A British something called Iron Maiden from somewhere England couldn’t be happier handing over the hallowed duties of shaking the world over to a group of rockers whose only ambition is to spread the good old message of Eddie the Mummy.
And Higher-On Maiden – Iron Maiden’s own tribute band – couldn’t oblige more at taking Maiden’s gift to the unheard-of peoples and places in the world. Primitive places such as Nagaland are a good place to start, actually. Iron Maiden’s original tribute band – mind you, officially endorsed by Bruce Dickenson, Adrian Smith, Nicko McBrain and Steve Harris themselves – are in Dimapur.
Probably the biggest NWOBHM tribute band in the world, Higher-On Maiden will be testing the durability of Dimapur District Sports Complex Stadium’s structure on December 17 and see if the engineers fully implemented the government’s construction guidelines. As loud, as fast and as dexterous as Dickenson’s own horde of ugly but legendary rockers, the band will be performing at Dimapur’s stadium to offer a taste of how a maiden show feels like. Don’t complain; just be thankful that you couldn’t afford an Iron Maiden concert ticket by any shot in the first place. Or maybe something like that.
Anyhow, for those who were born late, here is an introduction: Higher-On Maiden is a group of fanatical Iron Maiden lovers who also happen to be hugely talented at playing any, every and whatever Iron Maiden song. In fact, a guy called Bruce Dickenson, Nicko McBrain, another hairy dude called Steve Harris and an even hairier wardog called Adrian Smith just so happen to so totally love to jam with the Higher-On guys all the time.
“Can’t seem to get rid of Steve Harris, especially,” grunted Dave Hurray, the guitarist of Higher-On Maiden during an interaction with the Media at Aier’s enclave in Dimapur, December 16. With names that pun with those of their idols, these guys may seem a bit weird for some in Nagaland who are not that much conversant on the music tribute industry in the US or UK (performing as tribute bands of prominent entertainment figures is actually a popular career in other countries).
In fact, according to what the about 35,600,000 web index says on this tribute band, Higher-On Maiden is no run-off-the-mill band that can play Iron maiden songs (Hey even Divine Connection and the Oleanders and similar shindigs can play ‘The Trooper’ or ‘2 Minutes to Midnight’).
So what is so special about this band? Well, in the first place, they have weird names fashioned out of their idols’ names – for instance vocalist Big Dickinson (Bruce Dickenson), bass guitarist Speedy Harris (Steve Harris), guitarist Adrian Swift (Adrian Smith), guitarist Dave Hurray (Dave Murray) and drummer Quicko McBrain (Nicko McBrain).
So they can play exactly like Iron maiden? Of course, you twit! You can when you get called to record music for an Iron Maiden tribute album that has some of the biggest names in British metal history; gets told by Dickenson himself that they “actually sounds like me; jams with a guy called Paul DiAnno; sells 50, 000 EPs in one week flat in the US, and then in 2000 they are invited to Iron Maiden’s official convention and takes the stage with the good old nasty metal guys. That’s why. That’s why.
Much less said than the seen and heard, the band already took Manipur by the pants and yanked hard. Now its Dimapur’s turn. Be there.
