Steve 'Loopy' Newhouse's blog

Baztac said:
When Paul was in the band the demo only existed on cassette tapes. One of which found its way to Neal Kaye. Paul was out of the band in April. When they started to press the E.P. later on in late summer /autumn it would make no sense listing a former member as he was not part of the line up. Paul had probably moved on and forgotten about Maiden.
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A very interesting read, this thread. I had to re-listen to the Soundhouse tapes, and to me it's now obvious that the second solo on Strange world isn't Dave Murray. Apart from what's already been written here, I have to add that it's not exactly a particularly good solo: The way it just fades out in the end leaves the impression that it is more or less made up on the spot - I'm sure Dave would have come up with something different and better:)

Anyway, a point that hasn't been mentioned is the cover of the Soundhouse tapes. Do we know when and by whom this was designed? It just struck med that on the back, there are five photo frames on top, with pictures and names of the four members. The fifth frame at the far right, though, has no name underneath it, it is a photo of the drum kit. It looks a bit odd, really.

From the overall layout, it seem to me the idea was to have five pictures on top - one for each member - and five live pictures at the bottom (from the Music Machine). Apparently, at the time of printing, there was only four members, so some improvisation was needed, and it does look a bit weird. So it would be interesting to know when the cover design was made.

So, I do think there is strong evidence to support the claim that Paul Cairns did play on it. Still, I'd say it made perfect sense for Steve (and Rod) not to credit an ex-member at the time of release, so I don't see a great conspiracy here. According to Steve, the ST was mainly thought of as a promotional tool to promoters and record companies, so there was every chance that Paul Cairns or anybody else for that matter, would ever give a toss about this matter. No-one, not even Steve, could in the Summer of 1979 foresee the status the ST would get, and that there were people like us, "going beyond to seek the truth" 40 years later.

Thus, once the decision to omit Paul Cairns was made, the band had to stick with the story, so therefore no mention of it in the Bushell book or in later accounts. As a consequence, later accounts have wrongfully put back Paul Cairns' periode in the band well into 1978. Overall, in the official books about Maiden, there isn't really a desire to reveal it all when it comes to who played or wrote what and when. I'm sure Steve Harris' memories even from events 40 years ago are razor-sharp (unlike Di'Anno, who even refers to a guitaris called Nelson in his book:)), but none of the official books/video have really aimed to reveal all details about the early days, which is also understandable, as I'd think most Maiden fans don't rellay care too much.

But maybe we can hope for a 1500-page tell-it-all Steve Harris biography at some point?
 
Jmaster said:
Do we know when and by whom this was designed?
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I think it was designed by Steve, I know it's his handwriting on it.

Also, it was recorded December 78, but it wasn't released until nov 79. Prowler appeared as number one in a metal chart published in the magazine Sounds. I think at this stage it was still only a demo tape, so I imagine if you get the date it appeared in Sounds you can safely say the cover wasn't designed until after this date,
 
Jmaster, recently Paul Cairns found another picture of the outside of Spaceward Studios at the time of the ST recordings. You'll see his dog in the snow or something like that, which is on his FB profile (I won't post it here w/out his permission), it's worth taking a look...
 
lira said:
Jmaster, recently Paul Cairns found another picture of the outside of Spaceward Studios at the time of the ST recordings. You'll see his dog in the snow or something like that, which is on his FB profile (I won't post it here w/out his permission), it's worth taking a look...
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Ok, nice - another one than the (rather blurry) one circulating since 2013, then? I couldn't find a Paul Cairns profile after a quick search that fit the bill of the former Maiden guitarist, though, but I'll give it another shot.
 
This is the direct link of the pictures. (Erase the space between "facebook." and "com")

facebook. com/search/top/?q=Paul%20Cairns%20&epa=SEARCH_BOX
 
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