Legendary Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris is gearing up to release his debut solo album, 'British Lion.' After 37 years with Iron Maiden, it may seem like a bizarre time to finally release a solo album, but Harris goes into intricate detail about the 'British Lion' album and his intentions for his solo project in a recent interview.

Two decades ago, Steve Harris told Raw Magazine that he was beginning a band called British Lion, although the name 'British Lion' has since been relegated to an album title, Harris explained the connection in a recent interview with Classic Rock Magazine.

"That’s how it originated," says Harris. "Over the years I’ve kept in touch with Richie and Graham, and then Richie was working with another guitarist called David Hawkins, who’s a really talented guy, and so we started writing songs together. So on the album there are six songs written with Richie and David, there’s one with just me and Richie, and the others are me, Richie, Graham and a couple of other guys that were around at the time."

Harris also went into detail about the sound of 'British Lion.' "Well, what I think and what other people will think might be two different things, but I’d say it’s more mainstream rock than metal, very British sounding, very 70s-influenced and quite commercial… but good commercial. There’s all kinds of stuff going on, with nods to the Who and UFO and some classic British rock bands, but it’s not the progressive rock album some might be expecting."

Harris also reassures fans that Iron Maiden are definitely not finished, but that the time the bassist dedicates to his solo project may result in Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson making another solo record of his own. "I think Bruce will do another one," begins Harris. "We were talking about my album the other day and I think it got him thinking that it’s been 10 years since he last did one. So it’s probably time he did another one. Maybe this will prove to everyone that you can be in Maiden and do other stuff as well. And there’ll definitely be another British Lion record. I want to do more things with Maiden obviously, but if some of the guys decide that they don’t want to do as much in the future, then I’ve got this as well: this is my safety valve, because what else am I gonna do? I want to cram in as much as possible before I kick the bucket.

Steve Harris' solo debut, 'British Lion,' is set to be released on Sept. 25.

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