“I'm not to go with somebody just because I'm the daughter of Steve Harris…”

The end of June 2008 witnessed the birth of the debut solo album by the daughter of Iron Maiden's Steve Harris, Lauren Harris. The CD, entitled "Calm Before the Storm", was a good reason to hear the lady's charming voice...

Vassil Varbanov: Hey Lauren, hello, how are you?

Lauren Harris: I'm very well, thank you, how are you?

V. V.: Good. Last time we met, face to face was here, at the stadium, before you went on stage to perform with your band, on this Iron Maiden concert. So, what happened to you since? It's almost an year...

L. H.: Oh, well, I've been on tour again. I did the "Somewhere Back in Time" tour with Iron Maiden. And we went to Japan, South America and Mexico and India. So I did all these new places I've never done. It was unbelievable .And I'm just getting ready to go away on Monday on tour.

V. V.: Well, you said last year that the plan actually is to release an album, but by then you didn't have a record deal and it was kind of a surprising thing, but now obviously you have a record deal with Demolition Records and you have an album, scheduled for the last week of June. An album, called "Calm Before the Storm". So, please, tell us more about this album.

L. H.: Oh, it basically songs we've been doing for the last three years and it's all finally come together, so I'm so, so happy. It's a bit of everything on there. It's kind of a classic rock and we have kind of popped it and there's a couple of ballads in there as well. It's really diverse and I'm really, really happy with it.

V. V.: As far as I know the album is produced by your drummer Tommy. I didn't know that before but he seemed to produce thing for Gloria Estefan, John Secada, Lindsay Lohan etc. The question is: Gloria Estefan and John Secada are more Latin kind of thing and not exactly rock sound, so was it an obvious choice for you having your drummer producing this album?

L. H.: I think, I'm really happy with Tommy. He's a great producer. He's been involved with Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio for something like 16 or 20 years. He was in contact with them for that period of time so that's what he was doing, but really he actually likes rock music. He grew up with his favorite band Black Sabbath. He kind of grew up with Kiss and that kind of stuff and he kind of likes old school rock, so he is really into, you know, rock.

V. V.: So please, tell us more about your record deal. Did you ask you dad if it was a good one to do?

L. H.: Yes, I did. We did look and see all options, because we weren't quite sure which one to go down and we looked at Demolition. I think the thing about them is that they really, really loved the music and to me it's important. You know, I'm not to go with somebody just because I'm the daughter of Steve Harris. I wanted them to love what I'm doing. And they did. They absolutely loved my music, which was the number one thing for me, and so I think they are excellent. My dad, you know, obviously mad sure it was good and everything.

V. V.: It's good to say here that actually your label mates now are bands like W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister, the Irish guys of Therapy? and some others...

L. H.: Yeah.

V. V.: Ok, so do you have the same guys in the band as last year?

L. H.: Yeah, we do actually, yeah. It's still Randy, Richie and Tommy is drumming as well. I'm really pleased, because we stay well as a band and, you know that, I wouldn't want to replace anyone. I know in bands people kind of come and go. It's because they have other options and other things coming on, but luckily nothing has come up yet where people would need to come off.

V. V.: Talking about it, I'm also reading the interview we did last year and I can see that basically you follow the plan...

L. H.: Oh, good!

V. V.: So, Сѓou started with the tour and you already have a record deal and an album and you are on tour now, so what's next? I mean, what is the next step in the plan of making Lauren Harris more and more popular?

L. H.: Well, hopefully everyone will go and buy the album. We've been building up to this for, you know, 3 years now, and finally it's getting out and I'm really, really excited about that and this summer, you know, we' re doing a lot of summer festivals and stuff like that. An then we' ve got plans to tour towards the end of the year as well. We haven't been confirmed yet, but that's the plan, so more touring and focusing on the album and next year... who knows?

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock