Iron Maiden today revealed their brand-new track, The Writing On The Wall, with an eagerly anticipated global YouTube video premiere. The song was written by Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith & lead singer Bruce Dickinson, produced by Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Maiden bassist and founder-member Steve Harris.
Bruce Dickinson initially had a concept for the video which came to fruition in collaboration with two Award-winning former Pixar executives and long-standing Maiden fans Mark Andrews & Andrew Gordon. The pair have over 50 years of animation industry experience between them at the very top-level including work on The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Brave, Monsters Inc & Finding Nemo. With partners lining up to get involved with the project they chose BlinkInk, a London based animation studio celebrated for their work with a variety of global brands from Adidas to Coca-Cola and a number of high-profile music videos.
In BlinkInk director Nicos Livesey, another long-time Maiden fan & kindred spirit, they found a man who shared the collective vision for the track – resulting in the final film which features the very first glimpse of a stunning new incarnation of Eddie in spectacular 3D form.
Bruce comments “I had a pretty clear idea of the concept to accompany the song and when I met Mark and Andrew, on Zoom, it quickly became clear we were all very much on the same wavelength, and this was reinforced with the addition of Nicos and his young BlinkInk team. Our weekly team Zoom meetings were then usually both highly creative and a lot of fun!
I’m very proud of the way the video turned out, it’s more like a mini-film really. I knew it was going to work out as soon as Mark brought my treatment to life with his incredible storyboards – I thought we could make something very special together. I think we did and hope our fans will agree. In fact it’s pretty much created by Maiden fans.”
Director, Nicos Livesey takes up the story: “We quickly found the expertise we wanted, and people were literally throwing themselves at me to work on a Maiden video – we had more than 60 people in 13 countries from Brazil to France, & Romania to the U.S.A. to add something to the clip and I’d say their love, passion and understanding of the band shines through every frame. They were a dream team for the producers and myself to manage.”
I wanted to follow up a bit regarding the message/ lyrics , I think young rock fans and young people should hear this message more than ever before from any source we live in this world of casual outrage ,cancel culture and our government is becoming less trustworthy by the minute and our media for the most part is turning into a propaganda machine , when your older like the people on this site we’ve heard this all before so alot of times messages from musicians can sound preachy and can fall on deaf ears , young engaged people can affect change in this country , maiden I think has gains alot of younger fans year after year so they have a great platform , I think from time to time it’s great to use it ~
Robert,
I agree with everything you are saying, but I am not sure that was Maiden’s angle? Nor do I think your interpretation, is the one that most of the youth will connect with.
D 🙂
I thought it was a great video and a damn good/timely song. Ultimately, it was hopeful too. I’m always impressed – this song being yet another example – of how, even this late in the game, Maiden always delivers on solid, interesting music with smart lyrics. They don’t fall into the cliches that some of their contemporaries have long used and overused and used again….and again. Bravo!
I admit I checked out at a certain point, so I missed the ending.
Dana,
Me too!
Dana,
I’m not sure maiden targeted young people with this song either , but I hope their younger fans hear it and appreciate the message, I know most young people are not looking to rock bands for world changing information , I guess for me even though I’ve heard this message before I’m not tuning it out , I like that they put a song like this out there ~
I have to confess that I tapped out, too.
Okay, so that is three of us.
Dana, make that four of us who tapped out early. Sounds like leftovers from their Book of Souls album and I thought the sound production could be better. However I know after a few listens I could really like this song……after all, it’s f’n Maiden!