Maiden England - Iron Maiden fifty years not out

Just months after headlining a sold-out London Stadium with Iron Maiden, Steve Harris is playing a nearby pub with his other band, British Lion. Why? Maiden have had bigger dressing rooms! "I love playing smaller venues, I like to see the whites of their eyes," Steve, 69, tells me with a grin. The pub, The Cart & Horses in Stratford, is also where football-crazy Maiden kicked off fifty years ago. The East End heavy metal band are renowned for their lavish stage shows, complete with pyrotechnics and their monstrous mascot Eddie, who was reborn as an axe-wielding killer on their latest world tour. But, as Steve reminds me, their first Eddie was a humble face mask, surrounded by light bulbs, which erupted during their anthemic self-titled set-closer, Iron Maiden. "We used a fish tank air pump to make fake blood spurt from his mouth," he recalls. "We've always tried to put on a good show, even when we using bubble machines and were making dry ice with a kettle in The Cart & Horses."

Did anyone who witnessed Maiden's raucous late 70s beginnings imagine they'd be selling out stadiums half a century later? Let alone become part of our national culture? In 2023, Royal Mail issued a set of stamps in their honour. Maiden, heavier than the Hulk in concrete boots and as British as the beer they drink, have sold 130million albums worldwide and have played more than 2500 gigs. Founded by Steve in December 1975, they combine exhilarating music with movie-inspired drama and UK military history, with songs like The Trooper (Balaclava), Passchendaele (World War I) and Aces High which celebrates the Battle Of Britain and the valour of The Few. At Download festival in 2013 they started with a Spitfire TE311 flyover. "That was fantastic. We like to push the boundaries on tour, but the music always comes first."

In 2001, they headlined Brazil's Rock In Rio to 250,000 people - a figure only exceeded by the 300,000 crowd they played to supporting Queen there in 1985. Live shows aren't always seamless. Singer Bruce Dickinson fell off stage in 2018 and Steve recalls once running into then-drummer Nicko McBrain's mega-kit and getting his bass guitar stuck. "I was thinking how do I get it out without going out of tune? My wireless lead got caught round the bass drum and as I pulled the drums came with it. Nicko was suddenly exposed to the audience but kept it going with his kick-drum and snare."

Looking for beer after a 1984 Polish gig, Maiden crashed a wedding in a hotel function room. The delighted groom asked them to play so they jammed an unrehearsed version of Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water. "Everyone was more drunk than we were, which was just as well," he laughs. Alcohol was their only vice. I remind Steve how that transformed into their booze-fuelled alter egos on their early US tours. "That's all behind us," he says. "If we'd carried on like that, we wouldn't still be here."

What is he proudest of? "Selling out the Marquee back at the start, and the Hammersmith Odeon. Then headlining Monsters Of Rock for the first time, and playing the London Stadium in June. I'd have liked to have played Upton Park but there you go..." Cut Steve Harris and he'd bleed claret and blue. He groans when I ask how struggling West Ham are doing. "I knew it was the wrong time to speak to you," he laughs. "I knew I should've postponed it." Later he gets animated about the team's inability to defend corners. In his early teens, Steve trained with West Ham's youth team until his head was turned by rock bands like Jethro Tull, UFO and Genesis. Maiden's own football team the Maidonians were unstoppable in the 80s beating the likes of Def Leppard and Rainbow. They still play, but less frequently.

"I'm 70 in March, but we've got young legs in the team, like my son George. Though he's 35 this year so maybe the legs aren't that young." George plays guitar in hm combo The Raven Age. Steve's eldest daughter Lauren, 41, sings with Kingdom of I. Bus driver's son Harris formed Maiden after stints in the Cockney rhyming slang inspired Gypsy's Kiss (work it out, it's no big riddle) and Smiler. He was an apprentice draftsman but got made redundant and graduated to road sweeping. Maiden were so skint that they couldn't afford a hotel when they recorded their first demo in 1978. So then-singer, the late Paul Di'anno, worked his charms on a local nurse who put them up for two nights. But Paul paid an unfortunate price in the shape of an unpleasant rash that appeared days later. "And her a nurse," he moaned to me at the time. "No wonder the NHS is falling apart."

Meeting future manager Rod Smallwood made all the difference. Yorkshireman Rod and his then business partner Andy Taylor understood Steve's vision and turned Maiden into a cottage industry complete with their own plane (Ed Force One), and The Trooper beer brand. Eddie, a star in his own right, finally acquired a body in 1980 when artist Derek Riggs drew their first album sleeve. Since then, he has assumed many guises including a 10ft-tall Samurai robo-warrior, a lobotomised mental asylum patient, a pharoah, a soldier and an alien.

Amiable Leytonstone-born Steve has always known his own mind, refusing to mime for Top Of The Pops but still notching up 30 hit singles, including chart-topper Take Your Daughter To The Slaughter. He has lived in the Bahamas for 18 years, but has never lost touch with his roots. On Maiden's first US tours, the band had Ruddles beer and British baked beans flown over to sustain them. When he lived in Essex, devoted fans made pilgrimages to his home, even when he was touring. "My missus said if they were real fans, they'd know you're touring." Their longest tour lasted 13months. Now, largely of pension age, they are down to seven-month stints but remain impressively athletic on stage.

Bruce has said a new Maiden album is coming next year. "He's always saying that," laughs Steve. "I'm not ruling it out, but we haven't discussed it properly. There's no reason not to record another album but next year is going to be busy."

Illogical tour schedules frustrate him. "On our booking agent's birthday, I sent her a dartboard, a map and a blindfold - a subtle hint." He books British Lion tours himself. The band play equally catchy but less ferocious retro-rock. One of their strongest songs is set-closer Eyes Of The Young. "At one gig in Belgium, we had a power breakdown and the crowd kept going, singing the words. Maiden have had power cuts at Maiden at Madison Square Garden, and at Earls Court it was out for about 20 minutes so we got a ball and had a kick-about on stage." He has five nights in The Cart & Horses, at Maryland Point, Stratford, running from December 15 to 19. "I'm glad to help keep it alive. It's a proper venue now; we extended the stage ourselves."

Maiden, "who always come first" headline Knebworth next July. Long-time fans will revel in their new 50th anniversary photo book. "It's a coffee table book with a lot of content, photos with captions and some early entries from my diary when we were getting paid £5 here and £15 there." Twice-married father of six Steve says his mates and family keep him rooted. "I'm so lucky," he says. "My first grandchild was born last December and there's another one on the way." His biggest problem is switching off. "I can't sit on a beach. I'm always busy doing something, like interviews with you, or DIY around the house. You've got to grab every moment and live every day to the full."

Micky Flanagan makes him laugh, but he admits supporting West Ham is "a life-time of misery". He's planning to write his memoir (if you need a ghostwriter, I am available...). He and Maiden have had an incredible career, including 30 UK hit singles, 16 of them Top Ten. That's despite them refusing to mime on Top Of The Pops. Steve has never compromised his vision. The Royal Mail tribute came out of the blue. "It was an honour to be on the stamps, up there with the Stones and Queen and Zepplin. Amazing to put in their category, we didn't seek it. We just do what we do." Will he ever retire? "I'm scared to stop, in case I conk out," Steve laughs. "50 years! It's mental."

*Iron Maiden's book Infinite Dreams - The Official Visual History is published on Tuesday (Oct 7). British Lion tour the U.K. in November and December.