Steve Harris & Senjutsu (Question about the album's promotion at the time)

Dick Brucinson

Dick Brucinson

The TRUE Dick Brucinson
I have a question regarding the time when Senjutsu was released. I was very occupied with personal changes back then, so I barely noticed or followed the promotional campaign surrounding the album's release at the time.

However, I heard that Steve completely stayed out of any kind of promotion for the release, and that he didn't appear at all to speak about the album, do the usual interviews, and so on. Neither beforehand nor afterwards. Can anyone confirm this? Has he never really spoken in depth about Senjutsu to this day? And what kind of speculation is there regarding the reasons behind this?
 
No there was one publication in which he (and Bruce, maybe the others as well) were talking about the album track by track. I recall him specifically talking about “The Parchment” and its repetition.

What publication it was I do not recall offhand. Maybe Apple?
 
BludBrutha said:
What promotion did they actually do at the time? Didn’t that come out in the middle of Covid?
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There was tons of promotion if I remember correctly.

There was that whole build up to the writing in the wall video release with all the cryptic internet clues plus I remember Bruce doing an interview on a British breakfast show (think it was about his airline) and he was wearing the Balthazar’s feast t-shirt.

The fan club did a few magazines with interviews with every band member except Steve about the album plus they released quite a few short videos on their YouTube channel.

Also metal hammer uk and classic rock magazine and one or two others ran big articles about the album.

No idea why Steve didn’t do anything. Dont rember hearing anything from him or Davy or Janick to be honest. Any promotion/interviews was mostly Bruce, Adrian and Nicko. Maybe the others just had shit going with family during Covid.
 
Yeah, Steve stayed uncharacteristically silent during that time. Everyone else participated in interviews, so it was pretty noticeable that he didn't.

(Note, I don't believe the following, but it was thrown around quite a bit, so I'm mentioning it for more context)

I remember one of the more common theories at the time (you can look up posts from back then on the Maiden subreddit) was that Steve was an anti-vaxxer, didn't wanna deal with those regulations and wanted to stay out of it all lol
 
Vaenyr said:
I remember one of the more common theories at the time (you can look up posts from back then on the Maiden subreddit) was that Steve was an anti-vaxxer, didn't wanna deal with those regulations and wanted to stay out of it all lol
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British Lion got dropped from a tour with The Darkness and I think their refusal to follow covid regulations was given as the reason (or some vague statement about the safety of everyone concerned). So it's maybe not too far fetched.
 
GhostofCain said:
That’s correct. Steve did not take part in any of the promotional interviews for the album.

@The_7th_one is still waiting to hear what Steve thinks about the album. :lol:
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once a week through one year listening Senjutsu album,I'm still waiting for some words about the album by Steve and I'm sure he's still calling a burned Mark Wilkinson to change some little thing from the album cover… remastered.


steve-harris-iron-maiden-2019-web.jpg
 
Vaenyr said:
i remember one of the more common theories at the time (you can look up posts from back then on the Maiden subreddit) was that Steve was an anti-vaxxer, didn't wanna deal with those regulations and wanted to stay out of it all lol
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This could be one theory yes, to avoid unpleasant questions about how he handled the pandemic. But I also remember him doing the track by track interview with Bruce. He also did this:

guitar.com

Iron Maiden reveal details of samurai-inspired 17th studio record Senjutsu

Iron Maiden have unveiled their first studio album since 2015’s The Book Of Souls, entitled Senjutsu.
guitar.com guitar.com
 
Cat Milk Supreme said:
British Lion got dropped from a tour with The Darkness and I think their refusal to follow covid regulations was given as the reason (or some vague statement about the safety of everyone concerned). So it's maybe not too far fetched.
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"British Lion withdrew from their scheduled support slot on The Darkness UK tour in October 2021 after receiving the headliner's internal COVID-19 health and safety protocols" - ah yes I totally forgot that happened.

Alternative timeline with no Covid pandemic and Senjutsu would have been released in late 2020 anyway. That's what Nicko says he was expecting, and says now he was considering retiring after the Senjutsu tour in that non-pandemic timeline.
 
I always go back to this one as the first indirect mention of Senjutsu's planned arrival in 2020 before COVID-19 pandemic

An interview from January 2020 during a British Lion tour. He talks about Eddie while a slideshow of different Eddies play. He refers to a new one. Senjutsu was recorded in 2019 inbetween the Legacy of the Beast legs.

 
Steve was just 63 years old in that interview. He is now 70 and that really puts into perspective what has happened with recording no new music for Iron Maiden. Or British Lion as far as we know, The Burning came out in jan 2020.

It feels like he experienced the pandemic, hit the traditional retirement age, and decided on just doing the celebratory stuff of playing live. There may be more to it than that but the facts speak for themselves: after 63 he has not (as far as we know) ever recorded new music.
 
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
Steve was just 63 years old in that interview. He is now 70 and that really puts into perspective what has happened with recording no new music for Iron Maiden. Or British Lion as far as we know, The Burning came out in jan 2020.

It feels like he experienced the pandemic, hit the traditional retirement age, and decided on just doing the celebratory stuff of playing live. There may be more to it than that but the facts speak for themselves: after 63 he has not (as far as we know) ever recorded new music.
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Interesting analysis. Explains his documented reluctance of a new album a little
 
To be fair, at this point, do they *really* need promotion? In this day and age, "stealth" releases are all the rage...
 
wizardry said:
To be fair, at this point, do they *really* need promotion? In this day and age, "stealth" releases are all the rage...
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You know what, I think they do. Especially for a band with fans and followers still into physical media.
 
Social media promotes things by itself now. Different to the 60s-90s when you only knew if a new album was coming out by seeing an interview in a magazine, radio or tv commercial or a display in a record shop.
 
BludBrutha said:
Social media promotes things by itself now. Different to the 60s-90s when you only knew if a new album was coming out by seeing an interview in a magazine, radio or tv commercial or a display in a record shop.
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Never underestimate the school and classroom impact back in the day! :yes:
 
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