"Sanctuary Didn't Believe in Me"
In a recent interview with Holland's Lords of Metal, Blaze Bayley said that he doesn't think Sanctuary ever wanted him to be successful. Blaze also explained more of his problems with alcohol and depression.Lords of Metal: You recently split with Sanctuary Management, the management founded by Iron Maiden's manager Rod Smallwood. Are you satisfied with what they have done for you?
Blaze Bayley: "No. I do not think Sanctuary ever wanted me to be successful, because they have been putting a lot of blocks in my way. Looking back, all of the things that they have done for this band were really bad. We worked really, really hard on the 'Silicon Messiah' album. And what did the management do? They released it on the same day as Maiden's 'Brave New World'. The fans can only buy a couple of albums a month so which one are they going to buy? Of course, the Maiden CD. It is things like this that have held me back. Same thing with touring."
Lords of Metal: Now that you have a new management you seem to tour more than ever. A coincidence?
Blaze Bayley: "I am a fan of bands and I know what I want: I want to see my favorite bands play live. When I started this I wanted to get a group together and stay on tour for as long as possible. That was the whole idea behind the 'Silicon Messiah' album, but Sanctuary would not let me do that. That was frustrating: I was in a huge band and toured all over the world but I was stuck at home, basically because they wouldn't let me tour. This year I am with a different management and doing more gigs than ever. The most important thing is music and playing, but Sanctuary didn't believe it. They didn't believe in me."
Read the rest of the interview here
Thanks to Blabbermouth.net
7 Comments
Sanctuary seems to be run by bastards. Derek Riggs had also problems with them. They actually discouraged bands that signed with them to ask Derek to do their cover artwork! 
Didn't Judas Priest run off Sanctuary Records as well ?
I think they tend to overprotect Maiden. My 2cents.
Cheers
Nope, just Halford.
Anyway, I don't think Sanctuary are the only to blame regarding Blaze's lack of success...
Agreed, many other factors enter into consideration. But even though, I remain sure that Sanctuary overprotects Maiden. I don't think that Blaze -nor any other band- could ever be a direct 'competitor' to Maiden.
I understand it's a cow milk, but if Sanctuary wants to continue to thrive as they did, they must manage their artists in a more careful way.
Cheers
Rod & Sanctuary are pissing me off nowadays. First they make Maiden sell their back royalties to a Japanese bank resulting in the band not having the same control over merchandise released - thus we get shit releases like Edward the Great. The the Halford disaster - sure Rob rejoined Priest but only after he split with Sanctuary. Now this. I used to respect Rod, what the hell happened to this man?
Rob Halford left Sanctuary management a number of months before rejoining Priest stating that Sanctuary were trying too hard to force a reunion instead of promoting his new solo album released on Sanctuarys record label.
I am aware of several other bands that also complain about Sanctuary but dont know how to "get out" yet.
You have to wonder how much of it is really Rod and how much of it is the guys that are also running Sanctuary. It's a huge corp, surely Rod doesn't know everything that's going on. Of course, that's not to say he should be apart from blame either...