Paul Dianno

“Whatever he has been taking, please get me a coupla bags of it. When you next visit him (in the high security mental hospital facility) please ask him if he wants me to send him some pink feathers to go with his new yellow dress.”

PAUL DIANNO is bemused. The above was the answer he gave when I quizzed him about a claim my mate John Monaghan has made for years concerning the great man – something along the lines of the former Maiden vocaliser having been the telephone engineer responsible for fitting the new phones in his house in the early ‘90s. Despite barely stopping for breath since leaving the Irons in 1982, these odd stories often crop up – another being Dianno’s spell working for petrochemical giants BP. With him being on tour so much, it’s a wonder anyone would wonder what the man’s up to. How does he keep going? How does the body keep together?

“I keep it together with tape and chewing gum!” he enthuses. “I’m not sure myself how it is holding together after the pummeling it’s taken over the years. But I don’t know how to do anything else apart from performing music and I’m not about to go home and take up stamp collecting, so my poor body will have to keep taking the torture I guess!”

Dianno is about to descend on Canberra for a show at that noted venue of legends, The Basement. What should the keen-eared punter expect to hear from the voice behind the first two Maiden albums in the ‘09? “You’ll just have to come to the show to find out!” he responds with gusto. “But of course I’ll be doing some Maiden classics. People can expect to hear stuff like Wrathchild, Prowler, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Phantom of the Opera, Killers, Running Free and Remember Tomorrow.”

Given Dianno likened being in Maiden to being looked after by “Hitler and Mussolini,” how does he like the freedom managing one’s own affairs gives him? “I just want myself in control now; that way I don’t have to ask various arsebags how my career is going or whether they’ve managed to save any money for me. This way I am the boss and I can make appointments to see myself whenever I want…”

So there you have it. Dianno is one of metal’s true legends, an ironclad trouper of the first order who deserves our love, respect (and a little bit of ticket money) and admiration in equal measure. Who said no one ever comes to Canberra? Batten down the hatches people, this’ll be a good’un.

Paul Dianno will put on a brutal metal performance of epic proportions on top of an equally brutal signing session at 5.30pm at The Basement in Belconnen on Monday June 1. Tickets through Moshtix.