PAUL DI’ANNO, THE ‘KILLER’ VOICE THAT LAUNCHED IRON MAIDEN, IS SET TO COVER THE ICONIC METAL BAND’S EARLY CLASSICS AT THE WHISKY JAN. 20

If you were too stoned in the late ’70s/early ’80s or are one of those youngins who didn’t know that iconic British metal band Iron Maiden had a badass frontman before Bruce Dickinson, you should make a New Year’s resolution now to check out Paul Di’Anno at the Sunset Strip’s world-famous Whisky A Go Go on January 20.

Before Dickinson first rocked the mic for Maiden on 1982’s groundbreaking heavy metal masterpiece The Number of the Beast, and just after the band’s first two vocalists, Paul Day and Dennis Wilcock, bailed, Di’Anno fronted Maiden from 1978 through 1981 and managed to crank out a small but awesomely impressive collection of albums. Before rock and roll debauchery and personality conflicts within Maiden led to Di’Anno and the band parting ways, he set the foundation for Iron Maiden’s success with the now-classic albums Iron Maiden and Killers and the live EP Maiden Japan.

Di’Anno released his memoir, The Beast, in 2010 and has forged ahead as a solo artist as well as a frontman for various hard-rock bands, including Praying Mantis, Battlezone and Killers.

More recently, Di’Anno has signed on as a special guest vocalist on ex-Ozzy Osbourne Band shredder Jake E. Lee‘s upcoming solo album, due in 2013.

Aside from Lee’s project, the singer hasn’t released new material since Battlezone’s 2001 album Cessation of Hostilities. Di’Anno did, however, release a cool compilation of his early work with his famous former band on the 2010 collection The Early Iron Maiden Songbook.

All things considered, it sounds like Di’Anno’s Whisky show on January 20, which is part of his worldwide “Running Free Again Tour,” is going to be a very loud and awesome sonic stroll down memory lane during his Iron Maiden years.

We can’t think of a more rockin’ way to reminisce. Get details on the Whisky show here.