Finally, a current member of Iron Maiden appeared on 'That Metal Show!' After 10 seasons, the show corralled guitarist Adrian Smith to appear on last night's (April 21) episode.

The guitarist spoke about the set list for the upcoming Maiden England tour, which will mirror the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour. He admitted that he likes to dig up and dust off old songs and said that since the fans know the popular songs so well, it is hard to deviate from the original form or change them up too much.

Smith spoke about Bruce Dickinson's role as a commercially licensed pilot, saying that he will be looking at flight plans literally right before going on stage, sharing that his frontman can switch on and off. Even after playing a two-hour show, Dickinson doesn't want to relax. He wants to captain the plane to the next city.

The band was in flight and on its way to a show in Japan when a major earthquake and tsunami rocked the country in March of 2011. The band's aircraft had to divert to another airport, where they were then stuck on an airport tarmac for several hours. "We were in the dark but we were glad we didn't land a few minutes earlier," he said.

Smith also spoke about Dickinson replacing Paul Di'Anno, saying that he did his own thing and didn't try to ape Di'Anno and that's why he worked as a replacement.

He shared some insight on the writing process, saying that bassist Steve Harris used to bring in completed songs to the sessions. Now, he does more arranging.

He also spoke about his side project Primal Rock Rebellion, which he has been working on for five years with singer Mikee Goodman of Sikth, a modern and very heavy British metal band. They met, started writing, became friends and this project is the result. It is a heavier, different sound, with an industrial tinge. "There are still guitar solos," Smith said. That's good enough for us!

 

 

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