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Steve Harris Interview
Indie | Friday 17th December 2010 | Osh
We caught up with Xfm DJ during Xfm's Winter Wonderland at 02 Brixton Academy on the 15th of December. One of the biggest nights of the year for the radio station. Here's what he had to say.
-Are you looking forward to tonight?
Absolutely. We work hard every year to get 6 bands on each bill (one in Manchester a week before). It’s hard to get 12 really good bands every year. We start working on it literally Spring time. It’s kind of like a festival bill in one night. The thing I like about it is each band has got 20 minutes to shine. They kind of have that level of competiveness to it, they also try to out do each other. They have 6 songs, 20 minutes, bang bang bang. When we did the gig in Manchester last week, it was The View then Mystery Jets then The Futureheads and The Futureheads said they would love to make this a tour. Punk rock have their own tour, rappers do it, it would be great if 6 indie artists go on tour together and do a night like this, 20 minute sets, it would be great.
-It’s great that Xfm are doing something like this.
We’ve done it for more than seven years, we got Manchester a few years ago so we do two now. It’s the biggest gig of the year for us and we put a lot of work into it.
-What other events do Xfm do?
Well we work a lot around festivals we got our big night out in Brixton and other various other nights. But this is the real night of the year for us.
-Can you tell us who’s playing at Xfms Big Night Out yet?
We do that around Easter time. But I do the radio show so its kind of weird for me because I’m two floors up in Brixton academy, so all the bands that play and come up stairs literally dripping with sweat and come up straight to me and do an interview live on the radio. It can be a bit messy sometimes but a lot of fun. Last week I was drinking tequila with the Mystery Jets live on the radio and that got a bit messy but was a good laugh.
-So would you say you have the best music of the 2010 here?
This has got to be one of the bills of the year, Its got a bit of music for everyone. Manics and Suede two bands of the ninetees. It crosses the ages with Suede and Manics, they’re like two heritage bands for Xfm. For the first part of the night we have bands for the kids. Two Doors and The Drums have just come through this year. White Lies are one of the biggest bands out there right now. So I think we have kind of covered everything. And the first band we have tonight is Mona who we reckon they are going to make it big. We always like to put that first band on for a little tip for next year. A good point is two years ago White Lies were the first band on at 6:30 and no-one knew who they were.
-What has been a highlight of yours this year?
Doing the radio show from Benicassim festival, I have to big up that festival. It’s the one in Spain next to the beach at 35/40C and the music is on all night. Its not like our festivals that finish at 9 o’clock in the evening, this finishes at 6 o’clock in the morning. Your by the beach, music all night. The bill was great. I think is one of my new favourite festival actually.
-Best song?
Bloody hell that’s hard. Song of the year? Oh god, I’m terrible at these. I’ll tray and think of it later, next one.
-Best Album?
I would say Arcade Fire album is fantastic. The Suburbs is a great album.
-Xfm have done a countdown following the recent book the 1000 greatest songs of all time. Did you agree with countdown?
A thousand is so hard to put in order because there is so many. There are always those anomalies where you have a Klaxons song, I’m not dissing the Klaxons in anyway, might be above a John Lennon song. But it is a thousand, not like a hundred but a thousand. We’ve had a lot of fun playing them on the radio because there are so many great songs and so many great songs don’t get played on the radio often enough so we get the chance to play them. It’s a good book.
-Who chose the songs to be put in the book?
A mixture of readers feedback and us. We had a whole panel together from Xfm and a panel of artists.
-Where there songs that you personally wanted in the book?
I’m a Morrissey man, I’m a Libertines man, I’m a Clash man and I’m a Strokes fan. I went for a lot of that and I put my foot down on a lot of that. I’m also a Mike Skinner/Streets man and I wanted some of his songs in the book but some didn’t make it. All the Djs were fighting their corner for their bands and favourite songs.
-You have the same name as one of the founders of Iron Maiden, how cool is that?
I know, its alright isn’t it. Some people even hear me on the radio and every now and then, maybe once or twice a year, people text in and say ‘are you Steve Harris from Iron Maiden’. I don’t know what they are listening to or what there on.
-What’s going to be hot in 2011?
There’s a band called The Valentines that I want to big up. I’ve seen them about three times this year, there are just unbelievable. I’m just so excited about them. They haven’t even released anything yet. They have an EP coming out on Valentines Day called We Are The Band EP and they are just an amazing band. That’s my tip of the year. And there are bands like Chapel Club and Funeral Party who have been getting played on Xfm but will make a step up in 2011 for sure.
