THE HOT TOPIC
IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP
A new documentary produced by Fozzy’s Chris Jericho is chronicling one cult band’s unlikely heavy metal fairy tale
WORDS: ADAM REES
YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER heard of Siren, and “nor should you have,” admits their drummer, Ed Aborn. Yet these largely forgotten 80s heavy metallers from Florida are the subjects of a new must-see documentary, I’m Too Old For This Shit: A Heavy Metal Fairy Tale following the group of now 50-something reunited bandmates, as they give their childhood dream one more shot, almost three decades after they first broke up.
“It’s not about Siren, it’s not about heavy metal. It’s about what happens when a dream sneaks up on you, even one you’d totally put aside and forgotten about, and it is every bit as sweet to have that dream become real, even if it’s just for the weekend!”
These are the words of software engineer and father-of-two Ed, who, like so many others, had made peace with his dashed dreams of rock’n’roll glory after he left Siren in 1986, playing no part in the two albums that went largely unnoticed before the band called it a day in 1990. It was therefore something of a surprise when he was contacted by almost 30 years later by a group of German fans, who not only proclaimed their passion for Siren, but also invited them to play the 2018 Keep It True Festival alongside old-school heavy metal royalty Raven and Flotsam & Jetsam, in the small town of Lauda-Königshofen, Germany.