Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Nicko McBrain, who withdrew from performing with Iron Maiden about a year ago, has clarified that he is still officially a member of the band in a new interview with Jason Green of Waste Some Time With Jason Green, as reported by blabbermouth.net.
I’m still a member of the band, but what does that mean exactly? Well, I’m still part of the family, so I do a lot of work with the fan club, and I’m going out and doing still Iron Maiden-related stuff. And, yeah, it’s great.
This is what Nicko remarked about the prospect of appearing on a future Iron Maiden album.
First of all, there’s no plans to make a new album as yet. That could change. So if that that’s the case, maybe I’ll be asked to do a couple of songs.
His health issues were the main factor in deciding his retirment from live shows.
I had a stroke in ’23, in January, January the 19th, to be exact,” he said. “And it left my right side paralyzed down to the waist and just slightly below. I couldn’t move my leg very well. Anyway, it left me with a handicap of not being able to play fast single-stroke rolls, 16th notes, 32nd notes, a tempo like that, and then on from there. You need two hands to do that kind of speed, and [my right arm] just didn’t work [the same way] anymore. So, we used to have to change the drum fills on various songs over the last two tours, the ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ tour part two, and then ‘Future Past’.
But going forward, there were songs on this new set that I knew I would have difficulty playing, and we wouldn’t wanna change them, like the parts we changed, say, in ‘Trooper’, for instance; I didn’t play the big drum fills anymore. So, we agreed. I had a big conversation with Steve and I told him, ‘Look, I’m finding it very difficult with all the traveling and the recuperating time.’ We didn’t have days off, so to speak. And he said, ‘Okay, I get it. Maybe it’s best.’ And so it was more of 80 percent me, 20 percent in agreement with the rest of the guys to hang it up. And that’s why I retired.
