Bruce Dickinson Says Iron Maiden Will Never Retire

Bruce Dickinson will turn 61 years young this coming August, yet the Iron Maiden frontman brings more energy to the stage than many metal frontmen one-third his age, even with a scary tongue cancer diagnosis in recent years. So it’s no surprise to learn that Bruce Bruce doesn’t have any plans to hang up his rock boots… not now, not ever, until he’s in the grave (and he even calls THAT fate into doubt).

In a recent interview with Spanish TV show Late Motiv, Dickinson was quick to refute the interviewer’s suggestion that retirement was on the horizon:

“I don’t see any reason why we should ever retire. As an airline captain, I was always told that nobody ever dies on an airplane. Even if the guy’s head is severed from his body, he’s not dead, because if the boss, the captain… If somebody says, ‘The guy’s head has fallen off.’ ‘Well, is he dead?’ ‘Well, he’s not dead until somebody legally says he’s dead.’ So, nobody dies until somebody stands up and says, ‘Yup. He’s definitely dead.’ ‘Ha! You’re responsible then. You killed him.’”

That last bit is somewhat abstract and bizarre — was Dickinson’s body suddenly possessed by Slipknot’s ebullient keg-beater Shawn “Clown” Crahan? — but Dickinson then brings it back around:

“It’s the same with rock’n’roll bands. We will never die. Even if we are actually dead, we will still never actually die.”

And that is 100% true, ain’t it? Maiden’s music has shown remarkable staying power over the past four decades and the guys are still on this mortal plane, so there’s every reason to think their legacy will endure well beyond the times their bodies give up the ghost. As for Bruce Bruce, he’s looking mighty fine with his newly regrown long locks in the Late Motiv interview, which you can watch below.

[via Kerrang!]