STEVE HARRIS Says Release Of Next BRITISH LION Album Is Dependent Upon IRON MAIDEN's Schedule

Steve Harris says the release of BRITISH LION's next studio album rests largely on IRON MAIDEN's 2019 schedule. The MAIDEN bassist's hard rock side-project already has its second opus in the can and has been performing select cuts from it during recent tour dates. Meanwhile, MAIDEN has revealed that it will embark on the North American leg of its "Legacy Of The Beast" tour in July.

In a recent interview with Yannick Tremblay of Quebec's Radio X (audio below),Harris was asked how he became part of BRITISH LION after previously working with the musicians as their mentor. "I felt I had to join the band to make sure the songs that had been worked on in the past basically saw the light of day," he said. "Because, back in the day, I was managing them and doing some writing with them, too. I never told anyone at the time, but when the band followed up, I thought, in the future, I could try and work with it. I thought the best way to do it was be in the band and get involved a little bit and just take it like that. I'm glad I did, because I'm really, really enjoying it. It's a lot of fun."

Harris also talked about what fans can expect from a BRITISH LION show, which has one studio album to its credit with 2012's self-titled effort. "There will be songs from the first album, but there will be songs from the second album too because we just finished the second album," Steve said. "We will release it at some point next year, depending on, of course, what MAIDEN is doing; we always have to wait for that. We don't have a release yet."

Considered to be one of the most prolific songwriters in metal history, Harris was asked why so many of his songs are taken from a historical point of view, most notably, some of MAIDEN's most enduring songs like "The Trooper" and "Aces High". "I loved history in school as a subject, so I've always been interested in it," he replied. "I can't say there's any one period in history that I love more than the other. I think later history, like the Industrial Revolution on, I wasn't as keen on that as much, but older stuff is what I like more. I was interested also in the stuff from the two World Wars, but basically older stuff. I really find that fascinating."

BRITISH LION toured Canada for the first time earlier this month.

The band has been performing two new songs, "Spitfire" and "Bible Black", during some of its recent shows. A studio recording of "Spitfire" can be heard below.

BRITISH LION's debut album 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. in September 2012 via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). Mixed by Kevin Shirley — whose credits include IRON MAIDEN as well as LED ZEPPELIN, JOURNEY and RUSH — the CD featured Harris alongside singer Richard Taylor, guitarists Graham Leslie and David Hawkins and drummer Simon Dawson.

Photo credit: John McMurtrie