NICKO MCBRAIN Says SIMON DAWSON Is Doing 'Great' With IRON MAIDEN: He 'Started Off Shaky' But He's 'Driving The Band' Now

In a new interview with "Talk Is Jericho", the podcast hosted by FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho, longtime IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain once again opened up about his decision to retire from touring with the band. The now-74-year-old British musician, whose real name is Michael Henry McBrain, announced his retirement on December 7, 2024 in a statement on MAIDEN's web site and social media. He also said that night's concert at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil would mark his final show with the legendary rock band. Nicko said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was a team decision. Steve [Harris, MAIDEN's founding bassist] and I sat in California in '24 when we were on the North American tour. And we discussed my health issues and my playing handicap, because I wasn't being able to play and do the songs, the old songs — I couldn't do them justice. And that was part of the decision as well. Apart from the fact that my old body at 72 then, I was doing a two-hour show every night — or not every night; four or five nights a week — and it just wasn't kicking back in time. And I was aching, and I was going on stage feeling like I'd done the show already.

"As you know, Chris, you can feel tired or a little bit poorly, and you get on stage and you think, 'There's no way I'm gonna be able to get through two hours of this gig.' And then the adrenaline that kicks in — if you could bottle that, you could make a fortune," he continued. "I mean, people obviously try and do it with chemicals and pharmaceuticals, but you can't emulate that euphoria you get naturally from your own body… I think it's a God-given blessing, to be very honest with you. It's like the Holy Spirit. God's up there, like, laughing. 'Cause you think you've got the plan, and he's going, 'Nah, nah, nah.' But he'll go, 'Phew, have a bit of that. Get you through the show.' I do really believe that."

Referencing the partial paralysis he experienced when he suffered a stroke nearly four years ago, Nicko said: "[Steve and I] had a discussion about it, and we had a heart to heart. I had a little bit of tear in the eye at the time. But it was the right thing, it was the right call because I couldn't have done 'Murders In The Rue Morgue' [the opening song of MAIDEN's ongoing 'Run For Your Lives' world tour]… It's not so much that I lost the use of my arm and my hand and my wrist. It's that I can't get any more speed out my fingers. So, it wasn't fair on the rest of the guys. I couldn't play the intro to 'The Trooper'. I couldn't do the big drum fills in it. I got away with it because, basically, I improvised — [I played] a different drum pattern, because I could. That's what I'm paid to do. I'm a drummer and I leaned back on my experience as a session player and whatnot, and came up with a little triplet fill."

Regarding how he came to be replaced by Simon Dawson, a former session drummer and Harris's longtime bandmate in BRITISH LION, Nicko said: "[Steve and I] had a good chat about it, and he actually said to me, he said, 'Well, Simon's in town. We're thinking of having a rehearsal with him. Do you mind if we [rehearse with him]?' And I said, 'Of course not.' I said, 'Look, I wanna finish this [2024] tour, and then that's it for me.' And we agreed upon that that would be announced. At first, at that meeting, I said to him, 'I don't want to announce it till the new year. I wanna get through Christmas when I get home.' 'Cause that was the 7th of December [of 2024]. I didn't want people going, 'Oh, my God.' But they changed my mind to announce it in São Paulo. Anyway, I gave it my blessing, and it's great."

As for how he thinks Simon has done so far playing with IRON MAIDEN, Nicko said: "He started off shaky. He's got big… And I can say it myself, he had big shoes to fill. But the wonderful thing about the way Simon plays these beautiful tunes of IRON MAIDEN is he's put his own fingerprint on it. He's stuck by what he's comfortable playing, which is a six-piece drum kit, like maybe half a dozen cymbals, that sort of thing. It's not a kit like mine. I'm not saying he couldn't play my kit. I mean, if something, God forbid, had happened to me on 'The Future Past' tour, he could have stepped in and the band wouldn't have lost a show. People would've been like, 'Who's that drummer up behind that kit? That's not Nick.' But we would've been able to cover it. But I gave him my blessing, and he's done a great job. And he's got now, the second leg, in 2026 now, he's really at home, and he's driving the band."

Asked if it was hard for him at first to see MAIDEN touring without him for the first time after 42 years, Nicko said: "Yeah, it was. I deliberately didn't look at any of the... I did glimpse [at some online videos] a couple of times, just to see, just to keep an eye on how Simon was doing. The rest of the guys, it's like driving a bike. They do the same stuff every day. There's not a lot of improvisation in IRON MAIDEN. Maybe a solo's slightly different here and there, but they're pretty much note perfect every night. And when I had actually looked, I thought, 'Now, what are you doing? You know you miss them.' I miss the brothers even now as we're talking. I do miss that two hours on stage."

McBrain added: "Here's the thing, Chris. I had the stamina. I could still drive the band. Although my right hand was weaker, I wasn't giving it that kind of movement. It was a little more jazzy movement. But [the left hand] was working, and so I did a lot more left-hand fills, starting with the left side. And I could still drive the band for two hours. I still miss that."

Six years ago, McBrain was diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer and opened up about it in a single interview in 2021 but otherwise kept it mostly under wraps.

McBrain officially joined IRON MAIDEN in December 1982 for the 1983 "Piece Of Mind" album and tour, replacing Clive Burr, after McBrain's previous band TRUST had supported IRON MAIDEN during the U.K. leg of the "Killers" tour in 1981. McBrain brought a degree of finesse and technicality that was largely missing from IRON MAIDEN's early output. Whereas Burr was often lauded for his heavy-handed, punk-oriented style, McBrain was largely the opposite, playing with a degree of dexterity and flair that helped primary songwriter Harris take MAIDEN down more adventurous paths. He eventually became the third longest-tenured member of MAIDEN, behind Harris and guitarist Dave Murray.