The news emerges almost exactly a year after he told fans he was "pulling the plug" in 2013. And last week he reiterated via Facebook: "For anyone who doesn't already know, I am retiring. But there are still have a bunch of shows to do that could not physically be placed into 2013."

But in a video interview with Metal Force, Di'Anno says: "It's not an actual retirement retirement. All I'm doing is retiring the Iron Maiden sh*t. I'm sick of it. I'm f**king done, mate.