Steve: "We're Aware That We Can't Go On Forever"

The man inside the Iron Maiden



Michael Church / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

Ask Iron Maiden's Steve Harris to explain the enduring success and popularity of his band and he'll scratch his chin and furrow his brow. "I can't really explain it," he says. "We never expected to make it properly in the first place.

"What we were trying to do at first in the early days was make an album and do a tour and that's as far as our ambitions were at that point.

"It took us 4-1/2 years to get a deal, but once we did we were given a three-album deal, which was unusual in those days. It's been fantastic."

Iron Maiden's success has been more than just fantastic. Since the release of their self-titled debut album in 1980, the Londoners have sold at least 65 million copies of their 13 studio albums, four live sets and various collections of B sides and "Best ofs."

In the process, the band has outlived just about every fad and trend in music since their appearance on the scene, seeing off New Wave, New Romantics, thrash, grunge, nu-metal and all points in between.

But Maiden remains more than just a unit-shifting juggernaut. New album Dance of the Dead has been hailed as one of the band's strongest to date--the album's centerpiece, eight-minute epic "Paschendale" is a bombastic microcosm of all that has made the band one of the icons of heavy metal.

"You've just got to keep doing what you do," says Harris of Maiden's enduring legacy. "I think we have always been stubborn like that. We've never bowed to pressure from other people. In fact we have gone so far as to tell them to piss off at times. And that's how it should be.

"A band shouldn't be bombarded into doing things they don't think is right for them. And whenever we have debated because we haven't been sure, it's usually wrong. You go with your gut instinct and nine times out of 10 you're right.

"We just make the albums we want to make. You could argue now that we are all fairly comfortable so we don't have to do any of the bullshit stuff. It's gone full circle in some sense.

"In the early days we did exactly what we wanted to do. We always have done. But the situation is now you could argue even more so and that's been the main philosophy. As to why we're still selling--I'd like to think it's because we're good."

In nearly 30 years as an entity and amid the numerous comings and goings of personnel, the affable bass guitarist has remained an ever-present. And that's because not only is Iron Maiden Steve Harris' band; Harris, quite simply, is Iron Maiden.

Never mind Bruce Dickinson's wailing vocals or the band's infamous mascot Eddie, who has adorned many of the band's album covers, Harris is the hairy heart and soul of one of Britain's most successful musical exports.

He has seen the band go through all of its peaks and troughs; from the breakthrough years of the early '80s when songs such as "Run to the Hills" were introducing the band to a massive worldwide audience, through to the departure of Dickinson after 1992's Fear of the Dark album and his subsequent replacement with former Wolfsbane vocalist Blaze Bayley.

Bayley appeared on two albums--The X-Factor (which Harris hails as his favorite Maiden release) and Virtual XI--before being replaced by a returning Dickinson for 2000's Brave New World.

"There was a period where it wasn't cool to say you were into Iron Maiden or influenced by Iron Maiden," Harris says. "In fact, it was around the period just before Bruce left the band at first. It possibly was the grunge thing. Sales went down a bit, but not that much. We were still headlining festivals and playing big venues. Instead of playing to 12 or 15 or 18,000 it was eight or 10,000.

"Of course it's started coming back up. Bruce has rejoined and (guitarist) Adrian (Smith) as well and it's taken an uplift again. But it was already coming back up again when Blaze was in the band."

He says Maiden's upsurge in popularity has come at a time of renewed interest in rock music.

"It's getting stronger again and just look at what The Darkness have done in the U.K. They're great because people who are not normally into rock are getting into it and that's great for everybody. The buggers kept us off the No. 1 spot, I wasn't too happy about that. But if you look at the positive side it's two rock bands at No. 1 and No. 2. It's great."

After more than two decades at the top, have Harris and company considered finally bringing down the curtain on what has been a glorious career?

"We have all talked about it and we are aware that you can't go on forever," he says. "But it's something that you can't put a time on it. You just have to do it when everyone feels that's it and we don't feel like that yet.

"We don't want to make the mistake that a few bands have made and say, 'That's it' and two years later think, 'I'm a bit bored now, let's do it again.'

"Once that's it, it should really be it."


Iron Maiden will perform Feb. 5, 7 p.m. at Hokkaido Koseinenkin Kaikan in Chuo Ward, Sapporo. (011) 221-0144; with guests Arch Enemy and Sonata Arctica on Feb. 7, 3 p.m. at Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka. (06) 6233-8888; Feb. 8, 3 p.m. at Super Arena in Saitama. (03) 5466-0777

I like what he said about bands that stop and start... I want Maiden to be as it is now, a great band. I dont want them to go on and do bad stuff...

I like what he said about bands that stop and start... I want Maiden to be as it is now, a great band. I dont want them to go on and do bad stuff...

Exactly - the main example -> KISS
They are on Farewell-Tour since 5,5 years...