Nicko McBrain’s exit from Maiden irritated him in one respect

Nicko McBrainthe former drummer of Iron Maidenin an interview with Drum Talk TV he spoke extensively about his withdrawal from the live activities of the British group, explaining in detail how he came to make that painful decision. A decision that came after suffering a stroke in January 2023 which caused partial paralysis, with a rather significant impact on his skills as a drummer.

McBrain explained how he coordinated with management and band members before making the announcement. He highlighted how there had been total transparency throughout the process, with the band fully aware of his plans to retire before that Simon Dawson was called for rehearsals as his potential replacement.

This is the story of the British musician: “Obviously I talked about it with Rod (Smallwood, ed.) and Andy Taylor, our managers, and with Dave Shack, who has been part of the Maiden family for many years. He has in a certain sense taken charge of the day-to-day management of Maiden’s things. We talked about it.”

At first Nicko McBrain he had thought about postponing the public announcement until after the Christmas holidays. He wanted to avoid having to receive a lot of phone calls from friends and family. But the manager Andy Taylor managed to convince him otherwise. “Andy Taylor turned to me. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. We were in Los Angeles, he said, ‘Nick, by the way, why don’t you want to make an announcement at your last concert? You need to go out in a blaze of glory. You don’t want to be overcome by a loser’s tantrum.’ I said, ‘You’re right. I’m selfish.'”

Although everything was agreed upon, one aspect of the matter embittered McBrain. The drummer had requested that the announcement of the rotation with Simon Dawson was postponed by one day. Instead the band announced it the following morning. “The only thing that annoyed me a little was the request not to announce Simon until Monday. On Sunday I was flying home from Sao Paulo, Florida. They were going to make the announcement almost immediately, I said, ‘Give me a couple of days’. Well, they gave me 24 hours. Not even that: the next morning they announced that Simon was replacing me. It doesn’t matter when they did it. But I asked them to wait an extra day. I have to admit, that annoyed me a little.”

The last concert with the Iron Maiden Of Nicko McBrainafter 42 years, took place on December 7, 2024 at Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Simon Dawson he replaced McBrain quite naturally since he is the drummer for British Lionthe side project of the founder of Iron Maidenthe bass player Steve Harris.

In truth McBrain hasn’t left him completely Iron Maidenalways remains a part-time member of the band for studio projects, despite abandoning touring. And speaking of tours, the English group will be on concert at the Meazza stadium in Milan on 17 June 2026.