I’ve been an Iron Maiden fan since High School when Somewhere in Time was hitting the shelves at The Wiz. And I’ve written about my quest in England for a single can of Trooper beer.
Recently with Maiden currently selling out at arena after arena across the country, I found myself facing another Maiden-filled quest.
No, I wasn’t looking to score tickets to the band’s Run for Your Lives world tour. (Though my son did go to the NJ show last weekend!) Instead, I was following a much smaller, more intimate tour.
I was hell bent on meeting the artist behind the first eight Iron Maiden albums: Derek Riggs. The father of Maiden’s skeletal mascot Eddie, Riggs illustrated over 60 gorgeous pieces of artwork for the band including core and live album covers, single sleeves, and various pieces for box sets and band merchandise. That includes the classic Eddie as a soldier, waving the Union Jack flag which adorns every Trooper-related item from T-shirts to beer bottles.
I started following Derek on Facebook about a year ago when I saw that he was stateside doing signings at various comic book and collectible conventions. Unfortunately I never was close enough to attend one. But this year, I paid close attention as he hit a number of smaller venues like bars and vintage record stores. As luck would have it, he was signing at the Old Canal Inn in Nutley, New Jersey earlier this month.
I’d never been there before but being only about 40 minutes away, I knew I had to take my chance. Somehow I convinced my wife Allison to join me on this quest, and we each took off early from work on a Friday to make sure we got a good spot in line.
The signing ran from 5 pm to 11 pm, and was only about 20 minutes from where Iron Maiden was playing that night. Not having a clue as to how crowded it would get, we showed up at the Old Canal Inn around 4 pm. Shockingly, there were still a couple of spots left in the parking lot.
To be honest, the place looked a bit old on the outside. A little rough around the edges. I half expected to see a few dozen motorcycles lined up outside. That’s the type of feel I got.
So Allie and I approached the door.
Would it be jam-packed inside?
Was it going to be 9000 degrees?
Were they going to force me to perform the Pee Wee Herman dance in platform shoes on top of a biker bar?
Thankfully the answer was no. To all the above.
We were actually greeted by a super friendly guy who welcomed us in and told us they’d be handing out numbers soon, so they could call in groups at a time to meet Derek.
Seriously, I have been to hundreds of comic book conventions in my life from small church basement ones to massive halls like San Diego and none of them have handled a celebrity signing like this. It was incredibly easy. So smooth. And everyone, I mean everyone, was beyond nice.
Knowing we had an hour to kill, Allie and I ponied up to the bar and grabbed a seat. I immediately started smiling as I heard the bar’s radio blasting “2 Minutes to Midnight.”
I smiled even wider when I saw that the bar was serving Trooper beer, which has become much more difficult to find of late. So I ordered one up for myself and a seltzer with lime for Allie.
The waitress also gave us menus. I wasn’t hungry but I had to take a look (and take a pic) of the hilariously creative Iron Maiden-themed menu they offered. If anything, I would’ve gone for the “Where Eagles Dare Bone-In Wings,” though I imagine eating an eagle has to be against the law, right?
As we waited, we also learned the history of the Old Canal Inn. Nearly 100 years old, much of the bar itself was still the original furniture. But the craziest part was this one barstool all the way at the end in the corner. It was chained off so no one could sit in it. Which is probably a good thing because it was labeled… the “Death Seat.”
It seems back in the ’60s, two men fought over that seat and then on two separate occasions shortly thereafter, each of them died of a heart attack in the chair. Another guy supposedly met the same fate in the ’80s, so they closed it off to patrons and embraced the legend of the Death Seat.
I finished my Trooper, and at around 4:30ish, he arrived. In walked Derek Riggs. Just a regular bloke from England. Soft spoken. But with a glint of artistic evil in his eye.
He casually walked through the bar, shaking hands and bumping fists with all us fanboys. He even went over to the Death Seat for a few photo opps. Eventually 5 pm hit and Group 1 was called in. Yes, Allie and I were lucky to have gotten there early enough to be one of the first 10 people to meet Derek.
We walked into the backroom and got to see Derek behind the table signing away. If you brought your own items, Derek was charging $40 per signature. But they also had a ton of merch for sale including T-shirts, tote bags, an apron (no, really!), prints, books and postcards.
I wanted it all to be honest, but realizing that our money tree hasn’t blossomed yet, I narrowed it down to just a few things.
There were about 16 prints to choose from and I was torn between the Somewhere in Time Eddie and the Powerslave Eddie. I ultimately went with the Somewhere in Time piece, just because I think it’s one of Derek’s best versions of Eddie.
He signed the print with his crazy cool big signature. I also purchased Derek’s Run for Cover art book, which I had actually bought for my son Ryan online about a year ago. This time, I wanted my own copy.
He not only signed the art book but drew a huge picture of Eddie on the inside front cover!
I also couldn’t pass up the Old Canal Inn T-shirt made exclusively for the weekend’s signing event with Derek!
How many bars do you know that have tour T-shirts?
Finally, I literally leapt at the chance to get a photo with Derek. I may’ve gotten a little too close for comfort., though. Thankfully, I think he had already eaten that day.
So my latest Iron Maiden Quest was a huge success! It was an absolute hoot meeting and chatting with Derek and his wife. And the entire staff of the Old Canal Inn was just amazing. I honestly can’t say enough nice things about how friendly, energetic and genuinely interested they were in the entire event. They’d asked to see what everyone got when they came out of the room with Derek and even took pics of us with our merch. And no, this is not a sponsored post from the Old Canal Inn. But I do want to head back there one day for trivia night or a football game.
So now that I’ve gone on a quest for Trooper beer and met Eddie’s dad, what’s next? I suppose I could reach for the stars and say I’d love to write an Iron Maiden comic book. Guess it’s time to put another “Iron” in the fire.