Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS) on Rock Overdose:”Tribute bands are a good substitute if you’re not able to see the real thing”

 

Rock Overdose and Zisis Petkanas had a chance to talk to Wanda Ortiz, bass player for the all female Iron Maiden tribute band, "The Iron Maidens". Their conversation revolves around the plans of the band, as well as her personal projects.

 

They also talk about tribute bands and the fans' opinions about them in general.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 


Rock Overdose: Wanda, welcome to Rock Overdose Greece! How are you these days?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): I’m doing well, how are you?

 

 

 

Rock Overdose: Very fine, regarding all this bad situation with the pandemic, I think that the most important thing of all is to stay healthy. On what level did the lockdown affect your musical plans with the band and other projects?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): The band was essentially shut down almost the entire time of the pandemic. We had a couple of outdoor shows, actually one outdoor show, where we were inside and the crowd was outside, then we had another video show, where we were just inside, the crowd saw it on a large screen outside and then we flew to Pensylvania, that was an outdoor show, so we had three shows last year, after the pandemic officially started. So there were three shows.

Now we have two shows coming up in April, the venue is taking social distancing measures and they sold tickets and you have to sit in a small group of people, like you do in restaurants, but you’re in a venue, sitting apart from everybody else. We’re gonna try it and see how it goes. Other than that, it’s been shut down, I also play with an orchestra, orchestras are not playing in venues right now, so I sat down with the board of directors, we started doing a video series, featuring members of the orchestra, so people can do it online and it keeps the musicians busy and it helps to make people not forget.

Other than that, it’s been difficult to do anything including crowds musically. Of course, you can video tape and record if you want to, but it only goes so far for a year, so it’s hard to make a living, doing that for this long.

 

 

Rock Overdose: So let’s cross our fingers for things to become better. Are you planning to do any live streaming shows with the Iron Maidens?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): We haven’t received any offers yet, so far we have some live show offers we’d like to do, but of course if live streaming shows offer comes up we’d love to accept it. It would be a safer show, so of course, but most of the venues here are trying to open up I think, and trying to bring the people and be safe.

 

 

Rock Overdose: Are your band’s members living close to each other or is it difficult to meet?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): We live quite a distance apart from each other, one or two hour drive, so we’re not in each other’s isolation bubbles, so we haven’t been practicing together, but the band has been together for quite a long time, so we know the songs pretty well, everybody just needs to practice at home and I think we’ll be ok, we’ve been playing the songs long enough, I think.

 

 

Rock Overdose: That’s great. So you are the bass player for the Iron Maidens and the contrabassist for South Coast Symphony Orchestra. How do you manage to combine these two activities?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): They’re separate, but it’s more of a challenge to find the time to do everything. Right now it’s easy, because there’s not a lot going on with the group. When I joined the Iron Maidens, I let them know that I wanted to continue on playing with the Symphony, because it’s such a challenge and I didn’t wanna give that up, so the band’s been nice, they work around my orchestra schedule. I would actually like to play with more orchestras and chamber groups, but the girls are busy too, so I try to find a balance. Likewise, the other girls in the band have other things going on too and we work around that. So, we compromise and that’s how we make it work.

 

 

Rock Overdose: Also, you’re going to be a part of an upcoming metal recording, by Mistheria.

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Yes, it’s Bruce Dickinson’s keyboard player. I like working with keyboard players, I recorded with another keyboard player for Halloween songs a couple of years ago and the nice thing about keyboard players is that they actually send you the music they like or an idea they would like and it’s nice to get that, because you know what they have in mind and you can build on that.

The part Mistheria sent me, now that I know what he’s looking for in the bassline and the guitar line he has, maybe I can put a nice counter point to it, I have some ideas and I can’t wait to show them to him, but I enjoy working with him, we worked together before, on his Vivaldi metal project and I played the contrabass for that one. This time, we’re gonna try the electric bass.

 

 

 

Rock Overdose: That’s really interesting. Would you like to tell us more about this collaboration?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): I know he’s tapping a lot of talent for it, I like the way he writes it, to me it seems more Power Metal with a Classical edge, it’s hard to exactly describe it, but I enjoy it. I typically don’t take a lot of projects, unless I really enjoy the music and I do enjoy his music.

It’s nice to have a song where he needs a real bass player. In a lot of songs, the bass part is easy, you can play it yourself if you’re not a bass player and you can play guitar. With Mistheria’s music, it’s not like that, you need to really know what you’re doing, so it’s a challenge and I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun and I look forward to it.

 

 

Rock Overdose: What about the Iron Maidens? What were your first steps with the band?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Well, we’re gonna see how our first shows go in April, we have a CD finished, but it still needs some work. Unfortunately, the producer passed away and that kind of affected things. Then the pandemic came and then you run out of money to complete things.

We’re not earning money as a band right now - a lot of people aren’t - so that’s been put on hold. We’re going to try and get that going again as soon as we start working regularly or figure something out. But we’re just taking it one step at a time, we’re looking forward to playing and once we start getting back up on our feet again, we’ll start looking at bigger projects.

 

 

Rock Overdose: Do you believe that tribute bands can be a substitute for fans that have never seen their favorite band live?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): It’s possible, it’s always great to see the real thing, I would rather see the real thing, but the real band can’t be everywhere all the time, so if the band is not in your area - I don’t think Iron Maiden’s gonna be in Arizona this month - so they can see us instead. I kind of view it like this: I play classical music and Mozart’s not around anymore, neither is Beethoven, but people can still hear their music at an orchestra concert.

It’s interesting, because a lot of people ask me if it bothers me that I don’t play original music, because I’m in a tribute band, but after an orchestra concert nobody asks me that, ever. It seems that there’s still some sort of stigma towards playing music that other people wrote, if it’s a rock composer, but if it’s a classical composer, then that’s ok, you can play that. I think, what a lot of people don’t realise is that most musicians make a living playing music by other people, from big bands, to jazz bands, to chamber groups and so on. So, I think it’s a pretty good substitute if you’re not able to see the real thing.

 

 

Rock Overdose: Are you familiar with any other Iron Maiden tribute bands and which of them do you like?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Of course, there’s Higher on-Maiden in England, there’s Maiden LA, Maiden Denver, there are so many tribute bands in US, there’s also one in Arizona that’s good, but I can’t remember their names, if I had known that you were gonna ask that question, I would have written them all down and given them all a plug, but they’re our friends, we love hanging out with them and talking about it and when we were playing an Iron Maiden tribute and our drummer couldn’t get to Indonesia, thank God there’s an Iron Maiden tribute band there, because we could use their drummer, he was the nicest man, he learned the songs so quickly, it was perfect. 

 

 

 

Rock Overdose: Have you ever met Iron Maiden in person?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Yes, actually the band first met them a long time ago. Their bass tech, Michael Kenney, made arrangements for us to meet everybody. They’re the nicest group of gentlemen, they were all so nice, there was no rockstar attitude, nothing like that.

They were all very sweet and also Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson came to one of our shows in Mexico city, when we shared the stage with Steve’s daughter, Lauren Harris and we were nervous, but Steve ended up coming to us after the show to let us know he enjoyed the show, which was awesome. We were excited to see them there, we were on our best behavior, we told each other we were gonna leave them alone, not bother them… it was fun. 

 

 

Rock Overdose: Who do you think is the most friendly person of them all?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): They’re all so different! I think they’re all friendly in their own way. I’m partial to Steve Harris, he seems like a quiet, serious guy, but I’m quiet too, so… He was nice, but they’re all great and friendly.

 

 

Rock Overdose: What’s your favorite Iron Maiden album and song?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): I’ve got a lot of favorite songs to listen to and play live, it’s hard to choose only one. Lately, I’ve been liking The Prophecy, we were thinking about adding it to our set. That one’s fun, the ones that are already on our set and I like are Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Losfer Words, there’s so many…

My favorite album, mostly for sentimental reasons would have to be The Trooper, because it was my first Iron Maiden album and… they’re all good! It’s hard to pick one, I’m sorry, not The Trooper, Piece of Mind, The Trooper was the first Iron Maiden song I listened to. 

 

 

Rock Overdose: Do you like the albums with Blaze Bayley?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): I’ll be honest, before I was in a tribute band I liked them better with Bruce, to me Bruce Dickinson is the sound, but they were good with Blaze Bayley too - I mean, what else were they gonna do, the singer left, so they had to get somebody else - and I thought that Blaze Bayley sounded a lot like Bruce Dickinson, so I thought they made a good choice back then, if they couldn’t keep Bruce Dickinson, they made the best choice they could make!

 

Rock Overdose: My favorite album is Somewhere in Time, it’s really the one I like the most.

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): You and Kirsten, our singer, that’s her favorite album too.

 

 

Rock Overdose: Who is your favorite bass player, except for Steve Harris?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): I love Geddy Lee, I like Chris Squire, I’ve got a lot of favorite Contrabassists, I love Jaco Pastorius for example, he’s an electric bass player, there’s so many… I’m sure there’s a lot of great bass players, just at home, sometimes I see people that are so good but nobody knows about them. So, I’ve got a lot of favorites.

 

 

Rock Overdose: Have you ever visited Greece?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Yes, I’ve been to Greece before, I visited the Acropolis in Athens, Olympia, before I joined the band I went on a tour to Greece with my sister, we loved it. The band has been to Greece once, we opened for Nightwish, absolutely amazing place, I haven’t been to the islands yet, but it’s on my bucket list. Even if the band doesn’t go, I’m gonna go.

 

 

Rock Overdose: So you played here in Greece with the Iron Maidens.

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Yes, it was about… maybe 16 years ago? I don’t know the exact date.

 

 

Rock Overdose: As you said, you opened for Nightwish.

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Yes! At this big festival, but I can’t remember the name of the festival.

 

 

Rock Overdose: I remember the festival, but I don’t remember the name right now either.

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): It’s so long ago!

 

 

Rock Overdose: Which was the most proud moment for you as a musician?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): How about the most memorable moment? I think one of the most memorable moments, was when we played in Venezuela, we were the first all female metal band that ever played there, we were in front of 40,000 people, but it wasn’t only our crowd, Ripper Owens was there, Rata Blanca, which is a big band in South America, so we shared the stage with a lot of people, but it was very exciting, being the first all female metal band playing there and in front of 40,000 people, we never had an audience that large. So I’d say that one and our show in Mexico City, where we shared the stage with Lauren Harris, because Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris were in the audience and it was exciting for us. 

 

 

Rock Overdose: Would you like to leave a message to the Greek fans?

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Thank you for your support, we love you and we can’t wait to go to Greece!

 

 

Rock Overdose: Thank you for this interview, I wish you the best and I hope to visit you here personally when you play in Greece.

Wanda Ortiz (THE IRON MAIDENS): Absolutely, if we ever get booked there you’ll be on the guest list, if I get a guest list!

Rock Overdose: Thank you very much!

 

For Rock Overdose,

Zisis Petkanas

 

 

 

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