Legendary rock vocalist Graham Bonnet has confirmed that Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has officially completed his vocal recordings for a highly anticipated duet on the upcoming Graham Bonnet Band studio album.
In a new interview with Levi Buckley of the “Sticks For Stones” podcast, Bonnet—famed for his tenure with Rainbow, Alcatrazz, and the Michael Schenker Group—provided a progress report on the new record. While the album is still in production, the track featuring Dickinson is significantly advanced.
“Yeah, Bruce has done his bit,” Bonnet revealed (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “What happened was we wanted him to do the last verse and the last chorus kind of thing, and then take it out with ad libs or whatever he wants to do. So he’s got the last part of the song. And I haven’t done my bit yet, which is the first verses, whatever, and chorus and pre-chorus. So it’ll be half and half, both of us.”
Bonnet also hinted at visual plans for the track, suggesting a music video is likely in the cards to capitalize on the star power of the pairing. “We’ll do that,” he said regarding a potential video shoot. “I’m thinking about it now. I think probably at the end, or even at the beginning, Bruce could sing with me on the first verse. I don’t know. But he’s done all his [parts], and it sounds great. And so I think I’ll leave it as it is.”
The collaboration is particularly notable given Dickinson‘s usual reluctance to appear on other artists’ projects. Bonnet shared a conversation that highlighted the mutual respect between the two British rock icons.
“I’ve known him for — God — a long time, but I haven’t seen him every day. He’s not my best friend or anything,” Bonnet explained. “He said to somebody — in his [solo] band, I believe — ‘I never do this for anybody,’ do a [guest] appearance on [somebody’s] album. ‘But I’ll do it for Graham.’ That’s how much of a friend he is. And I thanked him very much for being so generous and going out of his way to do this with us.”
Beyond the Dickinson feature, the new album will see Bonnet reuniting with the songwriting of Russ Ballard, the man behind Rainbow‘s smash hit “Since You Been Gone.”
“Russ Ballard has written three songs for us, two of which I think are definites [to go on the record], and we might even do the third,” Bonnet said. “But the third one he sent me recently is a little bit too poppy, possibly. But, hey, [the Ballard track] ‘Since You Been Gone’… was a fri*king pop song. What can you say? I mean, it was a pop song.”
The new Graham Bonnet Band album does not yet have a confirmed release date.
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