New Harris (Iron Maiden) Interview... Prog!

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   It's official folks....  Iron Maiden are prog related.  

Bass Player magazine (cover) recently conducted an interview with IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Bass Player: Does this record ["A Matter of Life and Death"] sound different compared to your last few?

Steve: Definitely. We returned to my old bass sound. With the last couple of albums — especially with three guitarists — we had to step back from having that wiry bass tone. We were recently mixing some old live stuff and I realized, Well, that's my sound. Plus, it fits with what we're doing musically now, where we're more clearly influenced by progressive rock.

Bass Player: The new record sounds slower than your last.

Steve: Yeah, we slowed songs down to make them sound heavier. But getting Nicko to play slower isn't the easiest thing in the world. Sometimes we have to rein him back a little! [Laughs.]

Bass Player: Who were the players you most admired when you were young?

Steve: Loads of them. I'm more into songs than players, but I'd say John Entwistle [THE WHO], Chris Squire [YES], Martin Turner [WISHBONE ASH], Rinus Garritsen [GOLDEN EARRING], and Andy Fraser [FREE]. Those guys are all very different, and I picked up little bits and pieces from all of them. I didn't try to sound like them; I just wanted to play the songs I liked.

Bass Player: What kinds of music do you listen to?

Steve: I grew up loving the big, cinematic sound of progressive rock. I think you can hear that influence more than ever on this new record. Still, I consciously keep away from listening to music when I'm writing or recording, because I don't want any subliminal stuff to seep in. I find it's better just to keep away. It can pull you in a direction you might not want to go. Once the record is done, I can go out and listen again.

Bass Player: Tell me a little about the writing process for this record.

Steve: Normally we allow ourselves three weeks for writing and three weeks for rehearsal, but this time we had everything prepared in about a week-and-a-half. We track live, so we did a lot of rehearsing before we went in. Since we worked on one song at a time, we were able to pin down the parts really well.

Bass Player: Are you always in writing mode?

Steve: I get ideas at various times and just put things down whenever. I find it quite traumatic when we actually get into a writing period. There's just so much pressure to come up with good stuff. These days I get more input from the rest of the guys, which is great. The tunes then go in different directions, so it's good all around.

Bass Player: What do you need in order to write?

Steve: Just a place where I can have peace and quiet. I write all of it on bass—usually acoustic bass guitar. Then we all get together and write acoustically—the old fashioned way, I suppose. If someone's got a basic idea, I'll come up with a vocal or guitar melody.

Bass Player: What are some of the things you've learned about putting on great live shows?

Steve: We like to hit people quite hard and fast in the first few songs. That also gives more leeway for the soundman to get things in order. You can't play anything big and dramatic first. Plus, it just feels good to do that. You can just go on and go crazy, get the adrenaline going.

Bass Player: What are some of the things IRON MAIDEN did right as a business?

Steve: We got the right manager — that's for sure. And we don't listen to many outside people. It's not that we think we know it all — we just go with our gut. I've learned that when we've listened to other people, it's been wrong. You listen to too many outside people and you start to get confused.

If you've got a strong focus on what you're doing, people will go, "Right — let's do it." If you start second-guessing things, people are going to wonder what's going on. That kind of fear filters through to everybody involved. People feed on positive thinking, not indecision. Sure, you make some mistakes that way, but being stubborn isn't such a bad thing sometimes. It gives you a directness, and I like that. There's no messin' around.