Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson Says New Music Isn't 'Beyond the Bounds of Possibility' at Nashville Concert

05/20/2021 03:45 pm EDT

During Iron Maiden's recent Nashville, Tennessee, concert, frontman Bruce Dickinson told the crowd that new music from the band isn't "beyond the bounds of possibility." PopCulture.com was on-site for the show, and — after powering through a few opening songs, which included "Aces High" and "2 Minutes to Midnight" — Dickinson told the crowd that the band didn't have "any new songs to play for [fans] at the moment." He then teased that there is a chance that some new Iron Maiden music is essentially a "certainty," before clarifying that this specific tour, Legacy of the Beast, was all about the classics.

Dickinson also commented on how the band is not getting any younger, joking, "The United States started in 1776. We're f—ing older than that." While it was probably a given that Iron Maiden would put out new music at some point in the future, this is some tangible evidence that they are either planning it or preparing it.

Back in July, Iron Maiden founder and bassist Steve Harris spoke with Rolling Stone back in July about the tour, reflecting on various elements of the band's career, including the self-titled song "Iron Maiden," which the band still performs to this day. Regarding the classic tune, Harris confirmed that the song is not actually about the medieval torture device it — and they — are named after, but that it's more about how the band is going to metaphorically "get you."

"Yeah, it was kind of the attitude we had at the time. We were just going to go out there and go for it and basically take no prisoners. We obviously were young and hungry and we had the adrenaline. We were just trying to get out there and play fast, heavy music with lots of melody," he said. "There wasn't really anybody playing the stuff we were playing; we were heavily influenced by people like Wishbone Ash with the very melodic guitars. But we had a fire in it," Harris added.

As far as the band's style and why they wanted to "play fast," Harris explained, "I think we were just naturally fast artists because of that adrenaline. It's not like we sat down and said, 'Oh, we're going to play fast.' You start with the adrenaline and get onstage and it was even faster than it was when you recorded it. Sometimes it can get a bit out of hand, but the energy at a gig can be really quite amazing at times. It was never premeditated." The Legacy of the Beast tour will continue rolling through the nation, eventually concluding its U.S. run in San Antonio, Texas, at the AT&T Center in September.

Photo Credit: PopCulture.com / John Connor Coulston

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.