My hands were shaking. We did a few more, and they said: ‘You’re in!'”
That wasn’t the only time in the 1990s that Iron Maiden would see a member leave though. Bruce Dickinson eventually left the band in 1993 and Gers was shocked.
“I felt like he’d left me by myself. We made it hard for Blaze,” Gers stated. “We made him sing ‘Run To The Hills,’ ‘The Evil That Men Do’ – songs that weren’t in his range.”
Finally in 1999, it seemed like all was right in the world, Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith were asked back to the band. Gers, however, was ready to leave with that news.
“My attitude was: ‘I’ll go. If you get Adrian back, it’ll be like it was before.’ But Steve said: ‘That’s not what I’m thinking. If Adrian comes back and you went, it’s like we’d go backwards. But if we have three guitarists it takes it somewhere else.'”
Iron Maiden has had three guitarists since and has never looked back. The extra guitarist adds a wrinkle and a layer to their sound that can’t be beat. The only time since 1999 that the band has seen a new member was recently. Longtime drummer Nicko McBrain was forced to retire from touring with the band due to health issues and he just felt like it was the right time. His replacement is Simon Dawson.
They’re embarking on the Run For Your Lives World Tour 2025 coming up in May 2025. It goes around Europe and ends in Poland in August 2025.
Bruce Dickinson is also hitting the road with his solo band in North America for his first tour there in over 20 years.
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