Iron Maiden Planning 2014 Album?

Iron Maiden are planning to release their sixteenth studio album next year, according to Swedish website Talarforum.se.

At the end of an interview with frontman Bruce Dickinson they say: “In addition to upcoming tour plans the band to record a new album, which, if all goes as planned, is scheduled for release in 2014.”

Some fans feared that 2010′s The Final Frontier would prove to be their last studio release, because many years previously Steve Harris had said Maiden would make 15 albums then stop. The bassist later explained things had changed.

In the Talaforum interview Dickinson recalls a period of time when he was down on his luck, living on the streets of London and carrying all his worldly possessions in a small suitcase.

He says: “I was homeless. I had £10 in my pocket – it was all the money I had. I walked around and wondered what bench I would sleep on, and I started thinking about what I would do with my money.

“How do I ‘invest’ my £10? Maybe take the subway, buy food, or maybe I should save the money? After thinking for a long while, I noticed I had ended up in front of a rock club, which is still there, called Dingwalls. I thought, ‘If I still go to sleep on a park bench I might as well go in and have a few beers.’

“So I took my £10, paid admission to the show – and ran right into an old friend that I had been playing in a band with. He worked there as a sound technician. I told him I didn’t have anywhere to stay and asked if I could crash on his couch.

“After living with him for a week, I ran into a couple of other buddies. It floated on like that until I started singing in Iron Maiden.

“What seemed to be an almost insignificant decision turned out, in retrospect, to be a real milestone.”

Dickinson says the moral of his story is: “You have to take risks in order to take responsibility for your life.”

Maiden will headline this year’s Download festival at Donington Park on June 15.