Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
In a recent interview with Neil Jones of TotalRock, Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris discussed the publication “Iron Maiden: Infinite Dreams – The Official Visual History,” which was released on October 7 through Thames & Hudson, as per blabbermouth.net. The book is characterized as a comprehensive visual tribute to the first fifty years of Iron Maiden, documenting the band’s development and featuring exclusive contributions from band members and management. When questioned about the unusual experience of reflecting on the past while compiling the volume, given his usual forward-looking perspective and rarity of nostalgia, Harris provided his response.
Well, it wasn’t weird, but it was difficult because I was the only one who could really do it because I was the one that had all the archive stuff and could comment about it and stuff like that, really. I suppose David could comment on a few things, but I suppose back in the day I was the only sensible one at the time, because I had to be, ’cause I pulled the bull by the horns and did a lot of the driving, so I didn’t get sort of too drunk back in them days. And some people working [with us back in] them days can’t remember a lot because they were sort of inebriated a lot of the time — people like Dave Murray or [our old] drum road or whatever. So, yeah, it was down to me to sort of pull it all together, I suppose. And obviously I had a lot of help from Ben Smallwood, Rod’s son, and so that was great. But, yeah, it’s all good stuff, really. But it’s nice to get it out there, really. It’s almost a relief in a way to get it out there because it’s stuff that’s been lying around for a long time. It needed to be sorted out and then put into some sort of perspective and some sort of formulated form so that people can just hopefully enjoy it.
He also addressed his tendency to preserve memorabilia, indicating that he has historically maintained a collection of artifacts deliberately.
Well, I’ve always been sort of a bit of a hoarder, I suppose, with stuff like that, but it’s come in handy in later life, I think. There’s so much stuff that I’ve kept. And, yeah, it’s just an archive of this historical stuff. And in fact I suppose these days I wish I’d kept more, even more stuff. I wish I’d kept a diary for longer as well, because I only kept a diary in the first place just because to log, really, how much we were getting paid or how much we weren’t getting paid in [some] cases. And then I used to make a few notes on what the gig was like and stuff like that. But I wish I’d carried it on, really.
