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HEAVY METAL ARTIFACTS: MAIDEN!

Rattlehead is best known for hosting Powerchord on Citr with Metal Ron from 1985. He's seen over a thousand shows and is Vancouver's biggest rock and roll fan, period. Over the years, venues have closed, scenes change, but Gerald's always been there.

Gerald was gracious enough to share a few of his most prized pieces of memorabilia with me, so I could share them with you over the next few months.

Rattlehead is best known for hosting Powerchord on Citr with Metal Ron from 1985.   He's seen over a thousand shows and is Vancouver's biggest rock and roll fan, period.  Over the years, venues have closed, scenes change, but Gerald's always been there.  And he's doing it all for the love of it, which is why Vancouver's lucky to have him.

This is probably the rarest Iron Maiden thing you can own. It’s a promo from when they first started, they were giving these records away for free at their first concerts. This is worth several hundred dollars. I got two of the original members sign it too back in 2008 when they were here for the somewhere back in time tour.

How did you get that done?

I knew where they were staying. They played the show Tuesday, but they didn’t leave the city until Thursday. So I went to try to see them on Wednesday, but didn’t see them at all. I don’t know what they were doing, walking around, going fishing or something. So I go back Thursday, knowing they had to go to Edmonton that day. So I was in the coffee shop near the hotel, and I ran into their manager. He said ‘HEYY! I remember you!’ because I have seen them so many times over the years. I asked him if the guys from the band were around and he said ‘Yes, they should be out at 1:30 PRECISELY, and Steve Harris is always on time.” He was super cool too, he said, if I had any trouble getting Dave Murray or Steve Harris signing anything, to let him know and he’d take care of it. And I needed him too, because they were loading all their stuff in and couldn’t hear me, so I gave it to the manager and he took me over and got everything signed for me. I guess that’s payback for being a fan for so many years.

And you’ve probably interviewed them and seen them so many times over the years.

Yes and every time except once, I’ve met up with them. They’re really accessible guys. Last time, I think everyone had gotten to Steve except for me, and so I called out for him. I think he had his kids with him, but he was still cool, and came over, and remembered me. That time too, I got him to sign a test pressing of ‘Run to the Hills’, it’s a 45, and he looked at it and went ‘Whoah, what’s that?’