Maiden Cover Artists Says New Eddie Is Not Eddie
Melvyn Grant talks new album art
Melvyn Grant, who has worked on several of Iron Maiden’s album covers, says that the latest version of Eddie is not actually Eddie at all.
In an interview with the Examiner.com Grant revealed that Eddie doesn’t actually feature on the album cover of The Final Frontier.
"You get so used to something that it becomes your 'thing,' and you fall in love with that version of Eddie. I did try to change him a bit, in a way that suited me and made me happier with it. The latest version on The Final Frontier is not Eddie, as such. I’m not going to say anything more on that, because I don’t know what Iron Maiden have got planned, so I’m not going to tread on any toes or mess up any surprises. Okay, I’ll tell you, he is actually an alien. The old Eddie might still come around.
"I enjoy working with the Maiden crew, but it does exasperate you when you have to keep changing things. Rod Smallwood, Iron Maiden’s manager and I get on pretty well; I haven’t met him for years. But after I did the first one, the teaser 'Eddie head,' he called me and said how much he really liked it. His words, I think, were 'f***ing amazing!' Which was very nice of him to do, because they were very busy setting up this tour. Everything’s happening all at once, and yet I find that they are very nice people to deal with. On the copyright agreement side, we worked out mutually good things. And if they plan on using things that they like, they pay for it. They don’t mess around.”
Grant has designed the artwork for the albums Fear Of The Dark, Virtual XI, Death on the Road and The Final Frontier, making him the only artist to "work” with Eddie on more than one Maiden album cover other than Derek Riggs.
Maiden play at the Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth this weekend and there are still a handful of tickets remaining for the show: