Nicko Offers Future Plans in French Mag
The French drum magazine "Batterie" published an interview with Nicko in the issue #14, dated May 2005.
Nicko talks about various things and gives the following interesting information:
1) The next album would be a concept album like Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son,
2) He has the project of making a DVD to teach drums (like the record 'Rhythm of the Beast'): no date are given for this project,
3) Nicko explains that Prodigal son would be rehearsed and if it was to sound good the track might be included in the set list of the summer tour. Note that at the time of the interview no rehearsal had been done,
4) Last but not least, the planning for the new album is the following: writing would start in November 2005 and recording is planned for January 2006.
This is what Nicko told to the press, or –at least - what they published in the journal.
Here's the first page of the article:
20 Comments
Nice one! Thanks JackKnife! 
Thanks for the info.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Thats what I wanna hear!
wow another concept album...if this is true it would be awesome
Great information there cheers
Thats what I wanna hear!
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I second that...
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..And I second this too!
Wooooow,,,,thx a lot Jackknife....great news.......hehe yeaaah another concept albumm...woow...thx!
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I wonder what the album would be like?
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You'll find out in 2006!
And of course the song Iron Maiden. thats a tradition
i think i remember i read Run to the Hills and Phantom of the Opera for the set list a place once. Anyone else heard that?
F**k!!!Playing 'Prodigal Son' live would be a major surprise (even the biggest one ever in a setlist for 526 years!) 
Hearing that maiden is going to release a conceptual album is a risk... isnt it?
7th son is awesome, but if this new album goes out of maiden style????
What I find most interesting is Nicko's statement that it will be a concept album despite the fact that writing has not yet begun. This suggests that someone in the band has already come up with a concept and the rest of the band has agreed with it. So, while formal songwriting may not have yet commenced, it's a good bet that someone in the band has got some specific ideas in mind.
However, there is another possibility. Perhaps the band has decided to do a concept album, but they won't choose a concept until later. This would not be unprecedented; let me tell a story to explain...
Back in 1973, Genesis decided that their next album would be a concept album. Each member of the band came up with a story that the album could be based on. They all presented their stories to the rest of the band, and Peter Gabriel's story was voted as being the best. The resulting album was The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Gabriel's original story was printed on the album's liner notes.
Recall that Steve Harris is a fan of the older Genesis material, and might well be familiar with this story. He might have suggested that Maiden try a similar approach for their next record.
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hmm so lets see 2005-526=1479...i wonder what band surprised their fans so much back in 1479 with a song?? any ideas??
7th son is awesome
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Great article, cheers
Oh, and SandMaN... thanks
This is great news. I wonder what it will be about. I hope it is a FULL concept album, like Operation: Mindcrime and The Wall. That would be totally badass.
It's also possible that they decided on a basic storyline, and then said..."alright, let's all do X number of songs, and when we come together, we'll mix and match and make an album".
Not that I don't trust JackKnife, but I'd still like to read the original Nicko quote on the next album being a concept album.
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So you understand French...Let's go:
question: Donc tu ne peux rien nous dire sur la direction musicale que vous allez prendre.
answer (Nicko!): La seule chose dont nous avons parlé, c'est qu'il s'agira d'un disque développant une histoire comme pour Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Nous allons commencer à discuter lors des répétitions de la tournée d'été, dans deux semaines.
Thanks a lot JackKnife. Great news.
Cheers