Those near nude videos on Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith’s phone aren’t what you’d think they are. They’re videos he shot in hotel rooms of song ideas. And he lost the phone while the band was rushing to an airport during their last U.S. tour.
So imagine his embarrassment when a fan found it.
Smith tells MusicRadar: “In America we do runners from gigs – we jump offstage, jump straight into the cars and go haring off, and we stop at a gas station or a layby and change in the dark on our way to the airport.
“I lost my phone in America doing that, and it was full of ideas. I had no password on my phone, so this guy found it and he went through my ideas.
”There’s me sitting in my underpants in a hotel room on video, singing and playing guitar.”
Fortunately the man who found the phone was a Maiden supporter, and sent it home. “He said he loved my little performances,” Smith says. ”Of course, I thanked him and sent him a load of merch.”