While he’s best known for being Iron Maiden’s producer for the past two decades, Kevin Shirley is the ultimate classic rock sound guru, having worked across hard rock, blues rock, classic heavy metal, and prog. His love of Deep Purple, Free and Bad Company was the catalyst for his formation of the supergroup Black Country Communion; he’s produced Journey, Aerosmith and The Black Crowes; he engineered and mixed Led Zeppelin’s How The West Was Won live album and their self-titled DVD; he’s produced even more albums for Joe Bonamassa than he has for Iron Maiden. Nicknamed The Caveman, his Hulk-like figure with unkempt hair has now been hunched over a hot mixing desk for nigh-on 40 years.
His background also emphasises his position as the ideal custodian of the classic rock sound. Shirley, from Johannesburg in South Africa, not only grew up on hard rock, he also played it. He started. Abandoning a potential career as a guitarist, in 1986 he emigrated to Australia to work full time as a producer and mixing engineer for Aussie rock bands such as The Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels and Baby Animals.
