THE ORIGINAL IRON MAIDEN

In 1979 Iron Maiden, founded in 1974 by Steve Harris, toured England with their brand of Heavy
Metal which would eventually take them around the world and on to being one of the biggest Metal
bands of all time. On 27th September 1979 they performed live in The Double Six in Basildon, as did local band, Prowler.

A little of a decade earlier and a previous band called Iron Maiden were formed in Basildon by Steve
Drewett and Barry Skeets. They’d previously gone under the name of Stevenson’s Blues Dept. and
supported bands like Fleetwood Mac.

Two more local musicians were added to the line-up. Graham Esgrove and Paul Reynolds joined the
band. They changed the band name to BUM in an effort to shock and remember anyone that heard
it. They were named in NME, Melody Maker and other music magazines of the time.

Initially BUM had trouble with advertising and promotion but they quickly became accepted and
played multiple venues in Essex and London. The band gained a manager in Len Green, the brother
of Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac.

In 1969 Esgrove left the band and was replaced on guitar by Trevor Thoms. Trevor’s writing
influenced the band away from their blues sound and towards a darker, gothic style of rock. On 26 th
August 1969 they supported The Who and Amen Corner at a festival in Grays.

Soon afterwards they met Stan Blackbourn, a resident of Basildon, who had worked with the Rolling
Stones Stan was working for President Records when he became their manager. President Records
had created a new label called Gemini for rock bands and wanted to sign the band.

The label wasn’t comfortable with the bands name so it was changed to Iron Maiden.

A report in the Standard Recorded on Friday 13 th February 1970 noted that the band, ‘The Iron
Maiden’ had signed a three year deal and suggested that 'their progressive pop music may sound
like spikes being driven through the flesh of transgressors, especially those of us who are frankly
square.

Gemini Records got the band to record a demo for their album in Regent Street, a studio that had
been used by The Rolling Stones.

Stan Blackbourn arranged a 3-month tour for the band in Australia. Paul Reynolds left the band as
he was unable to go to Australia due to work commitments. Steve Chapman answered an advert in
Melody Maker and joined Iron Maiden.

This was when they recorded a double A-side single, Falling/Ned Kelly, to coincide with the
Australian tour.

The tour was cancelled due to a disagreement with the Musicians Union in the UK and Australia’s
PRS over royalty rates. This then led to Steve Chapman leaving the band.

This was compounded by Gemini Records failing to secure any studio time for the band to record
their album, and within a few years the band had folded.

In the late 1990s a CD was released produced from a tape of the tracks recorded at Denmark Street
and the double a-side single.

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Over a decade later and the reels that the demo had been recorded on were found by Steve Drewett
and, put together with the single and some BUM recordings, was released as Maiden Voyage in
2012.

The band have been described as psychedelic and as the World’s first Doom Metal band.

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