Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain recently shared some insight into his current relationship with the band following his decision to retire from touring late last year. In a conversation on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, McBrain talked about where things stand both personally and professionally.
“Yeah, I’m not touring,” McBrain confirmed during the interview. “There isn’t any plans that I know of to do a record. I mean, we did speak about possibly doing a new album a couple of years ago and it was nixed then. But now, I dunno. Everybody’s got that much older. We all lost about a year and a half, two years from that stupid pandemic. That affected everybody’s psyche as well.”
While he no longer occupies his longtime spot behind the drum kit — a role now filled by Simon Dawson — McBrain emphasized that his connection to Iron Maiden remains intact. “I’m still part of the family. I’m doing a lot of work with the fan club, and there’s some books. I’m writing a book — actually, I’ve been writing a book for 10 freaking years. It’s about time I finished it, you know?”
Discussing the progress on his memoir, McBrain explained that the book is intended to be comprehensive. “I’ve got 21 chapters, and that’s one chapter per year of my life, so it’s gonna be a marathon book. I’m only up to when I went pro. I had a ghostwriter I sat with, but I’m not sure whether I’m gonna go over that. I prefer to do it myself.”
McBrain also left open the chance of making occasional appearances with Iron Maiden, whether live or in the studio. “It’s a possibility that when they come over here [to the U.S.], I might end up doing a show with them, just getting up and doing a song or two, or just being there,” he said. “If there is a new album in the pipeline, it’s a possibility I’ll do a couple of tracks on the album. Yeah, who knows? We’re all still part of the family, although I’m not playing the shows.”
Reflecting on his health, McBrain spoke candidly about the impact of the stroke he suffered in 2023 and how it influenced his decision to step away from touring with Iron Maiden. “There was a second night in Sydney, Australia, where it was probably one of the worst performances, personally for me,” he recalled. “I thought it was a really bad performance. And I remember saying to Bruce [Dickinson], walking back to the dressing room … I said, ‘Oh, mate. I’m really struggling up there tonight.’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ And he looked at [me], he said, ‘You looked like you were struggling.’ And actually he said, ‘I was worried about your health.'”
Adding to these challenges was a personal tragedy that occurred during tour rehearsals, the loss of one of his closest friends, who drowned. “That really, really affected me,” McBrain said. “So I had a lot of stress going on in my life, which, you know, we all get that. We all get issues where sometimes people deal with stress differently. For me, I went [into] a depression with it, and so I’m not making excuses for myself, but that was the time when I thought, ‘Hmm, maybe it’s time. I’ll finish the tour and I think I’m gonna hang it up.'”
Even though he’s no longer on the road with Iron Maiden, McBrain has stayed active musically. He’s currently playing a handful of shows in Florida with his Iron Maiden tribute group, Titanium Tart.
