Transcript of an interview I recorded with LINDA MCDONALD of THE IRON MAIDENS - 20200313. Full article here. LINDA-
Hello. MAL- Hello. How ya going? LINDA- I'm going good. How's it going over there? MAL- Pretty good. It's eight o'clock Friday morning. LINDA- Good morning. MAL- Thank you. I'm not a morning person, so we'll see how we go. Linda, when did you first take up drums? Let's start at the beginning. LINDA- I first started messing around on drums when I was about I would say about 15 years old. I started tinkering a bit and, you know, like a lot of teenagers you kind of put it down for a little while then you come back and revisit it again and all that stuff. So I started in my mid teens. MAL- Why drums? This is always a fascinating answer that I get to this, why the drums? LINDA- Well, I played piano and just a little bit of violin, like one semester in school, and a little bit of acoustic guitar, not much nothing to brag about. And I really loved all that beautiful melodies and all that, but then you know, when you get your teens you kind of kind of hormones get going, you want something a little more aggressive. And my brother was playing electric guitar at the time, and I wanted to play along with him, so, guitar definitely was not the instrument for me. So I decided either bass or drums, whichever I found available first and I found a nice set of Ludwig Vistalite light drums available for really cheap so that's what happened. MAL- Let's talk about THE IRON MAIDENS then when you were first involved with them. How was the reaction when when you first started? Did you fall into a positive reaction straight away or did take a while for people to come around, LINDA- It did actually, we were having rehearsals and trying to get this all tight before our first show. And we noticed that people in the rehearsal halls kept peeking in the little window on the door at the rehearsal studio, and we just weren't sure what to make of it, but they were kind of lining up to see what was going on in that rehearsal room. And then we kind of thought maybe we're onto something because of that. And at our first show, there was a line all the way around the buildings and up the street. So I guess, people were interested. MAL- Did you think back then, that you'd still be going and taking it internationally in 2020? LINDA- Honestly, no. We're going on I believe it's year 19 now, and that is pretty astonishing. I'm really shocked by that, but I'm proud of it at the same time. It's like a lot of original bands, and you know, even relationships don't usually last that long. So, you know, it's true. We've been through a lot of lineup changes, but it's a band. It's a tribute band, but it is still a band. And I think that lineup changes are the natural course, you know, for any band, whether it's a tribute band, cover band, original band, whatever. But there's enough, luckily, there's enough female musicians out there that kick ass enough that they can play this material and they love MAIDEN so they're just, you know, keeping this train going. It's amazing. MAL- You seem to be really active on the touring front, you know, whether it be at home or abroad. Was it always that way? Or did the touring sort of build up and up and up and keep going and going, or did it, was it full on right from the start? You mentioned the lineup around the block at the start did that train keep a rolling right from the start? LINDA- In the beginning, I remember It was about a year before we had our first out of town tour, which was up in Washington State. And we were so excited about that, because we got out of Los Angeles. And we were up there for a week or two. So that was really, really fun. But we had no idea that years down the road, we would start going to Europe and Japan, and possibly gone. Oh my gosh, some, some pretty good, to Guam. And some of these were Air Force bases and Naval bases. But it did get us into foreign countries. And then there were some, some bookers and promoters out in Europe that wanted to take a shot on us and brought us out there and steadily started building a following out there. And then we signed with the booking agent BTV, Big Time Entertainment, and they really took the touring over the top, they really did. So we're very grateful for that and for all the people and all the places we get to go that want to come and celebrate MAIDEN with us. It's like a dream. MAL- Now you mentioned the Air Force Base, which made me think of Spinal Tap. Any Spinal Tap moments we've got? LINDA- Oh, gosh, you know what? There's a tonne of it. I'm trying to think. Yeah, there was a Spinal Tap moment. One of the shows we did I believe it was in Germany. Our singer struck a really great pose at the front of the stage and her pants ripped. So luckily, our stage manager, Chris had a jacket that he was able to tie around her waist. She was kind of sporting an Axl Rose look, better than seeing her bum. MAL- I'm always intrigued with tribute bands, what the band they're paying tribute to thinks of it but I've seen photos of various members of IRON MAIDEN posing with you ladies and I get the impression that they're pretty cool with it. LINDA- You know, they, they probably are a little tired of hearing about us. But they're very aware of us. And I think they, we're not butchering their material. So they know that we're out there just playing the songs that they're not really playing anymore. And, you know, providing a surrogate fix when they're not able to be in every town, you know, there's only one IRON MAIDEN and they can't be everywhere at once. So we try to just provide a little surrogate fix, but I think that they're okay with what we're doing. MAL- Are you aware that they're coming through Australia, like a month after you girls? LINDA- I just heard about that, actually, recently. So maybe we're going to be like the warm up. We're gonna get Australia already prepped and primed for the real thing. MAL- What's your favourite MAIDEN tunes to play in the show? You mentioned tracks that they're not doing anymore, which I do notice in your setlist. But what's your favourite MAIDEN tunes to play? LINDA- As a girl, it varies day to day. A couple of my favourites are some of the deep cuts like 'Phantom of the Opera'. 'Alexander the Great' it's fun too because the reaction from the audience because MAIDEN has never played that song before live. I think a lot of the deeper, the early days stuff with with Clive Burr, that's the era that got me into MAIDEN. And don't get me wrong. I love MAIDEN, all eras. But the earlier stuff is just the most fun to play for me. MAL- Touring Australia in April, we're looking forward to it. We're way over here on the other side of the world, how do you like the flights, Linda? LINDA- Well the first leg is 15 hours and it's a long time that's probably about a five, five to six movie time period, or a few wines and a nice long nap. Yeah, it's quite a leg, a trek. MAL- It is a long flight, isn't it? LINDA- It is but it was so worth it last time. MAL- What do you remember about last time? LINDA- Last time, we just remember we didn't get a lot of time off per se. And then we had just very, very little time after one of our shows, so our driver took us over in Sydney to go into the Opera House when it was all dark, just so we can see it right before the lights went off on the bridge and it was amazing. We went and we saw the kangaroo park where you can go and walk and feed the kangaroos and then you can go and hold the koala bear, you know the tourist stuff, but all the people are really cool. MAL- You've got to do all that tourist stuff, you've got to do it. Anything else you wanted to touch on, Linda? LINDA- Um, I mean, aside from the obvious, we're hoping and praying that this coronavirus does get abolished soon and hoping that you know, everything's just going to be safe and fine. And we'll get there just fine. And all the shows will happen. And we're really looking forward to it. It was always a dream for us to go to Australia. So when we went a couple years ago, we never, ever thought that we would make it to Australia. The fact that we're coming back a second time, it's just even more exciting. So we're going to change up the setlist a bit, play some stuff you haven't heard us play last time. And we're just looking forward to being there again. MAL- And to get some more time off this time because I noticed you got dates on the second, third, fourth, fifth, oh you got a couple of days off in between Newcastle and Canberra, so that's good. You do some more touristy stuff. LINDA- Yeah. And I think Courtney might have a guitar clinic that I may sit in with her and play some drums with her but we'll see. MAL- Excellent. Hey, Linda. Thanks for talking to me. We'll see you then. And good luck and wish all the best to all the ladies and we'll see you soon. LINDA- Okay, thanks so much. You take care. Comments are closed.
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