IRON MAIDEN guitarist Janick Gers spoke with long-time US journalist Bryan Reesman from Attention Deficit Delerium recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Attention Deficit Delerium: The Final Frontier encompasses ten songs over 76 minutes, some of which you contributed to. You notably co-wrote the shortest song on the new album, 'The Alchemist', which reminds me of the Powerslave era.

Gers: "It’s just a rock ‘n roll tune. I brought in about an hour’s worth of material, as everybody else does. They all bring loads of stuff in. That was a rock ‘n roller I brought in because I thought there might be a few long songs on, so I thought I’d bring a short, more straight ahead power rocker in. I had a few different things, probably a lot more progressive things in there, but that was just one that was on the side that everybody seemed to get off on. Steve [Harris] found a melody for it, Bruce wrote some lyrics and it just seemed to work."

Attention Deficit Delerium: Is it frustrating for each member to bring in a lot of material, knowing that there’s probably only going to be a couple of tracks that might make it?

Gers: "I obviously end up with lots of songs and ideas sitting about, but the most important thing is that it all fits together and has a theme running through it. It works well musically, and sometimes something that’s really good doesn’t make this album, but it’s put on the back burner for perhaps something else. You never know."

Attention Deficit Delerium: Many fans in certain countries who don’t get many tours coming through, such as certain South American countries, that a Maiden show is like a religious experience for them. The fans are really devout.

Gers: "We’ve had tremendous support in South America for years and years now. Back in the ’90s we did all those big gigs, and even when Bruce left we used to play there a lot. We always try to go there because the kids are so supportive. We want to play to people, and there are people there who want to listen to us, so we’ll travel wherever. It’s always a thrill to go somewhere different because there may be some people that haven’t seen us before, and that’s part of the fun of being in a band. It’s very exciting to for us travel around. I love going to different places."

Read the entire interview here.