Hi-On Maiden really have cornered the market where Iron Maiden tribute acts are concerned, and they certainly brought the Iron to The Underworld for the recent Paul Di’Anno Memorial evening. Previously, the band had worked with Paul for “less than ten shows,” including an incendiary set of classics at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in October 2023.
For Hi-On Maiden vocalist Matt Duggan, there was a sense of pride in the evening at The Underworld. “It was a real pleasure,” Matt told MetalTalk, “and a new challenge using a different side of my voice for this special tribute to Paul.
“I’ve sung in the style of Bruce for many years and have sung the songs in this set before, but very much in the way Bruce would sing them. It was great to try and get Paul’s spirit back in there, and hopefully I made him proud.”
Meanwhile, Adam Breyer, George Stergiou and Simon Spence explained that it would have been Killer to have had more time to cover all of the tracks on the first two albums.” Although we didn’t miss out too many tracks,” they said. “We didn’t do Drifter, Prodigal Son, Strange World, Transylvania or Genghis Khan.
“We played Transylvania with Paul Di’Anno, to give him a bit of a rest during gigs, so it would have been great to have included that and Genghis Khan, which is probably the most challenging Maiden song.”
“Genghis Khan is certainly the one that I’ve had the most trouble with,” Adam said. “We had some great feedback from Mimi Burr, Clive’s widow, who said that it was just like watching Maiden during their early years, so that’s high praise indeed.”
Upon asking if there was any new or unreleased work that Hi-On Maiden had produced with Paul, the guys told me that there was none. They explained that Paul used three different backing bands and Hi-On Maiden had only been working with Paul since October 2023, covering less than 10 shows.
For drummer Joe Lazarus, switching between the styles of Clive Burr and Nicko McBrain, “both incredible but different drummers,” is not something he thinks about as it comes naturally.
“With Clive, his high-hat hand is very quick,” Joe said. “He’s like a metronome and incredibly powerful. With Nicko, there’s lots of flair and finesse and lots of jazzy bits going on with his ride work and his high-hat work as well, along with his signature fills.”
Joe says that sometimes he plays Nicko’s version of a particular song rather than Clive’s version, possibly because, growing up, he spent more time watching Nicko rather than Clive.
When we then discussed what we thought Paul Di’Anno would have made of the night’s events, after a fair bit of laughter, Joe said that Paul would have said “oh, this is a load of old bollocks.”
Joe added that Paul would, of course, have been very grateful and appreciative that everyone came together for him. “Paul was a more emotional guy than you would expect him to be,” Joe said. “He was hard-edged on the outside, but he was a softy really. He was a lovely guy, and he would have enjoyed it for sure.”
Joe is a busy man. “I’ve got quite a bit going on,” he said. “I’m doing another Mogg’s Motel album and another album with Biffy Clyro’s Mike Vennart. I’m also doing some shows for Adam Wakeman’s band, Headspace, as well as doing the Anything For Love, Meatloaf story, which will run for two and a half months. I will also be doing a gig with Mr Big’s Eric Martin. So I’ve got lots going on.
As for The Underworld show, Hi-On Maiden said it was “a real honour to be asked to do the memorial gig. Hopefully it will be a regular event, but we will see.”
