IN THE ROAR
The veteran heavy metallers Iron Maiden are so active, four decades after the London band’s inception, and do so much high-profile touring, that it’s hard to imagine that one of them—and the founder member, no less—would ever have time for a side project. Nonetheless, that’s what bassist Steve Harris, Maiden’s undisputed leader, has been doing since his band British Lion debuted in 2012 with a self-titled album.
Like that record, the band’s new release The Burning is more about straightahead rock than the progressive flurries that Maiden fans might have expected from its famously fleet-fingered leader, accompanied by vocalist Richard Taylor, guitarists David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie and drummer Simon Dawson. There are some melodic passages and chordal moments from Harris, but essentially this is stripped-down music where the arrangements suit the songs—a tried-and-tested approach that the bassist, now 63 but with the energy of a man half his age, values above all else, he explains.
Steve, you always seem to be full of energy and
