This is an excerpt of Blaze Bayley’s interview with Mitch Laffon:
On whether it feels rewarding to see fans finally acknowledging the quality of the material on “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI” albums:
Blaze: “Yeah, it is a really nice feeling when people come up and they weren’t around… some of them weren’t around at the time when those albums came out, and I have great comments. And some people who are really honest and say, ‘Well, I didn’t like it at the time, and I’ve had no choice but to go back and listen to them, ’cause I had listened to everything else to death, and when I’ve gone back and listened to them without that kind of emotional attachment of ‘my favorite singer has left my favorite band,’ then it’s been something that I’ve started to understand. And it’s a great feeling, really, and I feel very privileged to have been a part of it and to be in that era, when there were so many changes in the industry and in the band itself that I was a part of that. And I think those records, those CDs will stand the test of time, and I think they’ll always have that deeper meaning. And I’m really happy about that. It’s very nice to meet fans who come up and say, ‘Well, it’s still one of my favorite albums.’“
