Iron Maiden to No Longer Perform Songs That Nicko McBrain Has Difficulties With
“If you can’t do something in a song, we just won’t do that song.”
Iron Maiden will not perform any songs that drummer Nicko McBrain has difficulties with.
Having been slowly recovering from a stroke he suffered in January 2023, drummer Nicko McBrain has done his best to perform on an equal level with his bandmates. However, Maiden songs can get a bit difficult for the drummer – a fact he addressed at a recent show.
Giving a speech to the crowd at his side-project Titanium Tarts’ concert in Pompano Beach, Florida, McBrain revealed how understanding his bandmates in Iron Maiden were:
“I’ve gotta be honest with you: it was a touch and go last year for me. I couldn’t play; I was paralyzed on the right side. Fortunately, there’s a girl called Julie Blum that looked after me, and in three months, she had me playing again.”
“It ain’t the old Nicko, it’s not the old one by a long shot. But at least it’s part of me. And my band, bless their hearts, Steve Harris and the rest of the guys turn around and say, ‘If you can’t do something in a song, we just won’t do that song.'”
Further, McBrain used “Caught Somewhere in Time” from 1986’s “Somewhere in Time” record as an example of how Iron Maiden gets things done nowadays:
“Now, there’s a middle section; it’s all snare drum on the record. I can’t play it. Those of you nerds cthat are in the audience go, ‘He didn’t do the drum fill!’ Well, that’s why – I fucking can’t do it!”
“Steve turned around to me and I said, ‘Okay, I’ve got an idea. if I do the double on the snare…’ and I played it for him and he went, ‘No. Have you got anything else?’ I went, ‘Yeah, I’ll play it on the cymbal.’ ‘No. You got anything else?” That’s me spent, mate.’ He thought about it for about half a minute, and he’s going, ‘Why don’t you play it straight?'”
“I went, ‘You’re a fucking genius, Harry!’ And there’s me, the drummer, supposedly. Supposed to come up with all these ideas. I didn’t even think of that. And so we rehearsed it from there on in, and we play it straight, which I’m sure 90% of you don’t give a fuck about that bit anyway!”