Steve Harris said Iron Maiden will concentrate on playing live shows rather than making new music in their final years.

At 67, the bassist reported that he remained active, with plans to play with his side-project British Lion on days off between upcoming Maiden shows, and playing football once a week.

Asked about the chances of a follow-up album to 2021’s Senjutsu – their 17th – Harris told Classic Rock: “Who knows for sure? At the moment we want to tour as much as we can. But even if we did semi-retire, we could still make albums. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

He added: ‘I always thought that it would be nice to make 15 albums, which we’ve surpassed. It’s all downhill from here, isn’t it?! But each of us is still enjoying it – possibly more than ever – maybe because we know that we’re coming towards the end. We try not to think too much about that, but so long as everyone still enjoys what we do we’ll keep on going as long as we can.”

He reported that he was often asked how he still does what he does. “The truth is that I don’t even think about that,” he said. “The time will come when I will no longer be able to. I don’t even want to consider that. I’m just going to get as much done while I still can. You just cram it in.” He argued: “We’re all getting older, that’s what happens. All you can do is smile, drink a beer and remember the good times. There’s no point in getting depressed. Life is to be celebrated.”

Harris said one of the driving forces behind Senjutsu had been the idea that “If this is to be our last album, then I want to use some of the bigger ideas that I’ve got.” Referring to the group’s more prog-oriented output of recent years he noted: “There will always be people that think the band died in 1988, and much as it puzzles me, it’s fine that someone could think that. Maybe they’re hoping we will go back and do something like we did in ’99, but we’ll never do that. Now is now. Why would anyone want part two of something from the past?”

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