George Harris, son of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris, has announced that the upcoming THE RAVEN AGE tour will be his last with the U.K.-based melodic metal act.
George, who co-founded THE RAVEN AGE in 2009 with fellow guitarist Dan Wright, took to the band’s social media earlier today (Saturday, November 15) to write: “Hi TRA fans,
“This is a tough one to write, but I wanted to be honest with you all and let you know what’s been going on with me and the band.
Our upcoming ‘Monarchy Tour’ in the UK at the end of this month will be my last time playing live with TRA. Even just typing that feels strange. I’ve lived and breathed this band for so many years, and it’s been such a huge part of my life. I started TRA with Dan back in my late teens/early twenties and have poured my heart and soul into making it work ever since.
“What most people don’t know is that I’ve been dealing with a health issue for just over six years now that’s made playing guitar really difficult. I first noticed it on tour in 2019, at first I thought I just needed more practice or focus but after a while, it became clear it was something physical. Over time it’s just become worse, to the point where every time I pick up a guitar it feels more like a fight than the thing I used to love doing most.
For a long time, I really found that hard to deal with. I’ve tried everything over the years to fix it… physio, rest, treatments, therapy, even surgery to move a nerve but unfortunately, nothing’s worked.
“I didn’t want to just post one of those ‘unforeseen circumstances’ statements because I think you guys deserve the truth. So yeah, I’ve made the really hard decision to stop playing live. The band will carry on with someone else on guitar, and I’ll be right there supporting them. I’ll still be working behind the scenes with the lads on writing, recording, and keeping TRA moving forward. Luckily most of my writing comes from my head and not my hands, so that side of things isn’t going anywhere.
“To the boys in the band and the crew….thank you for everything. The shows, the laughs and the madness.. Sharing the stage with you all has been one of the best things I’ve ever done, and I’ll miss it immensely. Thank you to Dan for initiating the weekly Wednesday evening jam session all those years ago which accidentally snowballed into us being signed to a major record label and catapulted us into becoming a touring band. But honestly, I’m actually looking forward to standing in the crowd for once and watching the boys smash it from the other side. Thanks for all the support over the years!
“See you all one last time on the ‘Monarchy Tour’ in a couple weeks. Let’s make it count.”
THE RAVEN AGE’s November headline tour dubbed “The Monarchy Tour – A Decade Of The Raven King” will include six dates starting in Southampton on November 25 and finishing at London’s Islington Assembly Hall on November 30. The band will be supported on all dates by EMPYRE.
When “The Monarchy Tour” was first announced in June, THE RAVEN AGE released a new single, “Hangman”. At the time, George described the track as “heavy, but groovy and open — a super fun one to jam. To be honest, I wrote the riff when I should’ve been practicing. I had a metronome going with the intention of working on some scales and other bullshit, but I ended up grooving along to this riff all afternoon and the rest of the song followed. Way more productive, if you ask me.”
Nearly a decade ago, George told TeamRock about his famous father and the formation of THE RAVEN AGE: “My dad never pushed me towards music, but I did start playing the guitar when I was 14 and then started writing songs when I was 17. But I was so into football [at the time] and had loads of trials for different teams. When I was in Norway for trials I wrote a lot of songs that ended up being played in THE RAVEN AGE.”
Asked in a 2017 interview if he ever thinks, while writing songs for THE RAVEN AGE, “I don’t want this to sound like IRON MAIDEN”, due to the obvious family connection, George said: “No, not at all. One thing we try to do is go into writing with a completely clear head. If you start thinking that ‘we can’t sound like this’ or ‘we need to sound more like that’, then the results don’t come out naturally. I’ve never begun writing thinking about going in one direction or another. Basically, one of us will come up with a riff, and if it’s any good, we’ll get it down and branch out from there.”
THE RAVEN AGE’s third album, “Blood Omen”, came out in July 2023 via Music For Nations/Sony Music.
George’s sister Lauren is also a musician, as well as an actress, and she supported MAIDEN on tour back in 2008.
A Message From George
Posted by The Raven Age on Saturday, November 15, 2025