Iron Maiden in the Studio. Jake Brown
the studio it was ‘obvious that he’s the boss, even if he denies it himself. Iron Maiden – that’s him. Moreover, the situation of the band made that, for a long time, all the songwriting was down to him.’
But while Harris received credit as the band’s principal songwriter, he was consistently generous in giving credit to his bandmates for their contributions. Of guitarist Dave Murray and the composition ‘Twilight Zone’, for example, he said, ‘This was a single in England that wasn’t on the British album. We put it on as an extra track over here [the US]. Dave came up with the riff for this one. I wrote the melody line and the lyrics. But the main riff was Dave’s.’
Harris also seemed to be the first to appreciate the writing of new guitarist Adrian Smith, who had replaced Dennis Stratton, and singled out ‘Wrathchild’ as an instance where the guitarist had contributed to improving the song. ‘“Wrathchild” was originally recorded on an album called Metal for Muthas, along with “Sanctuary”,’ he told Ironmaidencommentary.com. ‘That was before we had a record contract. The version on this record is pretty different. A lot of people asked us why we didn’t put it on the first album but we felt, because it was on Metal for Muthas, we didn’t want to put it on the first album. By the time we did Killers we weren’t happy with that version so we wanted to record it properly. The guitar frills around the vocals were from Adrian. Originally they weren’t there but, when Adrian joined the band, he decided to put them in.’
Addressing the pressures of his role as songwriter-in-chief at that point in the band’s fledgling career, Harris readily volunteered to rock journalist Johnny B that ‘any type of songwriting is never particularly easy. Just coming up with new ideas and new material and everything is always quite a lot of pressure.’
As he went about writing the album, Steve shared in the same conversation that ‘I try and grab inspiration from wherever I can … Thank you very much. I grab it with both hands. Obviously you do get ideas at funny times and you just have to write them down. Sometimes it can be weird as you can put down an idea and then, when you look back at it a few weeks later, you think it is not as good as you thought it was, or other ideas then seem better than you originally thought they were. Usually, however, when you have got a strong one, you have a gut feeling on it but it is always a worry as to whether it is as good as you think. I think it is the biggest pressure of all as it is a personal thing.’
As production on the album got underway, a key element involved rearranging older Maiden songs that hadn’t made it on to the debut LP. This allowed Harris and company the opportunity to improve both the writing and sonics of these cuts. In conversation with Ironmaidencommentary.com, the chief songwriter singled out ‘Innocent Exile’ as ‘one of the very first Iron Maiden songs. It was an old stage favourite but we haven’t played it in a while. That opening bass riff was originally played on the guitar. It was written on the bass for the guitar. The bass was originally playing crashing chords behind it. Then we switched it around.’
Harris also cited ‘Purgatory’ as ‘quite an old song’ that the band had reworked in a slightly different form. ‘It was originally called “Floating”. Then we changed the lyrics and a couple of bits in the middle section.’
Of the title track, ‘Killers’, Harris recalled that ‘Paul [Di’Anno] wrote the lyrics to that one. It felt really natural for him to scream at the start of the song.’ In the case of ‘Drifter’, Harris highlighted the stylistic diversity of the band members’ influences as they blended in collaboration. ‘The different parts in this song really flowed together … The slow section in there is one of Dave’s blues things … It wasn’t a song that was done in separate sections. On this one I pretty much knew what I wanted.’
Another musical signature of the band was introduced on Killers – their now legendary instrumental. This, All Music Guide explained, began with producer Martin Birch ‘beefing up the band’s studio presence and lending their instrumental attack a newfound clarity that throws their considerable skills into sharp relief’. Offering ‘Genghis Khan’ as an example, Steve Harris told Ironmaidencommentary.com that the band’s decision to record the song as an instrumental initially ‘freaked out’ Birch. ‘It was sort of a change at right angles. We really liked that element of surprise. This was another song where there could have been a vocal melody on top but it felt good as an instrumental. A vocal would have cluttered it up. Originally it was written to depict the feeling and sound of Genghis Khan’s army going into battle.’
Harris also highlighted ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ as another example of an album track that wound up as ‘a bit of an experiment’. ‘I’d never played harmonics on the bass much before that. But, with the mood of the intro, it felt really natural to play those harmonics. We wanted to create a mood, and then come in and hit people across the head with it. The vocal melody is pretty much the same as the riff. That’s to give them both more power.’
As the album began taking shape, Harris – who had expressed some dissatisfaction with the production on the band’s debut – told Ironmaidencommentary.com that, while ‘the first album really sounded like a first album, with Killers we started to sound more like Maiden. It was the first album where we felt some satisfaction as far as the sound of the album.’
For his part, producer Birch explained to Best magazine of his more successful production style that ‘I don’t consider myself a super-technician – what I do is, to me, pretty simple.’
On its release in the UK in February 1981 Killers reached No. 12 on the Top 20 Album Chart. From the band’s point of view, Steve Harris selected the title cut and “Murders in the Rue Morgue” as ‘two songs [that] stand out because they are great live favourites.’ Four months later, in June, the album was released in the US, reaching No. 68 – a big improvement on its predecessor’s peak of No. 124. Billboard hailed the album as ‘clearly the work of a top-notch ensemble’ and boldly stated that ‘the teaming of new guitarist Adrian Smith with Dave Murray [formed] the most formidable twin-guitar attack in heavy metal’.
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST (1982)
‘Exemplary displays of the group’s instrumental prowess, their uncanny knack for writing accessible riffs without pandering to the commercial marketplace and the perfect launch pad for Dickinson’s commanding operatic vocal style … There isn’t a weak track here’ iTunes LP review
‘You are trying to create some sort of mood or image with the imagery of the songs, I suppose. They’re all short stories and come from all different influences’ Steve Harris
‘This would be the ideal candidate for your first Iron Maiden album’ BBC
For years Iron Maiden fans, peers and critics have debated the importance of The Number of the Beast in shaping both Maiden’s career as metal trailblazers and the face of heavy metal overall. Years later iTunes would conclude that ‘future metal musicians – especially in the underground scenes of thrash, death and black metal – would refer to Maiden’s intricate twin-guitar weavings and rhythmic overkill for their own unrelenting attack. [The Number of the Beast is] a heavy-metal essential from every angle.’
Before heading into the studio to record their third LP Iron Maiden faced a dilemma following the exit of their front man Paul Di’Anno. As the BBC put it, ‘Given the importance people attach to the role of the vocalist in rock groups, the upward curve that Iron Maiden had steadily enjoyed since their first album in 1980 might well have become a downward spiral with the departure of singer Paul Di’Anno. Echoing Spinal Tap’s legendary problems in keeping their drummers, he was already the third singer since their humble beginnings as a pub band.’
With the benefit of hindsight, years later Di’Anno would confess to Battle Helm e-zine that, ‘To be frank, at that