IRON MAIDEN Bassist: We Love Playing In The U.S.

IRON MAIDEN founder Steve Harris recently talked in detail to www.classicrockrevisited.com writer Shelly Harris about why the band decided to play on the Ozzfest bill (despite otherwise being headliners worldwide since 1982) and other current events and musings about that tour and the band's real attitude toward American audiences and venues. An excerpt from Steve's in-depth interview follows:

Steve Harris: "The audiences, I think, are spread between quite a good cross-section of people; there's some to see us, there's some to see [BLACK] SABBATH, and I think there's some to see the younger bands on some of the other stages. But, overall, there's sometimes between 25 and 50 percent of people who haven't seen us before. That's also the reason why we're doing the Reading and Leeds festivals back home, because they're not the usual sort of metal-type festivals; you get lots of different types of bands there. So, again, that's a similar idea, that we can play to some new people, and maybe nick some new fans that normally wouldn't come and see us, you know.

"We know what these gigs are like, we've played these kinds of gigs before. But, the worst thing for us, really, the hardest thing for us, and also the thing that took the longest time for us to get our heads around, was obviously, it's under no control of ours, at Ozzfest or whatever festival it is, is that we don't have the say that we'd normally have as when we're headliners ourselves. And it's always been a bugbear with us, with playing in the States, anyway, the [seating arrangements of] the people down the front, because of the ticket arrangements. And I think if we come back in the future, and headline stuff, I think we're going to really have to try and change it, because, you know, it's really difficult playing to those people down in the front, because those are the ones we'd normally feed off of or whatever. But, the hardcore fans, or most of the ones that are really into it, are the ones that are sort of further or way back. And the ones down front, with the more expensive tickets, they are either there to see SABBATH, or they're there just because they've got the money to be there — I don't really know why they're there, half of them! But a lot of them don't really show a great deal of interest in what we're doing, or even SABBATH, come to that.

"So, it's very bizarre, and it's a very awkward situation, because we feed off the front audience, and, obviously, you can only see so far back, anyway. Well, we feed off the overall audience, but really, more than any other band I can think of, we play to the front, and we feed off people singing to the words, and people getting into it or whatever, and they're kind of few and far between. So, you tend to pick out ones that are into it, are into it and play to them, or, if there aren't any, we sort of look over their heads just play to the ones who look like they really want to be there. I gotta be honest, it's not all of 'em, because there are some down front and your can see that they're into it, but, honestly, a lot of 'em look like they want to be able to just get a remote and change us — that's what it looks like — like they ought to break out the popcorn! And they sit there looking at us with ... bewilderment, I think, is probably the word — I don't know!

"I know it's tough on a festival bill, because people have been there a long time, and it's hot, or whatever, and I can appreciate all that. But we've played to audiences like that around the world when we're doing the festivals, and we don't get that kind of thing. The difference is, the people down the front at the festivals in Europe and places like that, are there because they want to be there. They get there early, and they get there first, and it's a different situation; it's [general admission] and it's not seated. And that is the biggest problem over here, and I think what would really make all the difference in the world to us, and to the audience too, really, is if we can get the people down the front who deserve and want to be down there.

"When Bruce [Dickinson, vocals] gets angry, it's because of that, because of the ones down the front. Sometimes it kinda gets miscommunicated as if we don't like playing here. We love playing here, we like the country, we like the people here, but we don't like playing to the people down the front who're not really bothered about whether they're there or not! Sometimes, some nights, if he gets really pissed off, I think he [Bruce] goes a little over the top, if I'm honest. We all agree in principle, mainly, with what he's saying, but some nights he just gets so wound up, he goes off, I don't know if he even knows what he's saying, he just gets so angry with the situation. But I can totally relate to that, because we feel angry as well!"

Read the rest of Steve's interview at www.classicrockrevisited.com.

(Thanks: hot_turkey_ed & powerslave_85 / www.metalsetlists.com)