The return of the jedi's - back in your face like mace! No updates from the Brew for a while as we spent the latter part of last week making the studio safe from a possible 'dirty bomb' attack and stock piling spaghetti hoops, red wine and cadburys whole nut... No worries. Not your average Monday - actually got a track down and shot a bit of footage of the band in record mode. Steve was not a happy camper as his beloved West Ham were taken apart 6-0 at the weekend by Man Utd, the polar opposite of Nicko as his wine shipment had arrived - good news all round then. And remember.... Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines'. The Brew.

Oof! Two and a half hours in the gym and I'm pooped - OK, studio update from yesterday, what happened? Above is a shot, from yesterday, in the studio with Dave, Jan and Adrian going over and discussing some of their parts. Rollover the pic with your mouse for one of Steve rehearsing too! All the band were in about noon, and they worked on a new song, one written basically by Jan - a very interesting historical overview of a particularly period in French religous history, very bloody, and one I'd never heard about - so Bruce's has been waxing philosophical and lyrical about said incidents, and educating the rest of us, and it is indeed very interesting!!!

(breakfast break!)

AH! - rejuvenated! Basically, we tracked 5 takes, and the fifth one was fantastic, so we stopped there! And that's the basic track, which we'll go over towards the end of the week and do some overdubs on it - Jan has some cool guitar harmony things worked out, and it should be very exciting once it's all wrapped up! The band are so in sync with each other - it is incredible. There is very little friction in the studio, and the sessions couldn't be any more fun and productive than they are, and they rock so fucking hard too! So, it all augers well for the finished product, and whatever period in Maiden's history is your favorite, I doubt whether they've all played as together as this before.
In the Zeppelin tradition of Tight But Loose, this is a band which moves - pushing the beat, pulling it back, and that's real rock! No click tracks, no ProTools computer tightening and manipulation - what you hear is what they play, one thing which is not true of a Metallica album, but that's not a criticism as I'm a fan - I'm just saying it like it is, and Maiden are the last and the best of the naturally moving rock bands. Rock on...

Caveman

For more about Kevin Shirley, check out www.cavemanproductions.com