Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
“Sometimes I can be brutally honest, and people don't like that. But if you don't like what the answer is going to be, don't ask the question!”: Iron Maiden’s commander-in-chief Steve Harris says that strong leadership is the secret to the band’s suc
Plus: how he recently left a Maiden fan in tears
New interview with Steve:
I think some of the best songs I've written were on those two albums (Blaze albums). And I always said at the time - and it's been proved to a certain degree later - that people would go back and revisit those albums appreciate them a lot more.
That was a challenge. Those were tough times. I just sort of locked myself away and just got stuck in and got on with it. We were under pressure, so we had to really stick together. And the fans that stuck with us, the ones who came to the shows, were hardcore.
A lot of the stuff we've done recently takes a lot more listening. It's not instant. But then some of that stuff lives with you for longer. Well, that’s what I like to believe, anyway. It can be a little taxing on the audience when we play those songs live. But when you make a new album you’ve got to be proud of it and go out and promote it, not just for the sake of it, but because if it's strong enough it will stand up.
There’s always gonna be people who go back to the old stuff. If you grew up with the first album, that's probably your favourite album, or one of them, and then people get into certain albums along along the way. Usually their favourite album is what they they first got into.
Would we want to regurgitate what we did back then? No. Why would you? We’re different people now. It's not like we couldn't write like the first album again. We wouldn’t want to.
I think we’ve done a lot of strong stuff recently, but it’s different - although it always sounds like Maiden. I thought it was good to have different input from different writers, because I think I've got quite a stylised way of writing. And if the other stuff that they're coming in with is really good and takes us in different direction, then all well and good. But you can't really analyse it too much. We don't write in advance, we just get together and beaver away. And it is what it is. Basically, when we all get together and we work on new material, it's a statement of where we are at the time. It could be pretty different, but it still sounds like Maiden. We have such an identifiable sound, I think, but it’s not like we've set out to be something different.
That was a challenge. Those were tough times. I just sort of locked myself away and just got stuck in and got on with it. We were under pressure, so we had to really stick together. And the fans that stuck with us, the ones who came to the shows, were hardcore.
A lot of the stuff we've done recently takes a lot more listening. It's not instant. But then some of that stuff lives with you for longer. Well, that’s what I like to believe, anyway. It can be a little taxing on the audience when we play those songs live. But when you make a new album you’ve got to be proud of it and go out and promote it, not just for the sake of it, but because if it's strong enough it will stand up.
There’s always gonna be people who go back to the old stuff. If you grew up with the first album, that's probably your favourite album, or one of them, and then people get into certain albums along along the way. Usually their favourite album is what they they first got into.
Would we want to regurgitate what we did back then? No. Why would you? We’re different people now. It's not like we couldn't write like the first album again. We wouldn’t want to.
I think we’ve done a lot of strong stuff recently, but it’s different - although it always sounds like Maiden. I thought it was good to have different input from different writers, because I think I've got quite a stylised way of writing. And if the other stuff that they're coming in with is really good and takes us in different direction, then all well and good. But you can't really analyse it too much. We don't write in advance, we just get together and beaver away. And it is what it is. Basically, when we all get together and we work on new material, it's a statement of where we are at the time. It could be pretty different, but it still sounds like Maiden. We have such an identifiable sound, I think, but it’s not like we've set out to be something different.
Regarding future plans, he said:
We don't really think about what we're going to do next, because we don’t know what we’re gonna do next. | What an answer... I'm sure they are thinking already.
I suppose at that time I was thinking, well, I just don't know what else we're going to do in the future. I just thought: I’m gonna throw everything bar the kitchen sink in there with those four songs I did on my own. When we did those songs, It was pretty obvious - to me anyway - that Hell On Earth was going to be the last song on the album. It just felt right to be the last song.
^Curious and surprising, so maybe the current tour is a quick idea.
