Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith Announces Fishing Memoir, Monsters Of River & Rock

Following the release of Iron Maiden's most recent album The Book Of Souls, guitarist Adrian Smith is now set to unveil his very own Book Of Soles (see what we did there?!), as he has announced a fishing memoir.

Monsters Of River & Rock: My Life As Iron Maiden's Compulsive Angler is due out on September 3 via Virgin Books, and will take fans "to the final frontier of fishing", according to a press release.

Quiz: How well do you know Iron Maiden's lyrics?

As well as being the lead guitarist in one of the biggest bands on the planet, Adrian has previously appeared on the cover of the Angler's Mail (biggest chub of the season, August 2009), and has been dedicated to fishing for years and years, having brought his gear with him when the band are on the road.

"Once a fisherman, always a fisherman," reads the backstory of Monsters Of River & Rock. "The gear went with him, the fish got bigger, the adventures more extreme…"

A description of the book adds: "Charming, funny, and moving in equal measure, Monsters Of River & Rock is the ultimate fishing-fantasy armchair read, and is also the story of a rock star in a fast-moving world who seeks peace and tranquillity at the water’s edge – wherever he is."

Adrian will surely have even more time to fish this year, as Maiden recently announced that they wouldn't be playing live again until next summer.

“Due to the continuing health issues worldwide around COVID-19 we regretfully inform you that Iron Maiden will now not be playing any concerts until June 2021," said manager Rod Smallwood. "However, we are now in a position to give you details of our touring plans in respect to those shows we had hoped to play this year.

“Firstly, we are very pleased to tell you that we’ve managed to reschedule all our European own-shows on the Legacy Of The Beast tour for June/July 2021 with the exception of Moscow, St Petersburg, Weert and Zurich which unfortunately we have been unable to re-arrange in this period.

“To consolidate the tour routing, as you can see, we have added two further shows in Arnhem and Antwerp.

“We are in the process of inviting back all the Special Guests and supports who were due to play with us this year. Where any band is unable to commit to this due to their own rescheduling situations, we will look at finding other suitable acts of equivalent stature. The majority are already confirmed and can be found on the tour page at IronMaiden.com.

“Re-arranging the headline festival dates has unfortunately not been possible. This is mainly because we already had an extremely busy year lined up for 2021 and, as I’m sure you can imagine, a great deal of forward planning has already gone on and there’s only so much we can do within the timeline and logistics already in place. The band enjoy playing at festivals so please be assured we will get back to as many of these as we can at another time.

“In respect of what should have been the opening leg of the 2020 tour starting on May 1 in Perth, Australia and visiting New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan, Dubai and Israel, we are currently working on a possible return to as many of these countries as we can, in some guise, in the first half of 2022, more news on that will follow at the appropriate time.

“The band are all fine and send you guys their best wishes, they are very much looking forward to getting back onstage next year and seeing you all so, please, continue to take care of yourselves and stay smart.”

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