See Multi-Camera Video Of NICKO MCBRAIN Performing 'Alexander The Great' With TITANIUM TART

July 30, 2024

BLANDINI videos by Eric Hutcheson has uploaded multi-camera video of IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain's TITANIUM TART project performing the MAIDEN classic "Alexander The Great" on July 13 at The Barn in Sanford, Florida. Check it out below.

In a recent interview with 98.7 The Gater's Franny, McBrain, who has lived in Florida for three and a half decades, stated about the TITANIUM TART gigs: "It's weird because my manager came up to me and said,' Oh, we're not doing Florida this year [with IRON MAIDEN], Nick. I hope you don't mind.' I said, 'Well, I do mind.' And he said, it's just the logistics of getting down there and doing the shows, the way the tour is scheduled from when they had the tour worked out last year. So, I thought, well, I'll get my TITANIUM TART lads, the TARTS, get the TARTS together. And we're playing the same set that I'm doing with MAIDEN. And it's kind of a two-fold thing. One is it gets me back into the vibe of doing the show and gets my hand working. And we've got three dates coming up."

Asked how long TITANIUM TART has been going for, Nicko said: "It's been a few years… I call it a celebration band of IRON MAIDEN, not a tribute band, 'cause I'm still playing with the guys. So, we have had shows at the restaurant [Rock N Roll Ribs, the barbecue restaurant owned by McBrain and close friend Mitch Tanne, in Coral Springs, Florida] where I've had the TITANIUM TART band together, the same guys, playing IRON MAIDEN's music, but we only came up with this idea to call it TITANIUM TART a couple of years ago."

Joining Nicko in TITANIUM TART are Rob Stokes on bass, Eldad Kira on keyboards, Mike Rivera and Mitch Tanne on guitar, and Paolo Velazquez on vocals.

McBrain was born in Hackney, East London, on June 5, 1952. His first experience of music came via his father's love of traditional jazz. Young Nicko's hero was Joe Morello, the late, great drummer with the legendary THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET. Nicko would often take to the kitchen, using forks and knives to beat on anything he could find at home. Fed up with him bashing up the kitchen utensils, his parents finally bought him his first drum kit when he was 12.

By the time he left school at 15, he was already a veteran of several part-time pub groups. Musically, however, his tastes had broadened to include more contemporary sixties sounds from THE SHADOWS, THE ANIMALS, THE BEATLES and THE ROLLING STONES. On the recommendation of another drummer he knew, he began to take on session work, playing on countless different recordings.

In 1975, Nicko joined STREETWALKERS, the band formed by ex-FAMILY members, vocalist Roger Chapman and guitarist Charlie Whitney. From the late seventies until 1982 when he joined IRON MAIDEN, Nicko had spent his time in session work, most memorably with the PAT TRAVERS BAND on their 1976 "Makin' Magic" album, and also appeared in the band MCKITTY in the early 1980's. It was during a MCKITTY gig in Belgium that he first met IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.

He 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.

With 14 studio and eight live albums currently under his belt with MAIDEN, Nicko's role as the driving force behind the band's sound has served as a major influence to many of today's top drummers and solidified his place in music history.

McBrain and his wife still live in the same Boca Raton, Florida home they bought in 1989 when Nicko relocated from England.

In January 2023, Nicko suffered a stroke with partial paralysis.

When Nicko first went public with his stroke in August 2023, the drummer said in a statement that the episode left him "paralyzed" down one side of his body and "worried" that his career with the band was over.

Four 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.

Find more on Iron maiden
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).