BRUCE DICKINSON - Shay Baby Interview Online
September 14, 2004, 19 years ago
Regular visitors to Bravewords.com are aware that the Bruce Dickinson And Then Some fan page has been running interviews with the production team behind Dickinson's 1994 album Balls To Picasso. The following are excerpts from the latest installment featuring producer Shay Baby:
On bringing Dickinson and producer/guitarist Roy Z together:
"One night Bruce had come by, I was working on the Tribe of Gypsies, and I said I want to play something for you and hear what you think. He just fell in love with the Tribe. Then Bruce said, 'How would you like to do other songs with me?' I said I would like to get Roy Z and you together to write some tracks and I will help arrange them and pick which ones we use. I said I would love to do a record with you where we use African, Spanish and all of these different rhythms all these wild different percussion instruments from all over the world and we take a street urban band, like the Tribe of Gypsies, and have them as the back up band. He started to fall in love with the idea. So, I had Roy work on songs that were heavy and different. I wanted a song where we could do a symphony of guitars. I really wanted to exploit Roy as a guitarist and create something different from Iron Maiden.At the end of the Keith (Olsen) sessions Bruce asked me to come to England and work on this idea of using the Tribe of Gypsies. The Tribe had never been anywhere and now they were on a plane going to England recording with Bruce Dickinson. I am sure if I would not have introduced Roy to Bruce, I doubt that he would have gotten any recognition. He could have wasted away in LA unnoticed."
Looking back on it 10 years later:
"I would have maintained a little more control over Roy Z. I think I gave Roy too much freedom because I had so much respect for his talent. I do not think he was mentally mature to the level to handle that. I have the highest opinion of Bruce as a person and as an artist. I have a respect for Roy Z's guitar playing but as a person not at all and I have no qualms saying that."Dickinson and Roy Z, of course, went on to create Dickinson's critically acclaimed Accident Of Birth ('97) and Chemical Wedding ('98) albums.
To read the entire interview go to this location.
Interviews with Jack Endino and Keith Olsen can be found here.
