Steve Harris Side/Solo album - British Lion

I had to check to make sure it wasn't April 1st when I read about this:

http://www.ironmaiden.com/steve-harris-british-lion---brand-new-album-released-september-24.html




EMI Music are proud to announce the release of Iron Maiden founder Steve Harris’ debut solo/side project album. Entitled ‘British Lion’ and comprising ten songs that Steve and his collaborators have been working on for the past few years between Iron Maiden tours and releases, it is an album that will surprise and delight music fans the world over.

With a decidedly heavy rock-vibe this roaring debut paints with a full palette of sounds; brooding, melancholic, righteously indignant and exuberantly heavy. With Kevin Shirley at the mixing helm – whose credits include Iron Maiden as well as Led Zeppelin, Journey and Rush among many others – this is an album to sink your teeth into.

From the growling riffage of opening salvo This Is My God to the heavy forlorn balladry of follow-up Lost Worlds which showcases Richard Taylor’s soaring vocals, it’s clear that ‘British Lion’ is an altogether different beast from Maiden.

Karma Killer, with its dirge-like muscularity, and Us Against The World, with its massive chorus, demonstrates just how far ‘British Lion’ has flexed Steve Harris’ considerable musical muscle. Dovetailed with guitarist David Hawkins’ positively gargantuan lyrical guitar melodies, it’s a mere hors d'oeuvre ahead of the epic, riffing-feast of The Chosen Ones, with its swaggering bravado.

A World Without Heaven, at a breathtaking seven minutes and infused with progressive elements without ever teetering into self-indulgence illustrates perfectly these songsmiths’ colossal abilities to create a mood and stay there. Supercharged by Steve Harris’ inimitable style, there’s an un-cynical vibe here that’s as refreshing as it is out of place in today’s all-too-categorised music industry.

And as far as the name ‘British Lion’; “I’ve always been proud to be British,” explains Steve, “I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be. It’s a massive part of being me. It’s not like I’m flag-waving or trying to preach, this is not a political statement at all. It’s like supporting your football team, where you come from. I just think it lends itself to some really strong imagery too, and to me it fits in with the sound.”

With Iron Maiden, Steve Harris has become one of the most recognised and successful ambassadors for British music on the world stage. Having released 15 studio albums, sold over 85 million records worldwide and played more than two thousand gigs in 58 countries in the band’s thirty-five year career, his appeal is truly global.

And now with ‘British Lion’, Steve steps out from Iron Maiden’s illustrious shadow to present a different side of his musical visions.

The tracklisting for ‘British Lion’ is as follows:

1.This Is My God
2.Lost Worlds
3.Karma Killer
4.Us Against The World
5.The Chosen Ones
6.A World Without Heaven
7.Judas
8.Eyes Of The Young
9.These Are The Hands
10.The Lesson

Wow!!!!! This surprised the he double hockey sticks out of me, but I am going to check it out

Neat-O. Looking forward to hearing it!!

From Kevin Shirley's FB page:

Caveman!
Here's something... Iron Maiden's Steve Harris has done a solo project with some friends.
It doesn't cross into Maiden territory, and his rock roots are showing!!
Out September 24.


I still can't believe that Steve Harris is releasing a solo album! I think it's great that Adrian and Steve are releasing solo/side projects - it lets them get the non-Maiden type stuff out of their systems so they can hopefully write at least one more Maiden masterpiece.

I wonder if Bruce has another solo album on deck too? Dave Murray solo instrumental album? Janick Gers 70's hard rock/metal solo album? Nicko McBrain Dum School album?

Speaking of Nicko, it looks like he worked on the rest of material that Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi album that was recently completed and it of course the now late Jon Lord is on those sessions:

After releasing a charity single last year, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Deep Purple's Ian Gillan have announced the details of the upcoming debut album from their joint project, WhoCares.

The two-disc set will reportedly include two original WhoCares tracks, along with an unreleased Deep Purple jam; a track from Gillan's pre-Deep Purple band Repo Dep), two previously unreleased songs from Tony Iommi featuring Glenn Hughes and "obscure collaborations, B-sides lost on 7-inch." You can view the full track listing below.

WhoCares' debut album is due out July 13 via earMUSIC.

01. WhoCares "Out Of My Mind" (first time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (Metallica), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
02. Black Sabbath "Zero The Hero"
03. Ian Gillan feat. Iommi, Ian Paice and Roger Glover "Trashed"
04. M. Rakintzis feat. Ian Gillan "Get Away" (first release on a Gillan album, only released in Greece before)
05. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes "Slip Away" (first time on CD)
06. Gillan "Don’t Hold Me Back"
07. Ian Gillan "She Thinks It’s A Crime" (vinyl single B-side, first time on CD)
08. Repo Depo feat. Ian Gillan "Easy Come, Easy Go" (previously unreleased)
09. Deep Purple feat. Ronnie James Dio "Smoke On The Water" (live with the Royal Philaarmonic Orchestra)

CD2

01. WhoCares "Holy Water" (first time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM), Jason Newsted (Metallica), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
02.Black Sabbath "Anno Mundi"
03. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes "Let it Down Easy" (first time on CD)
04. Ian Gillan "Hole in My Vest" (7" vinyl single B-side, first time on CD)
05. Gillan & Glover feat. Dr. John "Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave me"
06. Ian Gillan & The Javelins "Can I Get A Witness"
07. Garth Rockett & The Moonshiners aka IG "No Laughing in Heaven" (rare track)
08. Ian Gillan "When A Blind Man Cries" (Live at Absolute Radio, previously unreleased)
09. Deep Purple "Dick Pimple"

I need to pick that up too!

Quote :

09. Deep Purple "Dick Pimple"

Both 'Arry's & the Who Cares album sound like interesting releases. The cover for that British Lion looks badass.

Both releases sound interesting.

Very surprised that Steve Harris is releasing a solo album. Is it unreasonable to have low expectations?

Wow, quite a surprise! As a huge Maiden / 'Arry fan this definitely has my interest.

snooloui wrote:

Very surprised that Steve Harris is releasing a solo album. Is it unreasonable to have low expectations?

Can't be any worse than Adrain's Primal Rock Rebellion, could it?

arachnoplasma wrote:

Wow, quite a surprise! As a huge Maiden / 'Arry fan this definitely has my interest.

Yes, yes it does.

I don't see why he needs to do this. IRON MAIDEN is his band!

It just makes me think that maybe MAIDEN has slipped out of his control which does not bode well for their future output. He wrote their best songs by far.

Cool cover. Ill take a listen. I want a new WhoCares full length. The EP was great.

The dude owns Maiden and is a multi-millionaire, I think he did this just for fun...but I could be wrong though

It's mine no doubt!

Metalwargod

He did it to release songs he wrote that don't fit with Maiden. It's a hard rock record and not a Maiden Metal record. That much has leaked already. I would expect something in the vein of 70's hard rock.

Some people on the Maiden fan club forum said a few of the same things about "o no, this is the end of Maiden". Nah, just a creative outlet! It is a SIDE project! in 2012, Iron Maiden is working a total of 2 months and that's it. That's an easy tour with a lot of free time on there hands the rest of the year. They had 10 months off between the final frontier and maiden england tours. Lots of time to do side projects! 2010, they worked 6 weeks on the new album and toured for 2 months. Not a a lot else to read into it.

Personally, I am happy that Steve and Adrian are able to use the creative outlet so they can let Maiden be Maiden. When a band decides to use the band name as a creative outlet, they hook up with Lou Reed and release the most critically and commercially hated album of their career.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I don't see why he needs to do this. IRON MAIDEN is his band!

It just makes me think that maybe MAIDEN has slipped out of his control which does not bode well for their future output. He wrote their best songs by far.

Because if he recorded an album of 70's style rock under the Maiden moniker you'd have metalheads from the world over bitching and bitching and bitching.

I'm looking forward to hearing another side of Harris' songwriting, I'm sure he's got other sides to his musical personality that he'd like to express outside what would fit in Maiden.

S.D. wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I don't see why he needs to do this. IRON MAIDEN is his band!

It just makes me think that maybe MAIDEN has slipped out of his control which does not bode well for their future output. He wrote their best songs by far.

Because if he recorded an album of 70's style rock under the Maiden moniker you'd have metalheads from the world over bitching and bitching and bitching.

Pretty much what one section of the fans complained about with The Final Frontier -that Maiden were wimping out on their sound.

I'm looking forward to hearing what Steve has put together.

I'm more interested in hearing this than anything Adrian Smith will be writing (a solo album or a new MAIDEN album). His leads are great, but his riffs leave a lot to be desired.

Classic Rock interviewed Steve Harris about the upcoming British Lions album. Some highlights, including what to expect, and why he's doing it. Enjoy

Quote :

No one reading this will have heard British Lion yet: how would you describe it?
Well, what I think and what other people will think might be two different things, but I’d say it’s more mainstream rock than metal, very British sounding, very 70s-influenced and quite commercial… but good commercial. There’s all kinds of stuff going on, with nods to The Who and UFO and some classic British rock bands, but it’s not the progressive rock album some might be expecting.

There’s quite a nostalgic feel to the album in places: is British Lion a homage to the music you grew up listening to?
You could say that, I suppose, but then you could probably say the same about Maiden. But yeah, the older you get the more nostalgic you are: you become more aware of your own mortality and start thinking weird and wonderful things… especially when you’ve had a few pints of Guinness!

Perhaps inevitably, there are elements of the classic Maiden sound in the album too. What was to stop a song such as Us Against The World ending up on a Maiden album?
Because it’s written with other people. There’s no way I’d ever bring anything to Maiden that was written with outside people because there’s no point: there’s a lot of great songwriters in Maiden and we don’t need or want any help.

Some people will be confused as to why you need to do a solo album at all, given that Maiden has always been your band: surely within Maiden you can do whatever you want?
Well, no Maiden isn’t really like that. Yes, on the early albums most of the songs are mine, but as we’ve gone into different eras with different people writing, there’s been more and more collaborations. And I think it’s been important for Maiden to do that rather than have me dictating everything. But I have bags full of ideas, so many that I couldn’t record them all in my lifetime, and I tried out a few different things on this, because I had the time to do experiment.

Read the full interview here...
http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/features/iron-maidens-steve-harris-on-british-lion-solo-project/

I'm definitely looking forward to this.

I would love to hear some samples..

It's streaming:

http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/steve-harris-british-lion-full-album-streaming-exclusively-on-metal-hammer/

Already ordered it. I like what i hear so far!