Iron Maiden are gearing up for their 50th anniversary Run For Your Lives tour this summer - and Janick Gers, one of the band’s three guitarists, says he still approaches every show as if it is the last he will ever play.
Speaking to MusicRadar, Gers says: “I’m looking for intensity. Intensity and passion. I want it every night.
“The audience - I look in their eyes and they look in my eyes and they know I mean it. That intensity is what keeps me doing it.
“I’m not an aggressive person normally. I don’t go around punching people! But when I go out on stage I can’t just stand there. I don’t know why.
“People say to Pete Townshend, ‘Why do you jump about on stage?’ He doesn’t know. And it’s the same for me.
“I’m trying to entertain people the best way I can. But the main thing is, I’m not playing for them, I’m playing for me. I’m playing to them.
“Every gig, I always have a cup of tea and get changed and run on. And I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I get out there.
“Nothing's planned. I love that intensity. And you feel the audience and you’re feeding off all that.
“I remember reading a review saying, ‘Ritchie Blackmore played this song and it wasn't the right note, because you can't play an F sharp in that particular key.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re missing the point!’ That's mathematics. This is something else. This is different. This is energy. It's a life force.
“I give everything I’ve got on stage. My strings are like elastic bands ‘cause I’m whacking the fuck out of them. And then I walk away and I’m on to the next gig.
“It’s like a brand new day. You start again - and this gig is gonna be better than the last one. I don't know how or why, but it will be something different, better, more aggressive, or sometimes more fun. And that way it feels fresh every day.”
Gers refers back to his time in the early ’80s when he was the guitarist for Gillan, the band led and named after Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.
“Ian used to say, ‘You’re as good as you are.’ And there’s a truth to that. I want every gig to be brilliant and you can’t always be brilliant.”
He continues: “I don't know how long I’ve got, so I play every gig like it’s my last gig. I’m closer to seventy than I am to sixty. And once it's done, it's done.
“But I don't need to do this. I'm doing it because I love it. And when I don’t feel like that, that's exactly when it’s time to get out.
Recalling a recent Maiden show when his guitar slipped out of his hands and flew out into the audience, Gers says: “That could happen any night!
“It was about a hundred and ten degrees on stage that night. I was soaking wet, I lost about four kilograms.
“And that’s my old guitar from the Gillan days. But you don’t think, because you’re in a fucking frenzy.”
As a result of this on-stage intensity, Gers still has the same post-show chillout ritual he’s had for decades.
“When I walk off stage I need to switch off,” he says. “You can’t just go to bed after you've done that. Your body’s on a high.
“So I always walk back to the hotel. Have a shower, get changed, and then I’ll find a bar, have a couple of beers and come down.”
