Blaze Bayley Live Interview

The interview

A conversation beyond the standard retrospective

On Monday, September 7 at 22:30 Athens time, Altars Of Metal welcomes Blaze Bayley for a live 30-minute interview, only days before his return to Greece for Rock Hard Festival Greece 2026.

The conversation will go beyond the familiar career recap: his years with Iron Maiden, the evolving perception of The X Factor and Virtual XI, the independent path he built afterwards, Wolfsbane, his solo work, and what still drives him creatively more than three decades after stepping onto one of heavy metal’s biggest stages.

The guest

A career that refused to be reduced to one chapter

Blaze Bayley’s place in metal history is inseparable from Iron Maiden, but it has never been limited to it. Before Maiden came Wolfsbane; after Maiden came a long, fiercely independent solo career built through records, touring and an unusually direct relationship with the people who support his music.

Between 1994 and 1999, Bayley fronted Iron Maiden and recorded The X Factor (1995) and Virtual XI (1998), two albums whose darker character continues to be discussed and reassessed decades later. In 2026, that chapter received another historic marker: Bayley is among the members officially inducted with Iron Maiden into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

We will also talk about independence, songwriting, the changing relationship between technology and music, and what it takes to keep old material alive rather than turning an anniversary show into a museum piece.