Raised in a heavily musical household, Nikki Stringfield latched onto tunage from an early age. “My dad was in a cover band, funnily enough,” says the 27-year-old guitarist. “In that band, they’d play Iron Maiden songs – I’d see them play stuff like ‘Flight Of Icarus’ and ‘Wasted Years’. I got into it early – when I started playing guitar as a kid, ‘Two Minutes to Midnight’ was one of the first riffs that I learned how to play. I loved them – I found them so inspiring.”
Fast forward to the present day and Stringfield has found herself in the fold of The Iron Maidens, a heavy metal group billed as the world’s only all-female Iron Maiden tribute band. Originally forming in 2001 with a different troupe of women, the band has carried on for over 15 years with different iterations and members. Stringfield is the most recent, having entered the group back in 2015 after serving as a guest player for a run of shows. “They needed a guitarist, and I did a few rehearsals with them,” says Stringfield.
“I remember getting grilled by [vocalist] Kirsten [Rosenberg, AKA Bruce Chickinson]. She asked me, ‘Do you even like Iron Maiden?’ First of all, who doesn’t like Iron Maiden? Second of all, how could you be in a tribute band and not love the music? The funny thing is that if you go and see my old YouTube videos I did when I was in high school, you can see a poster for [Iron Maiden’s 1981 album] Killers up on my wall. There’s no denying it!”
Under the stage name of Davina Murray, Stringfield is responsible for replicating the blistering solos that come part and parcel with Maiden’s hits. Of course, it’s not just about the songs – an Iron Maidens performance is about getting as close as the band can to the full-scale live performance itself. Through being a part of the act, Stringfield is not only across every Maiden song you can think of, but also the mannerisms of the band itself.
We pull up [Iron Maiden] videos, we go see them live and we pay close attention to how they play.
“We pull up the videos, we go see them live and we pay close attention to how they play,” she says. “Obviously, we don’t have the same budget as those guys. Still, we like to think that we get as close as we can. Courtney [Cox, guitarist] has been doing this for so long, we instinctively know how to plan out each guitar part – every time we learn a new song, it’s more or less instinctive.”
Through being a part of The Iron Maidens, Stringfield and co. have gotten the opportunity to tour across the world and play to fans that are just as crazy about Maiden as they are. “When we went to play in Colombia, that was actually my first time ever leaving the US,” says Stringfield. “We spend more time on the road now than we do at home.”
Every time we learn a new song, it’s more or less instinctive.
The band will make their – ahem – maiden voyage to Australia in May, playing a run of club shows that have been long-awaited by both local fans and the Maidens themselves. “It’s funny… [drummer] Linda [McDonald, AKA Nikki McBurrain] and I were talking in the car while we were over in Europe,” says Stringfield.
“We were saying how I’ve been to a new country every year since I joined the band, and how I really wanted to do Australia and New Zealand. Literally that afternoon, Linda yells at me and is like, ‘NIKKI! Did you see the email? It’s happening!’ I just couldn’t believe it. I still have to pinch myself that we get to do things like that.”
The Iron Maidens play at Manning Bar on Thursday 31 May.
