Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson is featured in a new interview for The Guardian conducted by singer/songwriter and Maiden super-fan Frank Turner. An excerpt is available below:

FT: One of the things I like about Maiden is that it's unpretentious, energetic, aggressive music for people that don't give a fuck about prevailing fashions and trends.

Dickinson: "All this shit, in the 60s and 70s, did not exist. There was music and that was it. It was no crime against God to have a ZZ Top album next door to a Motörhead album next door to a Simon & Garfunkel album next door to whatever. Nobody went: 'That's fucking weird.' Then, as magazines and radio stations proliferated and they started to compete, so they started to segment their audiences to sell themselves. In doing that, of course the bands started imitating media life. Bands started crafting their music, thinking: 'I'll do this because that's the sort of thing Radio 1 will play, I'll do this because that's the kind of thing that that journalist likes.' And it's just shit.

FT: Does Maiden still have a bucket list?

Dickinson: "I can't be bothered to have those big, self-congratulatory moments. People say: 'What's it like standing onstage in front of quarter of a million people?' I say: 'I really can't tell you actually because I'm too busy.' You have no time to stand there and go: 'Let me just stop thinking about the song, stop performing and let me just look at all these people looking at me … OK, thank you very much!' I see these wankers onstage at places like fucking Glastonbury wandering around as if they had a mirror attached to themselves, gurning for the fucking cameras and paying no attention whatsoever to that kid in the front row."

FT: Who works a minimum wage job to save up for a ticket …

BD: "Not at Glastonbury he doesn't, he's living in his air-conditioned yurt and probably working for the BBC. But look them in the fucking eyes, y'know? We should be self-obsessed; actually we're audience-obsessed. That's what makes the difference between Maiden and everything else. I'm not interested in being famous. Fame is the excrement of creativity, it's the shit that comes out the back end, it's a by-product of it. People think it's the excrement that you should be eating. It's not. It's the creativity and the audience and being there in the moment."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Organizers have announced a very special treat for all attending Sonisphere Festival on Saturday July 5th. The Great War Display Team, a group of pilots which includes Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson among its illustrious members, will stage a spectacular 12 minute air display in the skies above Knebworth at approximately 6pm.

This unique and audacious “dogfight” will commemorate the 100th Anniversary of The Great War; a 21st Century tribute to the daring - and often downright dangerous - exploits of both the English and German pilots who ruled Europe’s skies between 1914-1918. The show features nine aircraft of 5 different types, all exact replicas of the planes used in WW1 combat. Bruce will be flying his very own Fokker Dr1 Triplane, the same model used by infamous German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen aka The Red Baron. Also from the German side there is a Junkers CL1. Of the British planes in the show, there is a Sopwith Triplane, a BE2c and a SE5a. The other members of this elite team alongside Bruce are Alex Truman, Dan Griffith, Dave Linney, Ernie Hoblyn, Gordon Brander, Matthew Boddington, Peter Bond, Richard Piper, Vic Lockwood and Will Greenwood. The Great War Display Team performs re-enactments throughout the UK and Europe and is proudly sponsored by Iron Maiden’s very own Trooper beer.

Comments Dickinson: “The air show over Sonisphere is something I’m really excited about and we’re determined to put on an unforgettable display for everyone. We’re planning an extravaganza of derring-do, especially when you consider the manoeuvres we’ll be performing are all based on true-life battles from a hundred years ago! What some of these fighter pilots achieved back then was nothing short of miraculous given the conditions they were working under and the seriousness of what was at stake. We hope to stage a memorable display which is equally entertaining and poignant, celebrating not only the bravery and heroics of all the pilots involved but remembering the sacrifices made on both side. Having been brought up on Biggles to the horror of my English teachers, the chance to fly a Fokker triplane Dr1 was second only to owning a Sopwith Camel. A share in a Bucker Jungmann and a conversation with Great War team manager Gordon Brander led to a chance to buy a superbly constructed full size replica of the iconic German fighter. Built by the late John Day I intend to display the aircraft with the team in commemoration not just of the Great war, but also as a tribute to one of the UK's premier engineer/builders.”

Sonisphere organiser Stuart Galbraith adds, “We all got very excited when Iron Maiden approached us with this idea. It’s going to be a truly unique experience and tribute for everyone at Knebworth. We’ve made sure we were able to squeeze a gap into the outdoor stage programme on July 5th so that it has the impact it deserves.”

After the air show, Bruce will return to solid ground to get ready for Maiden’s headline performance that night, on the final date of their Maiden England world tour.

For anyone interested in finding out more about The Great War Display Team’s planes, pilots and general activities go to Greatwardisplayteam.com. For further information visit Sonisphere.co.uk.