Steve
amateur team, The Maidonians. “I’ve
known a lot of the guys from years ago
when we were all in proper leagues,” he
explains. “But when I’m on tour with
Maiden, I find it difficult to get players, so
to you all the time and give you stuff, but
with Grahame, it was different because his
stuff was really, really good. It was just
top-drawer stuff. It wasn’t stuff that we
ended up using later — it was a different
band he was in, and a different singer at
the time. But the quality of what he was
doing was good. And then he got together
with Richard Taylor, and it went from
there. And obviously I got on board, but
when it fell apart, I thought, “One day I’ve
got to make sure that this material sees the
light of day.” So that’s what I told Richie,
and that’s what I did. And they actually let
me be IN the band, so I’m loving it, I’m
really enjoying it.
Steve Harris
Photo: Edward Spinelli
02•2020
some of the crew will play and on the last
couple of tours with my son’s band (The
Raven Age), my son and some of the mem-
bers would play.” But Harris is happy that
rock won out over soccer, he adds.
“Because I’m still doing music, and if I’d
chosen football, I’d probably be into man-
agement by now!”
IE: Countless young musicians have
probably handed you their demos over
the years. What caught your ear about
these guys?
STEVE HARRIS: Yeah — people come up
IE: Did you sit them down and say,
“Now, listen, guys — first we have to
come up with a really cool logo”?
SH: Exactly. The name was from back in
the day, anyway, and it was a name I came
up with. They weren’t really sure of the
name to start with; it was a little bit hard-
edged at the time. But I was pushing them
in that direction anyway, with a bit more
UFO and Thin Lizzy kind of stuff. But
that’s what it ended up being. So yeah —
good name, good artwork. It’s very impor-
tant to get these things across. Obviously,
the bottom line is, you’ve got to have real-
ly good songs and good playing. But if
you’ve got really good artwork and
imagery, then it really goes a long way. It
makes a massive difference. With Maiden,
people were buying the first album with-
out knowing anything about it — just
what they saw on the cover.
IE: How weird is it to be back playing
clubs?
MUSIC MADE IN AMERICA PRESENTS
VALENTINE'S DAY
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14
REGGIES MUSIC JOINT 7PM 21+
+
8 illinoisentertainer.com february 2020
2105 S STATE ST CHICAGO IL 60616 312-949-0120
WWW.REGGIESLIVE.COM