This interview was made possible by the kind assistance of Mazur Public
Relations, Concrete Management, and WKNC-FM in Raleigh, NC.
It is the 2nd of 3 installments that includes this interview, a tour report
for the time period of 2/19/96 through 2/27/96, and an interview with Blaze
Bayley.
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Interview w/ Steve Harris - Iron Maiden - 2/27/96 by Sumit Chandra
Q: The new album is a very different album for the band, obviously
with the new singer. Can you talk about the album and the
overall atmosphere around it.
A: When Blaze first joined, he asked us if there was any particular
direction we wanted to go in. We said no, we never really have
any direction, we just write the best songs we can at the time.
When we started writing the songs, it was very natural, and we
didn't really have any specific topics or anything. We never do.
Whenever we do a new album, we really have no idea what we're
going to write about. We have little bits of musical ideas that
we stick on tape and then forget about, until we pull them out
when it's time to do an album. When we're on the road, we don't
get much of a chance to do anything, except for sleep on days off
and things like that. We don't write on the road. So therefore,
it's quite exciting when we do a new album, cause we never know
what we're going to do. That's part of the fun of it. We don't
know what the topics or the songs are going to be. It's very
fresh and exciting, especially working with a new guy, and it
worked so well, it was so natural writing songs with him. It was
almost as if he'd been in the band for ages.
Q: Is there anything in the atmosphere that ends up giving the album
a certain theme. For example, Seventh Son.
A: Not really, it happened with Seventh Son because we decided to do
a concept album. A lot of people when they see the artwork and
the way the album is put together, they think it's a concept with
some of the other albums we've done. Like Fear of the Dark, has
quite a few mentions of the word fear throughout the album, but
it wasn't a conscious thing, it was just something that happened.
We realized it ourselves afterwards. It wasn't intentional.
It's just a collection of short stories, and that's all it is.
Some of the stories might be fiction, some might be from books
and films, and some might be current affairs, it could be
anything. You don't know what you're going to write until you
write it, so you can't really analyze it.
Q: Talk a bit about the tour. I know you've been a few
places that you haven't been to before.
A: Yeah, we went to Israel, and we went to South Africa. We thought
it was really important to go somewhere where none of us had
been, so it would be fresh to all of us, rather than going
somewhere the rest of us had been and Blaze hadn't. We thought
it was important to share the same sort of new experience, with a
new member in the band. Then we also played in places like
Romania, and Bulgaria, which we hadn't done before. So it's
always a new challenge.
Q: When I talked to Blaze, he mentioned that you guys had actually
looked into the possibility of playing in India, but it didn't
look like it would happen this time around.
A: That's right. At the moment they're trying to put it together
for sometime in the summer. I've always wanted to play in India,
and I've always wanted to play in China, and places like that,
just places we've never played before. I know that some of my
favorite bands have played India a long time ago, and we've never
got around to playing it for one reason or another. I've always
wanted to go there, even as a tourist. Janick's been to Goa, but
none of us has ever really had a chance to go there.
Q: I've had the chance to follow the tour for the past week or so,
and I wanted to get the performers perspective on the
proceedings. For example, the show in Harrisburg PA was probably
not all it could have been from a security perspective. For
example, the Fear Factory bassist was involuntarily pulled into
the crowd, and someone got on the stage while Maiden was on, and
I remember watching you assist in pushing that individual away.
A: To be honest with you, I got a bit annoyed because, if someone
gets on stage, that doesn't really bother me that much, as long
as they don't cause any damage or stuff like that. What happened
was that he bashed straight into my guitar and turned my guitar
off, and that really annoyed me, because it was right at the end
of the set on "The Trooper". You try to play up there, and if
someone does something like that, than it's a bit off-putting. To
be honest with you, I was not in a bit of mood that night anyway,
and wasn't really enjoying the gig very much because we had a few
other technical problems. Probably on another night, I wouldn't
have taken it too much to heart. That kind of capped it all for
me, it was a bit of a nightmare, that gig as far as I was
concerned.
Q: I still thought it was a pretty good show overall, with the band
in fine form.
A: Sometimes when we think we've had a shit gig, you come off stage
and there's lots of people there, and they've really enjoyed it.
The impression out front is always quite different than what it
is on stage, and we are professional in the sense that we are
really consistent, and even when we think we've had a bad gig, by
other people's standards it's still quite good, I suppose. But
you do get nights like that, not too often, thank God!
Q: Talk a little bit about playing the USA. This is the first time
in four years that Maiden has toured the States. It is a huge
country with a big market, and the US as a country tends to be
more trend-following as far as the mainstream. If I'm looking at
it from Maiden's perspective, it's obviously a big task you guys
have to undertake, and the return on the investment is not as
much as it would've been in years past. What are your
impressions about that?
A: We don't look at it as a monetary thing. We come over here, and
we want to be a popular band again over here, but not to the
point we have to change anything. We're not going to compromise.
Our attitudes are the same as they were in '81 when we first came
over here. We just have to come over, and slap you lot about,
and hope that they're going to accept what we are, cause we're
not gonna change. We're pretty stubborn as far as that goes. In
the rest of world, we've been touring since September, and in
most of the countries it's been sold out and we're doing big
gigs. Over here, if they can't get into it, or if they don't
want to be in metal, then what can you do. We didn't even know
if we would sell these types of gigs out. We didn't know what to
expect. We heard stories about how Iron Maiden was going down,
and it wasn't in fashion anymore. So we've come over here, and
we've been selling these gigs out, which is great, but to be
totally honest, it's a bit disappointing, because we'd all like
to play to more people, but it's not a monetary thing, it's just
the fact that we've played to a lot more people in the past. The
problem over here is that it's difficult to generate new, young
fans, and because we're playing clubs now, quite often you have
to be 18 or 21 to get in. So the new young fans sometimes
can't get in anyway. So it's difficult to gauge whether we're
getting new young fans or not. We've just got to come over here
and do this tour and hopefully it'll go up from there, but if it
doesn't, so be it, cause we're not going to change, and we're not
going to start trying to write hit singles or any of that
bullshit.
Q: So it's quite similar to the 70's when punk was fashionable and
Maiden would not compromise their sound in order to get a record
deal.
A: Yeah, it's very similar in the way when we first came over. Now
we know we have a hard-core following, so we know we can do a
certain amount, but we didn't even know that was going to be the
case until we got here. So at least the hard-core fans are still
around.
Q: As far as the rest of the X-Factour is concerned, where else do
you guys plan to go?
A: We're hoping to play Chile this time around, which we weren't
allowed to last time. As I said, I'd love to play China, but I
don't think that'll happen this time around, so we need to start
laying down a bit of groundwork for that. Sometimes it can take
years to play some place, for example it took us 10 years to play
Moscow, which we played on the last tour, and we also played
Argentina and Uruguay for the first time on the last tour as
well. There's lots of new places really. Hopefully we're going
to be playing Hong Kong and Bangkok as well. I think Bangkok has
just been confirmed as far as I know, which is great. We're
still waiting on Hong Kong. Even if we can't play Hong Kong, I'd
like to go there as a tourist before it changes in 1997. Also,
Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are already confirmed as well.
Q: Can you talk about any future releases that are in the works? and
can you comment on the rumor of an Iron Maiden CD-ROM?
A: The "Lord of the Flies" single is the only one at the moment, and
it has covers of "Doctor Doctor" by UFO, and "My Generation" by
the Who as b-sides. As far as the CD-ROM is concerned, we've
been talking about doing something like that, but I don't think
it's going to happen just yet, we need to get our arses in gear
for that sort of thing. Also, I really want to start getting
into the internet, and doing stuff on a day by day basis or
a week by week basis, just to keep people aware of how things are
going.
Q: I think you're one of the very few people who would be an
authority on this. You're the founder of the band and you've
gone through all the lineup changes dating back from the early
days, and through the changes during the album producing years.
Being a band and touring as rigorously as Maiden have, the band
becomes a family type of atmosphere and the lineup changes can be
analogous to family breakups, which can be a bit difficult and
unsettling. Can you comment on that and the will of Maiden to
proceed onward.
A: The thing is that at the end of the day, you've got to have 5
people that really want to be there. That's the bottom line, and
it sounds simple, but it doesn't always work out
that way, and that's why people come and go. Either they're not
happy with us, or we're not happy with them, or both. It's
pointless keeping somebody in the band that just stays there
because it's a good wage. There's no point in doing that. At
the end of the day you've got to get on with it. The only thing
is when you do have a change, you've got to make sure it's a
positive change. We've always looked very positively on any
change that we've had with the band. That's the only way you can
look at it really. That way when someone new comes into the
band, they bring in new energy, and so on. I think because of
the changes, it's probably one reason why we've been able to
carry on for so long. We enjoy what we do, and still things are
fresh and exciting. I don't know, it's difficult to say, because
obviously the changes have happened anyway. I think they've been
changes for the better, and certainly as far as the band morale
is concerned. People can debate till the cows come home about
what lineup was better, but at this time we feel that what
we're doing now is better than anything that we've done,
especially the live shows.
Q: I agree, I don't think I've ever seen the band as energetic, and
as happy as I've seen them on this tour during the past week.
A: Not to blow our own trumpet, but I don't think there's too many
bands that could have survived the changes we've gone through.
To come through as strong as we have, and it's proved on this
tour, that throughout the world, the album sales, and the ticket
sales, and the reactions to the album and the live shows, it's
been fantastic. I'm really pleased and proud, because it's not
an easy thing to go through changes like that. What's been
fantastic is the support of the fans, they've been so loyal and
so into it, and above all they've been so open-minded, which has
been great. They've accepted Blaze, and acknowledged that
there's been a change, but Maiden carries on and they're into it.
It's great!
Q: Talking a bit more about yourself, you've been in the band for
the longest time, and have contributed the most material. You've
written quite a few classics. How do you react to the concept of
being recognized as a great songwriter.
A: It's nice when people say stuff like that, because it's obviously
very good to be appreciated, and that's what the ultimate thing
is. But first and foremost, you've got to write for yourself, and
you've got to be stubborn and make sure that you're liking what
you're doing, and hopefully people like it, so for so many people
to say things like that, it's great. But as I said, you can't
analyze it, and you can't start sitting back and thinking about
the why's, or otherwise you'd never write another song. If you
start thinking that you've written a song that someone else
considers a classic, then it's downhill from there. So I try not
to think about it all, and just try to write the best songs I can
at a given time. And I try to make sure that I'm not treading on
old ground, or things that I've done before, and yet at the same
time try not to be so different that it's gonna kind of alienates
things. I just try and write what I feel at the time, which is
probably more difficult than you might think at times. There's
pressure, when you get an album that's been successful, then
there's pressure there, but I try not to let that get to me, or
otherwise you end up writing "Run to the Hills Part II" and that
kind of thing. That's not what we want to do, so you just try and
write the best songs you can at the time.
Q: Looking 4-5 years down the road, and even beyond that. Maiden
has a pretty good track record, so it's probably a fair bet that
you guys will still be around for a while still. What type of
vision do you have for the band?
A: It's hard to say, I guess we'll stop when we're not enjoying it
anymore, but we're still enjoying it very much at the moment.
It's hard to say, I suppose 2001 probably sounds like a good time
to end, but I don't know, we might get to 2001 and think "No,
we're not stopping yet". Who knows, it's hard to say.
Q: Talk a little bit about as you grow older and associated family
obligations and other obligations outside the band, and how that
impacts things.
A: You just try to maneuver around things. I used to take my kids
on the road with me when they were younger and school was not an
issue, now I have to arrange it around school holidays, so you're
kind of restricted to things like that. That is the hardest part
for me of being on the road. I love being on the road, but the
hardest part for me is being away from the kids,which isn't easy.
On the European tour it's not that bad, because on the days off,
I can just go home, and spend the night, so it's only a matter of
a day or two when I don't get to see my kids. Obviously,
whenever I get the chance, I have them come out on the road with
me. But now that we're in the States, I had the kids come on
the road with me for about 10 days during Holiday, and I had to
take them home cause they're on my passport, and I'm divorced, so
I had to take them home from New York after the Philly show, and
fly straight back out the next day, and play Baltimore the same
night. So it kind of makes things tough, and to me the hardest
part is to be away from the family. I still do what I do, and
everything kind of has to fit around that really. A big
difference I suppose is that I've got a studio at home now, and
that was one of the prime reasons for having a studio at home in
the first place, so I can spend more time at home. I'm the one
in the band who spends the most time in the studio anyway, I'm
there everyday, so making albums abroad is not something I want
to do anymore. I spend enough time abroad when I'm touring
anyway, and I didn't want to be spending the rest of time
while I'm recording away as well. That really would have given
me little time to spend with my kids. People change as time goes
by, and your priorities do change. To me, the kids come before
anything, and some of the fans might not agree with that, but
that's the right reason. If it came down to it, there's no
comparison as far as I'm concerned. The kids come before
everything, and if I had to give up Maiden because of my kids,
then I'd do it. But having said that, there really isn't that
problem, because I can work around it and can get around it. My
kids love me being in Maiden anyway. They love being on the
road, and being in the tourbus and stuff.
Q: Do they enjoy having the Piece of Mind Eddie head in the
backyard?
A: Yeah, they don't take a lot of notice of it really. They've
grown up with it. So, I suppose they sort of take it for granted
in a way. Sometimes when they come home from school, they ask me
to sign an autograph for friends or things like that. I think
they get a bit of a buzz out of it, but they don't really make a
big fuss about it.
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