Hey metalheads! It’s insane to think that 10 years has passed since a fateful meeting around a kitchen table led to a name change and the dawn of a new Era for the band. 10 years ago we made a decision that with a new name came a renewed commitment to the mission, the mission of bringing heavy metal to the masses. To hail a long forgotten sound, with crash of steel and bass drum pound, if you will. Along with our contemporaries we are still doing this. We are committed as much now as then and as always. IRON KINGDOM is one roller coaster I never want to get off!
Look how young we were! First promo pictures for ‘Curse of the Voodoo Queen’ photo by Jesse Vance 2011
We’ve had our share of ups and downs, victories and defeats, triumphs and upsets and we are still here grinning. We’ve come a long way a long way since the days of packing into Amanda’s bedroom to jam but while some of the faces have changed the mentality of the band has not. The global pandemic I’m sure you’re aware of might have grounded our tour plans for the moment but you can be damn sure we’ll be hitting the road as soon as we are able and we are very excited to show Max off to the world. I always thought we would be celebrating our 10 year with a show but I am glad that while that’s off the table we can still take sometime to reflect and reminisce with the people who make this band possible, you the fans. We welcome everyone to join us at 7pm PST tonight (Sunday June 6th) while we have a few beers, answer some questions and share a few memorable moments from over the years.
As soon as we are able we are hitting the road to get back in your faces. We are long overdue at this point for a band favourite west coast rip. Over the years one of our favourite spots to hit has always been the Yukon and specifically Dawson City! I can’t wait to take Megan and Max up there for the first time and experience the magic of that place again. We have had a blast everytime we have gone up and I can’t wait to see some familiar faces. We still have the note hanging on our jam space door written by a friend in Dawson, reminding us to keep spreading the good metal to the good people!
Being in the band has afforded us the opportunity over the years to do things that would pretty much never be possible otherwise. One big example has to be when we got to sleep in a Cold War Era German bunker last year. Definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to sit in the command center of the bunker drinking beer to 6 in the morning listening to black metal!
Getting back to Europe is high on the list for us. We had such a good time both times we were there and we vow to not take as long to return as it did the second time. Speaking of the first time, one of the highlights of not only my career but my life was playing Keep It True in 2014. I’m sure Chris, Amanda and Kenny will back me up on saying that was a surreal experience. European festivals in general are very fun and excited but KIT was crazy! We were the first band on the second day and expected a small crowd but I swear on the second song I looked up and the place was packed! We sold out of all the physical copies of cds we had for the whole tour in about an hour and had a great time interacting with all the awesome bands and festival goers for the rest of the day!
There have been so many great moments over the years, too many to recount even all of my favourites here and that is why I am so excited for the livestream. The past week the interaction we have gotten on the posts from the different members have been incredible with a number of people commenting about shows that meant something to us as well or reminding us of things we may have forgotten. We are so fortunate to have made it as far as we have and to have had the opportunities that we have had. We’ve got lots more brewing for the future and the future is looking very good!
Join us at 7pm PST and share your memories and ask us your questions! Until then and always,
Keep it Steel,
Leighton Holmes
(Bass Guitar)