Nicko McBrain, former Iron Maiden drummer, spoke with Chaoszine during his ‘meat and greet’ event at Rock N Roll Ribs about his future plans. He shared that retiring gives him more time to do events and meet fans, and he hopes to host impromptu jams at the restaurant once every month or two.
“Obviously it’ll give me more time to spend here and do events like this and and meet fans. Few years back, we would do impromptu jams in here,” he revealed. “I haven’t actually used this drum set behind me yet. Mitch, my partner, and I go, ‘You fancy a jam tonight? Let’s call the boys up we got to get the PA working again.’ It’s because of the fat fumes and the way that a barbecue restaurant works. You get this stuff and it gets into the electronics.”
“So once we get the PA up, we’ll probably do that maybe once every month or two. We’ll get some live music in here impromptuly so that it gives me a chance to really work on getting more of a profile back into the restaurant [and] Drum One, my music store back in England,” he mentioned.
Aside from music, McBrain is also involved in a new project with British Drum Company, working on new designs for drum hardware. “I’ve also got a British Drum Company that I can possibly put. There’s some new design stuff that I’ve been asked to work on for some of the hardware. So that’ll take up a nice bit of time, but primarily, it gives me time to be with my family get back into my family life, and then Titanium Tart. That will be the primary focus to playing,” he added.
This ‘meat and greet’ was McBrain’s first event since retiring from Iron Maiden two months ago. While announcing his retirement, he said that he made his decision after much thought but remains part of the Iron Maiden family.
After McBrain’s retirement, frontman Bruce Dickinson teased big surprises in 2025. “2025 is gonna be something special. We’re gonna be doing stuff we’ve never, ever done before, and it’ll be a setlist for the ages,” he said in a video.
Simon Dawson will join Iron Maiden for their 2025 ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour, starting on May 27 in Budapest.
