During a March 27 Instagram Live session with Z2 Comics, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson spoke about the upcoming release of “The Mandrake Project: Year One” book, which collects the first four issues in the comic series that accompanied the arrival of his latest solo album, 2024’s “The Mandrake Project”. Asked if there will be a sequel to the book, Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, it’s 12 episodes, so these are four of them. And then there’s another four, and then there’s another four, and then we’re gonna have one giant book at the end. But yes, the answer is yes. And there’s gonna be, of course, a sequel to ‘The Mandrake Project’, to the album, with [my solo band] THE HOUSE BAND OF HELL. And funnily enough, I was in a studio today, scoping out the studio where we are going to record the new album. So that’s exciting.”Regarding what it was like performing the material from “The Mandrake Project” on tour with his solo band last year, Bruce said: “It was brilliant, actually — so much so that I’m doing it again. We did a couple of warmup shows here [in Southern California], the [Whisky A Go Go] and then the one in Orange County. But now we are — well, we’re doing about 20-something shows across the whole of the USA and Canada. So, yeah, we’ll make a start at introducing people to me and THE HOUSE BAND OF HELL and everybody.”Dickinson added: “We’re gonna do some stuff off ‘Mandrake’ which we didn’t do in Europe — ‘Shadow Of The Gods’, which I think is the most played track on the record, certainly at least on YouTube and stuff like that. And it’s a pretty cool song, so we’ll be doing that. And some other stuff.”Hinting at some other possible additions to the setlist for his solo shows in2025, Bruce said: “Shortly we’ve got a re-release, completely remixed, re-imagined, re-engineered with additional parts, orchestras, string sections, horn sections, [of my second solo album, 1994’s] ‘Balls To Picasso’… And that’s coming out, I think, sort of like midsummer. So that’ll be out at the same time as the tour as well.”Joining the IRON MAIDEN singer on the “The Mandrake Project Live 2025” North American tour will once again be his 2024 backing band, featuring Dave Moreno (drums),Mistheria (keyboards) and Tanya O’Callaghan (bass),alongside the group’s latest additions, Swedish guitarist, songwriter and multi-platinum-credited producer Philip Näslund and Swiss session and touring guitarist Chris Declercq (who played on Dickinson’s “Rain On The Graves” single). Bruce’s longtime guitarist and collaborator Roy “Z” Ramirez is not part of the touring lineup.”The Mandrake Project Live 2025″ North American tour kicks off in Anaheim, California at the House of Blues on August 22 and takes the band across North America including shows in New York, Los Angeles, Texas, Florida and Canada, with festival appearances at Rocklahoma (Oklahoma) and Louder Than Life (Kentucky),with more to be announced. The tour also includes a quick return to Brazil for the prestigious The Town festival at the City Of Light in São Paulo.Prior to the April 12, 2024 Whisky A Go Go show, Bruce last performed with his solo band on in August 2002 at the legendary Wacken Open Air festival in Germany.Roy played guitar on Dickinson’s 1994 album “Balls To Picasso” and went on to produce, co-write and perform multiple instruments on Bruce’s subsequent three solo albums, “Accident At Birth” (1997),”The Chemical Wedding” (1998) and “Tyranny Of Souls” (2005).O’Callaghan is an Irish musician who joined WHITESNAKE in 2021 and toured with the David Coverdale-fronted outfit the following year. She also hit the road with Dickinson last year as part of a performance of Jon Lord’s “Concerto For Group And Orchestra” on nearly a dozen dates in Europe and South America.Californian drummer Moreno previously played on “Tyranny Of Souls” and has worked with BODY COUNT, Jizzy Pearl, Dizzy Reed and Steve Stevens, among others.Italian keyboard wizard Mistheria has collaborated with an array of artists live and in the studio, including Rob Rock, Mike Portnoy, Jeff Scott Soto and Joel Hoekstra.”The Mandrake Project” arrived on March 1, 2024 via BMG.Bruce and Roy recorded “The Mandrake Project” largely at Los Angeles’s Doom Room, with Roy doubling up as both guitarist and bassist. The recording lineup for “The Mandrake Project” was rounded out by Mistheria and Moreno, both of whom also featured on Bruce’s last solo studio album, “Tyranny Of Souls”, in 2005.Dickinson made his recording debut with IRON MAIDEN on the “Number Of The Beast” album in 1982. He quit the band in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band WOLFSBANE. After releasing two traditional metal albums with former MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith.[embedded content]