Exclusive – Dennis Stratton on Maiden’s Hall of Fame Nomination

Dennis Stratton speaks to Neil Jones about Iron Maiden’s nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

As announced 2 days ago Iron Maiden have been nominated for the first time since becoming eligible in 2008. They are nominated alongside 16 other artists including Rage Against The Machine, Foo Fighters, The New York Dolls, Todd Rundgren, Kate Bush & Tina Turner.

In following the conversation Dennis Stratton, whose latest Lionheart album ‘The Reality of Miracles’ was released last year, talks about his own reaction to the nomination and reveals what Steve Harris has to say about it too.   As in previous years, the winners will be decided by a combination of votes from Hall Of Fame committee members and fans via the “fan ballot”, which is open now and closes on April 30.

The Conversation

Neil: So Iron Maiden and nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They have been eligible for entrance since 2005. But it’s happened in 2021. Joining us on the phone right now, one of the original members who played on that first album, our good friend, Dennis Stratton. Dennis, how are you, sir?

Dennis: I’m very well Neil very well, thank you.

Neil: So when when you found out that Iron Maiden, you know, having been eligible since 2005, and finally got the nod alongside Rage Against the Machine, the Foo Fighters, Kate Bush, Tina Turner, what was your first reaction? Dennis?

Dennis: The first reaction, I’ve gotta be honest with you, Neil, is that I thought, well, it’s not going to include me. Funny enough, I got a message on the Lionheart group message from Tristan who does all our graphics, the artwork, and he said to me

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he’d looked on online, he said and you’ve been nominated with the band. [I’ve got a call coming in. So I’ll ignore it. you can still hear me. It’s probably another newspaper or radio station.] So basically, Neil I said, Yeah, but it you know, I’ve never, I’ve never had a lot of luck when it comes to err with Maiden and certain things that have gone on over the years, like the gold discs from the first album. I never actually got what I was, do, I think I got 2 3 Gold discs, and there was should have been about 20.  And I never actually, I never actually get anything, you know, I mean, yeah, it was only down to Steve Harris texting me about the recent re-release which was the 40 year anniversary that they actually the office actually sent me a copy of the of the 40 year anniversary. Picture disc. So I was happy about that. But this was a bit of a shock, because to include me and the other two, Clive and Paul, it’s quite a nice gesture, from my point of view is, you know, I mean, very, very exciting in my point of view.

Neil: And of course, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you know, it requires people to have been in the band pre 1995 which, of course, a lot of the fans are kind of scratching their heads a little bit because poor old Blaze Bailey, you know, if the band is successful in becoming, inductees won’t get it look in will he? What’s your what’s your take on on blaze not being involved?

Dennis: Yeah, I’ve noticed that afterwards because I went on Facebook, and I went, and I got your message on there. It was quite funny about my tuxedo. And when I saw that, I thought, well, that’s got to be down to the organisers of this event. But when I found out it was involved certain years, then they have to draw a line somewhere don’t they, you know, yes, well, they make the rules. So I don’t know, I’d be surprised if, if we get involved with it, if we do get inducted, because after a couple of things that Bruce has said, I’m a little bit sort of like thinking, Well, you know, are they going to look at them quotes? And are they going to punish us? You know, I don’t know, I’m just very excited to be actually nominated.

Neil: Absolutely. I mean, I was gonna say about that, because Bruce, I think Bruce has been very disparaging about being overlooked, saying that, you know, the Maiden way is not to really care about awards, which is, which is the case over the years, of course, you know, they want a Brit Award. But you know, I don’t think the band were too bothered about it. Frankly, Steve is also sort of said, it doesn’t really mean much to him. If the fans get behind this, though, because this is a fan vote at this stage, the band could easily become involved. So do you think that knowing what, you know, knowing how, you know, Steve and are you still in contact with Steve, do you think the band would eventually then go to the awards?

Dennis: Well, I spoke with Steve day before yesterday, and and I texted him and said, because we’re always in contact with about West Ham and things like that. And when he’s coming over, and if we’re going to meet up, and especially, you know, when when the gigs were about because with the British Lions, you know, go down and meet up with them and spend the afternoon there, but either long chat with Steve on the text messaging, and he said, I found out this morning, and I’ll send oh why didn’t you tell me and he said I only found out this morning. This was in the afternoon. But I do remember I texted him and said this. I do remember quite a while ago when he was interviewed by it could have been a magazine, it could have been a radio station like Planet Rock. They said to him, you know, you get annoyed the fact that you’ve never been mentioned as a nominee for for this for this for this, you know, the whole thing. And he said I didn’t form Iron Maiden to get into this, you know, this honour of rock and roll and things like that, he said, I formed Iron Maiden to play music. So I know he feels very strongly about that. And he’s also said to me many times when someone has misquoted me in a in a newspaper or magazine, and I’ve had to text him and say, listen, Steve, this is wrong. You know, I said this, and they’ve put this. And he said, and I don’t read ’em, I don’t take any notice of them. So I know that he has that kind of attitude, very, very quiet sort of personality. I did speak to some people that are because, as you know, last year was supposed to be the 40th anniversary of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. And I was supposed to be going to South America and Brazil for the first time to play a tour over there for about two and a half months. And that got cancelled because of the COVID. And I was talking to a couple of promoters there. And they said, the minute any, anyone in South America, the minute they start voting, they’ll just go absolutely potty. So I’m hoping there’s no there’s no news. Ron, I was told yesterday that there’s no news from the Iron Maiden website or media. But as you say, I think if if all of a sudden, I think Maiden are in third place at the moment with Tina Turner, first and spoofed by a second, I imagine once South America start voting, and it gets it gets the publicity it needs. I think the votes will will mean a lot. I will actually text Steve, in the next couple of days and ask him how he feels about, you know, accepting this, just to see what he says. But it’s early days yet, you know, we have to wait and see, you know how the votes go. But you know, even on Planet Rock, it was Wyatt I was talking on Planet Rock yesterday, and he said the minute the vote the voting starts in South America, they will just go absolutely potty.

Neil: Absolutely. I mean, they are just fervent supporters of, well, everything, whether it’s football, or maiden or AC/DC, they just absolutely go absolutely crazy down in those territories. Well, listen, just a final question for you, Dennis. We’ve known each other a number of years, though, but you wake up one day, and you find your name listed amongst the likes of the Rage Against The Machine, Foo Fighters, Kate Bush, it’s not a normal day in the office where that one is it?

Dennis: No, as I say the other night when we when I finally got the message as well at 4.30 in the afternoon. And it was just it took a little while to sink in because I forwarded the link that you that you sent and I found it and one of the guys in Lionheart send it to me. And I sent it to my family. And they were saying oh, well done, dad. But it wasn’t till later on in the evening, you sort of sit there and think after all these years, you’re slowly finally getting recognition for something you done 40 years ago, you know, it’s quite strange.

Neil: It is indeed Well listen, I think it’s only right and proper we play something from the debut album. Like you say, as soon as South America starts voting maiden will be in those top two for sure. So let’s see what happens from from the Maiden camp in the days and weeks to come. But listen, very, very deserved after all these years and particularly having been overlooked because the band have been eligible since 2005, which I know a lot of the fans have been upset about. Hey listen. Well done, Dennis, and thanks for once again for chatting to us.

Dennis: Thanks, Neil. Thanks very much and keep in touch and we’ll talk soon.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai with some help from yours truly!

 

Hear the full Dennis and Neil conversation on Neil’s Show on Wednesday Feb 17th at 6pm GMT