Bruce Dickinson reveals he recorded new Iron Maiden album on crutches

Bruce Dickinson has revealed that he recorded part of the new Iron Maiden album while on crutches.

Speaking to Kerrang!, the veteran musician said he was on crutches following an injury to his Achilles tendon.

Dickinson and co. returned last week (July 15) with their first new track in six years. The band subsequently confirmed that their 17th studio album, ‘Senjutsu’, will arrive this September.

“I did the last couple of tracks of recording on crutches, in a boot – one of those big boots you have to wear to immobilise your leg,” he told the publication.

“So, I bust it at the end of April. Thirty-six hours later I was on the slab having it stitched back together. And then hours after the operation, I was in the studio, singing, with my leg the size of a fucking balloon.”

He continued: “It was a month in a boot. It took it off and then I had another two weeks of rehab. Then I had four months to try to learn to walk again before the tour.

“That tour of America and South America, all those big shows, I couldn’t walk properly, so I just faked it. Nobody figured it out. I was running around, but I was running around differently.

“I learned to move without using my calf muscles, which is difficult, but I couldn’t do it anything conventional. So I couldn’t jump, and I couldn’t run, and walking quickly was an issue. But if you walked like a crab, it was alright!”

‘Senjutsu’ will come out on September 3, and was recorded at Paris’ Guillaume Tell Studio with Iron Maiden’s longtime producer Kevin Shirley alongside Steve Harris.

Dickinson said that the band were “all really excited” about the record, adding that it was recorded in 2019 when the group were on a break from their Legacy tour.

“The songs are very varied, and some of them are quite long,” he explained. “There’s also one or two songs which sound pretty different to our usual style, and I think Maiden fans will be surprised – in a good way, I hope!”