During an appearance on Nights With Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden bassist/bandleader Steve Harris looked back on the band’s early days, explaining how he used to work as an architectural draughtsman in the East End of London, UK.
He said:
“Well, straight after school, really, I went straight into that job. I did my college stuff and on the weekends, two nights a week, and I made sure I got qualified to a certain degree because I thought, if the band don’t work, then I’ll have something to fall back on.”
You’re not actually designing buildings, but you’re doing kind of the layout plans?
“Yeah, you do some designs as well. At that time, obviously, when you’re starting out, you just do drafts or whatever, it was someone else designing.
“But then you sort of graduate doing your own private jobs and stuff like that, you even get on to doing a couple of bigger projects. I made actually quite a bit of money by doing my own private jobs.”
What kind of architectural styles are you most interested in?
“I like loads of different stuff, really. I’m just really interested in buildings of all types. I really like renovating stuff as well, which drives me missus mad, but she’s had enough of if it now over the years. [Laughs] Looking at buildings, I’m attracted to that stuff.”