‘My Being Fired Was Premature, But I Don’t Regret How It Was’: Guitarist Dennis Startton Opens Up About Leaving Iron Maiden
“You’ve got to admire what Maiden have done, how far they’ve come, and how big they are.”
Guitarist Dennis Stratton reflected on his growing problems with manager Rod Smallwood, which led to his resignation from Iron Maiden, calling the separation “premature” but saying he doesn’t regret how things turned out.
Stratton joined Steve Harris’ band after playing with several other bands (including Remus Down Boulevard, with whom he used to open for the legendary Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher), so he was a few years older and more experienced than his Iron Maiden bandmates when the story of the NWOBHM giants began in earnest.
However, Stratton left the band in late 1980, having helped deliver Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut to audiences across Europe as the band opened for KISS on the NYC rockers’ European leg of the “Unmasked” tour. In a recent interview with Guitar World, Stratton explained why he left Iron Maiden:
“The truth is that I never saw eye-to-eye with Rod Smallwood, who managed Maiden back then. He was basically the headmaster, which was really about trying to keep five young kids together. I was older than the other guys, so I was used to having my freedom, which caused issues.”
As for what these issues were, the guitarist explained:
“Sometimes I’d travel from gig to gig with just the crew for a laugh or a change of scenery. And then, sometimes I’d go from venue to venue in one of the trucks with a driver, just to keep them company, to see different parts of the world, and for different sorts of conversations. But Rod didn’t like that.”
Asked whether he regrets that things turned out the way they did, given the success that Iron Maiden would go on to enjoy, Stratton said:
“No, I don’t regret the way things were. At the end of the day, Maiden was a new band, and the goal was to gel and learn. It wasn’t just about learning music; it was also about developing good learning habits.
“However, my firing was premature because we hadn’t been together long enough. When I was dismissed, we had already completed pre-production on the second album, Killers. I’d worked on the entire album but never had the opportunity to record.”
“The whole thing was premature, but what’s done is done.” “You have to admire what Maiden has accomplished, how far they’ve come, and how big they are.”
Stratton, whose band Lionheart recently released a new album titled “The Grace Of A Dragonfly,” recently recalled how Smallwood grew “ballistic” after seeing him tinkering with adding more layers to “Phantom of the Opera” that the guitarist never intended to put in the final mix.
“What I didn’t realise was that Rod Smallwood had slipped into the studio behind us, and we had no idea. And then he went totally crazy. ‘Get rid of that, it sounds like Queen!’ ‘And that’s what it should sound like,’ I said. [Laughs]”
“I said, ‘Rod, Rod, we’re just fooling around! We just have the two pieces that are here. That’s all, don’t worry.”