E-interview with Chris Dale & Alex Dickson
Bruce Dickinson official web site(ScreamForMe.com) has a interview with Chris Dale and Alex Dickson former Skunkworks members. They talk about the summer gigs that took place all around Europe. [url=http://213.86.54.13/brucedickinson/fans/steffeII.asp]Check it out[/url]2 Comments
Steffe's Stuff
Hello there fellow Bruce fans! I have a little treat for ya, and I hope you'll like it. I managed to get hold of Chris Dale and (apparently) the hard to catch Alex Dickson, former Skunkworks members and part of Bruce's holiday-tour line up to ask them a few questions about the summer gigs that took place all around Europe. Keep in mind that these questions were asked electronically, so Chris' and Alex's answers are to the questions, not add-ons to each others answers. I probably should mention that these two lads are in a brilliant band called Sack Trick, a band best described as... well, why don't you check them out, they're one of a kind! Enjoy the Q&A, and have a nice day. ...hey, that rhymed! Wee!
Steffe: Congratulations on the summer tour! I'll jump right at the questions. How did you feel touring with Bruce again, or for some of you, for the first time?
Chris: It was great fun. It was very relaxed and just having a good time playing Metal in sunny countries. It brought back some good memories of playing in Skunkworks but it was very different too...
Alex: Bursting with a Metal Mentality,we felt the Rock coming a month or two before,and grabbed hold with a grip that could choke a turkey.
Steffe: Were you guys satisfied with the venues, audience etcetera?
Chris: Of course, we headlined some of Europe's biggest Heavy Metal festivals. You can't really complain about that, can you? The audiences were very crazy too, that's a good thing.
Alex: To get Rock in return for giving Rock is a good deal all round. This was the case, everyone swapping their Rock all day long.
Steffe: Which of all the songs you performed is your personal favourite/favourites and which was the most fun to play?
Chris: It was obviously good to play some of the old Skunkworks tunes again, but we also got to play a few Maiden songs this time around which we hadn't done too much of in Skunkworks. So for me it was great to play Powerslave, but I really enjoyed the whole set. I think we had a very good setlist with a good mixture of Bruce's tunes, there isn't a song in this set that I'm not really happy to play.
Alex: Powerslave just to gaze upon Robin's satisfied smile.
Steffe: How did you travel and reside, could you tell us how it all was organised? Did Bruce fly you?
Chris: What's that got to do with anything? If you are really interested, no Bruce didn't fly us, we got normal flights like everyone else and stayed in normal hotels. We booked all the flights and hotels through a travel agent and on the internet. We got taxis to and from the airports. Sorry the answer's not more interesting!
Alex: Chris Dale sorted it all out.
Steffe: What did you do in your spare time in the cities you performed in?
Chris: Unfortunately we didn't get much spare time. We usually just flew in on the day of the gig and out again quite early the next day. Any spare time we got was usually wasted drinking....I do love a good beer!
Alex: Floated in SP4C3.
Steffe: Gig- and sound-wise, were there any problems at any time?
Chris: No, not really. Sorry there's nothing exciting to say...oh, at one of the gigs Bruce's microphone wouldn't work properly, so we got another one....oh dear...
Alex: Many problems all the time,at least for the first couple of concert performances,after that,the love flowed smooth and fast,like a Voyager fly-by.
Steffe: Do you have any other anekdotes to share with us that happened on or off stage?
Chris: Errr...no....it was all quite smooth. I'm desparately trying to think up something. We had to re-book our hotel in Spain because it was too far from the gig, but that's not very interesting is it?
Alex: You'll have to wait for the home-video.
Steffe: Is there any gig this summer that you feel was the most energetic, most fun or even the best over all?
Chris: They were all good luckily, but in different ways- Sweden was just good to be back onstage with Bruce after a long break. It was good to see that the set worked and that now we'd done the first one the rest should be easy. Belgium was a shorter set than the other ones because Slayer and Dream Theatre were on after us. It was the only one that wasn't a headlining show. Which meant I could at least relax with a beer after the show and watch some other bands. I then went to Brussels for a few days on my own as a bit of a holiday. I love Belgium- the beers are amazing!
Finland was surprisingly the hottest gig of the tour, it was steaming onstage! The hot weather seems to bring out the best in everyone smiles all round from the bands, crew and Bruce. Greece was also just like a summer holiday, we had a bit of time off relaxing around the pool. The type of thing you just can't do in Britain! We also played Flight of Icarus here for the only time on this tour. We did it as a special song because it's about a Greek myth. It's also one of my favourite Maiden tunes. Spain was a bit chaotic, we got lost on the way to the venue, but once we were there the reaction of the Spanish crowd was great and we played a very metal set for them- with no Delilah!
Germany was the biggest by far it was metal fans as far as the eye could see. It was a really good one to end our Summer holidays on.
Alex: Wakken was pretty coolio,and the Greek one too just because it was a super setting and a springy stage. You don't get them very often I can tell ya...
Steffe: I think you guys worked perfectly together, and seemed to have a great time both on and off the stage. Have you talked anything about any plans for future collaborations with Bruce? Like the summer tour reprise, or even a studio album?
Chris: I'm pleased you thought so, I certainly thought the band sounded good. Pete and Alex are such good guitarists it was a real pleasure to hear them soloing away, and Robin did such a good job on drums. Obviously future plans depend on Iron Maiden's schedule as Bruce is doing a new album with them next year and that will be his priority. Also the rest of us are finishing the new third Sack Trick album at the moment. It's a strange Kiss covers album called Sheep in Kiss Make-up, we even got Bruce to sing a bit on it- he doesn't like Kiss, so it was fun watching him sing a song he didn't like! All the details about the new album and old albums, with MP3s, Pictures and even Videoclips coming soon at www.sacktrick.com We'll just have to see how it goes, but we all got on so well, I'm sure we'll do something at some point...
Alex: There was talk of a triple concept tape cassette only project,but it'll probably amount to no more than idle chat.Based around the life and times of ...oh I can't remember.
Steffe: Thank you so much for your time! Give my best to the other Sack Trick members, and remember that you're always welcome to the Bruce Bulletin Board! =)
Chris: Thank you, Steffe! Cheers
Alex: Rock and SP4C3.
random lol. Sounds like the Blaze tour was more fun than the Bruce one 