IRON MAIDEN Bassist's BRITISH LION To Kick Off European Tour With Special Charity Show

February 6, 2013

IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris will take his new solo/side project BRITISH LION out on the road this month, visiting fourteen countries and twenty-four cities across Europe. For the first time ever, and as a major surprise to many, MAIDEN's bass player, founding member and leader will take temporary leave from his MAIDEN activities and heading out on a full European club tour.

BRITISH LION will open its 2013 European tour with a special charity show at the Moto Clube de Faro, Portugal on February 20. All tickets will be priced at €10 with profits going to the Red Cross.

As MAIDEN fans will know, the Moto Clube de Faro and Steve Harris have a long and cherished history via mutual friend Manu DaSilva, who sadly passed away in 2006, and as a tribute to whom IRON MAIDEN headlined the 30th International Motorcyle Convention Portugal as guests of the Moto Clube de Faro during their Final Frontier World Tour in 2011.

Says Harris: "We’re really looking forward to starting off the tour at the Moto Clube de Faro. They have a brand new 600-capacity Clubhouse, which makes an ideal warm-up venue for our first-ever live BRITISH LION show, and we’re very pleased to be donating all profits from this show to the Red Cross."

Regarding the upcoming BRITISH LION tour, Steve previously said: "I love touring and live shows and I'm very excited about touring with BRITISH LION. It's fantastic to get out there and once again experience the sheer vibrancy of small clubs with the fans right up front and in your face. I think the fans will enjoy that too. It's exciting, going back to the roots, and it's going to be fantastic. We are taking this to clubs all round Europe — a full club tour, with club shows at club prices, hot, sweaty and loud. We have no idea how many people will turn out to see us, as it's obviously very recent and very new, so we have kept the venues small with tickets priced accordingly as low as we reasonably could.

"I've known all the guys in the band for ages and, besides being great musicians, they are also good friends, which is lucky because this has been an ongoing project for many years! They've had to be very patient with me as, of course, I'm so involved with MAIDEN I don't really get a lot of free time to work on other stuff. So it's great to finally have the opportunity to get out and do all these shows. The reaction to the album has been really good and I think it will sound great live. We're all planning to have a lot of fun on this tour!"

"Us Against The World", the latest video from Steve Harris's BRITISH LION, can be seen below. The song comes off his first-ever solo release, "British Lion", which sold around 3,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 3 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"British Lion" was released in the U.S. on September 25, 2012 via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). Mixed by Kevin Shirley — whose credits include IRON MAIDEN as well as Led ZEPPELIN, JOURNEY and RUSH, among many others — the CD, which features Harris alongside vocalist Richard Taylor, guitarists Graham Leslie and David Hawkins and drummer Simon Dawson, presents a different side of the bassist's musical visions.

"British Lion" comprises ten songs that Steve and his collaborators have been working on between IRON MAIDEN tours and releases and is described by Harris as "'70s-influenced, British-sounding hard rock." "I'd say it's more mainstream rock than metal... and quite commercial… but good commercial," he said. "There's all kinds of stuff going on, with nods to THE WHO and UFO and some classic British rock bands, but it's not the progressive rock album some might be expecting."

"British Lion" track listing:

01. This Is My God
02. Lost Worlds
03. Karma Killer
04. Us Against The World
05. The Chosen Ones
06. A World Without Heaven
07. Judas
08. Eyes Of The Young
09. These Are The Hands
10. The Lesson

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