The Greek Fan Club of Iron Maiden, Iron Maiden the Greek FC is pleased to present you a great interview we did with Thomas Zwijsen, the musician behind the project Nylon Maiden. Enjoy it below.

Hello Thomas and thanks for this interview! First of all I'd like to say on the behalf of Iron Maiden the Greek FC that you're going a great job! So let's start with the interview.

Cheers to everyone at the Greek Maiden FC!

- How did the idea of Nylon Maiden came up?

It started when I was testing a new nylon string guitar in 2007. I was (and still am) a huge maiden fan and I played a part of Wasted Years on it. I then realised the whole song was very suitable for a classical arrangement and so I finished the arrangement and uploaded on YouTube. The amount of views and positive comments really surprised me. People asked for more so I arranged Wasting Love and Aces High. The positive feedback on YouTube convinced me to do a full album with Maiden arrangements; a perfect way to combine my two greatest passions: classical guitar and Iron Maiden.

- How many years are you playing the guitar?

I've been "playing" guitars since I was born, my dad used to build guitars so they were always laying around in the house. I think I took about 10 years of serious guitar lessons up to now.

- Name your favorite Iron Maiden album and why?

It's really depending on my mood. My favourite Maiden cd is Rock In Rio. I'm a fan of the recent stuff with Janicks guitars.. My favourite song is Dance Of Death.

- Is the band aware of Nylon Maiden?

Yes, some of them are.

- What's your relationship with Blaze?

Blaze is a special guest on The Clansman on my Nylon Maiden album. Besides that I've worked together with Blaze on the King Of Metal album and tour, the Russian Holiday EP and at the moment we are touring around the world with the Russian Holiday world tour. (in fact he's sitting next to me now, driving the car)

- What's the feeling of playing Blaze and Iron Maiden songs as the lead guitarist of Blaze?

It's absolutely great, a dream came true for me! Playing those Virtual XI and X Factor songs live with Blaze does make me feel a little bit like being a part of Iron Maiden history. Also it was a nice challenge to learn Janick and Dave's guitar solos. The same feeling goes for the Blaze songs, especially the ones we've composed together.

- Personal opinion, Blaze's voice on the self-titled song is at his best and your guitar playing superb, how did you decide to make this release?

Thanks! After doing some acoustic shows together and doing The Clansman for my album we both found that the combination of his voice and my guitars was very interesting. We wanted to have a go at some old songs and arrange them. Blaze came over to my house to rehearse and we agreed we needed a new song to make the EP more credible. Blaze asked if I had any ideas and I played some chords and melodies inspired by my one of my favourite guitarists; Vicente Amigo. Blaze started making lyrics and we've finished that song the same day.

- Tell your fans everything about Russian Holiday EP

It's a classical EP featuring Blaze Bayley, Anne Bakker on the violin and me on guitar. There are 4 very special arrangements of previously released songs and one new song: Russian Holiday. It's a melancholic song about missing home. The reviews have been great and we're very proud of it!

- The release contains a full classical guitar arrangement of Iron Maiden's Sign of the Cross, how did the tribute came up and how does it feel to perform this song?

When we were preparing for our first acoustic UK tour Blaze said "fans ask me a lot for Sign Of The Cross". I didn't expect it would be possible to arrange the full song for classical guitar including all the instrumental parts but after a few days of hard work it turned out great! Every night it's one of the highlights of the show.

- Back to Nylon Maiden, how can someone get Rainmaker and turn it into a melancholic classic track?

Hmm, I agree it wasn't an obvious choice! But the song has so many interesting melodies and chords I just had to do it.. An important matter in this arrangement (and others) was finding the right tuning. Still some songs will never work on a classical guitar but this one definitely did! Also I'm very happy with the recording and video we did in a cathedral, great sound.

- Dance of Death? Blood Brothers? Those are two completely modern Iron Maiden songs and I strongly believe the best tracks out of this release. What's really your favorite song you covered?

Funny you mention those cause those are (together with Rainmaker) my favourites too. I love the version of Dance Of Death with Nathanael Taekema as a special guest on drums. To me it almost sounds like an Irish folk song in some places and I love Irish folk (and Guinness;))
In Blood Brothers I'm really happy with the middle section. That slow guitar solo by Janick Gers is one of my all time favourite solo's. It was the most challenging part to arrange on the whole album and also the most difficult to play!

- What are your future plans?

First finishing and surviving this tour;) then we go to Dubai, Australia and Brazil again. Also I'm going to play solo festivals in summer and we're planning a crazy guitar tour with two other amazing guitarists. I'm also working on video lessons and tabs for all my arrangements. There will be a special "online conservatory" section on my website in which we will release video lessons.

- Thank you so much for this interview, cheers from Greece and we can't wait to see you live!

Thanks for the interesting questions. I've got good news: this summer I'm coming to Greece to play a solo show at a festival,  more details will be revealed on my website soon: www.thomaszwijsen.com

- Say anything else you'd like to!

I hope you all enjoy reading this interview and you check out my Nylon Maiden album. It's available on my website, www.thomaszwijsen.com,  iTunes, Amazon, etc. Thanks for your support!

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