Bruce Dickinson has discussed the possibility of Iron Maiden ever calling it a day, and it doesn't look like that time will come in the near future.
Speaking on Spanish TV show Late Motiv, the Iron Maiden frontman was asked about the idea of retiring, and as you can imagine, Bruce had none of it.
"I don't see any reason why we should ever retire," said Bruce. "As an airline captain, I was always told that nobody ever dies on an airplane. Even if the guy's head is severed from his body, he's not dead, because if the boss, the captain… If somebody says, 'The guy's head has fallen off.' 'Well, is he dead?' 'Well, he's not dead until somebody legally says he's dead.' So, nobody dies until somebody stands up and says, 'Yup. He's definitely dead.' 'Ha! You're responsible then. You killed him.'
"It's the same with rock'n'roll bands. We will never die. Even if we are actually dead, we will still never actually die."
Elsewhere in the interview, Bruce explained why Maiden's music is about such negative topics as war and death.
"We write songs about death, resurrection, war, famine, plague, but it makes everybody happy," he said.
"The most recent tour we had took place in three acts... during the show. We had war, which brings out both the best and the worst aspects of humanity. There's all the drama there in war. And then we move on to religion, which brings out the best and the worst aspects of humanity. And then we go to, after religion, of course, you end up in hell, which brings out all the best and all the worst aspects of humanity.
"Let's face it: where are all the really cool people gonna be? If you're gonna have a party, where is it gonna be? It's gonna be in hell. Anybody who's had any fun is gonna be down there… As AC/DC said, Hell ain't a bad place to be."