Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris has no delusions that his band will go on forever. In a new interview with Classic Rock, the 67-year-old musician got honest about Maiden’s longevity as a touring machine, given all the members are nearing their Seventies and the NWOBHM pioneers have been doggedly grinding for over 40 years now.

While he maintained that the band, who released their seventeenth album, Senjutsu, in 2021, currently have no immediate plans to throw in the towel, Harris spoke realistically about how he and his bandmates are feeling during this stage in their career — a time when they know “we’re coming towards the end.”

“Who knows for sure?,” Harris said of their future plans. “At the moment we want to tour as much as we can. But even if we did semi-retire [from playing live], we could still make albums. I don’t know. We’ll see.

“I always thought that it would be nice to make fifteen albums, which we’ve surpassed. It’s all downhill from here, isn’t it? [Laughs] 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.”

Later in the interview, Harris was asked what it’s like to maintain such a prolific tour schedule this late in his life. “It makes me think: ‘Let’s get out there and do stuff while I still can,'” Harris said. “People ask me how I still do what I do. The truth is that I don’t even think about that. The time will come when I will no longer be able to. I don’t even want to consider that.”