Ahead of the release of the album, The Mandrake Project through BMG on March 1st and the start of a four- month tour, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has revealed the addition of two new guitarists in the touring line up.
Swedish born guitarist, songwriter and multi-platinum credited producer Philip Naslund and Swiss session and touring guitarist Chris Declercq (who incidentally played on the current single, Rain On The Graves) will add their fire to band members Dave Moreno, Mistheria and Tanya O’Callaghan.
“Sadly, and with regret, guitarist and producer Roy Z will no longer join the band on tour due to some personal commitments,” explains Dickinson. “He will remain in LA to work on some re-mixing and re-mastering of the catalogue. We all know the show must go on though, and this project is too important to everyone to not be the very best it can be. I’m gutted about Roy because he assembled most of the album and touring band, introducing Mistheria and Dave Moreno to the project and mentoring guitarist Chris Declerq. I’m so excited about what both Philip and Chris will bring on stage together and now my only ambition is to grab a little piece of the audiences’ hearts every night.”
The first chance to see the six-piece live will now be at The Observatory, Orange County on April 15th with tickets going on sale to the general public at Ticketmaster.com on February 20th at 10am PST. “We’re not afraid of doing some growing up in public” explains Dickinson “So, this show will be a close to a rehearsal as you can get – it’s exciting to think what these musicians can do – and will do, when there are over one thousand fans in the room.”