Nicko McBrain says Iron Maiden should have lowered songs for Blaze Bayley

Former Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain believes the band could have done more to accommodate Blaze Bayley’s voice during the singer’s time in the lineup.

Speaking to Barry Robinson of Classic Album Review while promoting his autobiography “Hello Boys And Girls!”, McBrain reflected on the differences between Bayley’s lower vocal register and that of Bruce Dickinson.

It was [tough for Blaze to replace Bruce], honestly. Oh, and, of course, when Bruce came back, we had Adrian come on board. And Adrian was such a key instrumental part in the meteoric rise of the band. He was more of the commercial writer in the band. Well, he wrote most of the singles that we took off [albums] over the decades. To be fair to [Blaze], we didn’t transpose the songs. We should have gone down a note. We should’ve stepped it down half a step or a full step, because trying to sing that range that Bruce had, and Blaze was a totally different… 

Bruce is soprano, almost, and, [Blaze is a] baritone — there was a difference in the timbre of each of the voices. And I think it was very hard for Blaze towards that. ‘Virtual XI’ tour was really tough for him. And I think we really should have helped him out by transposing the key of the songs for him. But we didn’t, and it was a tough time. It was like a dark cloud for me, that period of my life. And I know it was affecting just the general vibe in the band. And, obviously, when it was discussed to have Bruce come back with Adrian, that’s when we had to say, ‘Okay, Blaze, we’ve got Bruce.’ And the wonderful thing about Blaze is not only that was he — I was like a mentor to him. I took him under my wing, being the granddad of the band, right? [Laughs] We used to hang out a lot, and I was his confidant.

He’d talk to me about, what would Steve think if I did this? What did he … Da, da, ya, di, da. Anyway. So it was very hard at the end of the day to feel a little disappointed in the performances that he was coming up with. And finally, when we had the meeting with him, all of the band were present, and Rod, and he took it on the chin, as they say. And he turned around, he said, ‘Maiden is too good not to carry on, and you’re gonna carry on with the best.’ And that is still his attitude today. Although he was kind of disapp[ointed] — obviously, he was disappointed to not be the singer in the band anymore. But he was very, very gracious. Very gracious. And I love him for that.

McBrain also revisited the tensions around Dickinson’s 1993 departure and their eventual reconciliation when the singer returned in 1999. The reunion led to the 2000 album “Brave New World”, recorded with producer Kevin Shirley.

Bayley recorded “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI” with Iron Maiden before returning to his solo career. McBrain retired from touring with Maiden in 2024.