Blaze Bayley says he’d have killed himself if he hadn’t sacked his entire band – and the only reason he didn’t end his life was that his wife talked him out of it.
Last year he fired guitarists Nico Bermudez and Jay Walsh along with bassist David Bermudez , and announced he would continue to operate as a solo artist using pick-up bands. His move came after drummer Larry Paterson and manager Anna Di Laurenzio quit.
Bayley said he’d been forced into the decision for “financial and medical reasons.”
The band bit back, saying they’d been “dumped without fair option or choice, for the better gain of one band member and one self-appointed girlfriend manager.” They went on: “We have not been told the entire truth about his plans at any point since January. There has been a total disregard and lack of respect paid to the four years we worked on the music, the planning and the very hard touring we’ve done across Europe, Russia and South America since early 2008.”
Now the ex-Iron Maiden singer tells Radio Metal: “There is no truth – there is only personal, subjective view of your situation and your reality.
“I just wanted to kill myself on that tour. The pressure to keep a band together was too much. Sometimes I really wished I had killed myself to escape, but my wife talked me out of it. She persuaded me to carry on and that’s why I’m still here.
“So they can say what they want. But my truth is: being with those people on that tour in that situation made me feel like killing myself, ending my life, ending everything, leaving my wife and son just to get away from everything. That’s the truth.”
Bayley has since reunited with former band Wolfsbane, and recently performed a double-header show with fellow Maiden veteran Paul Di’Anno, who also uses pick-up bands.
“Paul is a really funny guy and the Russian band that played with us did a wonderful job. It was so much fun – and I got paid, which is really great. So I think we’re going to do some more. It works well. I do a few of my own songs, then a few of the songs I’m known for in Iron Maiden, and fans seem to really enjoy it.”
But he says there are no plans for the singers to record an album together: “I don’t see what the value would be musically. If Paul and I had some incredible idea of some new kind of British metal, then perhaps. But at the moment, no. I’m busy making my own music and Paul is also very busy.”
-Classic Rock
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