Bruce Dickinson’s The Mandrake Project was released in March and achieved huge chart success across Europe, the UK, U.S, Canada & Latin America.
Dickinson recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation. During their conversation, Bruce discusses The Mandrake Project and shares the backstory of the song, “Eternity Has Failed.” Clips below, courtesy of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation.
On The Mandrake Project: "I was building up towards doing this in sort of like 2011, 2012 and thinking, you know, I'd look at when Iron Maiden had some downtime and we'd finish it up, you know, in between Book of Souls. But after the Book of Souls record, as you know, or may or may not know, obviously I was diagnosed with stage three throat cancer, and that really kind of delayed things by a year. And then we had catch up with Iron Maiden because obviously I hadn't been touring for a year. And then Covid hit, and so it was suddenly, it was like seven years in that intervening period. You know, things had moved on a little bit, like the idea that the album was gonna be, literally like a concept album that had kind of gone out the window because I had written the comic book, The Mandrake Project, graphic novel, comic book, whatever, that had turned into a 12 episode three year project. So the album didn't have to be kind of joined at the hip with the comic book anymore, which, you know, which was great actually. It's meant that both of them have really benefited from that."
On "Eternity Has Failed"; "Well, basically, I had a series of demos of tracks for the solo album. And my initial idea back way back when Steve heard it and said, 'Hey, you know, that would be cool with Maiden.' And I thought, 'Yeah, fine. Cool. Let's do it.' And it was always my intention to sort of repossess the song 'cause people said, 'Oh, you've covered a Maiden song.' I'm like, 'Actually no, it's the other way around. Iron Maiden covered one of my similar tracks, but you don't know that yet because the album hasn't come out.' So by this time when I re-recorded it, I kind of could reimagine the beginning a little bit, which was always my intention. I mean, Steve was happy with the, I played the keyboard at the beginning there, on the Maiden track, but that was for me. That keyboard was just like a kind of like a placeholder really. It was never intended to be the final thing. But Steve was like, 'No, that sounds cool.' I went, 'Okay, if you're happy with it then, you know.' But I wanted much more of his kind of weird, like, you know, “Spaghetti Western” Ennio Morricone thing. In fact, what I want to do, and originally was mariachi trumpets, you know, but we ended up with the flute instead."
The Mandrake Project is not just an album project & tour but also a comic book series of the same name. Created by Bruce Dickinson it features an array of known graphic novel talent. It was scripted by Tony Lee (Dr Who), stunningly illustrated by Staz Johnson (2000AD) & with covers by industry heavyweight Bill Sienkiewicz for Z2 Comics it will be released as 12 quarterly issues and collated into three annual graphic novels. Issue #2 is on sale now.
The Mandrake Project is Dickinson’s seventh solo album. Order here.
"Rain On The Graves" video:
"Afterglow Of Ragnarok" video:
Following two surprise dates on April 12 and 13 at Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, CA, Dickinson officially launched his tour in support of The Mandrake Project on Monday (April 15) at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA. Watch video below:
Dickinson's backing band features:
Chris Declerq (guitar)
Philip Naslund (guitar)
Tanya O'Callaghan (bass)
Dave Moreno (drums)
Mistheria (keyboard)
The next tour stop is scheduled for tonight, April 18, at Diana Theater in Guadalajara, Mexico. Find Bruce Dickinson's complete tour itinerary, as well as ticket links, here.
