Hello from Melbourne, Australia!

[Hallowed Be Thy Clive]

Hi everyone,

I've been a Maiden fan for a long, long time (so long in fact, that I saw Maiden play with Clive Burr on drums in 1982!). I'm a huge fan of the early era (1980-1988) and I especially love the first three albums with Clive on drums. Of the 'modern era', my favourite is Brave New World which I think has some classic tracks on it. I've seen Maiden three times: in 1982, 1992 and 2024. Looking forward to interacting with you all.

[Dragontear]

Hello. Its is good to see someone new comming around to the forum. Especially from so far away. Australia!

As you can see the this place is not quite active but i manage to keep it running just for the sake of old days.

So im just wondering how come being a fan for so long and being From Australia  .. you have seen the band just 3 times..?

Cheers

[Hallowed Be Thy Clive]

Hello. Its is good to see someone new comming around to the forum. Especially from so far away. Australia!

As you can see the this place is not quite active but i manage to keep it running just for the sake of old days.

So im just wondering how come being a fan for so long and being From Australia  .. you have seen the band just 3 times..?

Cheers

Hi,

Thanks for the welcome. To answer your question:

Well, the first time was in 1982 when I was just seventeen and a full on Metalhead (one of the greatest nights of my life). The Number of The Beast had been released earlier that year, with what in my humble opinion was the best ever Maiden line-up. I remember eagerly awaiting the follow up to TNOTB and although it might be sacrilegious to say it, I just didn't like Piece of Mind as much as TNOTB. The next time they toured would've been the World Slavery Tour in 1985, by which time Maiden had fallen off my radar a bit and my tastes were moving away from metal (though I bought and enjoyed Live After Death). I can't even remember how or why it happened, but I started listening to 'No Prayer' and FOTD a lot in the early 90's which admittedly weren't the greatest Maiden albums but they motivated me to attend their show here in Melbourne in 1992. Again, my tastes moved away from metal after this and then on of course the mid 90's saw the Blaze Bayley era. I remember listening to the Blaze albums at the time and thinking Maiden had well and truly lost it. I then filed Maiden away as a fond memory and probably didn't revisit them again for a good 15 years or so. I started getting into them again maybe around 2015 with the release of BOS. I wasn't wild about the album, but there were enough great moments to reinvigorate my love of the band, which made me revisit the catalogue and properly acquaint myself with Powerslave and SSOASS, which I now love, along with BNW. When Maiden visited Melbourne around 2020-2021, I had tickets for both shows but of course COVID struck and those gigs were cancelled and the dates were not rescheduled. Happy to say I saw them in 2024, although the crowd were disappointingly lifeless where I was sitting. If I'm blessed enough to see them again, I'm definitely getting general admission tickets so I can be near the hardcore fans!

[Dragontear]

Great Story

I also have admit that by the time of the number of the beast album The lineup was the best ever. I love Clive's Drumming and the whole energy of the band. As muc as i love Nicko .. he is far away from clive. Nicko is more technical as Clive was just organic.. 

Listening to some lives from that era .. The whole band sounds like a steam locomotive working with precision .. there is no bad note or wrong move or timing.. even in improvisations! 

Iam just curious what are your other tastes in Music as you mentioned few times that it had changed a bit..

And by the way you should check "The Beast Over Hammersmith"  dont know if you havent!

[Hallowed Be Thy Clive]

Great Story

I also have admit that by the time of the number of the beast album The lineup was the best ever. I love Clive's Drumming and the whole energy of the band. As muc as i love Nicko .. he is far away from clive. Nicko is more technical as Clive was just organic.. 

Listening to some lives from that era .. The whole band sounds like a steam locomotive working with precision .. there is no bad note or wrong move or timing.. even in improvisations! 

Iam just curious what are your other tastes in Music as you mentioned few times that it had changed a bit..

And by the way you should check "The Beast Over Hammersmith"  dont know if you havent!

Hi again,

Always great to meet other fans who appreciate what Clive brought to the band and what was lost when he left (although I do have great respect and appreciation for Nicko and his huge role role in the Maiden story). I'm not a drummer (let alone a musician) so I'm not in a position to say what is 'better', only what my ears prefer. I'm told by many people that Nicko is a superior 'technician' on the drums, but to my uneducated ears Clive plays WITH the band and propels it with unstoppable energy, whereas Nicko seems to play OVER the band and his style feels a little 'busy' with unnecessary fills. I also like the pure drum sound that Clive got on the Maiden albums- crisp and punchy, whereas I always found Nicko's drum sound a bit hollow and tinny.

As to my tastes in music, I suppose you could broadly say that it's in the classic rock/hard rock oeuvre with a bit of modern stuff thrown in. In the metal/hard rock vein, my favourite bands would be Maiden, Sabbath, Priest, Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult, Thin Lizzy and The Cult (huge fan of the early Sabbath, Priest and BOC eras). For more mainstream rock, there's The Beatles (huge fan), Kings Of Leon, Kiss (again, the early stuff), Queen (early stuff especially), the Stones, Floyd, David Gilmour, Oasis, Noel Gallagher, and U2 (although Bono's political/moral posturing annoys me at times), and Richard Ashcroft. I'm also a big fan of an Australian band called The Church, who I've been into for many years (their best known song is called 'Under The Milky Way', which you may have heard).

Of the current acts, my three favourites would be Inhaler, The War On Drugs, and Royel Otis.

It's amazing how often I find myself saying 'I like their early stuff best' when it comes to a lot of my favourite artists. I think it's because it's when bands are hungriest and have that 'fire in the belly'.

Yes, I have the Hammersmith show as part of the 'Early Days' DVD and and I also have the 2 CD 'Beast Over Hammersmith' set. It brings back lots of great memories.

On an unrelated note which I forgot to mention in my intro, I'm also a big football fan and I follow the English Premier League very enthusiastically, although the team I support (Wolverhampton Wanderers) are having a very poor season and will almost certainly get relegated at the end of this current season!