Below, Iron Maiden’s leader, bassist and chief songwriter Steve Harris recalls the band’s formative years, from the creation of their unique sound to the making of their classic debut album, and the high-stakes gamble of firing singer Paul Di’Anno.
You formed Iron Maiden in 1975, but not on Christmas Day, as has been stated many times over the years.
It was a few months before Christmas. But there’s been all kinds of other rumours about the early days. One bloke claimed he was in the band, and was on Antiques Roadshow saying he was the first drummer in Maiden. Absolute rubbish! Then he said we were going to be called Mountain Ash, or something like that.
Once you had decided on the name Iron Maiden, you designed the logo, which would become instantly recognisable all over the world.
One of the biggest lessons I ever learned was from one of my favourite bands, Genesis – the early Genesis, with Peter Gabriel. I had a denim jacket with the Genesis logo from [1972 album] Foxtrot on the back, the logo that curves over, and I had the fox’s head. So I was mortified when they did [1973 album] Selling England By The Pound and changed the logo completely. And it was just a nothing logo. Really, as great as Selling England By The Pound was, the logo was awful. I thought: “What are they doing?”
And I said to myself: “I’m never gonna let that happen. I’m gonna get a fantastic logo.” Which we still have to this day. Of course, over the years, we’ve been slagged off because the album artwork always has the same logo. But you know what? There’s a thread running right the way through it that is really powerful. And that’s a key lesson I learned.
What did you learn from playing covers in the early days of Maiden and previously in the band Smiler?
Back in the day, everyone was playing the same songs. You’d go to all these different clubs and they’re all playing the same type of songs. So I played loads of covers in Smiler. But when we did covers in Maiden in the early days we always chose songs that were not well known.
The first Montrose album [1973] was a massive musos’ album at the time. A great album. All these bands were playing stuff off that album, so we chose the second Montrose album, Paper Money, and the song I Got The Fire, and people didn’t know it. Some people even thought it was one of our own songs, and we were playing a lot of our own stuff anyway.
From the start, Maiden had a distinctive, original sound.
Yeah, I agree. I don’t think we sound like anybody else. And I think that’s one of the reasons we got a following really quickly.
As the main songwriter in Maiden, did you always know what the band’s sound should be?
People say that in hindsight, but at the time you’re just sort of experimenting with different stuff. So it’s just a natural thing that happened. What I knew I wanted was loads of melody, but heavy as well, and just good-quality songs.
You recently told Classic Rock that the first truly definitive Maiden song was Phantom Of The Opera.
I think when I did Phantom it was obvious that the style of writing that I had was very different to what people were used to, certainly what guitarists were used to. I didn’t learn all the scales like they learned. I didn’t want to. For guitarists, getting their heads around some of the things I wrote wasn’t natural for them, and it’s still like that these days. And yes, Phantom was one of the first examples.
Also the drum stuff that I wanted to have in those songs was quite unusual, even on something that most people might think is a basic song. When Clive [Burr] first joined, he thought he was just going to come in and jam along and play and that was it. But he was like: “Bloody hell! These songs are really unusual, really different!” My songs had quirky bits in them, even the ones that they thought were straightforward. But it felt natural to me.
There were various line-up changes in Maiden’s early years, but a turning point came when you brought Paul Di’Anno in.
He had a powerful voice, a strong stage presence and a real swagger about him. Paul was such a character. I think it might have been Geoff Barton [ex-Sounds writer and current Classic Rock contributor] who said that Paul had a certain… stable-boy charm. And that’s quite a good, accurate assessment, really.
Paul once complained that Geoff’s description made him sound like he smelled of horse shit!
Exactly!
Maiden’s debut album is one of many classic albums released in 1980. It’s well-documented that you were unhappy with its production, by Wil Malone, but it really does capture the band’s youthful energy. And there are tracks on that album that still rank among Maiden’s very best – not only Phantom Of The Opera, but also Running Free, Remember Tomorrow and the signature song Iron Maiden.
I did feel a little disappointed that the guitars weren’t as big-sounding as they should have been. But yeah, the album has got a certain quality to it. We did the whole album in thirteen days, including the mixing. We were playing those songs live beforehand, so when we went in and did it we just played them live and got them down in one or two takes.
There’s an essence to that first album. It’s not really an angriness, it’s going in there and just going for it. We were really just excited to be in the studio doing an album for the first time. We’d never done an album before. We did a demo tape but, I mean, it’s not the same. So going in a proper studio, doing an album, that’s a massive thing for any band when they’re starting out.
I think that’s why that first album is so… adrenaline-fuelled, I guess you’d call it. And compared to everything else that was around at that time it’s quite different, there’s no question about that.
That album also had a cover at that set it apart – the snarling, menacing figure of Eddie, as painted by Derek Riggs.
Eddie wasn’t a preconceived thing. We knew we needed good artwork, and it just developed. It’s turned out to be amazing. Eddie represents Iron Maiden, but we don’t have to be on the front covers. So many people have told me, especially in America, that they bought one of our albums flipping through the vinyl section – old-school – and seeing the cover and going: “Wow, look at that!” and bought the album without even hearing it. So it’s done its job.
Did you do the same as a teenage prog rock fan?
I didn’t really buy albums for the covers. But I did love buying albums. The excitement of buying an album, taking it home and reading the words and the credits – sometimes even before you played the music. That was a big thing. It’s a shame that that’s been lost, I think. So we were on the back cover of the first album, second album, third album too, but not on the front. And I always thought, in future, if we have a future, that was always going to be a good thing.
Back in 1980, Maiden were still playing in some small venues – real sweat boxes like the Redford Porterhouse.
I remember the Redford Porterhouse really well, because Def Leppard came down to that gig and we had a good old night with them. They’re a good bunch of lads. We still get on great with them now. I mean, they haven’t really changed that much as far as just being good chaps.
In late 1980 you got your first major tour, opening for Kiss in Europe.
It was great. Kiss were very good to us, and it was amazing to play for European fans. In one respect we got lucky being in the right place at the right time to do that tour with Kiss. But also it was down to Rod [Smallwood, band manager]. Rod did a great job with that sort of thing. He’s an ex-booking agent, so he was able to pull a few strings. He was able to do things that another manager might not be able to do. So it was just a case of doing the right stuff, and it worked. And obviously we had to work our arses off, which we did.
So you get to do another album and another tour after that, and you carry on going.
That’s all any band wants to do – just to be able to play live.
For Maiden’s second album, Killers, you had Martin Birch producing, who had worked with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.
I think Killers was more representative of where we were at. With Martin Birch on board the sound was a lot more powerful.
You wrote every song on that album, with just two co-writes. Were you feeling a lot of pressure?
No, I never worried about that. I’ve always been very lucky with writing, because I’ve always been really prolific. So I’ve never had a problem.
Killers was the last album the band made with Paul Di’Anno. How difficult was it for you to fire Paul?
It was a tough one, really tough. To a certain degree it’s always been tough when it comes to that sort of thing. But having said that, he was given chances to put himself right. It’s just one of those things.
It’s always a huge gamble for a band to change their lead singer. Was that a nerve-racking time for you?
Well, with these things you’re never really that sure. It could go either way. But I remember being in EMI, when we did the second album, and thinking: “Are we ever going to really make a career out of this where I can actually do it as a proper job?” Up to the third album, we didn’t really earn anything. Everything that we earned, even publishing and everything, just went straight back in. So it enabled us to tour. And we weren’t borrowing loads of money off the record company, which would have meant we’d be in debt for ever.
So for you failure was never an option?
It’s like anything: if you invest in something for a long-term future, then you’ve just got to go for it. But there were no guarantees. We just had to hope for the best.
The Run For Your Lives tour returns to the UK with Iron Maiden headling a Maiden-curated weekend event at Knebworth Park. July 11, 2026. More info at the Iron Maiden website.
