The Wolfsbane frontman and one-time Iron Maiden singer is back on a massive world tour, living up to his dream that “if I had it my way then I’d be on a tour bus all the time – this is why you join a band”.

BAND: Blaze Bayley

WHERE: Leeds Rio’s

WHEN: Tuesday, February 9

Promoting new album Promise And Terror, which has just been released on his own label, Bayley and the band aren’t just going out to the main cities. In an old school tradition, they’re heading almost everywhere.

“It’s our choice to play the smaller venues,” says Bayley. “That way we can keep the ticket price down, and make sure that the fans get a good deal all round. We’re not into having a massive bus in the car park at the NEC (in Birmingham.

“I also feel that, with the crowd right in your face, there’s a definite connection between us onstage and the people in the audience. I’m a very spiritual person anyway, and every night I tell the fans that we are all really connected in some way. I do believe that. And in a club like Rio’s you can feel it.”

Whatever you do, though, don’t go anywhere near the front if you are of a nervous disposition.

“What I like to do is pick out the most vulnerable looking guy in the front row. Then imagine that I’ve grabbed them. Then, when I do go onstage I do grab them!”

You have been warned!

Blaze and the band – guitarists Nick Bermudez and Jay Walsh, bassist David Bermudez and drummer Larry Paterson – have a further 18 British and Irish dates lined up after Leeds. These are:

Feb. 10: High Wycombe Nags Head

Feb. 11: Swindon 12 Bar

Feb. 12: Swansea Sin City

Feb. 13: Nottingham Rock City

Feb. 14: Grimsby Yardbirds

Feb. 16: Weymouth Finn’s

Feb. 17: Winchester Tower Arts Centre

Feb. 18: Southend Riga Bar

Feb. 19: Peterborough Park

Feb. 20: London Camden Underworld

Feb. 24: Bury Hark To Towler

Feb. 25: Dumfries Venue

Feb. 26: Edinburgh Bannermans

Feb. 27: Aberdeen Moorings Bar

Feb. 28: Glasgow Ivory Blacks

Mar. 1: Newcastle Trillians

Mar. 4: Belfast Limelight

Mar. 6: Dublin Fibber Magees

For further info, go to www.myspace.com/blazebayley