NICKO MCBRAIN: 'The Drive And Energy And Bond Of IRON MAIDEN Is Primarily The Music'

Jen Guyre of the Rhapsody Blog recently conducted an interview with IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Rhapsody Blog: Take us through "Flight 666".

McBrain: What can I say, other than "what a great movie?" A bunch of hooligans going out on the road, and we had a bunch of hooligan frickin' documentary makers with us filming it. It was kind of mixed emotions and little bit of worry about having somebody come out living with us on the road with a camera for two months, because we are very private people. But as it was such a historical tour in that no other band in the world had ever customized a 757 to take 12 tons of gear, and customized the upstairs for seating arrangements for the crew, the band, friends, media and all that whatnot, it was decided that we needed to document that. And then it was suggested that we take these guys along to see a little bit of the inner workings of IRON MAIDEN, i.e., the way the guys tick. It isn't another live DVD of MAIDEN playing somewhere; it's a documentary-cum-concert-footage [documenting] the adventure we went on known as "Somewhere Back in Time". And Sam Dunn and Scotty McFadyen did an absolutely phenomenal job for us. Although we had a little bit of trepidation about having them out, we're proud to say that they're part of our family now.

Rhapsody Blog: What's your response to the film?

McBrain: It's stunning — brilliant. Not only were the little bits and bobs about what we do in our downtime (there were a few party scenes of us enjoying ourselves and whatnot),but the footage of the shows — the actual concert footage — I've never seen anything so stunning from IRON MAIDEN in the past. Even "Rock in Rio", which was a phenomenal piece of film, didn't have this quality of ... I don't know what it was, I can't put my finger on it; they just did a splendid job. They really stepped up to the plate and made everyone look great — especially the drummer, I mean he's a good-looking bloke anyway, but ... [laughs]

Rhapsody Blog: What do you hope fans take away from this film?

McBrain: It's more the humanity of what IRON MAIDEN's all about. They get to see the inside workings of IRON MAIDEN; they get to see the blood, sweat and tears, and I think they also take away what [the fans] mean to us. This movie to me is about the fans, it really is — it shows you the love, the passion, the sweat, the heartache. And it shows you what we do with our passion and what we believe is the essence of IRON MAIDEN, which is the six of us going onstage and playing a show.

Rhapsody Blog: And you guys really get along as a family...

McBrain: I'm 26 years in the band — I still haven't gotten my gold watch for 25 years, and I'm really frickin' pissed off about it [laughs] — no, but it shows you what we believe in as individuals and collectively as IRON MAIDEN: we love the music. I have this old analogy: it's like a love affair, and the sex is the music and in this case it's very much like that. Of course we have our ups and downs — there's nothing really in the film that shows you that there's arguments going on. The arguments that we have are normally very trivial; there's only been one or two instances where tempers were flared. It's just total respect and love, you know? The drive and energy and bond of IRON MAIDEN is primarily the music, and we all really get on well with one another. I love all the guys. It's nothing gay — I will put my arm around them and kiss them on the cheek, but there's no tongue [laughs heartily]. But you know, that's the thing — when you started off as a kid playing music, this is the bunch of guys you strived to meet and play your music with. We're all on the same level on the playing field. No one's above anyone else's station. Everybody's equal to what they're doing because you're all so much a part of each other; we're all one-sixth of each other. And that's, I think, the difference — that and the fact that it's class, quality and panache. It really is that to me.

Read the entire interview from the Rhapsody Blog.