Drummer Linda McDonald recalls how The Iron Maidens got started

Drummer Linda McDonald recalls how The Iron Maidens got started

The Iron Maidens‘ long-time drummer Linda McDonald was recently interviewed by Andrew Daly for Vinyl Writer Music.

In terms of what led to the formation of The Iron Maidens, McDonald indicated: “I was a founding member of The Iron Maidens. An all-female Iron Maiden tribute was the brainchild of singer Jen Taylor Warren, who fronted a co-ed Maiden tribute at the time called Wrathchild. Phantom Blue got an invite from their guitarist, John Leighton, to come and check out a show, and Phantom Blue was seeking a bass player at that time, and we decided to go check them out because we love Maiden, and we also wanted to scout out their female bass player! [Laughs]. It turned out the tables got turned when we met the band, and Phantom’s guitarist, Josephine, and I got recruited to start this female Maiden tribute!”

With respect to the earlier line-ups for The Iron Maidens and what led to their current line-up, McDonald stated: “Well, as with any band, members come and go due to life and opportunities. With each member change, we feel we have grown stronger overall. I guess this band got a reputation for good musicianship (well, we are playing Maiden so you have to be at a certain level I suppose!) and with each new member rotation, the candidates were just more and more amazing! We are so blessed to have this current lineup for as long as we have been together so far — the current lineup is me on drums, Wanda Ortiz on bass, Courtney Cox, and Nikki Stringfield on guitars, and Kirsten Rosenberg on vox. We have been a family for about 10 years now (20 years overall since the first lineup). We found each other through word of mouth.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Linda McDonald at Vinyl Writer Music‘s website.