Linda McDonald is drummer in The Little Dolls, The Iron Maidens ("the world's only female tribute to Iron Maiden"), and long-running Los Angeles hard rock act Phantom Blue.



In 2006 Linda McDonald teamed up with her old Phantom Blue bandmate Michelle Meldrum in her new all-female Sweden-based band Meldrum.



Born in Great Falls, Montana, Linda is half Irish, half Japanese. She started banging on her mother's Tupperware with chopsticks at the age of 4, then took up piano, guitar, violin and drums as she grew and entered her teens. McDonald recalls:

"My first drum kit was a Ludwig Blue Vistallite Octoplus 11 piece kit. It was crazy huge but I got it from the Recycler (local classified ads mag) from a guy who just wanted to get rid of it. He was a bass player whose drummer got into some trouble and had to liquidate fast. He owed his bass player money and told him to sell his drums for whatever he could get and keep the cash. I bought the whole thing for $300, complete with cymbals and a Ludwig Speed King pedal! Now that's a deal!! I was pretty intimidated by it at first, but it allowed me to experiment with so many drums before me it was a good thing."

Mainly a self taught drummer and co-founder of Phantom Blue, Linda McDonald is one of the major factors in Phantom Blue'S style and sound. To further develop her playing, Linda attended the Dick Grove school of music, taking various courses in drumming and ear training; and is also a graduate of P.I.T. She also received some drum lessons from Scott Travis (of Racer X and Judas Priest).



Her influences vary from Simon Phillips to Clive Burr and John Bonham. More recent additions include Virgil Donati and Marco Minneman because of their astonishing abilities and David Grohl for his perfect songwriting drum parts and feel. Adds Linda:

"I've been dipping into a really messed up book, Extreme Interdependence, by Marco Minneman. Talk about a brain scrambler! I was never forced to practice rudiments so I've taken it on myself to get more involved in this area. Better late than never I say, and it's so important for the kind of things I'd like to be playing."

Linda won "Best Drummer/ Performance of Drums and Percussion" at the 7th Annual LA Music Awards in December 1997 and at the 1998 3rd and 2001 6th Annual Rock City News Awards Show. Says Linda McDonald:

"We as a group, Phantom Blue are just as hard hitting and aggressive as any guy band out there, we just don't have dicks."

Linda Mcdonald is also featured on the compilation album "Warmth In The Wilderness - A Tribute To Jason Becker", released in 2001 via Lion Music.