Iron Maiden
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Iron Maiden

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“We’ve been playing in Australia since the early-’80s and we’ve had loads of really good memories and good tours there,” says bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. “It’s a country we all enjoy playing in and visiting anyway so it’s all good really.”

A rock music lifer, Harris isn’t oblivious to the achievements of Australia’s great rock bands. “Obviously AC/DC. I wouldn’t say there’s an influence, but they’ve been around,” he says. “I originally saw them at the Marquee – although they’re not originally from Australia, they’re from Scotland, but Aussies might get a bit miffed about that [laughs].

“There are some great bands. We’ve had some great bands support us over there. But because it’s so far and since the scene in the UK has been so strong I can’t really say I’ve been influenced by any Aussie bands. That’s not to say there aren’t some good ones, because there is.”

Similar to AC/DC, Australians tend to claim The Book Of Souls producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley as one of our own. Shirley lived here between 1987 and the mid-’90s, producing bands like Lime Spiders, Baby Animals, Cold Chisel, The Angels and Silverchair. “Yeah – he’s originally South African, but in fact I think he’s thinking of relocating back to Australia,” says Harris.

Since moving to the USA, Shirley has produced albums for Aerosmith, Dream Theater, Black Country Communion, John Hiatt and Joe Bonamassa. He’s been working with Maiden since 2000’s Brave New World and while he doesn’t necessarily put an identifiable sonic stamp on the acts he works with, there’s a certain lack of bullshit about every project he takes on.

“He’s very direct,” Harris says. “He just gets on and does the job and that’s what we want. No nonsense, really. We get on really well with him and work really well with him.”

As the chief songwriter for Iron Maiden, Harris has shaped the evolution of metal itself. Many songwriters just bring a skeleton of an idea to their bandmates, but Harris is often very particular about what he wants from the other guys.

“If you see a credit with just my name on it, that means I write absolutely everything,” he says. “Rhythm guitar parts, guitar melodies, vocal melodies, absolutely everything really. The only thing I don’t write is the guitar solos but even then I might suggest one or two things.”

In 1999 Iron Maiden became a three-guitar band onstage, with Dave Murray and Adrian Smith playing alongside Janick Gers (who had replaced Smith in 1990, but was kept on when he returned). This has allowed them to better replicate the sound of their recordings.

“There were things we’d done before where we did layer up the guitars so it meant we could do full melodies, harmonies and rhythms like we’d recorded,” Harris says. “And it does help when you’re writing stuff because you can bear that in mind as well. But I think the early stuff that we played with two guitars, you don’t really miss the other bits too much, but when you add them in it does make the band sound bigger and better.”

One of Iron Maiden’s most enduring classics is The Trooper, about the Charge of the Light Brigade, a famous battle in the Crimean War. I recently found out that several of my ancestors fought in this battle, and one of them wrote about his exploits: his horse was torn apart under him by a shell, then fell on him, trapping him as easy prey. A Russian officer swung at him with a sword but my guy managed to stab him first, then grabbed the reigns of the dead guy’s horse, pulled himself out from under his own horse’s remnants and rode back to safety. He was permitted to keep the horse and later sold it to Prince Alfred.

Harris’s lyrical inspirations are sometimes abstract and intuitive, but often he’ll find himself hitting the books to fully research a topic before bringing it to life. “Something like the Light Brigade I knew about anyway just from school, and with something like that you just try to put yourself in the position as if you were there. It depends on the song though. Sometimes I do research, and I did that with a couple of songs here and there, like Isle Of Avalon from The Final Frontier. I just want to be absolutely correct before I say something.”

In 2012 Harris dropped his debut solo LP, British Lion, a more rock-oriented affair than Iron Maiden. Turns out there are plans for more solo activity in the future. “I really enjoyed playing smaller places and they’re a really good bunch of guys. There will be more albums and more touring. I just love playing live anyway, so to be able to play big places and small places is fantastic. It’s great to be able to do both. Iron Maiden grew fairly gradually. We started playing clubs and then we played theatre-type places, and then when we went to Europe back in the day we started playing bigger and bigger places. We just sort of lapped it up and took to it like ducks to water, to be honest. It was just a natural progression. But these days both bands give me the chance to do both.”

Harris seems like someone who feels most comfortable on a stage; though, not unless he’s fully prepared. “I do feel very comfortable on stage, once I’m comfortable that we’ve rehearsed enough. But I wouldn’t say I’m most comfortable there. I probably feel most comfortable on the football pitch, to be honest, because I’ve been doing that longer, since I was nine. Some people need all kinds of things like alcohol and what have you to come out of their shell, but I think if you’ve got a guitar in your hands and you’re confident you can be a very different persona offstage to on. I’m still me, but yeah, it’s just a way to express yourself in another way.”

BY PETER HODGSON