Blaze Bayley: Blazes in with Silicon Messiah

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Blaze Bayley and guests The Hellfire Club: The Factory Live 25/09/2025

Blaze Bayley drops into The Factory Live in Worthing to mark 25 years since the release of his solo album Silicon Messiah! A superb night!

Blaze Bayley

Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke) is an English heavy metal singer. He was the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994. He was also the lead singer of Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999. Since then, he has pursued a solo career and has released eleven studio albums.

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Bayley was chosen as Bruce Dickinson’s replacement after hundreds of auditions. His departure from Wolfsbane led to their disbandment later that year. After a serious motorcycle accident put him out of commission for a year, Bayley was able to record vocals for Maiden’s The X Factor, released in 1995. Bayley went on tour with the band in support of the album. Another Iron Maiden album with Bayley on vocals, entitled Virtual XI, was released in 1998.

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Silicon Messiah

Silicon Messiah: The band fires through the whole album, including the crowd favourites, The Launch, Ghost In The Machine, Silicon Messiah and the class Stare at the Sun. This one starts so slightly slower than everything else before the band spark it up into the full-on rocker mode we know and love The chorus just has everyone in The Factory Live singing along. Tremendous stuff and Blaze was grinning from ear to ear as he was clearly rejoicing in the audience participation. We were here to celebrate the albums launch, some 25 years ago! And hearing it all live tonight, it sounds as vibrant, loud and essential as it always did. It has aged well.

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

THE Band!

The band tonight, and I hope I have got this right as I lost my notes, was made up with Chris in full-on face melting guitar duties. This guy is dynamite, he made that guitar howl and scream. It was all so crisp and strong, the sound mix was spot on and you could hear and almost feel every note. Luke, a big lad, absolutely nailed down the tricky, loud and powerful bass lines. He absolutely killed those complex bass lines. The man at the back, beating the hell out of his kit for almost two hours was the powerhouse, the fabulous Martin.

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

There is a passion in Blaze Bayley, he is a giant of a performer. He wrings everything he possibly can from each note and each gesture he performs. He would stop and chat with the crowd, and he clearly enjoys this aspect of his show, and maybe gives him a chance to catch his breath. This man does not stop for over two hours!

Stare at the Sun – From the album we were here to celebrate “Silicone Messiah”, really deep melody intro to this one, A stunning slice of guitar playing. Blaze comes in with a really deep vocal to this, but, you can hear the depth and range of his voice, simply stunning. Then the band rage and power it up properly on this, a great chorus as Blaze led his crowd with the chorus. I know! A second mention for this song!

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The guys fired up Man On The Edge, the guitars introducing the track then in comes the bass and drums and the fuse was lit as the crowd swayed and rocked with this one. Other songs in this segment included Virus and Wrathchild.

We were served up some absolute head bangers, slower, melodic sections, two acoustic numbers (including the sublime 2AM), various instrument solo slots. It really builds the whole flow of the night. This is a beautifully well put together set from an outfit clearly on top of their game!

The night ends on a high with the always energetic Factory crowd joining in and fist pumping the air with the brilliant Futureal one of the set highlights for me, it’s a great track and Blaze reminded us Maiden had done it with Bruce. The band are rock solid on this and it’s good to hear it tonight with Blaze doing it true justice, and a good few are singing back the chorus on this one. Many in the crowd know this track!

Finally, some two hours later a rather good rocking cover of the UFO classic Doctor Doctor  to close. I looked at the set list “No Encore”, and so that was it, the guys took a well deserved bow and left the stage leaving a hot and sweaty, smiling crowd behind.

I met up with Blaze for a quick chat, it was a bit one sided as he was saving his voice for the performance. But it was a privilege to meet him and share a few quiet words. Blaze always makes himself available to fans for a free meet and greet he comes across as a genuinely nice, friendly guy who clearly values each and every fan. Blaze is living his dream.

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

I loved hearing Blaze doing his own songs, and then the audio treat of some of the 90’s Maiden catalogue. This was truly a solid set and great band. I would definitely recommend seeing them on tour, if they play near you!

Blaze Bayley: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Blaze can be found here on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/officialblazebayley

The Hellfire Club

The Hellfire Club: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Guests for tonight were a local outfit from Brighton, The Hellfire Club. After tearing up a rocking slot recently at Concorde 2 they were back at The Factory Live!

“Sedicious, Ballsy Rock n Roll from the heart of Brighton”

The Hellfire Club: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Frankie – Vocals and Bass, Dan Nin – Guitar, Andy – Drums, Chris – Guitar

This was a new outfit for me, and I loved it. The Hellfire Club hit the stage running, delivering a set packed full of punch and energy. Their style is sharp and fast, and damned enjoyable!

There’s riffing galore, hummable choruses, rock poses and overall a sense that the band are really enjoying themselves. The band gain more and more momentum and impetus as their set goes on seeing how their material is mixing in with the crowd.

The sound was incredible with two powerful guitar players backed with bass and drums, they created some serious audio firepower! A short set gave us a real flavour of what these guys are about. Great songs played loud and fast, clearly with an innate understanding of how to get the best out of every song.

We were treated to a few songs tonight including Lonestar, Days Are Numbered and Making Ground. No fillers tonight, all killers! They are offering a pure unadulterated entertaining rock and metal set and they stunningly succeed at this entertaining the audience.

The riffs are crisp and don’t stick around long enough to get boring, the drum and bass working in perfect unison. There is a fresh breeziness and bounce to this outfit which feels strong tonight, and went down well with the crowd. Their sound stays pretty heavy yet it is all skilfully well-balanced, featuring a mash-up of hot metal riffs, powerful bass and drums, all wrapped up with some great vocals.

Each track seems to resonate with the crowd and the vocalist is clearly having a great time with his bandmates. That joy is a powerful thing and engages the crowd. The synergy between Frankie and his bandmates is a key factor in the sets success tonight. These guys were so on it!

The Hellfire Club: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The guitar solos scream, the riffs bounce around The Factory Live, the bass vibrates and the drums pound. It’s all really well done. Hellfire, that was good! See you again soon hopefully.

The Hellfire Club is on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellfireband

And Finally…

Thanks to Blaze Bayley and his superb outfit
The Hammerdown team
The team at the awesome The Factory Live

Hammerdown is a fresh, exciting management company & booking agency, based on the South Coast of England, with agents around the UK. You can find the guys on their website by following this link: https://www.hammerdownallin.co.uk/

Hammerdown is a Sussex based brand promoting rock and metal across the county, from successful festivals at 850 capacity venues, to grass roots venues like Worthing’s brand new BuNker11. Hammerdown strives to provide grass roots bands the opportunities to perform on big stages, and works with musicians on brand development throughout their careers.

Words and photos by Ian Bourn.

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