On the 21st of October 2024, the news broke that Paul Di’Anno had died. Perhaps best known for being the original lead singer of legendary heavy metal band Iron Maiden, Paul had also had a hugely successful solo career though in later years he struggled immensely with his health, something he was very open about. Although needing to use a wheelchair, Paul would still perform over 100 shows a year, delivering every single one with passion, heart and soul. In September he was ready to release his latest album The Book Of The Beast, very much a career retrospective with collaborations with the likes of Tony Martin, and ZP Theart, and surprising twists with the reworkings of Iron Maiden classics Wrathchild and Remember Tomorrow. It’s a very exciting release and we felt very privileged that we had the opportunity to talk to Paul about how it all came together. At this time, and as our interview would show, he was clearly struggling with his health, but the commitment he demonstrated throughout was heartfelt and inspirational. We continue to publish this interview as a tribute to Paul…. 

The new album The Book of The Beast, is going to be released in just a few weeks time. What sort of thoughts are going through your mind at album release time?

Book Of The Beast is a greatest hits sort of thing. I’ve got stuff in from Killers, Battlezone, from the Nomad album, even a track from when we had a muck-about punk band back in Salisbury. We were notorious! We got barred from nearly every fucking place we played in! (Laughs!) Yeah, that was cool! So we stacked one of those tracks in there as well and added a different version of Remember Tomorrow but with Tony Martin singing from Black Sabbath.

Well let’s talk more about the album – which comes hot off the heels of the July 2024 release of Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse album – and what an amazing package this is. It’s essentially a fine career retrospective and a collection of carefully chosen songs that are still the best moments from your amazing, nearly 50 year career. What inspired you to create this career retrospective collection?

Well actually, I’ve been concentrating on my health so I let my record company do what they want basically. I’m trying to keep away from it all and just concentrate on my health at the moment. That’s why I’m not writing at the moment either. We’ve got new music but lyrically, no. I can’t do it because if I write any lyrics everybody will be committing suicide in about two days! (Laughs!)

Well, I think one of the wonderful things is that as part of this release you’ve also reworked 2 Iron Maiden classics, these being Remember Tomorrow and Wrathchild, and you’ve given them a dark twist. For me, that the originals are absolute classics and essentially perfect rock songs.

Yes, that’s what I think! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, you know what I mean? But I just like to try something different now and again and Tony wanted to do it so why say no? He’s a good man and a good singer!

You’ve brought some other friends in to duet with you including ZP Theart (Dragonforce) and Lidya Balaban (Crowley). I know you’ve been wanting to work with Lidya for a while.

Well, she’s been wanting to work with me. She did it in the studio away from me because we were supposed to meet up when we played Trillions up in Newcastle but we never got to meet that night. I don’t know what happened, so there you go! So she went into the studio and did it along with other tracks. I’ve not actually heard that one yet! (Laughs!)

One of the things you’ve been quite open about is how for previous releases you’ve been disappointed with the promotion that some record labels have a given, but for The Book Of The Beast, you have partnered with Conquest Music where are you appear to have more confidence, And it’s interesting that artists such as Luke Morley, Hillbilly Vegas and Willie Dowling have all chosen to work with Conquest. What is it about Conquest Music that made them the right choice for this release?

Well Cliff Evans, who takes care of Luke and that as well, is the old guitar player from Tank and from Killers. We’re good mates and all that so I let him handle all my affairs at the minute until I’m up on my feet and I can do it myself. But with a record labels, I just found out I’m getting paid royalties paid in. I never received any of them because they got paid to an old manager who’s fucking nicked the lot. So that’s not good, especially when I’ve got to keep paying medical bills myself. That’s not very nice. Plus my son has got run down three days ago over in the States and he’s been in hospital so that’s more money we’ve got to pay out.

Something that is creating a huge amount of anticipation amongst your fans is the fact that over the last four years a no-holds-barred documentary film about you has been in the making. How did the idea of doing a documentary come about and when can we expect to see it?

Well, Wes Orshoski from New York had done the Motörhead and The Damned rockumentaries, and he came up with the idea about me and I was thinking by the end of that I will be back on my feet and all that but it’s been one disappointment after another with that. So unfortunately, I’m still in the wheelchair. So you’ve got the warts and all – but they wouldn’t let him in when they were doing the surgery on me! The doctor said ‘absolutely not’ but he was outside hovering around. It’s the nitty-gritty and the sort of ups and downs with PTSD and anxiety issues and almost dying when they did the operation. It’s because I lost so much blood because they took the knee out and the fibula and put a prosthetic down there. I’m covered in holes from sepsis! So this is it, I’m just getting on with what I have to do.

Just when you talk about what you’re going through from a health perspective, what we need to recognise is how incredibly hard-working and committed you are to your live performances where you deliver over 100 shows per year, and it’s so massively inspirational! You do all this and you’re still top of your game. How do you manage to do it all?

Well last year was amazing for me because in my own adopted country, we played more shows than any band ever and that’s including the Brazilian bands. We played nearly 38 shows in Brazil alone so that’s pretty good. That’s without Chile and Argentina and Colombia. They told me to basically just sit in the wheelchair until you die and I took their advice for eight years. And then I thought ‘no I can’t do this anymore’. It’s led to all these problems with PTSD and depression. So the only thing that gets rid of that, even though it’s very painful to do this, is to get out and play. So that’s where it matters. It’s all about music.

As we reflect on our conversation, we find comfort in the fact that Paul’s overwhelming sense of commitment to music and live performances in the face huge physical and health challenges will continue to inspire his legion of fans. His music is also timeless. Rest in peace, Paul.