Janick Gers never expected to join Iron Maiden. Though he had a long-standing friendship with Bruce Dickinson, the idea of becoming part of the band had never crossed his mind—until one unexpected moment in 1990.
Speaking to Classic Rock, Gers recalled his surprise when Dickinson asked him to learn some Iron Maiden songs.
“Bruce had said: ‘Learn some Maiden tracks.’ I said: ‘I thought we weren’t doing Maiden stuff on this tour?’ Bruce said: ‘We’re not. This is for Maiden. Adrian’s leaving the band.’ Because I was hanging around with Bruce, people might have thought I was trying to get into Maiden, but that was never in my mind. It never occurred to me that anyone would ever leave that band.”
Iron Maiden quickly set up an audition for Gers. However, there was an initial setback—he refused to use Adrian Smith’s gear that was still in the studio. But as soon as the playing began, everything changed.
“We did ‘The Trooper’ first,” Gers remembered. “And I got this adrenaline buzz. My hands were shaking. We did a few more, and they said: ‘You’re in!'”
Just a few years later, in 1993, Dickinson shocked Gers by leaving the band.
“I felt like he’d left me by myself.”
The transition period with Blaze Bayley as the new vocalist proved challenging. Gers admitted the band made things difficult for Bayley, forcing him to sing songs outside of his vocal range.
“We made it hard for Blaze,” Gers stated. “We made him sing ‘Run To The Hills,’ ‘The Evil That Men Do’—songs that weren’t in his range.”
Despite these challenges, the band pressed on. Then in 1999, Steve Harris informed Gers that both Dickinson and Smith would be returning. This news made Gers consider leaving the band himself.
“My attitude was: ‘I’ll go. If you get Adrian back, it’ll be like it was before.’ But Steve said: ‘That’s not what I’m thinking. If Adrian comes back and you went, it’s like we’d go backwards. But if we have three guitarists, it takes it somewhere else.'”
Gers ultimately stayed, helping shape Iron Maiden’s signature three-guitar sound, which has since become an integral part of the band’s identity.
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