"This is Bruce’s first album and probably one of his best. There’s a richness and naïvety on this record that ends up in these lyrical paintings that speak something dear to my heart. It’s about my home, and it’s in a language I understand. I always felt like this was “our” record. The people like “us” who were outcasts growing up. It’s one part Dylan, one part Van Morrison, and then there’s this Marlon Brando part that encapsulates the beautiful losers. There aren’t any winners on this record, only people in “Lost in the Flood.” Even the brighter moments have a sadness to them. “Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” says it well: “Drink this and you’ll grow wings on your feet.” Since reality is so hard, at some point the fantasy takes over. Fantasy, and die hard belief in a different life just over the horizon. It’s that fantasy of rock and roll that some people are too affected to believe in anymore. But this record helps me keep the faith in the childlike wonder of music, and rock and roll in particular. This was my rulebook starting out writing songs. It still is. For the lost, for the lovers, for the crazies, and everyone in between—""For You."" It was like he was saying to me and everyone I knew who lost but believed in spite of those losses, you could still win. “I came for you.”"

"Another of my favourite bands, and they also went through a key singer change [Bruce Dickinson replaced Paul Di'Anno from this album onwards]. It also features two personal heroes of mine, [guitarists] Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, who go through a change and continue to make great music. I was a fan of Paul Di'Anno too, but that particular record where Bruce comes in, that's another one I'd say is perfect, from top to bottom. There's always that myth... that darker element, I guess, to rock & roll. I don't necessarily see it as dark. I'd say it's more human. In context of a more rigid, uptight society, rock n' roll has always been about pushing the boundaries of ...maybe what's just a little bit more natural to human beings...[laughs] A band I really fucking dug, and emulated quite a bit for a good chunk of time when I was learning how to play guitar. Like I said I was always into dual guitar bands and Maiden were great for that. Bruce actually interviewed us when Black Gives Way To Blue came out. He said one of the greatest things about it, he said: ""Black Gives Way To Blue: Have a listen! If you haven't, you're just stupid!"" [laughs]"

"Led Zeppelin, goddamn! I don't think they made a bad record! There's that classic line from Cameron Crowe's movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High where they're cruising around, talking about how to get chicks. And the guy says: ""If you wanna score with a chick, turn out side two of volume four!"" I've used that a few times actually. It works [laughs]! Anyway if it didn't work, it was a nice soundtrack while it was going down. Jimmy Page is another guitar player that means a lot to me. Every member of that fucking band: John Paul Jones was an amazing writer, arranger and producer, as well as Jimmy. Plus John Bonham and Robert Plant... that's one of the greatest rock & roll bands of all times. It's just straight-up, fucking sexy, kick ass and shit, man! All the way from dirty low-down rock & roll to the biggest orchestral tracks like ‘Kashmir’. They travelled a lot of ground while keeping their roots intact, the blues. You know, certain bands really resonate in certain areas and that was one band that was always popular up there where I come from, the Northwest. You have at least ten fucking Zeppelin songs that you can jam with anybody at any time."

"For any musician – not so much vocalists, but anyone who played guitar – when this came out it changed everything. I went to see them at the Rainbow in London, because I missed them supporting Black Sabbath. We were making our first album in London at the time and they were unbelievable: it was a West Coast rock & roll party and a new era in guitar playing. I had never seen anything like it before. Then all the glam metal bands copied Van Halen, because they were the first of the hair metal bands, selling sex. That’s really how they looked. ‘Running WIth The Devil’ is a fucking fantastic rock song – not quite as good as ‘Smoke On The Water’, but not far off."