Steve Harris

Thank you very much for posting : that's very interesting. He is incredibly enthusiastic and friendly with the guy. It's great to see him look like a young upcoming guy again. He still has the fire, which firmly contradicts those who think that Maiden is just a business agreement.
 
John Doran of The Quietus recently conducted an interview with IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Quietus: Normally, side projects seem to get cranked out in six months down time but "British Lion" must have the longest gestation period of any side project album ever.

Harris: Probably yeah. [laughs] We've actually taken longer to get this album out than GUNS N' ROSES took with "Chinese Democracy". You say side projects are usually done in a six-month period but I don't get that amount of time available to me, unfortunately. As most people realize, I'm probably the busiest one in MAIDEN and there's always stuff going on. It would be a lie to say this album was done at a leisurely pace even… it was done at a snail's pace, a little bit here and a little bit there. But that's how it had to happen.

The Quietus: Are you going to play live?

Harris: I'd love to play the album live, I think we have to wait and see what the reaction is like first though, I never take anything for granted. I'd love to start with some club shows in key cities in Europe and then see how we go. Obviously it would be really weird because I know we haven't played any clubs for years.

The Quietus: When was the last time you were actually phased by playing in front of an audience? You must be so used to big crowds now would you actually find it more frightening to play in front of an intimate audience… would the adrenaline be pumping more?

Harris: Well, I don't know for sure, but yeah, I can imagine that once you step outside of the MAIDEN comfort zone, then you don't know what to expect. I still do get a little bit nervous at the beginning of MAIDEN tours but that's mainly because of the new material. We will have rehearsed but you can rehearse until the cows come home and the first few shows will always be a little bit rusty. Once you're confident, it doesn't matter so much. I used to get more worried years ago with MAIDEN about whether people were going to turn up or not. It's different now. I may not expect every single show to sell out and I never take everything for granted, but you still know you're going to get a certain amount of people.

The Quietus: Obviously, in IRON MAIDEN you're all really fit, you play football, the gigs themselves are obviously workouts. Is there any reason why you can't keep on doing this for another ten years?

Harris: I don't know about ten years, but I think we've certainly got another five years in us but it's hard to say. As you get older it gets doubly hard to keep yourself fit and in shape. We do work really hard on doing that. It's important to us. We'd be selling ourselves and everyone else short if we didn't, so we do look after ourselves. It does get tougher. I don't play football much anymore, but I play a lot of tennis. Partly because I've had so many problems with my back that I can only play the odd match here or there. Unfortunately, it's five years since I've played a full season of football and that's something that I miss a lot, but I had to make a decision.

The Quietus: Given how abrasive heavy metal is with image, sound, philosophy, lyrics etc, how do you explain its huge global appeal?

Harris: Because it really means something to the people who listen to it. It gives them an identity where they can feel part of it. And it's appealing that outsiders don't understand it. And if people from the outside do check it out properly, then I think a lot of people end up thinking, "You know, there's a lot more to this than meets the eye." And you know what? There is.
 
Great stuff from Steve. Well, he certainly thinks another 5 years. And (in the previous interview video) he definitely sounds like he wants to do another two Maiden albums; one for definite, & hopefully another. I'll settle for that.
 
The man definetetly does NOT want to quit. I assume five years doesn't mean anything. It's just that he knows he is not getting any younger and that he will have to hang his boots, but not now, later, so five is a kind of approximative figure. He has never hidden the fact that Maiden is his life, and he doesn't want to see his creature die.
 
Night Prowler said:
Finally the CD arrived:nana: Review soon!
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Reason why I didn't write the review is that I don't really have a desire to listen to the album again. It's not bad, but production is pretty terrible, and that usually puts me off a lot. I'm sure I'll listen to it again, but not so soon.
 
Cheers, harrisdevot! I kind of agree with the opinion that the first three songs belong to the strongest. At least the first two.

And thank you too, Ariana! I'll check it later. I already read this:
For the last 32 years we have been listening to the songs crafted by Steve Harris in the band Iron Maiden. With a successful tour of North America behind them, a bunch of re-issues about to come out on vinyl, a tour of Europe performing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son in it’s entirety about to kick off, and with the release of his first ever solo album called British Lion, Steve Harris joined us inside Hangar 19.
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WTF? :)
 
I also noticed that bit but preferred not to write about it since it has the possibility of becoming a spoiler. And I think you should put it in spoiler marks, Foro, and Ariana, for the link.
 
What the hell's wrong with me! I read this before posting the link here and I did not see this? :eek: Heck, I need to concentrate more...
 
The Flash said:
I also noticed that bit but preferred not to write about it since it has the possibility of becoming a spoiler. And I think you should put it in spoiler marks, Foro, and Ariana, for the link.
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Just added it in case, but I thought it was just a mistake by that site.
 
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