Intervju - Lauren Harris Det är ju inte alla som har en känd farsa och som dessutom råkar spela i ett av världens största hårdrocksband. Lauren Harris tillhör dock skaran som har just en sådan far, men hon verkar ta det hela med ro. Just nu befinner hon sig ute på turné med Iron Maiden och ska kvällen efter vår lilla pratstund dra igång nästa del av USA-turnén i San Antonio, Texas. Lauren är 24 år gammal och lever just nu det stora rock and roll-livet och får resa världen över och dessutom spela inför tiotusentals fans varje kväll. Något som är få förunnat. Metal Shrine fick en trevlig pratstund med denna charmanta unga dam då hon satt på turnébussen med stora amerikanska lastbilar susandes förbi ute på motorvägen. Vi pratade om hennes debutalbum, upptäckten och självfallet lite om hennes fars band, Iron Maiden. Lauren Harris: Hello! Hi, this is Niclas calling from Sweden! LH: Hi, how are you? I´m fine. How are you? LH: Fine, thanks. Where are you exactly? LH: I´m in the US. I´m on the tour bus in San Antonio. Right! Tell me about the album? When did you start working on it? LH: We started working on in eehhhmmm... three years ago maybe. I kind of did things the wrong way around. I mean, it´s really weird. We had all the songs and everything, but I never really had experience with performing or being on stage at all, anything like that. So I needed to do that and went over to Miami for that and then came back and did a bit more on the album, because it was recorded partly in Britain at my house and partly in Miami as well. That´s pretty much how we did it. How many songs were recorded? Was there more stuff recorded than ended up on the album? LH: Yeah, there´s a few more we recorded and we chose in the end not to put a few in. We picked kind of the ones that we thought worked best when we were touring and everything and the ones that worked better live. I had never done it before and doing the whole live thing kind of changed me a little bit. So we picked them to kind of suit that a bit more and left some of the other ones out. It worked out really well so I´m pleased. What will happen with those other songs? Will they end up on the next album or be totally scrapped? LH: I don´t know actually. We might use them. I really like them. It depends on timing and kind of what happens next when we´re moving forward with the new stuff, the new material, if it fits with that and all that kind of stuff as well. We might revamp it a little bit and use them still. What did the producer Tommy McWilliams bring to the album? Was it your choice or wash e picked by the record company, since he´s produced the likes of Gloria Estefan, Lindsay Lohan and so forth? LH: Yeah, we really only got signed recently. I met him through a friend of my dad and I´ve been working with him since day one. Really, he´s been nominated for Grammys and stuff like that. He´s actually... where his heart kind of lies... he´s kind of grown up with rock and he came up with a few songs that he had on the table and I just loved them. We were the perfect match from the start and we just got on so well and I really loved what he was doing and what he was about. He fit in really well. Since you were, in a way, dicovered by a legend, Russ Ballard and I read somewhere that it was in a pub... wash e out scouting for talents or did he just happen to be there? LH: He just happened to be there. Actually, the pub I was playing in, he lives right down the road from it so it was like pure luck. I was kind of singing in pubs and stuff before I started doing this. Can you hear me? A truck went by. Ok. LH: I used to sing with a friend´s backing tracks and stuff. It was one of his son´s friends that came up and asked me if I wanted to do a demo. And then I went to his house and everything and I did the demo and he paid me and In didn´t even know who he was. (laughs) I told my dad about it and he said "Well, what´s his name?" and I said "Russ Ballard!" and he was like "What?" and then asked me "Do you know what he´s done?" and het old me all this stuff and I was like "Oh my God!". I was so pleased. I didn´t know, because then I would have been freaking out. It was the first recording I ever did, really. That kind of pushed me on to doing my own demo and then starting all of this. What songs did you record with him? Was nit stuff that ended up on the album? LH: No, it had nothing to do with me. He offered me to sing on a demo for him. That was kind of the first demo I did. I don´t know if he knows what I´m up to now. Alright. When did you first realise, if you can remember, that your dad is a rock and roller? Did you realise that at an early age? LH: (laughs) Yeah, I think so. We were always out on the road with him anyway, when I was pretty young. I kind of never really got it until...I mean, obviously I knew what he did, but I never got the whole thing until I was a lot older and I remember... I was probably around ten or eleven and I just remember people coming up to him and literally like freaking out and shaking and crying and stuff like that and I was like "Oh my God, this is so weird. This is my dad!". (laughs) Did he guide you in any direction or did it happen all by itself, you taking up music and singing? LH: No, he never really guided me. I started singing when I was nine in school and I always just kind of carried it on and I wished I would have picked up an instrument really, but I never did. I carried on singing after school and I did the whole pop thing and that kind of went on, but no, he never really pushed me. Like "You should do this or that!". Who´s idea was it to have him play on your album? Yours or his? LH: A bit of both really. At the time he was kind of there (laughs), so it was easy to have him do it and I kind of spoke to him like a long term plan and obviously people would look at it and be interested in it and it would kind of give it a boost, I suppose. Kind of help me get out the door as well. I don´t think it was a bad thing. I´m really pleased he´s playing on it and I got to play... there´s a small place near where I live and he got up on stage and played with me, so that was cool! It´s nice as well! It´s nice for me because he´s my dad. Sure! Do you think it opens more doors or closes more doors because you´re Steve Harris´ daughter? I guess some people might think it´s all because you´re his daughter. LH: Yeah, I get both sides. It´s a double edged sword really. You know, in some respects it´s good. Some people have been really welcoming, because they know who I am, but then on the other side people have got that kind of like, I don´t know... they´ve got that thing about them where they just think "Ah you know, she´s just the daughter of...!". I don´t worry too much about that, because I think I´m still here and if I didn´t do it well, then I wouldn´t be on this tour again. I´ve been out with a few more bands, you know, like Within Temptation and Thunder and I wouldn´t still be doing it if it was just him. Well, I think you´ve proven that you´ve done things on your own. Did you get to travel on Ed Force One? LH: Yeah, I did! (laughs). I did the whole thing, which was nice actually because a lot of my family was out as well. It´s so big, you know. They took out all the seats in there and they putt hem in again and we had like big leather seats and a lot more leg room than normal and they each gave us a dvd-player and we had food all the time and stuff. It was really good actually. Sounds like a nice life! LH: It was like a big tour bus, but in the air. (laughs) What´s that like? You´re still young and now you´re playing in front of tens of thousands of people every night. That´s got to be very special? LH: Oh my God! It´s amazing! I honestly can´t even explain to people what it´s like. It´s just incredible. The whole traveling around the world and seeing different places is unbelievable as well, but when you get on stage and, you know... and especially for me since I´m the support and I´m trying to get out there and make a name for myself at the moment and obviously people don´t know who I am and they don´t know the songs, but to have people being really into it is a big triumph for me. That´s what I try to do every night. Try to steal a little bit of their audience and people seem to be responding really well, so I´ve been lucky so far. Have you always been a fan of Iron Maiden or when you were a kid, did you just think that their music was the worst crap in the world? LH: (laughs) No, not at all! I´ve always grown up and listened to it and I´ve always liked it. I suppose the kind of stuff I listen to now or the stuff I´m doing is because of my dad really. Stuff he played around the house and stuff my friends weren´t really listening to bcause it wasn´t commercial and it´s not the kind of stuff you hear on the radio. I definitely loved that stuff. Do you have a favourite Maiden album? Do you like the old stuff better than the new stuff? LH: Eehhmmm, yeah maybe. The last album they did, I think is the best one they´ve done for a while. I really do. But my favourite album is probably "Seventh son of a seventh son". You´re on tour now for quite a while and you´re coming to Sweden for two sold out shows. After this long tour is done, what will happen? Are you going back into the studio or are you going to continue touring? LH: We´ve kind of started writing some new stuff. Some ideas and stuff for the second album. We´ve got so much time on our hands on the road and we´re going to try to tie a few bits up and we´re going to go into the studio when we get back. We´ve got plans to do more touring as well on our own. Hopefully we´ll do a headline tour, maybe at the end of the year or maybe next year. Nothing with Maiden though. Do you think we´ll ever hear Lauren Harris on a Maiden album? LH: (laughs) Noooo! No, I think that would be way too much. I don´t think it would be a good mix. Maiden have never really done anything with anyone else. They´re kind of their own entity and they will never change. I wouldn´t want to do that anyway, because they´ve never done it and it would just be ridiculous if I´d do it, right? What were your influences for the album? One song has a bit of a Runaways feel to it and there´s another that reminds me of The Donnas. LH: Well, kind of old school classic rock from the 70´s and 80´s. I mean, I grew up listening to Gun, Golden Earring. I like Def leppard and I really like Heart, Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Free and that kind of stuff. That´s definitely where my influences come from. Cool. You´ve toured with a lot of people, as you mentioned, you´ve opened up for Heaven and Hell and so on. Over theyears you must´ve come across a lot of these people through your dad. Do you get starstruck? LH: Yeah, but I never really remember meeting somebody that famous when I was little. But being on these tours and stuff I´ve met Ronnie James Dio. I can´t believe I met him! Geezer Butler and Toni Iommi, I met all the guys from Heaven and Hell. They were all amazing, I couldn´t believe it. Oh God, I´ve met a few people. I kind of always get starstruck but I try not to show it. (laughs). Who else have I met? I met Juliette Lewis and that was really cool. She´s amazing and as an actress as well. She´s brilliant and she´s a woman, so that´s great for me. Nice! Well, it´s been great fun talking to you Lauren. Do you have a day off today? LH: Yeah! I think we´re gonna go see the new Indiana Jones. Lucky you! I hear it´s good. LH: Oh, good! Thanks a million and good luck with the tour and future albums and so on. LH: Thank you very much and nice talking to you.
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