Dickinson opens up on cancer battle

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has spoken exclusively to Metal Hammer about his battle with cancer.

His original diagnosis in February indicated a single growth on his tongue, but he later revealed he also had two tumours removed from his neck.

He was given the all-clear in May.

Dickinson tells Metal Hammer: “You end up with the metabolism of a hummingbird during this treatment because you’re being cooked from the inside out. But your body’s also trying to heal itself rapidly, and it goes into overdrive.

“I think that’s one reason why you lose weight. It’s simply because your system is banging away and then eventually it all dropped back down to normal.

“It’s fascinating. Basically, I am my own science project.”

The full interview with the singer will feature in issue 274 of Metal Hammer, which is out tomorrow. Iron Maiden are the cover stars and the edition will include world exclusive interviews with every member of the band.

Last week, Maiden released a video for the track Speed Of Light – the first material revealed from 16th album The Book Of Souls which is set for release on September 4.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.