PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Many bands and artists find themselves having to translate 1980s stardom into 1990s survival. One of those artists, ex-Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, thinks he's found the way to do it.
He's streamlined his music and pared down the soaring, Wagner-esque vocal style that made him famous, but at the same time stereotyped and pigeonholed him.
Now Dickinson fronts Skunkworks, which just put out a self-titled debut album of tight, modern, forward-looking hard rock.
"I'm trying to bury Bruce Dickinson in the mists of the past, basically, because that's over as far as I'm concerned," Dickinson said in a telephone interview from Hanover, Germany, where Skunkworks was playing that night.
Dickinson, 37, wrote the record with guitarist Alex Dickson; the average age of the band is 23. He enjoys their youthful energy.
"I have to do my best Dorian Gray imitation," he said. "But it's working -- you see the intensity of the whole thing."
His new vocal approach is less histrionic; he's still a great singer, but just more down-to-earth.
"I actually dug myself a big hole, jumped into it, and started filling the sand in from the bottom, because I became, in a way, a prisoner of that style," he said.
"And then I heard some other people copying it -- some of them did it reasonably well, others did it dreadfully -- and I thought, 'Oh my God, is that what people think? ... This is awful. What have I done?' "
Producer Jack Endino encouraged Dickinson to move on vocally.
His new songs are immediate and punchy. Faith is a tale of a mutually destructive relationship; Dickinson calls it "pretty personal."
"Both people are in this cycle of loathing -- alternately loathing the partner and then loathing themselves," he said. "It's hideous, and it goes on all the time."
In "Solar Confinement," he says the glaring life of a performer is a facade; he still sees the solitary child he once was. "(It's) standing on stage with all these people throwing things at me and yelling and screaming like you're the brightest thing, and in reality, you're just this little boy who sat in the coldest place of all," he said.
Dickinson left Iron Maiden in 1993 and did two solo albums, Tattooed Millionaire and Balls To Picasso. But he leads a rich life aside from music.
PILOT, FENCER, AUTHOR
He's a licensed pilot and long-time fencer (he was once ranked seventh in England). He's also a published author of two bawdy adult novels, The Adventures Of Lord Iffy Boatrace and The Missionary Position.
"I was just curious as to what would happen if I started writing a book," he said. "The only reason I continued is because it proved very popular with people -- like the road crew -- who would come into my room and I'd sit there and read them the next chapter.
"They'd all go, 'Well, what happens tomorrow?' I go, 'Well, I haven't written it yet, come back tomorrow.' The second one basically came about because they offered me lots of money to write it, which I understand is a very common motivation amongst writers," he said with a laugh.