Steve Harris is on the line from Perth, where he’s preparing for a mammoth run of dates with not just long standing metal legends Iron Maiden, but also doing ‘in between’ pub dates with his side outfit of twelve years, classic hard rockers British Lion.
So, Steve, the tour kicks off in a week or so, and you’re already here; how long have you been in Australia? “Yeah, just a few days”.
Did you bring the family with you this time, take advantage of the trip for a bit of a holiday? “I used to… well, when the kids were younger, but these days when it’s so far away it’s not so easy to do so. No, I haven’t got the family with me this time. I just got here earlier to get over the jet lag (laughs). It’s always worse coming this way ‘round the world for some unknown reason”…
You’ve done it often enough though, you’ve been here a hundred times! “I know… I don’t know why ‘cause going the other way ‘round the world it seems just a lot quicker than coming this way. It’s not just me, everyone thinks the same”.
You’ve had an amazing career with Iron Maiden, done some brilliant stuff, scaled a lot of heights, and then along comes British Lion. And despite you being such a main component of Iron Maiden, British Lion has its own identity. It also shows another side of you. What was the motivation behind starting another band? “Yeah… well, it’s not just another side to me; the material, or most of the material is driven by the other guys in the band. Mainly (vocalist) Richard Taylor and David Hawkins, (guitar player) but also partly (guitarist) Grahame Leslie as well. So, you know, it’s gonna be a different direction. It’s more rock rather than metal, but a lot of the influences are still the same sort of influences that I had with Maiden, but it’s just more of a rock vein, you know… shorter songs, melodic songs, still a lot of power, especially live. I mean, the first album isn’t really representative of where we’re at now, which is why I’d still like to try and get some live stuff out at some point because I think the way we play the songs from the first album now is… it’s taken on a whole different thing now. And because we’ve been together and playing live as the same unit for, like, twelve years now”.
Listening to British Lion it does really sound like classic styled British Rock where you fit right in with UFO and Judas Priest only with a sharper ‘more now ‘feel. “Yeah, I think it’s sort of a bit UFO, a bit of Thin Lizzy thrown in with some other influences going on as well because David Hawkins is a fair bit younger than the rest of us, so his influences are a little bit different. Just different kinds of stuff, heavy stuff and melodic stuff so there’s all different kinds of things in there which gives it a little bit of a different flavour I think as well. A lot of the stuff, especially the stuff off the first album, three or four songs are sort of throwbacks to he eighties and nineties I think really and that’s how it came about in the first place really, because I thought those songs were so good they had to see the light of day. And if it’s the only way to make it happen, me actually being in the band – back in the day I was writing, recording and booking them and stuff, and basically managing them really, and then later on I just thought: ‘this is too good stuff to not be used and come out and the only way to really do it is to be part of it ,make it happen like that’.”
Well it’s pretty evident you’re totally into the band and the other guys also sound like pretty accomplished musicians as well. “Yeah, well you know, they’re all talented people, but there’s a hell of a lot of talented people around the world that haven’t really made it to any real level of any kind or whatever… but a couple of those guys did play in touring bands in America and stuff like that, and a couple of them haven’t really done anything on that level, but they’re all talented so it’s enjoyable. It’s brilliant and you know they’re good people as well, so it’s really good. I mean, we’ve been together twelve years now so we wouldn’t be together that long if everyone didn’t get along”.
There is a difference evident between the first album and The Burning (second and current album). Would you say that came from all those years of playing together? “That’s right. And also we played a lot of the stuff off the second album live before we recorded it as well, so when you get a chance to play ‘em live first it becomes something else and just matures really. Not really changing any arrangements but changing through playing ‘em. And then when you record them, they just sound more as we are… that’s why the second album is probably more representative of where we’re at. But people need to come and see us live ‘cause that’s where I think we excel”.
It’s usually the case that a band has years to develop material for their first album, but then has to rush the second album – whereas you guys have kind of done it in reverse in that your second album is really the one you had years to prepare for. “Yeah, exactly… playing the stuff live (before recording) has made it evolve very close to what we are live”.
So is there the possibility of a live British Lion album then? “Well, we’ve been recording stuff and yeah I want to get a live album out. It’s just a question (laughs) of sifting through all the different live versions we’ve got, and there’s even tracks from, like, earlier tours we don’t play anymore and I’d like to incorporate those as well so… at some point there will be a live album of some sort I think. It’s just trying to fit it all in really because there’s so much going on. Obviously, I’ve got two bands and then, when I do get a bit of free time, spend a bit of time with the family but, I’m always busy doing something or other so, yeah, I mean… it’s just finding time to do it. It will happen at some point”.
That answer kind of makes my next question redundant (laughing)…which was ‘Can we expect a Steve Harris autobiography?’ “Yeah I would… I mean, I would like to do one. I’ve got so much to talk about I could probably do a book even just about the first few years on its own… we’ll see. I know when I’ve done ‘forwards’ – I’ve just done short forwards for other people’s books – and the amount of time it even takes to do that. And I’m someone who likes to take my time over stuff like that anyway. I mean… I admire Bruce (Dickinson, Iron Maiden vocalist) for being able to write it sort of in his lunch hours, his book, I mean, it’s a talent to be able to do that, but I can’t really do that, I sort of need to focus on it a lot more and he’s able to do that, which is amazing but… it’s funny because he was writing stuff on his book, you know, before a Maiden gig on the afternoon when we’ve gotta do a gig and I just said to him: ‘Mate are you one of them annoying kids that used to do their homework in the dinner hour at school?’ And he just smiled and I was like, yeah I knew it! (Laughs). And you know, he’s able to do it and that’s great, but I can’t really do that. I think I just need to take a bulk period of time to be able to do it”.
Way back in the day I’d buy (British music paper) Sounds every week and that’s where I discovered bands like UFO, Priest and Maiden, and all I had to go on was buying the record and if the songs were good – that was it. And the thing that got me with Maiden when I first heard Killers is the same thing I’m finding with The Burning: the songs really stand up. Not something a lot of bands today really have to as great a degree. “Well, it’s like I’ve always said – always said – the lifeblood of any band is its songs. So, if you’ve got really strong songs, which I think both bands have, then you’ve got half a chance of doing something. Playing live, the set we play live… well, with Maiden or British Lion, every song is a strong song. Obviously playing stuff in a small venue with British Lion I think it’s even more apparent really because we haven’t got a big show or anything like that, you know we’ve got a backdrop and screens and things like that. You try and put a little bit of a show on in a small place, but you don’t have all that other stuff to fall back on. The bottom line is it’s gotta be good songs, but I mean even with Maiden with a massive big show, the show could be fantastic but without strong songs… the bottom line is that’s what people will come for in the first place.Well, the songs should drive the show, not the other way around”.
Seeing you in 1982 in Sydney with Maiden on the Beast on the Road tour and then seeing you several times over the years, one thing that really struck me was how little your stage presence has changed over the years. You still expend a ton of energy and really go hard; have you had to make some adjustments over time in order to keep that level up? “Well, as you get older it means you have to do twice as much work to get the same result a lot of the time. You just have to keep fit and keep moving really (laughs) that’s what I’d say. I went out and played a couple of hours of tennis last night. Short sharp bursts and stuff, good for training for the football and for when I’m on stage so… you know, I just try and eat well and I’ve never done any drugs and I’ve never smoked or stuff like that so, I think I can only speak for myself, but it’s same then as it is now really”.
Gear wise, you’ve been pretty steadfastly both a Fender and Rotosound flat wound strings man forever now, and these days you’re touring with the signature Steve Harris Tech21 fly rig. So, is it two different rigs with British Lion and Iron Maiden? “It depends where I play. That’s one of the reasons why I got the Tech21 in the first place. It was to be able to emulate stuff if I can’t use what I normally use. And I’m still using Tech21 anyway with Maiden; I mean, it sounds great, but the good thing about it is if I don’t have the equipment available, for example when we toured South America a while back with British Lion I was unable to get my EV speakers and stuff like that so I was able to emulate (their sound) as close as possible and it really is very close … and the whole thing is you’re able to whack it in your bag and go abroad and play, and not have to worry about whether they’ve got equipment to a specification that’s one hundred per cent what I need. So, that was the thinking behind that but I still use it in the Maiden rig anyway, it just does enhance the sound anyway”.
And then also the Rotosounds: you’re a long time user and endorsee, great strings. “I think they are, I mean they’re the only strings I’ve used. I know it sounds like I’m pushing them, but it’s not that. I don’t push things unless I use them myself, you know (laughs).People are trying to get me to do stuff all the time, which is a nice compliment, but I won’t promote stuff unless I’m using it”.
And you’ve got a Fender Steve Harris Signature Bass as well. You must have quite a collection of Fenders by now? “Yeah, I mean I’m not a guitar collector or anything like that, but yeah, and I use couple of those (Signature models). In fact, one of them I’ll be using with British Lion and the other one is a back up for my main guitar with Maiden so… sometimes the strings can go dead ‘cause … it’s really the sweat that gets into them and we have to put kind of silicon stuff around the pickups to stop the sweat getting in. But it’s pretty rare that I have to change a guitar… I shouldn’t say that now, should I?” (Both laughing)
No! Don’t jinx yourself! “And the Fenders are solid as anything. Ultra solid”.
Do you have a particular “go to bass” for studio work? “It’s the same bass that I use live. That’s always the one I will use whenever possible. But I’ve also got a blue one I use for British Lion that’s an old, old bass that’s a back up as well, so, sometimes I might use that”.
So, schedule and workloads aside, are there any plans then for a third British Lion album when time allows? “Yeah, well, we’ve already got a couple of new songs in the set that we’ve started playing fairly recently, so we’ll just take it from there and start gradually putting new stuff in the set over a period of time, and then when it’s possible we’ll go in and record them. I don’t know, even if we don’t record them all in one go and also, Tony Newton – who works with us on the albums, engineers them – he also plays in KK’s Priest and Moggs Motel, he’s been busy lately as well otherwise we probably would have recorded those two new songs already, but we just haven’t had a chance”.
Well, the more you play them live the better they’ll record. “Exactly! So… I’m on tour now until December so the next opportunity is probably around Christmas time; so, hopefully Tony will be available as well and we can at least get a couple tracks down, you know, under our belt”.
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