IRON MAIDEN's STEVE HARRIS: 'I Just Love Playing Live'

In a recent interview with Charlie Bahama, IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder Steve Harris spoke about his long-running side project BRITISH LION, in which he is joined by singer Richard Taylor, guitarists David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie, and drummer Simon Dawson. Regarding how BRITISH LION was formed, Steve responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, back in the day I couldn't have done it because we were so busy with MAIDEN. But then we started touring a little bit less frequently and the tours were a little less longer, so we had a bit of few gaps in between. So I thought I'm just gonna get together with the guys that I knew from way back anyway. I helped write some stuff with them. I was managing them and doing all kinds of stuff back in the '90s with them. And some of the stuff that we wrote together I thought, 'You know what? It's gotta see the light of day.' And I thought the only way to really grab it by the scruff of the neck and do something with it is actually being in a band myself. So that's what I did. And it's been great."

He continued: "It's been 14 years now [since we started BRITISH LION]. We've only made two albums, 'cause we... The problem is I'm still really busy with MAIDEN, touring and recording with MAIDEN, so I just have to fit it in when I can."

After Bahama noted that Harris must have "a lot of songs" in his head in order to be able to play shows with both MAIDEN and BRITISH LION, Steve said: "When you're doing a tour with one band or the other, you just rehearse those songs, and then you're kind of in that mode, and you don't really think about the other thing. So although a couple of tours ago I did do… We had a lot of days off on the MAIDEN tours, and so I ended up doing BRITISH LION shows in between. 'Cause I get bored on days off, so it was an opportunity for BRITISH LION lads to come out and do some shows. But now that Simon, the BRITISH LION drummer, has joined MAIDEN, then we're not really gonna do that now because I don't want anyone having the excuse to say, 'Oh, he's tired,' or whatever. So we probably won't do that again. But whenever MAIDEN gets any time off, then I'm usually playing with BRITISH LION."

In response to Charlie's comment that Steve "doesn't rest", Harris clarified: "Well, I do. I do rest, but, yeah, there's a time and place for resting. But I love playing — I just love playing live. I mean, if people come along to [see BRITISH LION perform], they'll see that. It's very evident that we all love to do what we do."

BRITISH LION's second album, "The Burning", came out in January 2020 in digipack CD, double gatefold vinyl and digital download formats via Explorer1 Music (E1). The LP was recorded, engineered and mixed at Barnyard Studios by Tony Newton and produced by Steve Harris.

BRITISH LION's first U.S. tour took place in January and February 2020.

Asked by the Tampa Bay Times what the itch is that BRITISH LION scratches that he doesn't get in his job with MAIDEN, Harris said: "I suppose playing small clubs and being close and personal with the audience. I love playing big places as well. I enjoy them all, and I'm very lucky that I can do them all. But also, it's clubs that I never played with MAIDEN, even in Europe. There's a famous club called the Milky Way in Amsterdam, which I managed to play with BRITISH LION, but I never did that with MAIDEN. There's places that I'm playing on [the U.S.] tour that I've never played before. So it's all new ground. It's a challenge. It's nice. I like a challenge."

In a 2020 interview with Bass Player magazine, Harris said that he loves playing small clubs. "I'm very lucky that I can play all types of gigs; massive gigs and small ones as well," he said. "It's a change. I'm not trying to conquer the world with this band; there's not enough years left in me to do that anyway."

Asked if the different venues present a different set of challenges, Steve said: "I actually think it should be the same, whether you're playing for 200 or 200,000 people, you know. To me, there's no difference. You still give 110 percent wherever you're playing. We had one gig where the promoter just didn't do [anything]. I think we had, like, 95 people in there, but it was still a great gig, one of the best of the tour. It doesn't matter. We're still going for it, and I was proud that we went out there. It was fantastic."