IRON MAIDEN released their very first record, "The Soundhouse Tapes" EP, on November 9, 1979, on their own Rock Hard label. Its three songs, "Iron Maiden", "Invasion" and "Prowler", came from a demo the band recorded at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge on December 30 and 31, 1978, at a time when punk ruled the UK and heavy metal bands struggled to get gigs outside London's East End. Steve Harris insisted on paying extra to record properly, reasoning they would only get one shot at it. The demo took off at the Bandwagon Heavy Metal Soundhouse club in Kingsbury, which gave the EP its name. Featuring the late Paul Di'Anno on vocals, Dave Murray on guitar, Harris on bass and Doug Sampson on drums, with an uncredited Paul Cairns, it was sold only by mail order: just 5,000 copies, gone within weeks. Today it is a prized collector's item and the humble first step of the biggest band in heavy metal.
