STEVE HARRIS

I think you just have to look after yourself, you know, when you're doing long tours; you just have to. I think bands learn that pretty soon, really. And if they don't, I think they tend to fall by the wayside.

The only thing I don't write is the guitar solos, but even then I might suggest one or two things.

I still do get a little bit nervous at the beginning of Maiden tours but that's mainly because of the new material.

Maybe that's what makes my stuff different, 'cause I write it all on the bass. I can't play but a few chords on the guitar, so the bass works just fine for me.

I find it natural to write on the bass, and a lot of people find that really odd.

Sure, some tracks are not as good as others, but we've written some really strong, classic stuff, like 'The Number of the Beast,' 'Hallowed Be Thy Name,' and 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner.'

If you see a credit with just my name on it, that means I write absolutely everything: rhythm guitar parts, guitar melodies, vocal melodies... absolutely everything, really.

People get into metal and they don't drift away from it. They might have families and move away a little, but they certainly don't forget about it.

We built up a hardcore following, but we were really still semipro, gigging over long weekends and the like. So after EMI signed us, we packed in the day jobs because we had to make an album.

I respect religion and all people's ideas of it. I think everyone should be able to do whatever they want to do with their own life. I just don't particularly like it when people try and force their ideas on others.

I think everyone knows that I'm always the one that's the busiest in Maiden. When we're not touring or recording, I'm still doing loads of Maiden stuff - video editing and god knows what else - so I get a lot less downtime than the others.

Recording at Compass Point was really fantastic. When you're in the studio, you could be anywhere: It could be snowing outside or whatever. But it's great fun when you come out of the studio and are greeted by nice weather and good bars.

Whenever we play new material, eventually some of the songs become classics themselves. They can't become that unless you play them. Any new song is not going to go down as well as some of the old stuff, because obviously the old stuff the fans know inside out.

It's about the music for us. Always has been. The bottom line is the music.

Anybody who's in a position Maiden is, or whatever, or any band that can potentially take another band on tour, I think you can help other people, and it doesn't take much effort to do that.

So when I started writing my own stuff, it was with a lot of combinations and time changes and power.

If you take care of the music first, and then add elements of a good show, then it makes for a good combination.

The thing that annoys me is that I hate it when people charge bands to play with them. I hate that.

I may not expect every single show to sell out and I never take everything for granted, but you still know you're going to get a certain amount of people.

I mean, it took me a long while to realize that I wasn't gonna play football on a regular basis anymore. I still play once in a while, but that took me a long while to adjust.

I mean, the first two tours that we toured around the world, we were hitting every single bar there was, as you do when you're young and you've got to find out all these things. But it got boring really quick.

I have respect for anybody that has to go and do whatever they have to do to protect their country.

The Fender Precision is my instrument, my beloved Precisions.

When you're trying to create imagery, you're trying to create a feeling or a mood.

You know, we never really know what we're going to write next. Which is part of the excitement when we go in and do a new album. No battle plan, we just go in and do it and what comes out, comes out.