In the first days of 1980, when entered Kingsway Studios in West London to begin recording their debut album, bassist had mixed emotions. He had a quiet confidence in the strength of the material he had written for the band and he also knew that the band’s new line-up was the best it had ever been, with the addition of a hard-hitting drummer in Clive Burr, and an accomplished guitarist in Dennis Stratton to play alongside Dave Murray. Even so, Harris had, deep down, a sense of nagging fear.
“I suppose I was always worried in the back of my mind that it could all come tumbling down rather quickly,” he later admitted. “You don’t take anything for granted – it’s the old ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ thing. And it’s very much a business that’s like that – more so than most other professions.
So you try not to get yourself too worked up, in case it falls flat. That was my attitude.” For all his pragmatism, Harris was a born leader with a fierce determination to succeed and a single-minded vision for Maiden.
As said: “Steve was the nucleus. He gave the band its identity. He was very meticulous and methodical.
That’s just how he was, right from the start. And it was fantastic to have that focus with Steve’s songs and ideas and the way he projected them.” It was that focus, and above all, those songs, that would define as a classic.
The plan was straightforward enough. “We’d been playing these songs live for a long time,” Harris said. “We knew .