Blaze B.
Blaze Bayley. Small Steps.
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The darkness follows me and when my guard is down it will try to overwhelm me. I find it difficult to move forward, difficult to move in any direction. Small steps. That's what I tell myself. Just take a small step. An easy step. What can I do? That's the next thing I ask myself. It just does not matter how small the thing is, tidy my kitchen, make my bed, shave, is there one small thing I can do? Then try to do it. Then try to do the next small thing.
The darkness may sometimes seem never ending, but I try to remember the light will always come. That's not always easy or even possible but I have to try.
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If I have suicidal thoughts, I think about who would find my dead body. What a mess I would leave for my family and friends and fans to sort out. Suicide is the most selfish act. So, thinking of the people close to me seems to push away the worst of those thoughts.
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Life is difficult. When I remember that, I cope better with the problems I encounter. When I foolishly think life will be easy the problems trip me up. I?m not better than anyone else, I'm just different. Everyone is different. I try to be grateful for my fans and my family and my friends and I remind myself, when I'm stuck in a funk sometimes, that things could be MUCH worse.
BLAZE BAYLEY - Metal Hall of Fame inductee - is a singer/songwriter born 29th May 1963 in Birmingham, England. Having started his professional music career in WOLFSBANE in 1984, he was elevated to global heights when he joined IRON MAIDEN with whom he released two albums ("X-Factor" and "Virtual XI") and toured worldwide between 1994 and 1999.
After leaving IRON MAIDEN, Blaze embarked on a solo career, during which he has released ten full-length studio albums, plus live albums, live DVDs and compilations. He's also enjoyed an enviable reputation as one of the hardest working artists touring around.
In 2015 Blaze celebrated the 15th anniversary of his first solo release "Silicon Messiah" and then saw a significant worldwide resurgence of interest in his career, not least with the release of the "Infinite Entanglement" trilogy during the period 2016 to 2018.
This was followed up with two live offerings - the albums and DVDs "Live In France" and "Live In Czech" (2019 and 2020 respectively).
During these recent years Blaze has toured widely in the UK, Europe, North America and Latin America. He’s become particularly recognised as an independent artist dedicated and remarkably connected with his fans, as well as for his unmistakable high energy, no-nonsense, live performances.
Blaze joined DISTURBED onstage at the 2016 Download Festival for a rendition of ‘Baba O’Riley’ by THE WHO, was recently accompanied onstage in Poland by Swedish metalheads SABATON for a version of Maiden classic ‘Man On The Edge’ and was voted no.67 in Sweden Rock magazine’s Top One Hundred singers of all time.
During the period 2014 to present date, Blaze has benefitted from a settled line-up for his backing band, picked from British melodic metal band ABSOLVA - Christopher Appleton (lead guitar), Martin Mcnee (drums) and Karl Schramm (bass) and Luke Appleton (power guitar).
Blaze and his band have received critical acclaim for outstanding performances, including Sweden Rock Festival, Rock the Coast (Spain), and Headbangers Open Air (Germany).
In 2021 Blaze released his latest studio album, the critically acclaimed "War Within Me" and is currently touring to promote that release.
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