EDDFEST kicks off tomorrow at Knebworth House, part of a big weekend that sees Iron Maiden and their fans continue the 50th Anniversary celebrations. For Chop Pitman and Airforce to be part of this is very special. The Friday Maidenville Stage is packed with Maiden history, as Tony Moore, Gypsy’s Kiss, Maiden United, Stray and Blaze Bayley join the Hertfordshire party.
For Chop, the EDDFEST story began with a phone call from long-time friend Steve Harris. “He invited us to play there,” Chop told MetalTalk’s Steve Kenton. “It is a big honour for us. We’re not going to say no to that.”
When Chop Pitman passed the message along, the rest of the Airforce band were over the moon. “To be invited to this historical event is a big thing,” Chop said, “because of the 50th Anniversary. I jay thanks to Steve for the invite.”
The connection between Steve Harris and Airforce runs to support slots on British Lion Tours. Airforce have played the same bill as Iron Maiden too, but not on the same day. “It was the Hills Of Rock in Bulgaria,” Chop says. “Three days of Metal. We were there on the first day when Sabaton were headlining. The next day was Judas Priest, and the third was Iron Maiden.”
The EDDFEST weekend has been growing, with the Infinite Dreams Museum Experience recently added to whet the appetites of Maiden fans. “It started off as a camping ticket event,” Chop says. “But it’s run away with itself, and now everybody wants to come.” Chop has no idea of the number of people who will be there on Friday.
“Maiden are like a religion,” Chop says. “People love them. You get the odd one that’s moaning about everything. But they’re a great band, and they’re survivors. They’ve been going 50 years now. But they’ve proved their worth. They’re a great band, great guys, and they churn out some good stuff.”
Airforce recently released the single Strange World. “I remember seeing Maiden in the early days when Dave Sullivan was playing guitar with Terry Rance,” Chop Pitman says. “I love that track. I’ve always liked that track. I’ve always liked Remember Tomorrow as well. Those are two of my favourite tracks from the early days.”
The seed of the Strange World idea came from bass player Tony Hatton when the band were talking about maybe covering a Maiden track. “I thought, well, I’ve got to do it,” Chop says. “We didn’t want to do it the way Iron Maiden do it. We wanted to Airforce it, make it our own sound. We used the lyrics and basically the chords.
“I phoned up Steve Harris to find out what he thought about the idea. Steve liked it. He said maybe I should ask Dave Sullivan to play on it to give it some clout. So now we have two Maiden members on it. Doug Sampson played on the original version of that on the Soundhouse tapes, which was never really released for some reason.
“Dave Sullivan hadn’t picked up the guitar for quite a long time. So it got Dave back into it. Dave came to my studio and did a great job. It grew and grew. Different ideas.
“Strange World and at the end of it, goes into Remember Tomorrow, in the outro. I loved it, and I thought I would send it to Steve again, to confirm that he was happy with it. We got his permission to do it. He said he liked that bit where it goes to two tracks in one.”
AI these days is a dirty word, but for Chop Pitman, the film is not attempting to show things that are supposed to be real, so he is comfortable with that. “You can see it’s AI, but it’s still got that cartoony feel,” he says.
Airforce had planned to play the song at the Cart & Horses recently, but decided to show the video created by Chops’ nephew Lee Heffron. “I sent that to Steve, and he liked it.”
Chop was a driver who would pick up shifts that needed covering when he first met Steve Harris. Harris was a draftsman, but both were covering shifts for Waltham Forest Council in between jobs. Steve was working the North Circular Road area, and Chop was tasked with collecting the bags.
“Steve’s a brainy, very bright person,” Chop says. “When I first saw him, I thought he must look like the coolest road sweeper I’ve ever seen. I’m not kidding you. I thought there was something about him.
“I pulled up for his bags, and we started to talk. He was telling me he’s in bands, and at the time, I was in bands. We had a bit of talk, and he mentioned to me that he’s got a new band together called Iron Maiden, and they’re going to play the Cart & Horses. Would I go to add a little bit of support?
“I didn’t know what to expect. I went along to the Cart, and I was actually blown away.”
Iron Maiden’s first gig was at the St. Nicholas Hall, with a show at Dave Light’s house and the Cart making up the trio. Chop had been invited to Dave Light’s party.
“They were doing a few covers like Thin Lizzy covers, Montrose,” Chop says, “but when they did their own stuff, it made your ears prick up. Along the line, they started to change their set into more original stuff. That was when Dave Sullivan was on guitar with Terry Rance, Ron Matthews was on drums, and Paul Mario Day was the singer.” At this point, there were some chuckles around the recent Metal Hammer interview inaccuracies.
Steve Harris and Chop Pitman began to “knock about together. I was going to pick him up from his nan’s house. He had no gear in those days. He had no amps, no cabs, nothing. Me being a guitarist, he asked if I could lend him my cab and my amp. I had a Marshall Super Lead, which I’ve still got.”
A bond was made, and Chop would sometimes help take the gear to shows. “When we first went down the Cart, there were 20 people there. People got to know the band, and they heard about the band by word of mouth.
“At that time, there were three bands that were filling up the Cart & Horses. There were Slowbone, Dog Watch, and Iron Maiden. Steve Harris even asked the bass player from Dog Watch, “How did you learn to play bass?” Steve’s always, to this day, never forgotten what that bloke said. He says, ‘You never stop learning.’
The Iron Maiden shows are the Cart were getting busier and busier. “You would queue up outside, but then they couldn’t play the Cart anymore. It was getting too packed. Then they moved to the Ruskin Arms.”
The Cart in those days had a different layout, on one floor. There was a small stage for the drums, so the rest of Iron Maiden had to stand on the floor.
“I knew Terry Rance from before the Maiden days too,” Chop says. “I knew him from a band called Tinted Aspects. They were the local band in the ’70s. I worked with his mum. She said to me that Terry’s in Iron Maiden. I thought, well, Steve just told me to go and see them, so I thought I’ve got to go now.”
With the changing of guitarists in those early days, Chop was never an option to join the band. “At the time, I was in a band, and we were doing more than Iron Maiden,” he says of his time with EL-34. “We had a lot more gigs. We were playing in Luton, Milton Keynes.”
EL-34 were playing the Ruskin Arms before Iron Maiden. “I was putting Steve’s name, Iron Maiden’s name forward to some of the venues we played,” Chop says. “I don’t know if that helped or not. He knew I was in a band when he formed a band with Dave, Terry, Ron and Paul. So why would he ask anyone then to join?
“Then they got Dave Murray in the band. Amazing guitarist. Then they got Paul Di’Anno. Before that, they had Bob Sawyer, who is another nice geezer. I still see him. Great guitarist, a bit of a blues man.
“But it got better and better. Steve mentioned to me once, because they both had Les Pauls, ‘We’re getting a bit like Thin Lizzy, Chop.’ I don’t know if he remembers that, but I remember it.”
Chop saw the move through Paul Mario Day and Dennis Wilcock, to Paul Di’Anno. “When Paul Di’Anno joined the band, it took the band to another level. They come out of being a pub band. Then they started doing the venues. It was a proper band. Paul Di’Anno had big charisma. He had that voice.
“In those days, it was the punks. A lot of Metal bands were going under because of the punk bands. That’s why it became the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal to try and compete with the punks.”
Remember Tomorrow is a track where Paul’s Di’Anno’s voice changed from being melodic to raw. “He had that thing about him,” Chop says. “Paul was his own worst enemy. We all love Paul. Steve loved Paul, and he was a big, big part of Maiden.
“Everyone who’s been in the band, it’s all evolved to what it is now. Paul was the bad boy. He wouldn’t turn up for rehearsals. If they had a matinee gig and a nighttime gig, he said he couldn’t do both gigs. So he used to not turn up. One gig Steve Harris had to sing.”
Since the days when Chop Pitman and Steve Harris would hang out with their girlfriends as a group, they have been friends ever since. “We used to go to the Cart & Horses to watch Slowbone and Dog Watch,” Chop says. “Sometimes we would go to the brewery Tap. We just hung about together.”
The gear swap has been reversed, too. “He’s given me a lot of support with British Lion,” Chop says. “He’s always looked after me with tickets and backstage passes. The geezer always, he’s never outgrown himself. He always remembers his friends. That’s why people like Steve, because he’s still down to earth.
“He’s still the same geezer now as he was when he was picking up rubbish down the North Circular Road. He hasn’t really changed. He changed his clothes, obviously, but he hasn’t changed his personality.”
“He knows what he’s doing. I don’t care what anyone says. Steve had a dream with Iron Maiden. And it wasn’t for Steve pushing it and pushing it and pushing it, it might never have happened.
“He is Iron Maiden. I don’t think Iron Maiden would even survive without Steve Harris.”
EDDFEST Stage times
Friday Maidenville Stage Line Up
Tony Moore’s Awake 15:00 – 15:40
Gypsy’s Kiss 16:10 – 16:50
Airforce 17:20 – 18:00
Maiden United 18:30 – 19:10
Stray 19:40 – 20:20
Blaze Bayley 20:50 – 21:50
Hair Metal Glamageddon 22:20 – 23:00
Saturday Main Stage Line Up
The Almighty 15:05 – 15:45
Airbourne 16:20 – 17:00
The Hu 17:35 – 18:15
The Darkness 18:50 – 19:40
IRON MAIDEN 20:15
Gates open at midday on Friday 10th July for weekend camping and campervan ticket holders, with the Maidenville arena starting its full programme of entertainment at 2.30pm and running through until 11pm. Saturday camping ticket holders can arrive from 10am on 11th July, with the main EDDFEST arena opening at 1pm.
The Saturday night entertainment has a strict site curfew and will end at 10:30pm, with both the Eddfest arena and Maidenville closing at 11pm. Unfortunately, due to these curfew conditions, which the police and licensing authorities have re-confirmed need to be adhered to, Knebworth House will be unable to screen the England vs Norway World Cup quarter final match on-site once Iron Maiden band finish their set.
