The Iron Maidens - Interview

We speak to Linda McDonald, founder member of the epic band, Phantom Blue (formed in 1987), and now the drummer for one of the most popular Iron Maiden tribute bands, "The Iron Maidens". If you haven't heard of Phantom Blue we recommend that you pick up a copy of their second (and last) album "Built to Perform" because it quite frankly, rocks. Be warned though that some of those albums are trading hands for mad prices (we've seen one on ebay for £80!!). As for the Iron Maidens, forming in 2001, they've gone on to play packed out shows, and if you get a chance to see them live, do it!

Inspired by the likes of Clive Burr, John Bonham and Nicko McBrain, what were your parents reactions when you started playing drums, and were they supportive?

My parents have always been the most supportive parents ever in any musical endeavor I set out on. They would help me move my drums and go to every show they could! When I told them I was interested in getting some drums I suppose they weren’t surprised I wanted to play another instrument, (my first being piano, a little violin and a little guitar) but probably were really hoping the drums were just a passing phase. Haha.

What is it about the drums that made you stick (sorry, no pun intended) with them, and not pursue being a guitarist, or pianist etc further?

Well, I started on piano first and really love that instrument, but wanted something more. Guitar and bass I am just not proficient enough on to even humor myself or anyone with the threat of wanting to actually play in public! I just found such satisfaction from the very first time I ever sat behind a kit and played. It was a magic that I don’t imagine can ever not be part of my life and that I find difficult to go too long without feeling.

You were mostly self taught, do you think you ended up becoming a better drummer because of that or if you had the chance to do things over again, you’d take up lessons at an earlier opportunity?

I think it helped me develop a better understanding of feel and heart when playing as opposed to some fantastically technically superior drummers I’ve seen who have chops for days and are formally trained and all, yet they have no soul in their performance. Though I have no regrets, if I could do it all again I would have taken marching band in High School and maybe would be interested in attending a drum conservatory of some sort and learn to sightread fluently.

Do you find that, with most drummers still predominantly being male, you have had to work harder to prove yourself? Did you have to overcome certain preconceptions and if so, how did you do that?

I don’t think so. You should work hard to be the best you can be anyway, no matter who is judging you for whatever reason. Sometimes people think you shouldn’t be able to play that well because you are female, and then they will think something very pedestrian is a mind blowing groove just because you are a girl playing it where if they heard a guy playing the same beat they would think he was lame. I just want to play my drums the way I play my drums and hope that speaks enough for what I am doing. Being a female drummer can attract attention to you before the next guy drummer gets noticed just because it is different. Thankfully there are a LOT more female drummers out there these days. It’s not just a boys club anymore. :-)

I sometimes wonder if Phantom Blue were maybe ahead of their time because it seems that all women rock bands are still a rarity, and that most "all female" groups tend to appear in the pop category, such as The Saturdays, The Like etc. Do you think there's still a way to go before audiences see all female groups on an equal footing?

Aw thanks. I feel Phantom Blue was ahead of their time too. There are loads of girls playing metal these days and writing very heavy material, but it’s more than 20 years after Phantom Blue was first formed. I agree about the female bands tending to lean towards the pop category and blame the music industry for sticking with trends they know how to market. The biggest problem we had was the labels telling us they just didn’t really know how to market our band and the music because it did not fit into any pre-existing formula they had. Strange.

Our Youth Worker caught you (Phantom Blue) at the “Marquee Club” in London (when he was younger, 1989 ish) and said that on the way home he and his friends were arguing about the gig, someone said “they were really good for women”. He then replied that “everyone was technically brilliant regardless of their sex, and that their sex shouldn’t come into it at all”. Were you ever conscious that you were opening some peoples ideas and attitudes in terms of equality?

Ha ha ha. I’m GLAD we were doing that! Hee hee! We were hoping to not be viewed as just a girl band, but a band of girls who could really play this style of music well and rock it hard live. We purposely chose the color BLUE in the band name instead of Pink or Red or Roses, Petunias, etc……so by hearing the name alone it wasn’t obvious it was a girl band, but once you knew the band name you would remember it was a group of girls.

The 80's rock scene seemed to end a bit prematurely with some very good bands suddenly appearing on a scene that had just died. Do you think that it had indeed had it's time and that the arrival of the likes of Nirvana was a natural progression, or do you think it was killed off by mainstream radio stations and the like in an effort to find "the next fashion"?

Though I liked Nirvana, I think we were force fed the likes of that whole depressed and dark, gloomy genre. It was a complete u turn of the good times and era of fun and debauchery and just purely depressing. They just pulled the plug on fun and good times to move on with the next phase of commercial music. Look at the reunions of these bands going on today and the multiple generations of people who love it! Rock music and great musicianship is back and with it comes a whole slew of young up and coming musicians who want to actually play their instruments well again! :-)

So, The Iron Maidens, how did Iron Maiden first find out about you and what were their reactions?

We are friends with Michael Kenney, who plays keyboards for Iron Maiden and is also Steve Harris’ bass tech. He wanted to introduce us all to our male counterparts after one of their shows here in Irvine, CA and made the arrangements to make it happen! They were all really sweet and seemed to be amused with the idea of meeting a bunch of girls who are paying tribute to their band. It was like Christmas morning as a little kid all over again! We were all pretty nervous, I gotta tell you. Ha ha. But it was a moment we all will not forget!

Do your performances, as an all-female Iron Maiden tribute band, receive a different sort of reaction from the crowd?

We’ve been fortunate to have a very positive reaction from the crowds. We try to replicate the music and the stage show with Eddies, grim reaper, the devil, C02 explosions as true to the original as possible on a smaller stage and we think the audience of Maiden fans appreciate that.

What so far have been the highlights of “The Iron Maidens” for you, as well as the biggest challenges?

The highlights have to be the amount of travel and touring we get to do with this tribute band! I have always love touring with Phantom Blue and typically that type of thing is part of being in an original band of some sort, but we have been so lucky to have established a world-wide fan base and there are enough promoters willing to bring us out and people who will come to see the show to allow us to travel pretty extensively in the name of music. We’ve been to Japan, Iraq, Greece, Spain, Korea, Guam, Turkey, Mexico City, Canada and all over the United States and are heading to South America in April to play Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and a few other awesome places!

You’ve toured with / opened for a wide variety of bands such as Nightwish, Bachman Turner Overdrive, and oddly, Cypress Hill and Snoop Dogg. How did you go down with Snoop Dogg’s fans? And who would you like to tour with but haven’t done so yet?

That was at the Smoke Out! It went over very well!! We even got a shout out from stage by Snoop Dogg himself! We have been lucky to open for KISS and Danzig and that was just insane. I would like to tour with Maiden themselves and perhaps do a classics set to warm up the crowd with songs they don’t play anymore from the earlier years and then they can do their new material! Ya, that’s it! Let’s book it! Ha ha ha!

I believe you had a certain Mr Skolnik join you for a one off! If you could choose any musician (s) who else would you love to have join you on stage?

Marty Friedman! He’s just awesome. End of story! :-) We’ve also had Phil Campbell of Motorhead join us a few times on stage and even had Marco Minnemann sit in on drums for a couple songs and one on guitar!

What are the future plans for “The Iron Maidens”? (Tour of Japan in 2011?) And, do you have any other side projects on the go at the moment?

Yes, we are supposed to be returning to Japan this year again, maybe in April 2011. Keep checking www.theironmaidens.com for updates!! The Iron Maidens are just planning to continue playing these incredible Iron Maiden songs as long as there is an audience wanting to hear it! We all just love to play it! I play in a couple side projects when The Iron Maidens are not playing. One is a band called Crabby Patty along with Kirsten and Courtney from The Maidens and our friend Chris Brightwell (amazing guitarist and vox!) covering classic rock, metal, pop, almost everything except jazz!

We would like to thank Linda for her time for answering our questions in the middle of multiple gigs! We are also keeping our fingers crossed that they visit the UK soon too!

The official Iron Maidens website is here: http://www.theironmaidens.com/

And this is how much of a show they put on!

Get the Flash Player to see this player.